It was back in the 30’s when the Civilian Conservation Corps arrived on the scene in the piney woods of Monroe County. Their project? Build
a 2,000 acre park. The result of their work became the Claude D. Kelly State
Park. The park … as it is now … if memory serves me correctly … occupies 900
acres.
The Corps built the dam and spillway that backed up the
headwaters of Little River, not more than a creek sized flow, to form the lake.
They hewed out the campgrounds and built the bridges. They constructed three
cabins, the original lean-to toilet facility, and the original ranger station
beside the lake. The gazebo, built in 1935, still sits on a scenic piney knoll
in the woods to the north. You can get there by hiking either the dirt road or
the trail.
Only one of the original cabins is still standing and used
as a rental. The other two, over the years, fell victim to fires. Their stone
chimneys and foundation piers remain as sentinels keeping watch over their
stories and honoring their lives. Look closely and you can see where CCC
workers from around the country etched their names, dates, and home States in
the wet concrete they were working with.
The Alabama Trail Hiking Society maintains the Gazebo Trail
and the Bell Trail. Both are pleasant short hikes and are incorporated into the
plans being worked on by the Society. The product will be The Alabama Trail … a
non-motorized unpaved foot pathway … a long walk from the Fort Morgan Peninsula
to the Walls of Jericho on the Alabama-Tennessee State Line … 550 miles.
The place is one of the gems of Southwest Alabama. As nice
as the place is now for someone looking for a quiet spot to spike a camp … it
must have really been something back in the day before camping morphed into
what most people utilize as its modern counterpart where camping is little more
than an extension of all the other modern conveniences of home.
I arrived at the gatehouse at 10:30, checked in, and made my
way to our favorite primitive site at the back left in the primitive area.
Setting up for our weekend school would be no major chore. Get the fly up, roll
out my bed-roll in the back of the truck, scrounge a few sticks, and we’d be
good to go for the weekend. The first drops of rain were falling. I got a
pretty good soaking before the fly was up and was sitting there watching and
listening to the rain.
Not a bad start at all for a weekend camp of wilderness
survival skills instruction. It was, in fact, rather appropriate.
Our friends and fellow participants in the weekend school
arrived and had their camps set up before the weather took a turn and let loose
on us. Rain … and a pretty fair amount of lightning that was close enough to
increase the sense of climatological ambiance in the camp. The fortunate side
of the deal was that there were no high winds or cyclonic activity to add their
touch to the ambiance.
Rain?
Something akin to a mini-deluge that lasted an hour or so. Then
come and go showers that lasted a while. It took only a few minutes to saturate
the woodland setting and for the fire pit that I had dug to fill with water.
That was the worst of the weather. The rest of the weekend
remained mainly overcast with occasional brief periods of light drizzle.
I whittled on kindling while we sat under the fly and
conversed on topics related to our weekend school. Once the rain had let up
enough to go about it, I dug around in my kit for the essential fire making
components that I needed, sparked a piece of charred cloth with a rock and my
fire steel, and blew a tinder bundle into a flame that got our evening fire
going. More conversing at length into the night on related topics until a
candle had burned short.
First up on the learning curve Saturday morning was a simple
peg-type snare trigger to use as an unbaited trail set.
The cordage for the snare is made from #36 tarred line that
utilizes a self-tightening slip knot. The self-tightening aspect serves two
purposes. (1) It doesn’t loosen and securely holds the animal. (2) Struggling
against the snare, or the weight of the animal once it is lifted by the sapling
spring into the air, is a quick and humane death.
One of our weekend participants had participated in a class
that we did earlier in the month and demonstrated how to whittle this trigger
and employ it as a food catching tool. That’s the sort of thing that I like
about what I do in these classes and schools. I show people how to do things.
They reproduce what I’ve shown them. And they show it to others. Thank you,
Karen, for volunteering your demonstration over the weekend.
Our other participants then collected their whittling
materials, followed the example they had been shown, and demonstrated their
trigger-snare reproductions.
I gave a demonstration on constructing and employing a
baited figure-four trigger that utilizes a spring mechanism (sapling or
overhanging limb). The folks rounded up their whittling stock, reproduced the
three component parts, and demonstrated their function.
There are a lot of different triggers that can be
constructed and employed. Some of them get a little complicated. I like the
K.I.S.S. principle. Keep it simple. These two triggers … one trail set and one
baited set … can be creatively modified in size to accommodate any land animal
of any size in our geographic area. Both of them, after whittling a couple,
take hardly any time to manufacture. They can be made on the spot or a few can
be manufactured while sitting in camp whittling away time.
These two, for coon sized and smaller animals, can be easily
manufactured with nothing more than the items that are prescribed as component items
in our kits. Pigs and deer are going to require some stronger cordage or cable
… items not normally in a kit but could be possibly scrounged … and bigger
stock for the triggers and engines that power them.
I recommend that novices leave the pigs and deer alone.
Feral swine can make a mess of you in a hurry with their
tusks. Deer antlers and hooves can do likewise. Unless you have a good catch
around the neck your prey is apt to be alive and plenty ticked off when you
come for it.
There is also a lot more work in processing a large animal.
Unless you need the hide and are capable of processing and preserving the meat
in a wilderness setting it is best, novice or not, to focus on small game that
is abundant in these woods. There is another safety factor to take into
consideration. A sapling that is strong enough to lift a coon, possum, or
rabbit off the ground may sting the heck out of you if your trigger slips. One
that will lift a pig or deer off the ground can deal you a blow that could be
possibly lethal.
In our classes I’ve used whatever sapling was handy to
demonstrate how the spring/engine works. In a real setting the sapling ideally
should be strong enough to lift the animal off the ground. (1) It makes it more
difficult for scavengers to pilfer your meat. (2) The weight of the animal
assists in the constriction of the snare insuring a quick death to lessen the
possibility of the animal chewing through the snare cordage.
Though not reflected in the photographs is the necessity of
constructing a cubby for the figure-four that blocks access to the bait on the
bait stick from the sides, back and top. We discussed this. Also not reflected
in the pictures is using sticks or debris to assist in channeling animals where
the unbaited set is used. This was also discussed.
I also recommend that latex or rubber glove be included in
kits.
Rabbits are known carriers of Tularemia (Rabbit Fever). Coons, and a number of other aggressive
fighting animals, are known carriers of rabies. Armadillos, though the chance
is extremely slim, are suspected carriers of Leprosy. Feral swine (if you do
handle them) are known carriers of brucellosis. There is also a host of
possible parasites.
Naturally avoid any animal that is obviously sick. Healthy
looking animals may be infected but not advanced to the point that it is
obvious. Any of these possible health
catastrophes are avoided though thorough cooking which destroys these possible problems. It
makes common sense, in getting these animals to the cooking stage, to wear a
little protection that eliminates the possibility of any of these predicaments
entering our bodies through scratches, cuts, or breaks in our skin.
One of our participants gave an informative and thorough
block of medical instruction on keeping things sterile, irrigating a wound to
flush out any foreign matter that may cause infection, and suturing. Following
the block of instruction we worked learning to tie the suturing knot. First
with a piece of cord. Then with smaller suturing material. Then we sewed up a
wounded mouse pad with a fine suture. Fine? The needle was tiny and I could
hardly see the string. Thank you, Brien, for this important block of education
that you brought to our weekend.
One of the things that I constantly emphasize is the issue
of safety.
Most injuries are avoidable. There a times though when
things happen. As long as we are around the corner from the E.R. or a doctor’s
office we are not in peril. Out there though … or in other situations where
medical personnel are not available? We become our own source of medical
attention. Having at least a nominal first aid kit with us is important. Having
a few simple tools normally employed by a doctor, along with knowing how to use
them to cleanse a wound and close it with stitches, is valuable knowledge.
We have already looked. These suturing supplies are
available in kits and in individual component parts online and will soon become
part of our own personal kits. These tools, should the need arise, will make
for a lot finer job than the needle and braided fishing line that I carry with
me.
While I am on the topic of first-aid. In the SAS Survival
Handbook by John Wiseman … one of the books that I highly recommend … there is
a section on first-aid in the field. Wiseman covers quite a few areas regarding
the subject. Staying read up on this subject, occasionally going over it
refreshing our memories, is a good practice for those of us that are not in the
medical profession practicing the medical craft on a regular basis.
The remainder of Saturday afternoon focused on fire making.
I went over the contents of the fire making kit that resides
in my main kit. There are a number of goodies in that bag.
We looked at numerous types of good tinder bundle material
that are abundant around us. We built our tinder bundles from these materials
and I demonstrated the rock and fire steel method using charred cloth. We
charred the end of a lamp wick and demonstrated how to ignite it with flint and
steel. We manufactured charred cloth and charred punk wood. With charred cloth
that we had freshly made each participant took their turn with a rock and a
simple steel made from a broken file. Loved seeing those smiles when first the
smoke appeared and then the flames broke loose.
There are numerous ways in my kit to get a fire going. Yes.
There are a couple of bic lighters and matches in waterproof containers in my
bag. Funny thing though. They rarely get used. I would much rather use either
primitive flint and steel or its modern counterpart … the ferro rod … to get a
fire going. Or a magnifying lens on a sunny day. Even in my own yard on a good day when it’s
not absolutely necessary. It’s a personal thing. It’s a practice thing. Though
I know how to do it I continue to practice.
A canvas fly hung from the back of a truck on the edge of
the woods? I think it makes a heck of a one room school house where learning
takes place. Not only that. I think it makes one heck of a living room with a
fire just outside where good friends sit around, converse on various themes,
share thoughts and feelings, and create good and lasting memories.
We covered a lot of good ground over the course of the weekend school. A lot more than can be covered in an after action report such as this.
It was raining on me when I was setting up. It started to
rain on me when it was time to start packing up and packing it home. I did not
consider it a nuisance. Not at all. I sat there under the fly while it rained …
processing in my own mind and being all that had transpired over the course of
the weekend. Savoring it. And thinking about the rabbit that slowly hopped its
way past us just a few minutes earlier before casually turning into the woods
and going on its undisturbed happy rabbit way.
Keep your cutting tools sharp, your fire kits dry, and keep
whittling those sticks.
