Beginning Their Woodcraft Journey

There are situations that arise that test our abilities to survive and come out alive on the other side. These situations can happen to any of us. It is fortunate for us that they do not happen often. The remotely slim chance that we will find ourselves in one of these situations is still reason enough to develop a set of skills and have the necessary resources readily at hand to be able to tell our story rather than have our story added to a list of fatality statistics.

I got bad turned around hunting in a big river swamp a few years ago. It is easy to get into trouble when surroundings are unfamiliar and every tree and bottom looks the same.

I was a mile from the truck when the leading edge of a cold front hit. Thunder and lightning. Rain. I started out in the right direction making my way to the truck. It did not take long for me to realize I was in trouble. I dug out my compass and it told me what I did not want to know. I was headed in the opposite direction from where the truck was. I made the correction. Another ten minutes and the same feeling of being in trouble hit me. My compass told me I was again headed north when I was supposedly traveling south. I kept my compass in my hand following its leading after that and shortly picked up the trail to the truck.

Owning one’s skills and possessing confidence cannot be downplayed. Spend a little time getting out and about in the woods and before you know it nature is going to throw a round of something at you. That something is not so bad when you are in a campground not far from the vehicle. Get a day or two away from the vehicle and that same something appears to have a good bit more intensity to it.

I view woodcraft from a broader perspective than survival. I do not mean to singe anyone’s tail feathers. I do, however, see this as much more than pitting ourselves against nature, or even against some possible situation, as though nature and difficult situations are foes to contend with. I view woodcraft as a way of life that involves me personally with nature in a self-reliant-participant sort of way.

Humans are not apart from nature. Humans are a part of nature. Difficult situations are only calamities for those that are unprepared to deal with them. One of our problems as modern culture humans is that we have so isolated ourselves from nature, and the situations it can present, that nature has become a foreign entity to us.

Our mentoring class met yesterday morning and made close to a ¾ mile hike into the classroom.

As we walked I talked about always practicing situational awareness … always know what is under your feet, around, and over you … that the best way to avoid being bitten by a venomous snake is to always expect to be bitten and you will always be looking for it and see it before it has a chance to bite. We do have plenty of them around, especially the Moccasin variety. I also emphasized that constantly practicing situational awareness causes one to move a lot slower ... that we see and hear a lot more when we are taking our time and our movement is slower.

We looked at and collected various tinder materials as we walked. After I gave a flint and steel fire making demonstration the guys collected their kindling, built their birds nests, and used some char cloth and a spark from a ferro rod to get their fires going. They did good considering after the dense morning fog everything collected was still damp.

After building their fires without the aid of a match or bic lighter, I showed the guys how to use a tarp, three stakes, a few short pieces of paracord to construct a quick diamond fly, and then turned them loose on constructing theirs. They did good.

At the conclusion of the class I was asked … “What are we going to do for the next class?”

I told the guys, “We’re going to hike back here and the first thing we’re going to do is … me and Shirli are going to sit over there, drink coffee, and watch while you duplicate on your own what I have taught you to do today. Then we will do a little something to build on what you’ve learned.”

Water. Fire. Shelter. Food. The four basic essentials.

Food. I’ve got some squirrel in the freezer. I think I will introduce the class to squirrel meat next time out.