The nocturnal sounds of the forest, the cozy crackling of a bonfire and sparks flying up to the starry sky ... Perhaps there is not a single person who cannot be touched by a similar picture. The romance of distant wanderings, camps with lodging for the night in the wilderness, hermits in the taiga , hunters, fishing huts, many in childhood were read by adventure novels, which tell about such a way of life. But there are many people for whom such romance is an integral part of their everyday life. Geologists, fishermen, fishing hunters. It is about such fishers and how they live in the taiga that will be discussed further.
Life in the taiga
Of course, life and work in the taiga does not consist of romantic moments alone. This is not an easy, daily work, and there is very little time for romance. Nevertheless, a person periodically needs rest. Eat, sleep, and if it comes to the rainy season or winter, which is very severe in the Siberian taiga? You need to dry somewhere, warm yourself, cook food. After all, you will not every time for a fire to clear the site from deep snow. Yes, and supplies need to be stored somewhere, but for this you will need a dugout or a hut in the taiga, photos of which are presented in this article.
Dugout
The easiest and fastest solution is to build a dugout. Yes, the equipment of such a shelter does not require much time, any special skills and significant efforts. It is also warm enough. But there are many drawbacks. In such a shelter it is dark, damp and problematic enough to equip a normal stove for heating. The dugout is more suitable for temporary shelter. After all, a fisherman bypassing his site will often need places for an overnight stay. Moreover, the area of the site can be so large that a full round will last not one day or two, but a week or more. In this case, temporary dugouts are set up at the distance of the daily passage. Well, as the main dwelling, a real taiga will definitely build a log cabin in the taiga.
Taiga hut
There is no point in arguing about the benefits of a log cabin as a winter hut. She perfectly protects from autumn slush and winter cold. It is dry, warm, light and unequivocally more convenient and comfortable than in a dugout. In addition, the wooden hut will serve not only as protection against weather conditions, but also from wild animals. In general, both the hunter-hunter and the ordinary hermit, who instead of human fuss chose unity with nature as the main dwelling, and any sane person will prefer log structure.
Before you build a hut in the taiga
Before starting the felling of trees and the construction of a log house, one should not forget that any land has its own owner. And if you do not want to find the ashes, or even the load, to be detained and fined some time after returning to the hut, you first need to meet with this owner and get permission to cut the forest and build a hut. This may be some kind of hunting economy, forestry or similar organization. Better to be in harmony with the law.
Seat selection
So, permission has been obtained, and the next step is the selection of a place for future construction. It is desirable that this was a small clearing near a reservoir or at least some source of water. If such a glade could not be found, then you will have to independently clear the place for construction. Felled trees are immediately useful as building material, and knots and branches will be used for firewood. You will have to suffer a little with the stumps left after cutting down, but no one in their right mind will manually root out the stumps. It's easier to burn them. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that close to the hunting hut in the taiga there are no tall and dry trees, since from a strong wind they can fall and overwhelm the building. Do not forget that you can not build a hut in the lowlands due to dampness and possible flooding. It is not worthwhile to erect a building on a bare hill, as due to its blown by cold winds there will be a problem with heat conservation. Anyway, taiga housing, if it doesn’t have to be carefully disguised, is more or less hidden from prying eyes. But you never know, different people can roam the taiga.
Selection of trees for construction
Usually the construction of huts in the taiga comes from conifers. Of course, larch would have come up more, since it rots much more slowly than conifers, but it still needs to be found in sufficient quantities. In an extreme case, lay out the first crown of deciduous trees, and then continue with conifers. Cedar is also perfect for this purpose, since in a hut with cedar walls, air has a healing effect. No need to choose very thick trees. Fifteen to twenty-five centimeters thick logs will be quite enough. Practice shows that a raw pine log up to 25 cm thick and up to 4 m long will weigh about 120 kg. And since you will not raise a whole log, but only one edge of it, such a weight will be quite feasible for an adult and healthy man. If, however, such a weight seems heavy, you can choose thinner trees. Of course, in this case they will need more.
Logging
So, we proceed to laying the log house of the future hut in the taiga. The first crown can be laid immediately on the ground, but it will be much more reliable to dig a fifty-centimeter deepening around the perimeter, and fill it with medium-sized stones by two-thirds. Tamp stones, and put the first crown on top. For the first 2-3 crowns, it is better to use thicker logs. Before laying the logs must be cleaned of bark. There are several ways to stack logs. The most famous is the felling in the paw, in the bowl and in half the tree. The easiest way to build a hut in the taiga is to cut in half a tree. In this case, the grooves in the logs are not made at the corners, but simply the floor of the log is removed, and the trunk processed in the same way is placed on top. Here you can also drill a hole in the logs and additionally fix them with a wooden spike. Chopping into the bowl looks a bit more complicated. In this case, a transverse hollow is hollowed out in the upper log, with which it lies transversely on the lower log. If you wish, you can also strengthen the logs with spikes, but this is not so necessary, since the crowns themselves turn out to be well fixed. Well, the last way - chopping in the paw. This is the most difficult method and without some carpentry training for a beginner, he will not be able to. By the way, in places where there will be windows and a door, despite the longitudinal hollow in the logs, it is necessary to strengthen the joints with wooden spikes. Since in most cases hunting lodges are built from raw wood in order to avoid significant wall deformation after drying, it is desirable, despite the appearance of the log house, to further strengthen the logs with spikes. Well, the walls are more or less clear. But there are still windows, doors, floor, ceiling and roof. Building a hut in the taiga without planks is possible, but it will not be quite a hut. And where in the woods to get boards? Do not carry with you. Have to do their own production.
Make boards
Of course, we do not have to rely on even and relatively smooth boards that are made on sawmills. Nevertheless, the product is quite similar to them and which is not ashamed to call a board, we can fully do. All that is needed for this is just a sharp ax, and for greater convenience you can make a wooden sledgehammer. It is necessary to choose a straight tree without large knots and twists of the trunk, cut several wooden wedges, make a small cut in the base of the trunk and hammer a wooden wedge there gradually splitting the log along the fibers. Next, a second cut is made and the wedge is again hammered. Further, the whole deck is split into boards, or, as they are called, shit. By the way, these boards have much more strength than those made on the sawmill in the usual way, since wood fibers are not damaged. In this way, you can provide yourself with the necessary number of boards for the construction of the roof, doors, floor and other necessary details.
Roof
The hut in the taiga can have either a single or double roof with an attic. Single - it is faster and easier, but with the attic it is many times more convenient and practical. Firstly, in the hut it becomes many times warmer, and secondly, there is an additional place for storing various things, supplies. In the warm season, there you can dry hay and all kinds of herbs. The roof is made as follows. First, the ceiling is laid out from the drank. The gaps between the boards are caulked with moss. On top, you can sprinkle it with earth or cover it with plastic wrap. Further, two supports are attached on top of the front and rear huts from above, a skate rests on them and on the sides two or three slazes on each side. Then we cover the whole structure with a lath, we also crack the cracks with moss, we don’t need to feel sorry for the moss, and on top everything is covered with a plastic wrap. It is not heavy, and you can take it with you in sufficient quantities.
Bake
The stove is one of the most basic internal elements of a hunting hut in the taiga. It happens in two forms, metal (potbelly stove) or brick. The furnace can be heated both in black (without a chimney), which is extremely inconvenient, and in white - with a chimney. Installing a metal potbelly stove is quite simple and does not require any special skills. The construction of a brick oven is not very simple, and besides, you will first need to make raw brick from clay, which can be found at the nearest reservoir. In its qualities, the stove is different from the brick stove in that it heats up very quickly. Accordingly, the room quickly warms up from it. But after the fire went out, it cools down just as quickly. Therefore, you need to constantly monitor so that the fire does not go out. But the brick oven, on the contrary, does not warm up the room so quickly, but it cools down much longer, as a result, the heat does not leave the room for a long time. It is better to place the furnace in the middle of the room. So it warms up the hut faster and more evenly, plus it will be convenient to dry things around it. And in terms of fire protection, this placement option is safer. Photos of hunting huts in the taiga with an oven and without can be easily found and viewed in the article.
Mice and larger animals
Hut It should be equipped with a tightly closing door that can be locked from the inside to prevent the free access of wild animals. Also, hooks for hanging supplies should be equipped inside the ceiling, since placing them on shelves or hanging on the wall, you risk losing everything, because mice are wonderful acrobats, and in this case they can easily get to the food. One and a half liter plastic bottles can be used to catch mice. They need to be strengthened at a slope near the corner and the wall with the neck up. The mouse will certainly climb inside the bottle, but it will not be able to crawl out.
Unwritten rules of conduct in hunting huts
The unwritten rules for those who fish in the taiga and hunting huts left unattended for some time have long been in force, in accordance with these rules they must have a supply of firewood, salt, matches and essentials. It is not customary to lock such houses. The door should be tightly closed, but not locked. Perhaps someday someone thanks to this will be able to save his life. Also, if you need to spend the night in such a hut, behave yourself in it decently, like visiting a good friend. Do not litter, be careful with other people's property. Before leaving, clean up, hang supplies on the ceiling, and if you have your own with you - do not take the master's. Update your supply of firewood. The hunter's hut in the taiga should be ready to meet the next wanderer. Also someday some taiga traveler will take care of your house. In the taiga, it is customary to help and help each other out.