Ten of us just finished a 2 day Advanced Bushcraft class in Missouri this weekend. We walked away with some serious knowledge. Everyone who participated this weekend was pushed to do things they may have never done before. Some of the topics included:
Bow and drill
Natural shelters
Improvised emergency shelters using paracord inner strand and plastic utility rolls
Axe craft
Camp cooking (even Iz)
Large and small animal snares
Insulation beds
Fire in the rain (we had 2 inches of water in 4 hours)
First off, I have to thank Terry for a hell of a weekend, and it us great to meet more members both from here and BCUSA I hadn't met already.
Friday sucked, but we all got thru it and now know our setups work well. As it rained cats and dogs most of the day and into the night. So I don't have any pictures from friday night as I didn't want to risk ruining my camera. But we did make a jerky smoking rack and set it up and loaded with venison that Terry brought. It was working great until it got a little too hot and melted the parachute wrap. But not all was wasted as we cooked the meat the rest of the way on the fire and tasted great!
Went over axe safety and use of. Also showed us how to split giant logs by making wedges in the field. And other proper axe skills. The osage cutting board was sweet, and weighed a ton!
Terry also showed on Friday night how to set up a piece of parachute as a group shelter that served us all very well the entire weekend, and surely helped a ton on Friday night to keep us all dry as we huddled around the fire swapping lies and jokes!
The rain stopped some tim ein the evening and it got cold and the wind picked up, testing our set ups even more. With all the BCUSA tarps it looked like a convention!
We awoke Saturday to a nice cold morning, but at least it wasnt raining any more!
Terry then showed us how to make mountain man breakfast in a dutch oven, which was an awesome way to start the day!
Then we prepped the stew we would have for lunch which contained beef chunks, carrots, barley, peas, onions and Po Ta Toes. And really hit the spot at lunch after a long chilly, wet night. As well as bannock baked ont he fire.
Then we went over improving shelters using only a 10x10 piece of plastic, a survival blanket and one 15 ft piece of 550 cord. Making sure to use the most of material at hand and all of the supplied ones as well.
Then we went over bedding, using natural insulation to improve the improvised shelters. Terry showed us how to make a cattail reed mat.
Then he turned us lose to make our own shelters that we had to sleep in that night. Several made different ones and they all turned out great!
But Iz, jclmd, and I went at it together and used the most of our supplies and built the "Hillbilly Hilton" Using the lean to that was still up from the Jan. meet. (Which even after all the rain from the night before the dirt in it was very very dry.
And I will say that shelter rocked!! The cattail beds worked awesome, kept me very warm, and was very very soft to lay on. The small fire heated the shelter very well with all the space blankets reflecting the heat. And it never got smoky with hole in the top and openings in the sides for draft.
Hell even the two skinny woodsman stayed warm, Iz even got down to his t shirt for some time. It made a great time to swap out drawers to!! :4:
Saturday evening we went over bow and drill with basswood and mullen. Everyone was able to get a coal, even Foal got his first coal ever!! (Congrats man!) Terry is a great instructor, walking us thru it and helping whenever someone was struggling.
For diner we all had to prep and cook our own meals, most did foil dinners with various meats (chicken, hamburger, venison) cabbage, onion, carrots and such. And even Iz got it done without burning it!
(Mines the manly sized one were Iz, and jclmd had the skinny mans dinners)
Sunday morning we awoke to thick frost on everything, as it got really cold. But the hillbilly Hilton stayed very warm!
Terry made us bannock fry bread, rolled in Cinnamon and sugar and sauage! It was very tastey.
We then went over snares, using wire as well as 550 cord for small game and large. We built a squrriel pole and set up a deer snare and rabbit set. Also showing us what sign to look for and good placement. (sorry didnt have the camera with me)
All in all it was a great weekend, even though the weather sucked. And made some new friendships, that will last a lifetime I think.
If you get a chance, you had better jump on it, to learn from Terry and meet the other members on this board!
Bow and drill
Natural shelters
Improvised emergency shelters using paracord inner strand and plastic utility rolls
Axe craft
Camp cooking (even Iz)
Large and small animal snares
Insulation beds
Fire in the rain (we had 2 inches of water in 4 hours)
First off, I have to thank Terry for a hell of a weekend, and it us great to meet more members both from here and BCUSA I hadn't met already.
Friday sucked, but we all got thru it and now know our setups work well. As it rained cats and dogs most of the day and into the night. So I don't have any pictures from friday night as I didn't want to risk ruining my camera. But we did make a jerky smoking rack and set it up and loaded with venison that Terry brought. It was working great until it got a little too hot and melted the parachute wrap. But not all was wasted as we cooked the meat the rest of the way on the fire and tasted great!
Went over axe safety and use of. Also showed us how to split giant logs by making wedges in the field. And other proper axe skills. The osage cutting board was sweet, and weighed a ton!
Terry also showed on Friday night how to set up a piece of parachute as a group shelter that served us all very well the entire weekend, and surely helped a ton on Friday night to keep us all dry as we huddled around the fire swapping lies and jokes!
The rain stopped some tim ein the evening and it got cold and the wind picked up, testing our set ups even more. With all the BCUSA tarps it looked like a convention!
We awoke Saturday to a nice cold morning, but at least it wasnt raining any more!
Terry then showed us how to make mountain man breakfast in a dutch oven, which was an awesome way to start the day!
Then we prepped the stew we would have for lunch which contained beef chunks, carrots, barley, peas, onions and Po Ta Toes. And really hit the spot at lunch after a long chilly, wet night. As well as bannock baked ont he fire.
Then we went over improving shelters using only a 10x10 piece of plastic, a survival blanket and one 15 ft piece of 550 cord. Making sure to use the most of material at hand and all of the supplied ones as well.
Then we went over bedding, using natural insulation to improve the improvised shelters. Terry showed us how to make a cattail reed mat.
Then he turned us lose to make our own shelters that we had to sleep in that night. Several made different ones and they all turned out great!
But Iz, jclmd, and I went at it together and used the most of our supplies and built the "Hillbilly Hilton" Using the lean to that was still up from the Jan. meet. (Which even after all the rain from the night before the dirt in it was very very dry.
And I will say that shelter rocked!! The cattail beds worked awesome, kept me very warm, and was very very soft to lay on. The small fire heated the shelter very well with all the space blankets reflecting the heat. And it never got smoky with hole in the top and openings in the sides for draft.
Hell even the two skinny woodsman stayed warm, Iz even got down to his t shirt for some time. It made a great time to swap out drawers to!! :4:
Saturday evening we went over bow and drill with basswood and mullen. Everyone was able to get a coal, even Foal got his first coal ever!! (Congrats man!) Terry is a great instructor, walking us thru it and helping whenever someone was struggling.
For diner we all had to prep and cook our own meals, most did foil dinners with various meats (chicken, hamburger, venison) cabbage, onion, carrots and such. And even Iz got it done without burning it!
(Mines the manly sized one were Iz, and jclmd had the skinny mans dinners)
Sunday morning we awoke to thick frost on everything, as it got really cold. But the hillbilly Hilton stayed very warm!
Terry made us bannock fry bread, rolled in Cinnamon and sugar and sauage! It was very tastey.
We then went over snares, using wire as well as 550 cord for small game and large. We built a squrriel pole and set up a deer snare and rabbit set. Also showing us what sign to look for and good placement. (sorry didnt have the camera with me)
All in all it was a great weekend, even though the weather sucked. And made some new friendships, that will last a lifetime I think.
If you get a chance, you had better jump on it, to learn from Terry and meet the other members on this board!
. Looks like a great time out in the woods.
