Trapping Camp 01/31/15

We had planned to do our trapping camp the first weekend in January. Weather became a significant issue so we cancelled that trip.

Nature rules.

Safety, especially working with young woodcraft students, is always our first priority.

In the case of that planned trapping camp, what we would have had would have been a good braving the elements survival exercise. Valid enough ... a needed and extremely educational training exercise. But it would have been a really sore test of the skills levels of the group. A little passing shower on a picnic is one thing. A sub-tropical winter deluge ahead of an approaching cold front is another scenario altogether.

So we got it together on pretty short notice to do a trapping camp this past weekend, something that we needed to do within the respected time-frame perimeters allowed by the game regulations. I had already scouted out a few good set locations that offered the potential for catching something overnight.

Not only would the class be learning something new. The outing presented an opportunity for the class to practice already learned woodcraft skills in a woodland environment. It also provided an opportunity for me to observe and study on their personal progress and development. I observe their ability to perform efficiently and effectively the basic skills and, at this point, pretty much leave them alone to go about practicing those tasks. Those, for the most part, are simple skills.

Basic skills areas where they are having some difficulty, if they will pause and take time to think about what they are doing … if they will remember what they have been taught … if they will think through their own past successes and think through the steps that assured those successes … and practice … they can accomplish them on their own and garner deeper levels of personal confidence – levels that are not achieved if the challenge is averted by intervention.

Weaknesses are thereby developed into strengths.

Practice is the key.

Therein lies success.

Always.

There is something else beyond those sets of skills that I am observing.

It has to do with being interested in and adapting to nature and her natural surroundings. It has to do with their awareness of their surroundings … not only the few hazards to be encountered in a woodland but also the myriad of natural sights, sounds, and smells unnoticed by most people but offered to all people. It has to do with transition and adaptability. It has to do with discovering and embracing a oneness with and appreciation of the natural environment rather than living against it … surviving against it … as though it is some kind of a constant foe to be conquered at all cost.

A lot of people are learning skills these days. That is a good thing. People need to be learning these things. But honestly transitioning? There is not much of that, at least in my observation, going on. It is a life changing transition … a way of life transition … that is more caught than taught.

It was a great weekend for a camp. Any kind of camp.

We walked in at noon on Saturday and had plenty of time to casually go about setting up. There was no urgency. The weather was ideal.

I took time to make myself a cup of tea then come mid-afternoon I took the guys out to make three trap sets – (1) A baited PVC pipe set, (2) A flat-set in front of an active den, (3) A baited dog-proof.

My main goal was the actual demonstration of making these particular sets with a particular target animal in mind.

Coon. Pound for pound? I am of the opinion that it is the meanest critter walking the woods.

They were all three made on good locations with plenty of potential for catching ole bandit. We would know in the morning what we had to deal with. If one caught something we would have a nice block of instruction to present about dealing with a catch in a trap. Then further instruction on how to deal with the catch once we got it back to camp. One catch would make for plenty of demonstration.

Three? That would make for a good bit more work. Especially with rain in the forecast for late morning.

It was not, for me, startling or frightening … all the happy howling and yipping that pack of coyotes did when they got started about a hundred yards or so from our little hilltop tarp camp. It was musical with a bit of an eeriness to it. I knew they had been frequenting the area. Folks around have heard them. I have seen their tracks and scat. One of them is quite large for a coyote. A couple of medium sized. A few smaller ones. I was hoping they would run through that bottom overnight and make a little noise. I always enjoy the sounds of coyotes in the night. They came by and cut loose at 3:30. It made for a short night of sleep for some of the guys that straight away got up and got a fire going to keep the wild world out of the camp.

Predawn in the woods. That bite of chill in the air. A nice bed of coals from the night fire stirred and glowing red, some tinder and kindling added, and the resulting small flame that soon turns into a good warming fire that chases away the chill. The earliest signs of daybreak followed not long after by the first chirp of an early bird.

There is a solitude, a peacefulness, about it that is almost mystical … an experience that has no equal … vicarious, counterpart, or otherwise. This experience is the Real McCoy.

Coffee.

Breakfast.

The traps were waiting for us.

I had a little group talk with the guys and explained to them that we needed to be quiet as we went about this chore. If something was caught and upset we did not want to do anything to excite or alarm the animal as we walked in and approached it. We would check the traps in the order that we set them … check the line.

The guys were excited and anxious. I was too. That’s one of the things about trapping. You simply do not know what you will discover when you check the traps. It might be something you set for. It might be something you would rather not to have to deal with. It might be the critters were smarter than you and figured a way around your traps. Coons have been known to dig traps up and move them out of their way. It might be nothing at all and no sign of anything being there. You just don’t know until you get to the set. Then you know.

No catches. The 3rd trap, the dog proof, had a visitor during the night. It helped itself to a good few tastes of the bait but stopped helping itself to an easy meal just short of the trigger.

Finding empty traps still provided an opportunity for a brief block of instruction.

I explained to the guys that despite our best efforts, ultimately catching depends upon the animal. We do our best. We hope to catch. The rest is up to them. I explained to them that all three of the sets were good sets that would catch. Maybe not the first night. Maybe not the second. It might be the third night. Our responsibility was to keep checking them every 24 hours. It is both ethical and legal. I summed up our little impromptu “real time” meet-the-need block of instruction saying that if we were in a genuine survival situation we’d better get started digging for roots and grubs if we were going to eat.

Self-Reliant Living

I have made the statement that somewhere, sometime, somebody is going to discover their self in a genuine survival situation where coming through it alive, or getting through it as comfortably as possible until they are rescued or able to self-rescue, will depend upon their knowledge, developed skills, and the ability to recognize and utilize available resources.

It happens all the time.

None of us are immune to the possibility while most of us have grown so comfortable in this age of ease and convenience that we give the possibility little or no thought.

It might be me and mine. It might be you and yours. With the craziness going on in the world today, life could change suddenly and dramatically for entire cities, regions, or even the continent. The situation could be a short-term event involving a few days or weeks that is easy enough to prepare for in advance. Some possible scenarios have long-term ramifications that require a lot more advanced preparation, a lot more savvy, and an assortment of simple human powered tools for the long-term.

Somewhere, sometime, somebody.

This reality is simply an aspect of the nature of the beast. Today … tomorrow … next month … next year … ten years down the road … ? Who knows?

I certainly do not claim to know. What I will claim is the opinion that uncertainty ought to generate motivation to consider the possible scenarios and ambition to take the necessary steps in advance to prepare for the short and long term ramifications of the possible scenarios. Cans on the shelves, gear in the closet, and tools in the shed is a good start in the process. There is more to it. A lot more.

It takes a generous investment of time for one thing. It also involves tenaciousness for another thing.

There is something of a monetary investment when it comes to gear and tools. Not really that bad of one if you go about it with some practical sense. It is, in my mind, more of a time issue in this age where time has become a precious commodity.

Time?

There really are no tricks or shortcuts that get around it. Learning is a long drawn out process that requires a generous investment of time. Woodcraft and its related self-reliance skills can be fairly easily taught to those willing to invest the time to learn and practice, to those willing to get some dirt, smoke, and smut (and a few other things) on their hands and clothes. We are not talking about learning neurosurgery or doing atomic research.

Self-reliance?

In a world where we are taught to be everything but self-reliant?

Not so easy to teach.

Sure. There are a lot of things that can be taught about self-reliant living. There are a lot of assorted skills associated it … skills our ancestors knew, relied upon, and lived well by … skills that the modern ease and convenience machine has robbed most of us of. Rediscovering, learning, practicing, and efficiently utilizing these self-reliance skills as a “normal” part of daily life in these modern times, is something of an exploration and pioneering effort where there is always something new to learn.

And let me tell you … from experience … there are plenty of well-intentioned people on multiple fronts that will frown on and do what they can to discourage your effort. The rest of the world does not understand or operate on the self-reliant scheme of life. This is where the tenaciousness comes into play. Hobbying around with something is one thing. Lifestyle is a whole different ballgame.

Self-reliance is, however, more of a showing than a telling. It is more of a catching than a teaching. Self-reliance is more of a mental attitude than a skill … more of a rediscovery of something innate that parents, peers, and progress have a tendency to discourage in their perception of our “best interest.”

I can embrace it.

I can talk about it.

I can live it as fully as I possibly can.

But it is one of those areas that folks have to individually grow into … one of those areas where a lot of layers of impressed and concretized socially engineered ideals have to be jack hammered away by individuals willing to dare to be individuals … individuals willing to dare to go against the popular flow … individuals willing to dare to hang on their own hook.

Self-Reliance

Life in our modern times definitely has its perks. It has its conveniences. It has its own brand of skills sets that acclimate and accommodate us to the trends and technology that give this age its character.

This is, like it or not, the computer age.

Even the phone that I carry. Smart. Checks my email. Calls up the weather. GPS and road maps. Internet. Applications of all sorts that can be downloaded and accessed at the touch of the screen. Camera and video recorder. A portable phone that is a whole lot more than a phone. I have grown accustomed to it. I use it a lot. I hate to say it but I have, in some ways, become dependent upon the smart technology it provides.

Modernity and all its smart technology? I like it and I do not like it … all in the same breath.

I admit it. I am inclined toward being a dinosaur when it comes to all this modern technology but I am forced by the times to keep up the pace though I am, more often than not, out of breath and trotting behind trying to stay in sight of the tail end of the pack that is running wildly ahead.

My preference is for simpler … a lot simpler … a lot less fraught … where life can be enjoyed at a slower pace … where simple self-reliant woodcraft skills trump all the smarts offered in the gadgets and gizmos that govern modern life.

I think this personal preference is one of the things that draws me to folk like Nessmuk, Kephart, and that vast host of woodsy pilgrims and pioneers. Some of them left behind written legacies. Most, though, are unsung heroes whose lives were never chronicled in pictures and on written pages … the forgotten ones … like many of my ancestors being discovered through Shirli’s genealogical research. Those were some courageous souls. Knowing the recorded history of those early Colonial times it is quite easy to surmise the physical challenges they faced and the will they lived with to overcome those challenges.

It is not difficult to show folk basic woodcraft skills … those four areas that cover fire, water, shelter, and food … areas that may indeed utilize some modern materials in our kits … areas though that do not depend upon the technology designed into smart phones and other computerized gadgetry. It takes only a little time, a few days, to walk a group into a wilderness setting where putting these skills to work is a short-term necessity. That experience is a step in the right direction. It is, however, merely a step, especially where the food item is concerned. Staying fed in a long-term situation is a full-time job.

Self-reliance is developed.

I think we are born with it in our nature. I also think our self-reliant nature is something that is discouraged by this modern culture that promotes pack sameness and something that is discouraged and dumbed down early in life. That element in our nature has to be individually rediscovered and positively developed.

Sure the skills can be taught to those willing to invest the time and effort in learning them. But becoming self-reliant is something that is developed over time. Self-reliance involves a skills set. It is, however, more than a set of skills. It is a concrete mindset. It is a developed lifestyle that folk rediscover and grow into. It is something that sets us apart from the rest of the pack.

Skills? I can teach them.

Mindset and lifestyle? No. I cannot teach these.

I can only show them.

Record Keeping and Upcoming Trapping Camp

Record keeping.

I have for a lot of years kept a small notebook and writing instrument in my shirt pocket. It is handy to have for jotting notes and numbers from time to time. I prefer one with a sewn binding. The little spiral wire bound ones do not hold up and tend to lose pages. Waterproof versions are available though they cost a good bit more.

Sure. That little notebook in my pocket is old school. Smart technology has fairly well replaced it. Smart technology is great but it has a way of letting you down deep in the woods when the battery runs out of juice.

A small notebook and something to scribble with, in my mind anyway, should be part of our kit … whether it is carried in a shirt pocket or in a pack. Mental notes have a tendency, even on a good day, to get lost in the barrage of mental notes that pile up. On a bad day … in unfamiliar territory … when health and safety depend on remembering a particular rock or tree or bush … it is wise to have some things mapped on paper.

One of the things that I mentioned to the guys on our early winter adventure on the Conecuh trail was the importance of journaling … keeping a written record of their experiences that they can look back on as a means to chart their progress and personal growth. Having a designated woodcraft journal also provides a place to jot down questions that arise and answers to those questions that are discovered by either asking someone or taking the time to research a discovery.

I also mentioned to the guys that I would be providing them with some questions to answer as a starting point in their journals. Write the question. Think about the question. Answer the question.

These are questions that I will be asking again around our evening fire at our trapping camp that is coming up.

1.    What was the most enjoyable thing you experienced in your wilderness experience on the Conecuh Trail?

2.    Why was it the most enjoyable?

3.    What was the most difficult thing about your wilderness experience?

4.    Why was it the most difficult?

5.    What can you do between now and the Late Winter Camp to be more prepared?

Our trapping camp is scheduled for January 3-4 provided winter rains do not flood the bottoms making it impossible to hike in.

Kits are definitely required. Dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Individual students will be responsible for building their own cook fires and preparing their own supper and breakfast.

We will hike in from Jude’s.

Schedule:

Saturday

Hike in promptly at 12:00

Establish an overnight camp

Set traps

Cook fires and supper prep

Evening campfire and group discussion

Sunday

Breakfast fires and breakfast

Run the traps

Deal with the catch

Pack and hike out

Boots On The Trail - Early Winter Camp

There is a world of difference between hearing about something, reading something, watching something, rehearsing something and physically getting out there doing something where everything you have heard, read, watched and rehearsed must be reliably put into practice.

Advance preparation is always a critical ingredient for any endeavor worth adventuring into. This is especially true when it comes to walking off into wild natural places where the conveniences, comforts, and controls of home are left behind.

Our trip this past weekend, one involving a slightly challenging hike in, was an opportunity for the guys to put into practice the hearing, reading, watching and rehearsing they have been doing over the course of these past months of classes and exercises. It was much more than that though. It was an immersion … a baptism of sorts … into an environment that was completely different from any they were familiar with … one that moved not according to our dictates but rather according to its own design where our abilities to manipulate conditions are totally ineffective.

I did not measure the distance on the map. It was, I am guessing, between two and three miles from where we parked to where we set camp. I had no set schedule. No set teaching program in my pocket. The lack thereof was not neglect or oversight on my part. It was intentional.

I was not interested in putting together a highly regimented weekend for the group that kept them jumping through hoops to satisfy my own leadership expectations and stroke my ego. I was more interested in this long weekend being a major disruption of their normal regimented life-routine, something that would be replete with its own lessons.

We were not in a hurry. Well, we did kind of hurry to get under our shelters when that rain came through Saturday afternoon. The rain did not last long. Just long enough to get things nice and wet to add a touch of challenge to things. But that is one aspect of being out there where we do not have a control panel. The only real time factor that I paid any mind to was making sure the supper cooking was done and water containers were full of processed water before dark.

Despite the lack of a syllabus or regimentation there were numerous opportunities for impromptu sessions and critiques. There was time for the guys to hike the mile to the pond and fish. There was time for me to slip off to squirrel hunt and explore. It is a good thing we carried rations with us.

Sure. There is a need for guidance and structured teaching. The established basics are fairly well set in stone. I think though that Montessori was onto something important and that, where learning these skills and developing proficiency and confidence in wilderness settings is concerned, more of the Montessori System that develops personal initiative is appropriate not only for children but also for adults. Not only where woodcraft skills are concerned but for all of life.

There is a lot that can be taught. There is a lot though that has to be caught through personal experience and those aha moments that arise on their own through personal experience where personal experience becomes the greatest and most gifted teacher. It is not what is taught and parroted back that is the best measure of growth and development. No. It is what is caught that truly grows and matures a person … whether they are ten or fifty years old.

It was, and is, my hope that some catching took place over the course of the long weekend. I did a little catching myself. I also had the opportunity to do a lot of observation and make some mental notes where this group is concerned … mental notes about some things that I am familiar with and take in stride as givens in wilderness settings that the unbaptized are not familiar with.

One of these has to do with the way our senses, especially our sense of hearing, seem to suddenly come alive when we bed down out there on the ground deep in the woods far away from our familiar security blankets. We hear every sound and the sounds we hear are not the sounds we tune out at home because of our familiarity with them.

Those physical senses … sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing … are ours for significant reasons. We are not, at least on this continent, far from the top of the food chain. Our hunter/gatherer ancestors in a more primitive world depended on their senses much more keenly than we do in the modern world we live in. When we take ourselves out of the modern world picture and place ourselves in a more primitive environment those senses instinctively begin kicking in.

The guys did good. They did really good and I am proud of them. I have to admit though that they had a worn and weary look when they crawled out of their shelters Monday morning. It had been an adventure but they were about adventured out and ready to pack it in.

There was a side of me that did not want to roll up. I took my time, swallowed a 600 calorie breakfast of cereal/fruit bars for a blast of energy, finished that second canteen cup of instant coffee, loaded my pack, and hiked out with them. Had I stayed behind it would have been a long walk home. 

Packing For The Early Winter Trek

We are a few short weeks away from our Early Winter Trek that will take place December 5 – 8 on the Conecuh Trail in the Conecuh National Forest.

One of the objectives of this trek is for our students to have a multiple day-night experience in a wilderness setting where putting their learned skills to work will be a necessity. Part of putting these skills to work involves the mental gear shifting that occurs over a lengthened period of time in a wilderness setting … something that does not happen in a series of three hour classes or an overnight camp in a park setting.

Other than procuring and processing water … we will not be relying on the wilderness to provide all of our necessary food items. That would be an exercise this class is not ready for. We may indeed supplement our packable food items with small game and fish as part of the experience but we will not be relying on them as our sole sustenance.

So here are some easy to prepare suggestions for packable food items for the trek.

Morning

Packets of instant grits

Breakfast bars

Powdered breakfast beverage

Mid-Day

Trail mix

Jerky

Dried fruit

Cup-of-Soup

Evening

Ramen

Dehydrated mix for soup

Bannock mix

Packets of hot-chocolate mix 

The pre-packaged Mountain House meals we have tried are quick and easy to prepare. Simply boil water, add the measured amount of water to the package, seal the package, and wait ten minutes.

I suggest that each day of measured rations be packaged separately in zip lock bags. The zip locks make the rations waterproof. Separate daily packaging also makes daily supplies of rations easy to dispense and account for to avoid borrowing from tomorrow to eat more today.

There is definitely a practical lesson in personal dietary discipline involved in this multiple day-night exercise.

One of the easiest ways to up your daily calorie intake is to pack along a few candy bars. One regular size Snickers contains 250 calories and occupies very little room in a food packet.

Hygiene and First-Aid

Be sure your kit contains hygiene and first aid items. Keep it simple … toilet paper, toothbrush, a few Band-Aids, a few Tylenol.

Clothing

Be prepared for come what may.

Layer your clothing and wear clothing designed to retain body heat.

A good winter weight coat may not be necessary during the day when the sun is out but once the sun goes down, or if the skies cloud up and it is rainy, a winter weight coat is a good thing to have. It can easily be rolled and tied to the outside of a pack to save room within.

Adequate headgear is important. Include a stocking cap to wear as part of your sleeping gear.

Be sure to pack a complete change of clothes in a dry bag in your kit.

Although not as critical in warm weather, in cooler weather a poncho of some type is important to keep dry and to protect your core temperature if it rains.

Wear some blaze orange … at least a hat.

This is not a legal requirement but one suggested by the Wildlife Authorities that oversee the area of the forest we will be in. It is a solid safety practice. I do not anticipate anyone getting lost. However, if the need arises, the extra visibility is a real plus in locating someone.

NOTE –

Now is the time to inventory and inspect your kits.

You have been using your kits in class settings over this while. Check them over. Make sure all of your essential kit items are in good working order. Now is the time to make repairs or upgrade kit items.

Staying Fed

There are quite a number of variables to take into consideration in a wilderness setting. A good many of these can be somewhat duplicated in a backyard, developed site setting, or patch of woods close to home.

Somewhat. But not totally.

We find ourselves in a very different world when we leave development behind and wander off into the wilderness with a few modern material-goods on our backs. Even if it is only a half-day or a good-day hike back to some means of getting back to the settlements.

Wilderness is wild.

Wild is completely foreign to the vast majority of folks these days.

That wildness is something that once called to a lot of people. A good many answered its calling and off they went exploring, pioneering, hunting and running trap lines, hewing out little clearings, using the natural material to construct shelters, making clothing and other usable materials from animal hides, and living out their days and years respecting and cooperating with the wild. Those earlier than our times folks had developed skills-sets that made it possible for them to leave settlements behind and live well in the wilderness for extended periods of time.

Times have changed a lot with the progress of modernity. Are we better off or worse off? I say we are both. Our gain contributes to our loss. One of our challenges in these modern times is to rediscover and recover what we have lost in all this progress. We are, at least we can be, as much explorers and pioneers in our times as they were in those earlier times. If we want to be and if we will only accept the challenge.

Going bare bones … going primitive … at least going primitive in a modern-primitive sort of way … involves a major psychological adjustment for folks accustomed to their cravings for electronic entertainments and the comforts and conveniences that comprise life in these modern times. Not many are willing to trade their gizmos and gadgets for the scree of a hawk, the chatter of a squirrel, the breeze blowing through the trees, falling leaves, the sound of a chiseling woodpecker beak, and the myriad of other sights, sounds, and smells that fill natural environments.

Whether out for a day hike, off on an overnight camp, doing a long extended woods trek, or discovering yourself in a dire long-term survival situation … there are some rules that always apply.

Rules of Three

Three minutes without air.

Three hours without shelter.

Three days without water.

Three weeks without food.

Beware of small air-tight spaces.

Making fire, if you have the tools needed to generate the combustion of some fine tinder material, is not all that difficult. It can be, given marginal or adverse conditions, a bit of a challenge. But it is still doable.

Shelter shades us from the sun, breaks the chilling effects of the wind, turns water from the sky, and offers protection from the dew that forms at night.

Without adequate hydration we are toast.

Fire, Shelter, Water, Food

We come now to this business of staying adequately fed and there is a lot more to this item on our list of actual needs than can be dealt with in a brief article on the subject. So what follows is not an exhaustive summary and does not take into consideration the plethora of packables that we can purchase ready made or manufacture in our kitchens.

A planned outing always takes food into consideration. It is easy to accommodate this need when you have the space to pack a cooler and room for a few shopping bags of goods picked up on the way. It gets a little sticky when your means of conveyance becomes your feet and legs and that pack on your back. Weight and space become a major issue … not nearly as big a one for a weekend as it is for longer treks or long-term survival in wilderness settings.

Wild Edibles

I mention wild edibles because they are a resource that surrounds us.

No. I do not consider myself an “authority” on the subject of wild edibles. What I have done though is educate myself regarding what is local to our area. Some of it grows in other areas. Some of it does not. Other climates have offerings that are not available in ours. The fact of the matter is that there is nutritious wild food growing around us wherever we are … food that could be essential in sustaining our lives … food that can, at the least, be foraged as a supplement to what we are carrying.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are plants that will make you violently ILL if ingested. There are plants that will KILL you if ingested. Some plants require particular types of processing to render them edible. Do your homework before you eat a wild plant. You are the one that is liable for your health when you swallow it.

Eating a “weed” is a little scary at first. Even with a good field guide with color pictures. It is just not something we are accustomed to doing. Once you have positively identified a wild edible and tasted it a few times you find yourself doing quite a bit of grazing even when grazing is not necessary.

Part of the challenge is learning to identify and utilize wild edibles. Another part of the challenge is to adjust to the seasonal nature of things, just like that garden of raised beds that we tend. Things in the wild are seasonal also. As seasons change so do the available resources.

Regardless of the climate region one lives in, a mental page of a selection of wild edibles ought to be embedded in a memory bank.

Hunting

Hunting has always been a way of life for me. Not so much in the way it has been commercialized and marketed in the magazines and mega sporting goods stores where it has become big business. Mine is more along the lines of subsistence hunting … procuring meat for the table whether it is small game or deer.

By the time I was ten years old I was already a skilled small game hunter going solo into the woods and fields armed with an old single shot .22 and some “shorts” or a .410 shotgun. I had access to those guns 24/7. They were never locked away in a safe or rendered useless by trigger locks. I had been taught to use them for their designed purpose, used them regularly to that end, and often casually wandered miles from home with gun in hand … exploring … just to see what I could see.

Hunting small game is still my favorite type of hunting. Maybe because it hearkens me back to my childhood days when life was a lot simpler, back when a mile or two away from home seemed like a long way.

Ten? That was over fifty years ago. Times have changed a lot in five decades. A ten year old kid wandering miles from home these days with a gun in his/her hand is apt to be picked up by the police and their parents charged as criminals.

Small game is the most practical game to procure on a trek where hunting is allowed. Small game is also the easiest and most practical game to pursue in what is termed a “survival” situation. There are several reasons that I consider practical requirements here.

It is abundant.

It is easy to kill.

It is easy to process.

It provides a compact serving size.

A large game sized animal such as a deer … though it provides a generous amount of meat and a good hide that can be utilized … does not readily meet these practical requirements. There is a lot more meat to a deer, even to a smaller deer that bones out 20 pounds of good meat. Keeping that extra meat “good” in a wilderness setting and turning that hide into something useful involves more sets of important skills.

Fishing

A few assorted small hooks. Some line. Maybe a few split shot weights and a bobber. These take up very little space and add very little weight to a pack.

Our woodland environment is full of bait. A little digging around deadfalls and under dead bark will yield grubs and earthworms. During warm weather there are plenty of crickets and grasshoppers to be caught.

Walking into our outdoor class site yesterday I noticed a bird feather on the ground. Blue Jay. Something as simple as a bit of bird feather tied to a hook turns the hook into a fly that will catch fish.

A hook baited with some innards from a squirrel or rabbit and tossed out overnight may very well have a catfish or freshwater eel on it before morning.

Trapping

We had a few old rusty single spring traps on the farm when I was kid. I played around with them a little but was never successful as a child-trapper and lost interested in them.

I must have been in my late 30’s or early 40’s when an old man in the shipyard where I was working offered me a piece of coon that he had cooked. One bite and I knew that some traps would soon be on their way to my house.

Traps involve a small investment. The nice thing about them is that once you have them you have them and you can use them over and over. A little care and maintenance and traps will last long enough to pass on to the next generation coming along on our heels … if some of them will only take an interest. Otherwise the little pile of steel is apt be hauled off as scrap iron and that would be a real pity.

There are basically two types of steel traps … foot hold traps and kill traps. Both types come in various sizes depending upon the target animal being trapped. One smart invention to come along in the evolution of traps is the dog proof coon trap. DP’s are good news for free ranging domestic dogs that their owners ought to be keeping home.

I recently added a half dozen DP’s to my trap collection and look forward to setting a few just as soon as it is legal season.

The weight and bulk of steel traps, with the exception of the small single-spring 110 Conibear style kill-trap, make them impractical to include in a kit.

Every kit should already contain the items necessary to construct snares … CORDAGE. Along with cordage in my kit I also carry a dozen or so 18” fishing leaders that make excellent small snares when attached to a length of #36 tarred bank line. The leaders roll and pack easily in a snuff can.

Two things about snares … . 

They are effective and, in most cases and places, they are not a legal means to harvest game. 

If you discover yourself in a survival situation you do what you have to do in order to stay fed! Legal or not. In one of those situations I would rather come through it fed and healthy and maybe find myself paying a little dividend to the State for my legal transgression than for my loved ones to discover themselves making arrangements with the Undertaker.

Practice is the rule.

Every skill requires practice.

Practice requires a commitment of time.

This rule applies to trapping as well as it does to fire-making and every other skill.

Every skill category involves learning and understanding its component aspects. Learning and understanding these aspects demands paying attention to details if success is to be an expected outcome. Neglecting what may appear as a small detail is a sure way to failure. Failure to succeed in a dire situation is not something anyone can afford.