Bow Hunting Season just started here in New York, for deer. I have been spending just a little time out there so far, but the season just gets better and better as it goes along! I am enjoying being outside, away from the computer and all of the details of running Hawk Circle and just feeling the woods, smelling the leaves and listening to the sound of geese winging overhead.... I love this time of year! About seventy percent of the leaves have fallen, and winter is coming. Now is the time to get out in the woods!
First of all, we are just wrapping up our Earth Skills Fall Semester here at Hawk Circle, and it has been a great course. The students have made amazing bows, primitive pottery, ash splint pack baskets, beautiful buckskin, and lots more crafts and skills. Today I taught them how to make rawhide lanterns using willows, rawhide and bark, to light their shelters or path through the woods... Good times.
The main thing I wanted to say in this post is that you should make an effort to get out to your shelter and spruce it up for the colder weather. If you get a good awning, a reflector wall, some cattails and dried grasses set up for your shelter and backrest, you should be able to stow some firewood and be ready for camping out even in the coldest weather.
Tip: Bring about 15-20 feet of strong cord that you can use to tie up bundles of grass or firewood lengths, to make them easier to carry. If you use a strong stick (throwing stick?) and tie the bundle to this, you can carry the whole thing over the shoulder, holding on to the stick and not just a bit of string. It lets you walk and see in front of you, so you don't trip, and you can even drag the bundle behind you if it is large and heavy. Safe, easier and smart!
Another thing you can do is to collect moss, dried ferns or even leaves, and stuff them in between the logs in your reflector to keep the wind out. It is not as cold as trying to make survival cement with mud/clay/grass mixtures! Believe me, the time for that type of construction is really behind us. Of course, you can use any unseasonably warm weather is fine if you get it..... and the mud/grass combo is definitely superior to just leaves.
Another tip: Don't leave containers of food in your shelter, if you want to keep mice from chewing it all up looking for a good meal. You can dig a storage pit in the ground near your shelter, covered with a large rock, if you really want to store food and gear out there, but in your shelter, you are just asking for trouble, either from small rodents, bears or even kids crawling in there to check it out.
Okay, that's it for now, but get your shelters done, people, and work on your tree journals, too! Those are always good to get done and they go fast if you just sit down and crank them out after getting your field journals going....
Take care and see you in the woods!
Ricardo
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment