Decided to run a midnight fatwood raid on a stash I pass by regularily when walking my dog. It's right on a trail, so I didn't want to run the op during the day. I needed the cover of darkness. I geared up for an 0230hrs mission start. The gear:
Becker BK-7(with china-BK-13)
Bahco folding saw
Emerson CQC-13
Vic Outrider
Surefire G2XB
Olight T-25 Tactical
Petzl Tikka XP-2 headlamp
Nalgene water bottle
Basic PSK kit
I opted for a light loadout as the AO was close to home, and I wasn't expecting any hang ups.
0230hrs: Mission start. Break camp(leave home), and take to the trail. It was dark, but there was enough ambient light to navigate the trail, so I opted to not use a flashlight to maintain my night vision, though I kept one in hand in case I encountered any hostiles.
0255hrs: Contact. Downed tree spotted on the left side of the trail. A quick scrape with my Emerson and a sniff, confirmed I'd found the objective. I got to work. First I shaped out a crude digging stick using the BK-7. I choped off a piece from a nearby dead stick, then shaped out a flat pointed tip, like a flathead screwdriver, to dig and pry with. The digging stick functioned well, and I was able to pry some pieces up from the dirt, and break them off. Inspection of the recovered pieces proved odd. They smelled strongly of pinesol, as fatwood does, and when I held a lighter to it, I could hear the resin popping, but when I removed the flame, it would not stay lit. As well, much of it, though very strong smelling, would simply crumble, I could not make feathersticks or scrapings with it. Interesting, I've harvested from this area before, but never seen anything like this. I figure it's somehow due to the freezing weather and lots of moisture.
Primary tools used. The saw didn't see much action processing, as I mentioned the fatwood was oddly crumbly. The 7 was excellent:
A shot with the BK-13. I just got this 7 a couple of days ago, and lucked out and got one with the China made 13's
And a better shot using the camera flash. Not as "covert" as using a headlight for the pics, but a better photo:
0325hrs: Break contact. Total fatwood haul: Zero. Nothing worth taking. Unfortunate, but overall I consider the mission a success. The recon and confirmation of fatwood location was worth the resources expended on running this op. I took my time on the way home, enjoyed the cold, crisp air, the clear purple sky, and some time to myself, with only my thoughts
. The usually well populated trail was devoid of the usual dog walkers and joggers, as was to be expected considering the time.
0400hrs: Arrive home. Mission complete. Despite the lack of harvestable fatwood, I will be using the intel gathered to plan future raids on the area.
My Texas Hunt Co/SpecOps Field Master sheath arrived today as well. I've also got some custom kydex on order from hunkachunka so we will see how I prefer to carry the 7 in the bush. I'm really diggin the Field Master, but I like kydex as well, so it'll be a battle
Pictured with BK-2 and some previously harvested and processed fatwood:
Becker BK-7(with china-BK-13)
Bahco folding saw
Emerson CQC-13
Vic Outrider
Surefire G2XB
Olight T-25 Tactical
Petzl Tikka XP-2 headlamp
Nalgene water bottle
Basic PSK kit
I opted for a light loadout as the AO was close to home, and I wasn't expecting any hang ups.
0230hrs: Mission start. Break camp(leave home), and take to the trail. It was dark, but there was enough ambient light to navigate the trail, so I opted to not use a flashlight to maintain my night vision, though I kept one in hand in case I encountered any hostiles.
0255hrs: Contact. Downed tree spotted on the left side of the trail. A quick scrape with my Emerson and a sniff, confirmed I'd found the objective. I got to work. First I shaped out a crude digging stick using the BK-7. I choped off a piece from a nearby dead stick, then shaped out a flat pointed tip, like a flathead screwdriver, to dig and pry with. The digging stick functioned well, and I was able to pry some pieces up from the dirt, and break them off. Inspection of the recovered pieces proved odd. They smelled strongly of pinesol, as fatwood does, and when I held a lighter to it, I could hear the resin popping, but when I removed the flame, it would not stay lit. As well, much of it, though very strong smelling, would simply crumble, I could not make feathersticks or scrapings with it. Interesting, I've harvested from this area before, but never seen anything like this. I figure it's somehow due to the freezing weather and lots of moisture.
Primary tools used. The saw didn't see much action processing, as I mentioned the fatwood was oddly crumbly. The 7 was excellent:
A shot with the BK-13. I just got this 7 a couple of days ago, and lucked out and got one with the China made 13's
And a better shot using the camera flash. Not as "covert" as using a headlight for the pics, but a better photo:
0325hrs: Break contact. Total fatwood haul: Zero. Nothing worth taking. Unfortunate, but overall I consider the mission a success. The recon and confirmation of fatwood location was worth the resources expended on running this op. I took my time on the way home, enjoyed the cold, crisp air, the clear purple sky, and some time to myself, with only my thoughts
. The usually well populated trail was devoid of the usual dog walkers and joggers, as was to be expected considering the time.0400hrs: Arrive home. Mission complete. Despite the lack of harvestable fatwood, I will be using the intel gathered to plan future raids on the area.
My Texas Hunt Co/SpecOps Field Master sheath arrived today as well
. I've also got some custom kydex on order from hunkachunka so we will see how I prefer to carry the 7 in the bush. I'm really diggin the Field Master, but I like kydex as well, so it'll be a battlePictured with BK-2 and some previously harvested and processed fatwood:
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. Though if you've found some, there's bound to be more. 
