Ok, here is my pocket dump. Left pocket was fairly full but right pocket had extra room.
Right front jeans pocket- Cell Phone, SAK Farmer, fire Steel w/whistle on striker, flashlight (Olight S10), snare
Left front jeans pocket- Keys, bandana, Zip Lock (marked by liters- for water purification tablets), 550 cord, emergency blanket, Altoids tin
Altoids tin- signal mirror, 1 hand wipe, jute cord, Wet Fire tab, 3 strike anywhere matches, mini Bic, fishing kit, keychain flashlight, 3 Katadyn water purification tabs, 3 safety pins.
I decided this year I'd stay at least one night a month out in the woods. Figured that would expose me to all the seasons and I could see what works and what doesn't. So far I've made January and February. With that said, January 29th I camped out and made a debris shelter without utilizing any tools except my coat to pack debris to cover the shelter.
Here it is the next morning after a storm blew thru
My first time trying a debris shelter like this, and it worked good. I only had three leaks, and only one of them was a drip off the ridgepole. It could of used a little more debris inside to increase comfort but overall not bad. I had the emergency blanket and cordage in my pockets to help with shelter if need be.
It had rained the day before, but was windy on the day I went. So the wind had dried out tinder and kindling that was up off the ground. I gathered some dried grass and cedar bark on the way in. Vines and branches, etc were gathered for the fire also. I made a raised platform to get the fire started so it wouldn't be on the wet cold ground.
A couple strikes on the firesteel into the tinder bundle of grass and cedar bark resulted in fire.
From my pocket contents you could see I had numerous methods/tinder for starting a fire. Fire is important for warmth, signaling, cooking and water purification- if you have a container of some sort to boil in.
Water purification could be accomplished via the Zip Lock bag and the water purification tabs. Zip Locks aren't ideal but they do fit in your pocket. One thing to consider is how you collect the water. By that I mean you don't want contaminated water touching the top of the bag if your going to drink right out of the bag. So try collecting water falling from a rock or use a stick/ leaf to direct water into the bag without submerging the bag. A container that could be used to boil water sure would be a lot easier. The bandana in my pocket could be used as a pre filter with the tablets or with ashes and sand as a water filter itself.
Here is the spring where I collected water.
Wednesday afternoon I went out in the yard and made a few traps. I wanted to try some deadfalls other than the figure four that is seen most often. It was cold with a few flurries and sleet while I was doing these. So, my camera batteries didn't like the weather and kept trying to turn off on me, sorry for the poor photos.
Bait stick deadfall, I can verify that this dead fall will draw blood if dropped on your knuckles.
Split stick deadfall
Friction point split stick- I read this should be done with a saw and not a knife blade so the contact point is a little rough, to provide friction to stay set. Bait goes on the bottom stick at the top of the split.
Next I tried my first bird snares, used the awl on the SAK to drill the hole for the perch.
Snare tied off
And with a weight
Cable snare- I did some coyote trapping this winter and cable snares are effective, I figure they could work well with rabbits and squirrels and they don't take up much room either. Like all traps though location is key.
Cord snare with spring pole
I used clove hitches with some half hitches for the knots
Signal methods- the fire with some green cedar branches would provide a visible cloud of smoke, I had the signal mirror and a whistle, also the flashlight (high of 320 lumens if I remember correct and a strobe feature)
I think that covered all the requirements and gave some of the reasoning as to my pocket content choices.
Thanks to RR for providing the motivation to get out and try new things.
