While car camping at Indian Creek Recreation Area in Woodworth, La this past week, I noticed several things at the campsite that would or could be useful if the need were there.

FOUND:

3 monofilament lines about 20 feet long each.
1 lure (hung up on a tree branch)
2 1/2 corks (the 1/2 cork is still usable)
1 small fishing hook
several clean beer cans (cooking uses)
several beer bottles (water carrier and/or cutting tool)
several beer bottle labels (writing paper & fire tinder)

LOST:
Fork half of a Hobo knife (included a corkscrew and awl)*

* some kid will probably find it and drive themselves and their parents crazy while he/she keeps searching the campsite for the other half of the knife.

LEFT BEHIND:
Enough cut and cured firewood for 4 more days of camping.

I got half a Rick of Firewood for $35 and that was a bargain price for the amount of wood. As written in the 5 reviews of the Recreational Area, the local Police use a lot of Radar for speeders. The local gas station sells bundles of Pecan wood for $5 a bundle.

Yep, lots of discarded monofilament line. It is the bane of wildlife. I have rescued two ducks and a turtle tangled in that stuff.

Just about smacked the hell out of a redneck and his drinking buddy. A duck had it legs trapped in the line and the line was wrapped tangled in a fence post. These two redneck boys, ostensibly fishing from the dam, were laughing at it and throwing pebbles. They didn't even consider making a move to save the duck. When I went to untangle the duck they claimed I was 'messin with their fun'.

I used a spare shirt to wrap up the duck and was able to unwrap and cut the line. It was dug into the skin but not too deep. the bird looked dehydrated and the feathers were in bad shape but otherwise healthy.

The other duck I rescued lost a the lower part of a leg and was adopted by a wildlife rescue place and made part of their small children's zoo. They fitted a peg as replacement and the duck got around pretty well. That must have been around 1980.

I wish more effort was made to contain and collect the monofilament line.

On the up side as long as humans keep littering and randomly tossing away stuff there will be few places on earth where you can't find useful survival materials in the form of discarded trash. Discarded line has its uses. Soda cans can be used for boiling water or food preparation. Plastic bottles make very durable canteens. I have used one from home for eight or ten years now as a canteen on jobs. I used to carry white gas for my stove in a 12 ounce screw-top soda bottle. Worked fine.

Discarded shopping bags and newspaper can be used to make expedient shoes and newspaper crumpled and flattened by hand, so you get lots of air pockets between layers, can be stuffed under shirt and pants for insulation. Cardboard males a good sleeping pad. Plastic sheeting, vinyl flooring and old shower curtains make good tarps for shelters.

there are, IMHO, only two big obstacles. The first is simply a matter of imagination. Second is that many man-made materials degrade to practical uselessness as the elements work on them. Unfortunately long after a monofilament fishing line has lost the strength to reliably catch fish it can still entangle wildlife. Long after the shopping bag has lost the ability to carry anything it can still choke a turtle.

i was at a bar in Ely Mn,the gateway to the prime fishing country in the BWCA canoe park and on the tables they had little signs asking visitors to remove any fishing line they found.

A significant part of the campsite garbage can (55 gal) was filled with the trash that we picked up. Hu-mons are such strange creatures, the only ones that I know of that will **** in their own nest!

I carry a quart plastic bag and pick up all discarded line I find.
Usually have a bag to pick up trash found in the wild and take it out.

In an interesting case of recycling a biker friend who lost a wheel nut off his Harley was walking the bike down the side of the road when he found a large square galvanized steel nut that had fallen off a guard rail or been discarded by the installers. Figuring he had nothing to lose he tried it and was surprised to find out it fit. He was able to effect a temporary repair that allowed him to get to a garage.

I once found a knobby truck tire in a swamp. I would have tried to pull it out and properly dispose of it but I was on foot and in the middle of a thirty mile hike. The tire must have weighed several hundred pounds and it was buried in clay and sand. Just out of curiosity I cut off a few of the rubber chunks with my knife. Later I was lighting a fire and found the rubber made fairly good tender. It made the fire smoke and stink until the rubber was consumed but it worked pretty well.

Graduate school level training for surviving on what society throws away, people and materials, is found in the shadow society of homeless people. They aren't often pretty, or pleasant to stand downwind of, a lot have been through the wringer, but in a lot of ways they are survival experts.

If your careful, there are some you don't want to be near, and some are clearly mentally ill, you can get a little informal training by just offering a little respect and light conversation. When the weather turns cool bringing a coat you no longer need, a cheap sleeping bag that is worn out by your standards or a blanket can get you friend and a lot of inside information.

OT:
I wholeheartedly support any and all organizations and efforts to collect fishing line either by providing places to safely dispose of it and/or collecting it out of the environment. There are even organizations of divers, and a few commercial fishermen, who go out of their way to collect fishing lines, nets and rope from the water.

Ask around, look these organizations up and your likely to find a fine group of people. Consider contributing a few dollars and/or volunteering to help out. Most of the fishing line collection sites are assembled, installed, emptied and maintained by volunteers.

I am often in my local NP and I routinely collect the aluminum cans laying about. Free money. Plus I pick up at least a full trash bag of strewn junk in the area I stage my swim gear.

People would rather stuff garbage in the nooks of rocks than carry it 30 feet to their car.

Not a park, but if you're out of Mesa, four words: Canyon Lake. Monday mornings.

One of my favorite "excuses" for getting into the woods is scavenging campsites. I find that after major holiday weekends, and closing dates of hunting seasons are particularly fruitful. I gather up garbage left behind and take it to the dump, and find many useful, even expensive, things too. I've even found rifles, ammo, knives, stoves, lanterns, etc. not to mention miles of rope, fishing line, tent pegs and poles, and so on.
I turn the guns over to the authorities, who keep them for a few days then give them back or dispose of the through sales of surplus property, depending on the particular agency's rules. It's amazing how careless people are in the woods. I guess they are that way at home, too.

i'm as guilty as anyone of losing the occasional length of line or the odd hook, but i've picked up at least two hooks for each one i've lost and probably double my line supply overall, so i let myself think i'm in the black.





in fact