101 bits of bushcraft or wilderness wisdom

A few....

Trail boots and camp shoes.

Wind screen for your stove and a cozy for your pot.

If you have the space a insulated cup is king.

A can of Yard Guard in the TP kit saves your butt from pumps.

Permanone for your clothes and Ultrathon for your skin = tick free.

Bring a tooth brush.

Dr. Bronner's liquid soap cleans everything.

Always have two ways to purify water, boiling is the third.
 
DWK2 said:
To create overturned snowdrift lips pointing away from land, does the wind usually come off the ocean or the land? [Sorry---I'm having a little trouble visualizing it.]


This is a technique taught by Inuit elders and still used by hunters to this day, to help get their bearings if lost or if visibility is poor.
Reading ice and snow conditions is very important in a region where there are no (to us anyway) major visible landmarks.
Sorry I can't elaborate much on the mechanism, as I just don't know - only know that it works.
Wind direction in this part of Victoria Island anyway mostly comes from the land and blows towards the sea during winter, and reverses during Summer.

I'll drop in on the GF's grandfather and see if he's got the answers.
Click to expand...
 
Paper and a pencil stub. A couple or three sheets of 8-1/2 X 11 notebook paper and a sharpened down lead pencil in a baggie. Keep notes and map your route. If you get lost, even the briefest notes and maps will help. As in " started on top of ridge near car..down 3 hours , river curved south, followed meadow,," etc. :)You can also write your last will and testament as in "..My leg be broke and I an in a hole, I love you Mom. I leave everything to Sissy and Fluffy to Granma. :eek:
 
Chunk,

Thanks a lot. It sounds like wind coming off the land would direct the points toward the sea.

I've been inside the Circle a number of times but never out on the ice. Without the experience and knowledge of your elders, I'm sure a novice would be dead meat pretty quickly.

I appreciate the info,

DancesWithKnives
 
Don't pet the rattlesnakes :eek: or the scorpions. :(

But seriously, shake out your boots before you put them on in the morning. Critters like to make them home.
 
I know you're joking about the rattlers but I read that a surprisingly high percentage of rattler bite incidents involve alcohol. Like the old joke about the last thing a guy like me (redneck?) says to his buddy before an accident: "Hey Bubba, check this out!"

DancesWithKnives
 
If you're going to be in an area for a while, just climb up a ways, sit, and listen for a while. You might learn who else is out there with you.
 
Stop and listen. Quiet and calm.
 
If your in steep country and packing as heavy load - three legs are better than two! Whenever I'm hiking in the mountains I take a trekking pole.
 
1. a couple of great items for making/fixing things: super glue, twist ties, duct tape, hockey tape, zip ties, rubber bands
2. if you bring a fishing pole with, and it has cork handles, load them with polishing compound....not only does this help your grip when the handle gets wet but it makes a great strop for fillet and other knives
3. if possible, spool your paracord instead of just folding it up....this will save a tremendous amount of time since a bundle of paracord can tend to become a spiderweb of cord really quick
4. this may be obvious but rolling your clothing will allow you to pack more as well as keeping things from wrinkling
5. combat rolls are great....take two socks and lay them overlapping horizontally so that the toe on one sock is touching the heel on the other....then lay a t-shirt folded in half lengthwise on the ground and then lay a pair of underwear on top of the shirt....put the overlapping socks towards the top of the t-shirt/underwear and roll it up like a sleeping mat.....the socks should be sticking out on both sides....then fold each side of the socks over the roll like you would when you bundle a regular pair of socks....this will not only condense the entire bundle but it makes finding a change of the essentialls easier to find in your pack
6. having two belts is a nice way to go......one belt is through the loops on your pants and is for holding your pants up...the other is not through the loops and its where you attach all of your gear so that if it sags it won't pull you pants down too.....when nature calls its much easier to just take the outer belt off
7. along with #6....a couple of qualities that make the outer belt even better: quick-release buckles and pull-to-tighten adjustment.....and even one better is a fanny pack that has those two qualities so that now you have a built in pouch
8. if external frames are your thing(they are for me), it goes without saying that the exposed frame areas are great for attaching much used gear: knife sheaths, camera cases, duct/hockey tape rolls, spooled paracord, first aid kit, etc......granted this makes them more likely to catch on stuff but an external frame is usually that way anyway....this opens those pouches up for important gear like flasks;)
 
I've learned a lot about what to do (or more rightly what not to do) in the woods. Most of it is just taking a common sense approach to the woods.

However, the most absolutely invaluable resource for me personally has been Ernest Goes to Camp. Specifically, the first 30 seconds of the following video: this is the single most important wilderness advice I know.

http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=gMR9M379XEc
 
Ivory soap floats. I lost a bar of soap in the bottom of a lake once. Not with Ivory. Also , for some reason, channel cats like it.
 
Horace Kephart included a cryptic footnote in his book Woodcraft and Camping:

"Whoever wrote Deuteronomy was a good camper."

That footnote drove me nuts until I read Deuteronomy. Now, I agree completely.

Basically, the message is that a filthy camp is a sin, and adds that when you leave your camp to "take your ease", bury your shit.

Just a hunch, but I think that 40 years in the wilderness may have produced some skilled campers and good camping rules.
 
Chris_Norden said:
Not everyone will agree but all those settlers and Mountain Men can't be wrong... always carry an axe or at least a hatchet. I guess a big chopper if that's your thing. If carrying 2 pounds of cutting tool is too much, either lose the weight of your waist or toughen up!

I understand the appeal of light-weight, but when everything else is less than 20 pounds, a hatchet will not kill you, but could save you.

Chris
Click to expand...

+1, Amen brother.

My tip is always, always go to the toilet before you get into your bag for the night. Nothing surer than as soon as you settle down to sleep you'll need to get up to go for a pee. Oh and while you are up take the chance to drink some water.

Also carry some headache pills, it's a little thing but it can make a massive difference to your enjoyment while out.
 
Garrett Schmidt said:
1. a couple of great items for making/fixing things: super glue, twist ties, duct tape, hockey tape, zip ties, rubber bands
2. if you bring a fishing pole with, and it has cork handles, load them with polishing compound....not only does this help your grip when the handle gets wet but it makes a great strop for fillet and other knives
3. if possible, spool your paracord instead of just folding it up....this will save a tremendous amount of time since a bundle of paracord can tend to become a spiderweb of cord really quick
4. this may be obvious but rolling your clothing will allow you to pack more as well as keeping things from wrinkling
5. combat rolls are great....take two socks and lay them overlapping horizontally so that the toe on one sock is touching the heel on the other....then lay a t-shirt folded in half lengthwise on the ground and then lay a pair of underwear on top of the shirt....put the overlapping socks towards the top of the t-shirt/underwear and roll it up like a sleeping mat.....the socks should be sticking out on both sides....then fold each side of the socks over the roll like you would when you bundle a regular pair of socks....this will not only condense the entire bundle but it makes finding a change of the essentialls easier to find in your pack
6. having two belts is a nice way to go......one belt is through the loops on your pants and is for holding your pants up...the other is not through the loops and its where you attach all of your gear so that if it sags it won't pull you pants down too.....when nature calls its much easier to just take the outer belt off
7. along with #6....a couple of qualities that make the outer belt even better: quick-release buckles and pull-to-tighten adjustment.....and even one better is a fanny pack that has those two qualities so that now you have a built in pouch
8. if external frames are your thing(they are for me), it goes without saying that the exposed frame areas are great for attaching much used gear: knife sheaths, camera cases, duct/hockey tape rolls, spooled paracord, first aid kit, etc......granted this makes them more likely to catch on stuff but an external frame is usually that way anyway....this opens those pouches up for important gear like flasks;)
Click to expand...

+1 to all of the above, but especially #'s 6 and 7. I carry my khukuri, belt knife, and a small pouch on one of my old carpenter's tool belts. Works great.
 
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