It was a beautiful day today, so I thought I might get the boy out and teach him something. I had a day of tracking and fatwood finding planned, and it was a good day of both. First we went on a warm-up hike at Wilderness Road SP in VA. I taught him how to gather tinder bark.
Had to let him romp around a little on some rocks. Let him burn some energy, so he's more willing to focus and learn.
He found a bunch of coyote scat. We called it the coyote toilet.
Time to head out to a different trail, and a spot that I thought would have a bunch of fatwood. I was right. Here's a pic of Sampson, the park's bull bison, on the way out.
I let the boy take the lead, as I was sure there would be plenty of deer tracks. He found a trail right away leading up the hill off the hiking trail. Lead right to where I thought the fatwood would be.
We found a little more than just deer tracks. Here is an old (months old) rear, right paw print of a black bear. I taught the boy how to look for the heal, and look at the toes to determine which paw it was. He takes pretty well to tracking. He loves wildlife. This was his first bear track and sign.
Here's his handy work.
There were a bunch of these buck rubs.
Here he is holding up some of the fatwood we found. He took to that lesson really well, too. I had him smell it, he said "that smells like house cleaner!" I laughed and told him that house cleaner smells like fatwood. lol
Here's a happy little tracker next to a really old bear sign.
Well that's all folks. I hope you guys enjoyed our little outing as much as we did. I am very happy with the ease that my boy learns these skills. It makes me very comfortable. BTW, his name is Van and he loves knives, but gets mad because dad wont let him have one yet. lol! I'll be frequenting my new fatwood spot, often.
Had to let him romp around a little on some rocks. Let him burn some energy, so he's more willing to focus and learn.
He found a bunch of coyote scat. We called it the coyote toilet.
Time to head out to a different trail, and a spot that I thought would have a bunch of fatwood. I was right. Here's a pic of Sampson, the park's bull bison, on the way out.
I let the boy take the lead, as I was sure there would be plenty of deer tracks. He found a trail right away leading up the hill off the hiking trail. Lead right to where I thought the fatwood would be.
We found a little more than just deer tracks. Here is an old (months old) rear, right paw print of a black bear. I taught the boy how to look for the heal, and look at the toes to determine which paw it was. He takes pretty well to tracking. He loves wildlife. This was his first bear track and sign.
Here's his handy work.
There were a bunch of these buck rubs.
Here he is holding up some of the fatwood we found. He took to that lesson really well, too. I had him smell it, he said "that smells like house cleaner!" I laughed and told him that house cleaner smells like fatwood. lol
Here's a happy little tracker next to a really old bear sign.
Well that's all folks. I hope you guys enjoyed our little outing as much as we did. I am very happy with the ease that my boy learns these skills. It makes me very comfortable. BTW, his name is Van and he loves knives, but gets mad because dad wont let him have one yet. lol! I'll be frequenting my new fatwood spot, often.
I still do most of the sharpening, be he's starting to learn how to do that properly now. It's funny, he can forget to take out the garbage, forget his homework, but when he heads outside, he always has his new folder with him and knows where it is at all times. If anything, they learn responsiblity, saftey and how to pay attention to detail.