Hammocks: uses in the wilds?!?!

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Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
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I recieved a hammock as an Xmas gift. I plan on putting it in one of my packs for use in the woods. I'm thinking it would be good to keep me off the ground.

I thought in a survival situation it could be used for sleeping by keeping one off the ground, but fill underneath it with leaves, grasses, boughs etc. This would add an isulating barrier but you wouldn't 'crush' it.

It could also be used as a fish net if needed.

One could make a trap with it and a large springy bough bent over as one would set a snare. Hence a lift net.

Does anybody have other ideas for it usage?

I've seen references to books with multiple uses for a hammock, but I've never been able to get my hands on one! Any more ideas would be greatly appreciated!
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Thanks!
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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com


 
Place it over your gear and tie it down to keep everything in place while canoing, or rafting.

 
I spent the better portion of a couple summers in a hammock, and though I would never even consider using it in cold conditions, I'll take it over anything sort of my own bed for everything else.

Here's my typical set up. I put my hammock between two trees (I heavily modified the hammock I bought, easier to set up, more stable to sleep in and more comfy. I'll elaborate if ya'll wanna know.) and strung it _very_ tight. It will sag. Then I put a string between the two trees about a foot over the hammock. Over this string, when necessary, I strung a tarp. Make sure the tarp is longer than you by a foot or so both ways, and angle the top string down one direction, so any water on it will drip onto one of the trees, and not you. Under me, I place my gear. If I feel it will be a wet night, I put some slats under my gear to keep it off the ground.

This method kept me dry in some pretty heavy rain, and prevented the random cow from waking me up by chewing the tuft of grass I was sleeping on. (This only happened to the sole staffer afraid of cows...
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I normally use a sleeping pad on the hammock, and would not advise sleeping without some pad. In a survival situation, lacking a sleeping bag and pad, I would be wary of sleeping in a hammock, but it may or may not be warmer on the ground. I wouldn't be any more concerned about crushing whatever fiber/insulation I slept on in a hammock than on the ground though, I might add more though... I'd be more concerned about being able to improvise a shelter above and around me when I'm hanging off the ground. It's easier to construct a lower shelter...


Stryver, who's back always liked the hammock....

 
in turkey rich territory,suspend 8-10" over the ground with each "corner" pegged so that it is all horizontal to the ground surface. Place pile of corn or other such bait under it. Turkeys go under to get corn, stand up and can't get out. Turkey dinner! I haven't done this but the idea was posted on Doc Ron's forum by someone who had.

John
 
I used my fist sized green nylon "survival" hammock to catch some escaped chickens I hung it between a spot were I could "hunt" them through and voila them ran strait in the net, I think chickens don't have to keen eyesight
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Cheers, Bagheera

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Even if you plan on not sleepin gin the hammock it could make a useful net to hang food high in a tree with in country where you might have "visitors". It could also with the help of a couple of poles or just stringin from trees hlep to make the start of a ground shelter over which poles, limbs etc could be woven into the mess to create a canopy. One could also improvise a field expeident pack for carryiny larger items.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
I made my first hammock for camping in Mexico where scorpions and tarantulas wander along the ground. Suspended by just a couple parachute cords I slept better than on the ground. I also had a line that ran across the top of the hammock which I could use to support a plastic drop cloth. Great in the rain and where the ground is wet. In cold weather you can sling it close to the ground and create a mini tent. I haven't used it places where it got much below 50 degrees at night. I did get tired of always lying on my back.
 
I have read a couple of books written by former SAS personnell. All of them said that unless the situation is dire (combat E&E) that they always carry a hammock, a tarp (or 2 for wind protection) a sleeping bag (when going light they think highly of Thinsulate US poncho liners)and mosqito netting. With the tarps, poncho liner/sleeping bag (really looking into the British Merlin)you can build a shelter in nearly any situation. The hammock and mosquito netting add about 1/2# and allow you to sleep reasonably comfortably without being eaten by bugs. Big morale booster. I think that wind breaks/fire are going to be more important in temperate areas, because the slightest breeze will rob you of the hard faught warmth.

pat
 
This may not exactly answer your question, but my brother was an instructor at the U.S. Army Jungle Warfare Center (I think that's the correct name) in Panama for a few years and he loved his hammock. After he got there, he purchased one of those cheap backpacking hammocks, the kind that you can ball up to about he size of your fist, and tried it. He said that with it, he was the only grunt who could get real sleep in the bush. It kept him of the very wet, uneven ground filled with crawly things and when combined with a poncho, he was the only dry grunt, too. Sounds like good, real world experience to me.

BTW, are you folks aware that there was a lawsuit involving some moron strangling himself in a backpacking hammock? That's why they sell those useless stretcher bars with hammocks now. It's also why a decent backpaking hammock is hard to find nowadays.
 
I was thinking of picking up a US surplus jungle hammock that I saw advertised in Brigade Quartermaster and US Calvary. The jungle hammock is enclosed with a bug screen around the sides and a tarp overhead. Anyone have any opinions on them?

Decado
 
Hazardous:
I must disagree with you on the utlity of those spreader bars. I would agree that someone who manages to strangle themself on a hammock is probably doing the rest of us a favor, but for using a hammock as a sleeping platform, spreader bars are very valuable. And they are not required to be on hammocks now, you can buy hammocks without them. Campmor has at least one listed without spreader bars.

The other thing I did to my hammock, was remove the metal rings on the end, and replace that single rope with two on each end that I spliced in. This makes for a very wide, stable sleeping platform that I can lay out my pad and bag on, and then get into very easily. And while I'm in my bag, watching the stars, I can watch my friends trying odd and assorted tactics like climbing into their bags and then trying to hop into their hammocks, which are hanging limply in the air.

And if you can't bring yerself to pack two little piece of wood, you can always find 'em where you sleep. Unless there's no trees, and then you shoulda forgoten the hammock to start with...

Stryver
 
I've wanted to try a Hammock, but never felt like trusting one's in a catalog (looked cheap), can anybody recommend one?
 
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