Oz and his Bushcraft Blogarama

The wigwam of misinformation

2015-10-31T07:45:00.002-07:00

It has been a very very long time since I wrote a post. Been busy with the company, and running a trapline. .. Okay, its' been three years. I forgot this existed. So sue me.

I've had to write this out on multiple occasions. I decided to put it here so that others can come across it.

This picture has been spread a lot over the past couple of years. A lot of Anishnaabeg and very well respected woodsfolk have posted this picture. At first I merely corrected it in small circles. However I have seen this picture at two different schoolboards now, and several other places of learning. This is going to be a long rant, so bear with me. Why? Because this is not a true depiction of what my people lived in.
First and foremost, this is a sketch made by Peter Nabokov, after reading the accounts of Verrazano's ethnographies of 1524, who in turn was mostly full of it on all of his other accounts. So not firsthand knowledge from the people themselves' but secondhand knowledge from a man well known for making stuff up.
Onto why this shelter is not accurate. Anishnaabeg are most well known for waiting until the rivers and lakes froze to head to our winter campsites. This frees our travel, by pulling toboggans and other types of sleds, while wearing snowshoes. this type of travel is much easier, as many of our winter camps are deeper into the bush than our summer and fall camps; where we used jiimaan or canoes to move. It makes more sense, as we are often trapping and hunting, and many of the animals will be back into the thick cover of the spruce and pines. Moreso, it will protect our own homes from the harsh winds experienced on the lakes.
So, we arrive at our winter camp when the ground is frozen, with nothing more than digging sticks (perhaps capped with antler), and deer scapula hoes. How are we to build much of that structure (including a birch bark tube air supply, a clay-heated floor, rock lined down at least a foot if I am estimating the depth of the poles correctly from experience, etc) with tools that chip and dull in hard clay-based soil, let alone hardened by frostline earth?
Moving on from that part, let us go on to the frame itself. Arch-dome wigwams were not frequently used in the winter. Takes a lot to bend frozen poles without snapping them. Also, for an arch-frame wigwam to be able to support the weight of the frame, plus the weight of the snow on top of it, you would need to dig down about 8-10 inches to bury the ends of the poles. Remember that whole digging in the frostline with pre-metal technology thing? Conical wigwams were much more lodgical (get it? Lodge? Logical? See, I can like puns) for the people to build, as they can use locally felled spruce/pine/cedar trees, then use the boughs from those poles to line the floor of their lodge.

Now, I've heard lots of claims by people that the Anishnaabeg would build a frame and leave it standing for years and years of use. This is in some cases true, however from my years of experience building wigwams, as well as working in archeology, I can attest that is very rarely the case, and when it was, it was mostly at the summer fishing, and fall ricing camps. This is due to our desire to not return to the same winter camp annually. We only had groundstone axes, which though effective, were not the best way to harvest firewood. The best way without metal tools (we had copper tools, but they were too precious to bash into standing timber) to harvest firewood, is snags of dead standing trees, and the lower limbs of coniferous trees (often dead and full of combustible resin). These can be broken by hand, and hauled back to the camp. A few square acres will provide enough dead standing wood to last a single winter season. However, in a single year, it won't be replenished. That means we would need to wait several years before returning to a camp site for the winter time. In that time, most wood used for a arch-frame wigwam (ash, willow, maple, ironwood, etc) would have rotted out from continual contact with the soil and the elements. So in other words... no, we would not have build Arch-frame wigwams in the winter time.

(Oz with a 20ft diameter wigwam frame made of ash and sugar maple saplings, at Curve Lake First Nation. Photo by Keith Montreuil)

Onto the insulation. By swamp moss, I presume this picture means sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss is an incredibly wet material, that has a very low insulating value. It would take at least 2/3rds of an acre of sphagnum moss -harvested and then dried- to fill such a shelter's walls. There's a few drawbacks to this. First and foremost is the labour involved. Who is going to harvest that much moss, and where is it going to get dried? Remember, we just showed up at our winter camp, and now we need to dig into frozen muskeg to haul out frozen (sopping wet) moss, and then figure out a way to dry it. Moreso, even when dried, this stuff is going to end poorly. The roof will leak (they do, they just do. Trust me on this one, they just leak), and as the snow on the roof melts from the internal heat of the lodge, it will begin to soak into the moss. That moss can hold up to 30 times its' own weight in water. So let's say it takes 500lbs of dried sphagnum moss to insulate the entire lodge. Half of it gets soaked (because let's be conservative in the numbers). 30 x 250lbs = 7,500lbs of soaking wet moss, plus whatever snow is on the roof. On average, a wigwam can sustain up to one metric tonne of snow on top of it. This definitely surpasses that number.
(Ash pole frame, with white ash and bitternut hickory bark shingles. This is the classic wigwam of the eastern Woodlands)

On the other hand, a bark outer shell, with a cattail mat liner with absolutely nothing but dead air space in between the shell and the liner can increase the temperature inside of a wigwam exponentially. Add a fire and now you have lots of heat to keep you warm, with.... at least 1/30th of the effort, with practically the same outcome.
In general, I consider this shelter design (as a survival instructor) an interesting experiment to attempt in the near future (once the ground it thawed). However, as an Anishnaabe-nini (Ojibway man), I find it lacking in accuracy. The true pre-contact history of our people is much more impressive, and the sciences we used were much more pragmatic and efficient than this diagram is.
Don't mean to drag anybody down, but this sort of stuff is why I got into my line of work; to see if that actually is the case or not. So far, its' not.

The Difference between Native and Primitive.

2012-06-11T08:28:00.004-07:00

Before I start this rambling rant, I want to make one thing clear. I am not bashing those who practise Primitive Skills. I am one of you. I just want to make something clear.

I remember on a course a few years back, I mentioned while chilling out by the fire that I was the primitive skills-oriented instructor. One of our students piped up "well of course, you're Native!" I smirked politely and sipped my tea silently, stewing over yet another presumption regarding ethnic culture, and a technology period.

A lot of people practise primitive technology, all the while saying that they are practising Native skills. From Egyptian Bowdrills, and African Saan Bushman bows, to central-European style birchbark shoes and Danish Flint Daggers. They will often set-up a tepee in Ontario, or set-up totem poles near their cabin. This misappropriation of culture is considered innocent, and often argued with the defense of "we are honouring your culture!" Sorry fellas, but that ain't my culture.

Ishi was in many peoples' eyes, the last Wild Indian. He taught archeologists, anthropologists and future Abos a great deal of information regarding his ancestors' skills. What he did for California Aboriginal Technology can never be downplayed.

Say Hi to Ishi, Folks!

However, on this side of North America (the eastern side), many Indigenous people were living a fairly modern lifestyle.. well.. some of them. The Innu, Cree, Dogrib, Iroquois, and my people the Ojibway had all owned steel tools, wool blankets, modern (for that time) clothing, and at least 1/5th of them had traveled in a motorized vehicle at least one point in their lifetime. A vast majority of them were made to live in Reserves (and in the United States, Reservations), where they lived in tarpaper shacks, and other fairly "white" living quarters. Since the 1700s, if not earlier, the Eastern Nations of Turtle Island had been exposed to European technology. However, Bushcraft still existed.

Birch bark canoes, Snowshoes, toboggans, and countless other skills increased rather than decreased up until the advent of modern synthetic materials. Cree elders knew how to hew a birch log into two identical boards, and how to shape those boards into their winter freighting boat, the Toboggan. Algonquins were making Tikinaugans- Wooden cradleboards. Ojibway and Menominee were still harvesting wild rice in practically the same ways they were for centuries -if not millenia. The crooked knife evolved from a crude bone and tooth tool made for finishing off chores, to a steel blade with a curved tip that allowed the "Mocotaugon" to do the lion's share of the chores. Axes of steel were quickly accepted and adopted. Wool blankets were traditional cut up and sewn into coats. Modern Indigenous culture stems a lot to the moment a French trader arrived at some far forgotten village with a canoe.

This existed in a much different, cruder form prior to European steel.

However, as we all know, the moment spread disease, and over the next few centuries, a great deal of suffering fell upon the Indigenous Peoples. One of these things that we suffer from now is the constant belief that our technology was merely primitive. Now, again, I must make it clear that I truly love primitive technology. Nothing gets me more calm than pressure flaking a spearhead, and nothing makes me more at home than a thatch and bark hut to sleep in. However, these skills are not mine because I am Native. These skills are mine because I love them. My people had steel tools for four centuries, and we now have iPods, modern houses, and countless other forms of Modern life. When much of modern North America was being formed, we were not primitive. Not by a long shot.

99.9% of all people stem from primitive cultures. Be proud of your heritage, but accept that they progressed their technology.

So when you practise your bowmaking, or knap an arrowhead. please remember that you are practising primitive skills. Try not to picture yourself as some "Sioux Brave, about to take down Tatanka". Simply picture yourself as an ancient person, getting ready to find food the old way.

Oh, and the Native Technology skills? They frigging rock.

So what shall I write about this time...

2012-04-13T00:50:00.006-07:00

Had a great weekend course with Canadian Bushcraft during the Easter Weekend. This is the last official Primitive Class we will be offering at Canadian Bushcraft. End of an Era I suppose. However after June we will have phased out our old curriculum with a new style and new approach to lessons rated as follows;

1) Wilderness Skills- Essential
2) Wilderness Skills- Level 1
3) Wilderness Skills- Level 2
4) Wilderness Skills- 1 week Graduate program
5) Wilderness Skills- 1 week Intensive (covers Essential to Level 2 in a single week)

Plus a multitude of one-day workshops such as basketry and tracking.

This is going to streamline our programs and help our customers decide what is right for them. Only people who are going to make it to Level 2 or the one-week graduate program are those who take Essential and Level 1, OR they have attended our older programs. All the classes are worth it in my opinion, and of course, if you are not interested in taking each class individually, then Option 5 might very well be the class for you.

We are nearly ready to begin gardening. Got a lot of veggies and greens in my spare bedroom, and they are looking great. We'll be setting up an Aquaponic Greenhouse with perch and growbeds set up to produce the most bang for our buck/floorspace. I'll also be raising rabbits for meat.

I was interviewed this past night by Kevin from The Kevin Smith Show. Our discussion covered my book, Ojibway Legends and the Paranormal, as well a how to survive a so-called "2012" Disaster. Kevin is a great guy. Real genuine and extremely intelligent. We spent over an hour and a half after the show discussing String Theory, and many other aspects of modern physics. He is an awesome guy to talk to, real smart and has a great persona, both on and off the radio.

Heading off later today to cut firewood at the hunting camp for the old fellas. Can't wait to get out there to swing an axe all day for a weekend (I mean it!)

Oh, and if you have not subscribed to this magazine, I highly suggest you do. Some of the finest writing out there in this day and age. Genuine experts in their field, with poetic writing and some no-nonsense conversations. It is called Northern Bushcraft and Wilderness Skills Magazine, and is an e-Magazine.. if you asked me a year ago if I thought that Bushcraft would ever go completely electric, I would have laughed at you, and then stolen the idea. Anyways, check it out, it is worth your time and money, and they need your support!

Oh, and my book is now on Paperback, so check it out and support my ass while you're at it!

You can also still get it on the Kindle E-Book for $0.99!

Am I the only one getting fed up?

2012-03-25T22:14:00.008-07:00

Most of the last few days I have been busy working on my gardens, as well as a small aquaponic set-up that I have in the house (tobacco, cucumber, zucchinni, Basil, sage, Dill and Watercres are all living aquaponically). The past few months I have just been run ragged trying to get my book out to the public, that I have only had a couple of hours per day to actually practise my skills, let alone relax. So today, after setting up a tepee and cleaning up the backyard a bit, I decided to check out some Youtube videos. The first thing that came to mind was some aquaponic videos, but really, I wanted to relax, so let's check out some bushcraft videos!

So I decided on a subject I wanted to enjoy, and that was fishing. Living here on Rice Lake, fishing i the first thing I want to do each day. Alas, I have only been out for one evening of fishing since the ice went out. So I figured "Hey, how about some primitive fishing videos? Like where a few guys make some fishing spears and catch their prey?".

Well so I searched, and after watching what felt like 200 "Making a fishing spear" videos, here are the two problems I have with what I saw on spearfishing videos;

1) The spears made by the Western Culture-raised folk (aka Non-Native from Australia or Polynesia) made shoddy spears, saying these would do great in the act of spearfishing.. I'm sorry fellas, but I've spearfished 28 times in my life, and not once would any of your spears work on anything from a Panfish to a Pickerel. Either the points are poorly made, the shaft is too short, or a number of other screw ups. Some guys even had a spear with detachable heads that would come off when the fish swam away. Guys, what in the Blue Hell are you thinking will happen when that fish swims away? Only a harpoon will work with that idea, not a pronged fishing spear. The point of a fishing spear that is pronged is to hold your prey fast to the spear and to you!

2) Not a single video of these How-To videos showed anyone catching a fish. The only videos of Non-Native men catching fish with spears are some folks in the northern States going after Sturgeon, and folks down in the tropics using Hawaiian Slingspears. No primitive spearfishing video actually has a fih getting speared! Now this one problem may seem trivial as for most states it is 100% illegal to spear a fish. Why, I will never know. I don't agree with the arguments most people make against spearfishing, but maybe I'm not supposed to agree. However if you have never speared a fish in your entire life, why on earth do you think you know enough to qualify you to teach it?

And that is the key to what is driving me further and further away from skills on Youtube. People just regurgitate things they see other people do. Another good example is when one guy on Youtube showed a trap that I was heavily involved in the process of returning from the historical ashes. It was called a Kleptsy trap. The next month, another guy made a bunch of "Variances" of the trap. The problem is neither gentlemen had done their research, and neither understood the principles behind the Kleptsy.

We as a community of outdoors people have a responsibility to only teach what we know. To only show things that are real, practical and honest. This all stems back to what I said over a year ago about being qualified. If you don't know it from hands on experience, then don't teach it. Period.

Oh and don't give me that crap about "well Native peoples have always speared fish, it can't be that hard", because you're talking to a Native, and I do spear fish, and it is quite difficult in an emergency or wilderness setting to spear a fish. Unless they are spawning, or stuck in one spot good luck catching 'em!

Well this is new...

2012-03-12T19:48:00.004-07:00

I have spent the past month working pretty much every waking hour to put something very special together. I needed to make sure everything was done to the best of my ability, then I needed to find people who could make sure my mistakes were smoothed over (Duh), and finally, I had to wade through the quagmire that seems to appear the moment a caveman like me decides to step into the technological realm.

That special something is my very first book. The title is Madness of the Manitou; Tales from Within. It is the first in a series of scary stories based off of traditional Ojibway legends. Some readers have called me the Native H.P. Lovecraft.. not sure how I feel about that.. I love Lovecraft (try saying that without shaking your head), but I don't want to follow in his footsteps. These are my stories, the way I wanted them told. They scared me just writing them.. and these are the mild ones compared to what will be out in the second installment!

Anyways, don't want to bore you too much, just figured I would let you folks know that the book is out on Kindle, for sale at $3.00 per copy. HOWEVER, between the 13th and 17th of March the eBook will be FREE to all Kindle members, so if you want it and are really cheap, pick it up then!

Here's the cover art, done by my dear friend and Brother, Mikhail Merkurieff;

What is with this winter?

2012-01-27T22:47:00.001-08:00

Its' late January, and it feels like mid-November.. What is with this?

Anyways..

I've been working a lot on my other blog. So far, it has been getting a lot of interesting feedback.. apparently some people aren't used to an instructor in Bushcraft and natural living skills to be so gung-ho about scary stories.. c'mon people, what do you think we tell around a campfire???

Anyways, it has been receiving a lot of comments that I should have it published, which lead to this announcement.

In other news, Canadian Bushcraft his its' new schedule up and running! Along with that, we have a tracking workshop happening on February 4th . If you have never attended a Canadian Bushcraft workshop, this is the one you have to check out. Only a day long, but has so much to offer, for a real deal of a price.

We are also moving forward with a lot of other projects. I will be constructing a permanent dwelling at Camp Mud this spring, so that I will be able to stay out there for much longer periods. In the past, I have stayed there for one month straight, here and there. However over the past few years, I have not had the same luxury. I want to get back to that.

As well, I am looking for volunteers to help me construct a traditional dug-out canoe using strictly stone-age technology. If you are interested, give me a shout on here.

Finally, the Brothers of Bushcraft are moving forward. We have a new website, along with a new forum. If you want a cool place to chat about outdoors skills, please join the forum! The Fieldcraft Knife is doing great on sales. Thank you all for you demand for this blade. If you want one, and haven't bought one, we sell em at our website, or you can buy them at TOPS Knives' website.

HOWEVER, if you are a Canadian resident, go here. Much cheaper than shipping directly from our website, or from TOPS' to Canada.

Alright, that's all of my announcements I guess. Its' 2 am, and I am off to go scout around the woods with Ethan in 7 hours. Be safe out there in this "winter" weather!

My other blogs

2012-01-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

I know, I can barely keep this one updated, why start other ones?

One of the new blogs I have, though without any posts on it (surprise surprise) is Caleb's Expedition Journal. I have a bunch of notes from my trip journal, that I am still compiling and editing so that they will make sense when written out on here. You can find it at Caleb's Expedition Journal

My other new blog is titled The Darker Side of the Manitou. It is for the dark fiction I used to enjoy writing as a youth, and have returned to writing recently. The saying is "Consider it Contemporary Native Legends", which is a tad ironic if you stop to think about it.. The whole idea is I am taking the stories I grew up hearing, and making them darker, and recent.. which should be self-explanatory, but in my life, I have learned that being redundant helps keep confusion of my readers to a minimum.

So yeah, if you get bored with my haphazard posting here, go give them a try!

-Oz, Out.

Yeah yeah, I know it has been a while!

2011-12-30T19:54:00.000-08:00

I don't get on my blog very much lately, as life is getting hectic! I know, my continual excuse.

I have been working on a few archeological sites, and am in the process of getting the Brothers of Bushcraft website and forum up and running with the other Brothers.

We just had our knife launch back in November, and it has been a hit. Lots of good reviews from the new owners of their blades, which makes my heart swell to know we've done good by our customers. I want to make a big, heartfelt thank you to TOPS Knives, and all who have been involved, whether you were one of the designers (The Brothers), or a customer, you are why we exist.

We are doing a lot at Canadian Bushcraft as well. The 2012 schedule will be up soon. We are streamlining a lot of our classes, as well as putting up some special one-day programs, including plant walks and tracking workshops.

And finally, I spent a day at Crawford Lake, with a few friends of mine who work there. My girlfriend and I spent the 27th of December there, as well as at the other place, Mountsberg. Both Crawford Lake and Mountsberg are part of Conservation Halton. We checked out some awesome longhouses, and watched an immature Bald Eagle named Pagwa eat a rat. All in all, an amazing place that needs our support. If you are near Toronto, I implore you to check out Crawford Lake and Mountsberg as soon as possible.

So what is in store in the near future? I will be doing a winter camping trip with a couple of friends of mine. We're not sure of the location yet, but we're hoping for lots of snow and deep cold!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and have a safe and happy New Year in a few days!

-Oz

Thanks

2011-08-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

I should be sleeping, as I have to get going in two and a half hours for a canoe trip up where I hunt every season. But with the storms continually knocking out the power here, my laundry has been put on hiatus until the past hour, and I really need some clean clothes (when even I am put off by the smell, that is a sign folks). So here I am waiting for the clothes to be ready to change to the drier, watching videos on youtube and reading comments.

First off, I want to thank all of Canadian Bushcraft's Youtube fans. We have 983 subscribers to date, and that means something. That means our videos are in your opinion worth the time to watch. Whether that be for the educational value, the entertainment value or a mix of both. And for that, I couldn't be more proud to be a part of this wonderful online world. And let's not forget Canadian Bushcraft's fans on Facebook! Do you know we have 746 fans on there? I didn't until thirty seconds ago, and it blew my mind Ladies and Gents.

The reason I am talking sentimental folks is because August is the anniversary of Canadian Bushcraft taking off all those two years ago. Yeah, we got the business license in 2008. But it wasn't until the following August that we picked up the ball and started running with it.

I have been learning bush skills since childhood. Not through some watered down scout program (and no, I am not bashing Scouts at all, I am just saying the safety regulations restrict a lot of the learning process, but let us save that rant for another blog), but through heavy-duty instruction from my Native and non-Native elders. I learned to flintknap originally when I was about nine or ten years old, same with coiled primitive pottery. It was at the Bruce County Museum and Archives, during the March Break, and they had this wicked Archeologist there, who showed us the old skills. He also showed us some scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and well.. three of my loves were born at once; Archeology, primitive skills, and Fedoras (admit it, you were expecting me to say whips, sicko).

Indiana Jones aside, this walk down memory lane is mostly me saying; this has been a long road of learning, practising, and honing these skills, and learning from our mistakes. So, Thanks. Thank you for being there with us. If you were there from the beginning, thank you for supporting us and encouraging our adventure as a stand-alone school on wilderness living skills. If you have just recently joined us, thank you for coming to check us out. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon, so rest assured you'll see much much more from us. So please, stay with us as we explore the Canadian Wilderness Living Experience!

Oh, and before I leave you, here is a link to a very nifty video done by the Toronto Star, featuring my adopted Grandfather, and mentor Dr. Gino F. Ferri;

Video

R.I.P Mr Hood

2011-06-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

The Rules of Three, Tooferate, The ATAX, Anaconda and of course, the Hoodlum. These are just some of the things Ron Hood has left use to learn from. Not to mention his amazing DVDs, a detailed and beloved magazine, and of course, the Hoodlums Forum.

Two days ago, a genuine pioneer in Survival Education died. Blame it on Cancer, Agent Orange, whatever. He fought it longer than most would want to. He left behind a loving family, and a huge group of guys that span the globe. If you teach Bushcraft, Survival or anything relating to them, in one way or another you were influenced by Ron Hood. Just as I was.

I don't want to make this blog a focus on the end. I want to remember the beginning -for me.

When I was ten years old, I had skinned deer, eaten snapping turtle, slept in a leaf hut and made fires with a multitude of ways. However, I had never been on the internet. The day I remember it being offered to us in school, I took quite a while to figure it out. "Type 'www.' before the website title and either '.com', '.ca' or '.net' after it" was confusing as all hell to be honest. After half a dozen or more attempts I got bored and typed in the one word I always liked to hear; Survival.

That one goof-off in school opened my eyes to a whole new world. I wasn't the only one reading the books on survival skills. Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain weren't written just for me. Hundreds, if not thousands got hooked on the same thing I was hooked on. A worldwide drug.

I read everything I could on there. But it took me nine years to join their forum. Another three years before I bought a DVD or a Survival Quarterly magazine. But I was hooked all those years ago. His mindset, the way he spoke, the joking, the honesty. This guy was the real deal. When I mentioned his name to my own instructors, they all nodded respectfully. When I started getting out there in the forums, Skype, msn, or whatever, I found others who had the same love and admiration for the man.

Some called him arrogant. I don't know where that comes from. The man was sincere, funny and real. Some called him the greatest man to live. I agree in many ways, though I doubt Ron would want to be looked at as a God. I just call him by the moniker he earned. The name everyone will remember of Ron Hood. The man, the legend, The Woodsmaster.

R.I.P Ron. You will be missed, but we'll remember you forever.

I disappear...

2011-06-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

What can I say? Sometimes life gets involved. Hate when that happens, don't you? From broken relationships, to family losses, the past few months have been difficult, crazed and in general hectic. But life is back on track now with me.

Canadian Bushcraft is growing fast. Back in May we were featured in an article for a newspaper that is Nationwide. This got us a lot of publicity, and I want to thank the Globe & Mail, and Darryl Leniuk for such a chance. As well, I was a presenter and Keynote speaker at the Spring 2011 Headwaters Gathering. I taught pottery to some youth, hand-thrown projectiles to all ages and presented a First Nation's perspective of the history of the counties of Grey and Bruce. While there I got to meet a gent whose videos I have been watching for a good long time; nedeljkomostar. A truly good man.

May was by far my busiest month, because during all of that I also had to get my regalia ready for the Hiawatha First Nation Annual Pow-wow. Sadly I could not for the life of me get my roach headdress done in time, so I had to borrow my Uncle's. I added my turkey tail visor and a few hawk feather uprights.

And yes, that's me clean shaven for the first time since I was twelve or thirteen. Be careful, if you look directly at the upper lip you may go blind.

Ryan Bailey, owner and founder of True North Bushcraft, along with Paul Wilde (aka AnEnglishManInOntario) attended the pow wow, and have some lovely photos. Both gentlemen are upstanding guys. Was a priveledge to get to spend some good times with them.

So alright, let's get down to some real heavy stuff. Yes, the news is true, TOPS Knives and The Brothers of Bushcraft have teamed up to produce a Bushcraft-level knife. This knife is born from the input of all seven brothers, and includes a bowdrill-divot on the micarta handle, a Scandinavian Grind on the 1095 High Carbon steel blade, an extended tang with a "Shango Notch" for safer lighting of Ferro-rods, and two grooves in the handle called "Thumb Scallops", which allow you to chest-lever, and skin with this knife comfortably. It has taken a great deal of time to get this far, and I am proud to show you some photos of the TOPS/BOB Fieldcraft;

This is one of the prototypes, without the thumb scallops. You can see the bowdrill divot on the handle and the extended tang. Now mind you, this photo is slightly angled, so the tip of the blade looks a lot rounder than it really is.

And here is another photo of a Fieldcraft prototype. You can really see the thumb scallops and the tip really well in this photo.

I have been testing this knife for over a month now, and I want to say without a shadow of a doubt, this is a Bushcraft-level knife. Many people know TOPS Knives for their tactical knives and survivalist blades. But now TOPS is officially in the Bushcraft field as well! I am proud to say I was involved in the beginning of such an endeavor. Moreso, for those concerned whether this is a Bushcraft knife or not; I compared her to three different Moras, a Hultafors, and even the legendary Skookum Bush Tool, all of which she worked on par with, and eventually left in the dust. She carves like a dream, strong, ergonomic, comfortable, sharpens easily and stays sharp. The first batch will be ready by Mid-July, so start contacting TOPS!

The Controversy of Being "Qualified"

2011-02-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

It's hard to make a living in this field. I'm not complaining, because this is my passion and refuse to let the little things get me down. I'm simply stating a fact. It's hard because although this field is popular, the market is flooded with instructors. From Primitive Skills masters who have been teaching for thirty-odd years, to former Army SERE instructors, there are a lot of folks out there that are trying to make this their livelihood. And that is good. The competition makes it so that you have to be the best out there to actually make this your livelihood. There is no fly-by-night operations out there really. Why? Because those that try to make a fast buck rarely make it through the night.

However, there is a phenomenon that happens in this field that you rarely see elsewhere. Almost anyone can be recognized as experts. This is not seen as much amongst paramedics, rock climbing instructors, or canoe instructors. Why? Because they have qualifications that you must meet to be legally allowed to teach/treat people. For the most part at least.

Unlike those fields, and most other fields, wilderness skills instructors don't come from a cookie-cutter collection of knowledge. This is a good thing in my opinion, because it offers us the opportunity to learn from different points of view. As well, what works in one part of the northern wilderness might not work in the tropics, or even in a different part of the northern wilderness. You need instructors from different backgrounds to learn as much as you can.

However, it is a double-edged sword. Without a specified legislation that directs exactly who can be in instructor, we are having a negative effect happen. The instructor teaching you literally can be anybody. Anyone who has read enough books and watched enough tv shows, that they can regurgitate that information instinctively. They may have never sewn a wound up, but they know what sort of thread and needles are best for it. They might have not spent hundreds of hours tracking down a coyote, watching it's body language and understanding that animal intimately, but they can tell you the average size of the track and what makes it a coyote track. The Armchair Survivalist has become the expert.

My biggest issue though, is how some people who are armchair survivalists think because they have taken one or two courses, they are qualified to teach others. They rate it as "I am Phase I qualified", or think because they have now finally gotten one formal class under their belt they are now able to teach anyone. They haven't spent any hard dirttime in this field, they haven't followed an instructor for months, or years, acting as a servant as that instructor tosses a tidbit of information their way every once in a while. They don't have more than a single piece of paper making them knowledgeable.

I have seen this grow more and more on Youtube, and forums. And yeah, it's amusing to hear a twenty-two year old tell others that they need more qualifications to be considered instructors. I may sound like a hypocrite. So perhaps I should explain my qualifications;

-I have a portfolio that holds all of my formal training information. This includes over a dozen certificates, and over a dozen other papers describing what I have accomplished in my field training. Ranging from archeology to wilderness first aid, I have clocked in hundreds of hours just to get formal training alone.

-My official training began under one of the Big Four (Larry Dean Olsen, Tom Brown Jr, Gino F. Ferri and Mors Kochanski) nearly a decade ago. Not only formal training, but private classes and non-certifying programmes. I spent hours daily acting as an assistant to the man I refer to as "Mishomis" to earn the knowledge I now have. From building exact replica tools and lodgings (elm bark wigwams, moose bone knives, stretched furs, etc), to spending days just cleaning bones and feathers, I put in my time as a student under that man to know everything I could learn. I still go back to him on occasion to learn more.

-I have volunteered on countless programs for youth, teaching them traditional skills. This helped teach me how to educate future students in a respectful, safe environment.

-I have spent countless days working under native elders; tending fires, cooking meals, and generally taking care of them. This has earned me their trust and I gained a lot of insight from this period of my life. I still do what I can to help our elders out, not just for knowledge, but for respect of the knowledge they have.

-I spent time learning traditional woodcraft under some of the most respected native craftsmen out there. From Pinock, to Wilmer Nadjiwon, to unnamed men in the north country.

Over the last decade I have spent my entire life focusing on dirttime. I have not gone a day without training. Sometimes it was as simple as practising my fire by friction techniques. And other days, it was heavy training in CPR or canoe-to-canoe rescues. That is 3,650 days of training. I have many witnesses to prove this.

I am not saying "you are not worthy to be in this field" to anyone who is starting out. But if you just had basic first aid, would you be teaching a class of EMT students? No.

You have to earn your right to teach this stuff. You need to sacrifice a lot; blood, sweat, sleep, and even relationships for this career. When you know without a shadow of a doubt that you have logged in more hours of training than you ever plan on logging in hours of teaching, than you have deserved the right to teach.

Now, showing things that you have learned? That is something completely different. Anyone can show some cool stuff they have learned, or else they will never fully learn it (teaching others is one of the best ways of commiting a skill to memory). However remember which you are, a beginner or an instructor.

Like first aid instructors, rock climbing instructors and canoeing instructors, what we teach to our students has the potential of saving their lives, or ending them. Do not ever take this line of work, or knowledge lightly. I have had to treat severe cuts, hypothermia and hand injuries on people who thought anyone could do this.

As many first aid instructors say to their students regarding what to do when paramedics arrive on the scene; offer any assistance you can, but leave it to the professionals.

The monthly attempt at making a monthly blog post..

2011-01-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

What a month! I say that a lot....

I have been in Texas for the first few weeks of January visiting my girlfriend and her family. Was fishing with her dad, gun and knife shopping with her brother, and went ATV-ing with her up in Waco. I loved it down there. Wild pecans, prickly pear cactus, trout, oysters, and a bunch more wild foods were just everywhere. Her father and I shared some Native history with eachother, and I had an absolute blast all around with my lovely Missuss. I got a new tattoo while in Richwood Texas. Want to guess what it was?

However I sadly had to leave the warm and salt-water paradise, and the warm embrace of my beloved, and begin heading back to the frozen land I call home. I think my lady was glad to be rid of me!

I flew to North Carolina and met up with Robert Munilla from Practical Survivor. This dear brother of mine and I spent two days trying to get back to Canada. A snowstorm came in part-way through Pennsylvania. By the way, if any of you reading this are from PA... your state is too long. I felt my beard growing while driving through there!

So why were we heading up north anyways? Well, our good friend John Campbell from the High Desert Survival School/ Arizona Bushman and us have been planning for years a special project. Now, the project is quite simple. A central hub is being made for videos, from instructors and specialists out there that are from different regions, climates, backgrounds and fields. This central hub will bring you, the person interested in outdoors skills a broad spectrum of wilderness knowledge. From the swamps of the southeastern United States, to the deserts of Arizona, to the Boreal forests of Canada, knowledge will be shared that you can't find in one place from just one person. This video series will be brought to you by men (and eventually women as well) that have backgrounds spanning many subjects, including; urban survival, cold weather survival, desert survival, tracking, trapping, tropical bushcraft, swampcraft, herpetology, botany. I'd list all the people involved, but we want some of them to be some great surprises. As well, if someone has to back out before the project is fully underway, we don't want to have your expectations set and disappoint you! So let's just say you will have to wait to see all of the videos to know who is involved.

This project, though it may promote Canadian Bushcraft, it is not a project all of Canadian Bushcraft is involved in. Only I am involved, and though we will have mention of Canadian Bushcraft either in the videos, or in the credits, Canadian Bushcraft is not the owner of this project, nor does it have any say in it. This is my own personal project, with a lot of friends, and Canadian Bushcraft is simply getting some good publicity for it.

So Rob and I decided to film together, in the Canadian wilderness in the dead of winter. Rob has cold weather experience in Michigan, but has never done something to this degree before. And as anyone who has experienced it can tell you, the Canadian bush is much different then any other wilderness you can compare it to. Especially in the winter. However Rob comes from a very knowledgeable background regarding the science of survival, and his educated explanations about certain things, such as hypothermia, energy use and other aspects is incredible. So bringing him up to Canada with me was a great way of letting our viewers truly learn from two different viewpoints. He also is a great writer and photographer, and will be covering much of the information we filmed in more detail as articles. It was also a good excuse to hang out with one of my longest friends in wilderness skills!

So, here are some teasers for the future articles, videos and whatnot!

Well we finally arrived in Canada, after letting Rob take a gander at Niagara Falls for the first time (no, I did not propose to him).

After we crossed the border I got Rob a large Double-Double from Tim Hortons. Being as everyone always says their country's coffee is the best, he kind of rolled his eyes at the statement.. then he drank his cup of beans.. and suddenly he was more on our side (he later bought two big cans of Tim Horton's coffee, and took em back to the USA with him).

And hour or two later, and we were in Port Credit Ontario, checking out the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

While in Port Credit I took Rob to The Canadian Outdoor Equipment Co. It's one of my favourite shops, and after introducing the owner Chris Scerri to Rob, we began to go through the amazing stock that Chris provides for us here in the Great White North.

After I dropped some good money on a new Gransfors axe, trangia mess kit tin, water purification tablets, a new woolpower baselayer shirt and countless other items, we bid adieu to Chris and thanked him for his help in getting supplies.

We began to head to Peterborough and arrived just before six in the evening. Had dinner in town and spent the night at my house to get my gear and finish up some little projects. Here are some more teaser photos for you to check out. I won't give any more info on what happened up north, but let you all wait patiently to see the results.

The small knife versus the large knife

2010-12-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

The small knife versus the large knife:

Analyzing the value of knife sizes in a wilderness setting.

Note, I am still on Hiatus. This is a reposting of an article.

The one tool almost all survival skills enthusiasts and bushcrafters seem to focus on over any other is the knife. Discussions about trapping methods, blankets, tents and fire starting devices are set aside whenever the “knife talk” begins at any campfire. To many this has become a dull discussion, more of an ego-fueled debate amongst men who must compromise for either their lack of genuine skill or something else along those lines. To others however, this subject has become an obsession, which plagues their minds daily. I know some men that have awoken from a fitful sleep, just to describe to me a new knife design that popped into their head in mid-slumber. I suppose it is a passion that I have fueled for myself, testing and handling literally hundreds of designs from countless brands and companies, with an unheard variety of steels and handle materials. When I ran out of knife brands I wanted to play with I commissioned custom knife makers to make me new ones!

Over time I have gotten a sense of what I consider a good knife. However that flows with the more I learn. I explain to many people that the perfect survival knife is the Holy Grail for almost anyone interested in Survival, Bushcraft or any other form of outdoor skills. People want it, and strive for it constantly, but it is unlikely to ever be found. Why? Because someone won't like it. Sure, you may get a few hundred fanatics, but then the critics will be found. This is not a criticism on either side. I have a few knives that many people hate. And many out there have a few knives I hate. A knife is a personal choice, that must suit the user, and not the masses.

However, the one argument that never seems to go away is the debate between a large knife and a small knife. This debate comes from a long history of doctrine, based more on opinion and theory than fact. I am speaking about both sides, so no, I am not attacking any one knife size. Yes, there are indeed medium sized knives, however the big argument seems to focus on the smaller belt knives and the larger knives. The two extremes interestingly enough!

Now, before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I do not flow with one opinion or the other. I carry both large and small knives, and for certain situations (which I will explain later), I prefer one over the other. I am not a devout of any knife dogma out there, especially when it comes to size, and if anyone tries to tell me what I must do to be “right” I will always politely smile, nod and continue on the way I choose to. Why? Because a knife is a personal thing, and no two people are alike.

To fully understand the differing opinions on knife size, you need to understand the minds that such opinions originate from. The two opinions stretch far back, and as mentioned before, have become dogmatic “rules” among the “cliques” of such mindsets.

Let us explain the origins of those that carry a small knife first. Among many cultures in the Northern hemisphere, an axe was -and is still- carried in the throughout the wilderness. This, coupled with a saw, could perform all the heavy chores. From felling tall lodegpole pines for shelter frames, to splitting firewood, to even butchering moose. In such situations, the need for a knife was small tasks. Such tasks included skinning of game, dicing of vegetables, shaping wood into spoons, toggles. Trap pieces and such. The job did not ask for a cumbersome blade, but a light and small knife capable of doing delicate work. Besides, in such cold weather, a large knife is prone to damage, due to being thinner than the axe.

Now of course, there will be some exceptions to the rule, such as the Inuit Snow knife, and the Swedish Leuku Knife. But even these are not considered extremely large. Most of these Northern climate large knives are light, and not made to do more than cut meat. One knife design however that originated many years ago was the “Big Camp Knife”. Not as ancient as the Leuku, but capable of doing many things. There are even written records of Metis Buffalo Hunters cutting down standing dead pine trees, with their Hudson Bay Knives, for firewood, They immediately sectioned the wood and split it into kindling. Soon after (in these accounts), a buffalo would have been shot nearby and the men -without sharpening or even stropping their big knives- would set off to skin, quarter and butcher the bison. Obviously this shows what a large knife was capable of in a region where mostly smaller knives were carried. Later, the Bowie knife came into being, and that is when North America's fascination with big knives really seemed to stem from.

However, the large knife has it's oldest history in tropical regions. Be it a Panga, Parang, Golok, Bolo or other type of Machete, a long blade -sometimes thin and sometimes thick- has been used and is still used by almost every Tropical culture in the world. Even “uncontacted tribes” are often photographed with steel machetes in South America. The long blade in these regions was not fighting dense or frozen wood, but dealing with springy saplings, tough bamboo and snaky vines. Such material would just bounce or deflect an axe. However, the thin, long blade could slash more than chop, making it more effective. This made it superior to the axe in almost all tropical climates.

Now, due to soldiers and explorers, the larger knives of the tropics began to get more attention over time. Notice how during the Second World War the United States began to pick up Machetes? This was due to the war in the South Pacific. As well, any expedition story of South America or Africa eventually mentions a machete-like knife being used. By the Vietnam War, the Malaysian Parang and Latin Machete were becoming common-place blades for soldiers from different nations. Combine America's ancestry of the Bowie and Canada's history of the Hudson Bay Knife, and you can see why the Machete and other large knives were quickly taken by the civilians as “outdoor knives” for our woods.

Jump ahead by a few decades and we now have the modern era, where gentlemen become lunatics if someone disagrees with their knife choice. Some men believe they can do anything and everything with a giant knife, whereas others believe they can do anything and everything with a knife under fives inches of blade. Very few will agree with the others' points, and so they continue to bicker and even consider the other morons. Let us listen to the arguments and truly break them down by each point;

A large knife can carve just as well as a small knife. While I appreciate a “Can do” attitude, this is not the case. Yes, I have feathered kindling with a parang, shaped deadfall triggers with a kukri, and even pothangers with a machete. However, the results were not as sharp and crisp as the results made with my Swedish knives, or pocket knives. I cannot shape a mask with a knife that is twelve inches long as well as I can with a small carving knife.

A small knife can do large tasks easily. I hear this from many people. Each time, they remind me of what certain Bushcraft instuctors have done with Mora knives; cutting down wrist thick willows, splitting wood with a baton, felling 9 inch trees using the “can opener” method. All of these take considerable amount of energy, time and even strength. Though it all can be done, they are not as easy and simply chopping into the wood with a machete. Comparing the 3-5 seconds it takes me to cut through a wrist thick willow tree with a small knife to the 1 second it takes to slice through the same willow with a large knife might seem like splitting hairs, but consider it this way. If you were to make a large arch-dome shelter, or weave a smoking rack, or make a “ brush raft”, the amount of time and energy would matter to you. The 2-4 second difference starts to add up after a few hours, especially in a survival situation where you may be lacking in food, sleep or water. Suddenly splitting all of that wood for your fire becomes annoying after the fiftieth batoning.

A large knife is only carried by greenhorns. This is not just wrong, it's an insult to a lot of people. I know several old-timers who carry knives with blades longer than 7 inches. I also have studied enough aboriginal cultures in the world to be able to say “Go ahead, tell a South American native he's a greenhorn because of that machete of his” with utter confidence.

A small knife is carried by Liberal Hippies, not real survivalists. Usually said by those that just got called greenhorns. If Mors Kochanski is a Hippy I would be surprised. Not shocked, just impressed to find out. I'm quite sure many survivalists out there would like to picture the man they learned at least half a dozen things from as an unknowing idiot, not a real survivalist. By the way, little known fact, Liberals (the politicians at least) rarely carry a knife of any size on them, they just spend a lot of money on trying to find out via polls whether it is right or wrong to even know what a knife is.

A large knife is a clumsy tool, And this is truly the meat and potatoes of the anti-Large knife argument. Most people consider a large knife not as easy to use for precision work. They think such a long knife is going to miss the target and go straight into their shin or kneecap. This to me is a valid point. A large knife is capable of badly injuring you. And without a lot of practice and common sense, a large knife will injure you. However, with experience, a large knife becomes a precision tool like any other. As well, this “clumsy” feeling is caused by the knifemaker improperly balancing the knife. I have one custom Parang and a production-line “Heavy Machete”. Both of which are so well balanced, that I can look at a willow and “snip” off branches effortlessly, to clean up my stands of willows (makes them healthier and better for future uses). As well, I can sit there with both knives and do decent detailed shaping of wooden implements. I can split and carve a cedar log into a bowdrill kit with the same knife. To me, a survival-oriented knife must be capable of that, and that makes a large, balanced knife precious to the survivor.

A small knife is useless in a wilderness setting. The meat and potatoes of the anti-Small knife argument. The claim is that a small knife can't do anything useful when you are in the outdoors. However, wherever precision is needed, a small knife is superior. Whether it is gutting a fish, skinning a deer, shaping a fishing spear, or making the more complex traps, I prefer a small knife. It just does the job better. Yes, it can't chop down trees, or split wood as fast as a large knife, but it can do everything the big knife can't do.

And that really is the point ladies and gentlemen. A small knife can do what a big knife can't, and a big knife can do what a small knife can't. To me, they should both be carried; the large knife on your belt, the small one around your neck. However, that is for general purpose fieldwork. Many people however always ask the question of “what if you are lost and could only have one cutting tool with you?”.

The answer to that in my opinion is simple; I will have a large, balanced knife. With a large knife I can make my shelter, make my fire and fuel it. With my large knife I can quickly fashion a digging stick and a rabbit stick. With these two items I can begin to search for food. With my large knife I can make basic (but rough) implements. However, to me, the large knife's true value is that it can provide me shelter and fire. Those are what I need to stay alive here in the woods of Ontario Canada. Water is everywhere, and if I have fire, I can clean the water, so fire and shelter are the most important. Add that a large knife can give me those faster and with less energy spent than a small knife.

However, the only time I only have one knife on me in the wilds, is when I am simulating a survival situation. Any other time, and I have two of them on me at least, if not three (I like to carry a Swiss army knife or other folding knife in my shirt pocket for little tasks like peeling apples or gutting a bass).

So where is the situation that I like to have just a small knife? When I am in an urban environment. Carrying my parangs or other large knives is usually not acceptable in the city or towns that I go to. I will often then, carry a knife within perfectly legal limits (check your by-laws folks). In most of Ontario, a knife must be under six inches to be legally carried. I make myself less of a police target by wearing an even smaller knife such as an “EDC Neck Knife”, or simply my Swiss army knife

The point of this writing is simple; use clear thought when it comes to what knife you decide to carry, and honestly, the next time you criticize someone for carrying a knife whose size you think wrong, shut up, and watch how they use it. If you see a man using a machete to delicately carve a pair of chopsticks for his evening meal, or see a lady split thigh thick wood down to kindling with a neck knife, then maybe you just learned something.

Hiatus

2010-12-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

I am going on Hiatus for the next while. I am focusing on my personal life and on the business as a whole. I will not be around much, and those that I have made plans with, I assure you I will be still available to organize and finish planning. However for my own health and for the health of my relationships and the he...alth of my work, I will not be here as often as I have been. Thank you for your understanding.

Women in the wilderness

2010-11-26T00:55:00.001-08:00

"Stainless steel is like a woman. Real pretty, but only belongs in a kitchen, and sure as Hell not in the woods" -Old woods joke

I have noticed many women getting into wilderness skills. In fact we usually have at least 2 ladies on each course, if not half the class. I find this awesome and it really warms my heart to know people of both genders are getting out there and learning these skills.

However to some, this is considered a "Boy's Club". As a member of this so-called club, I'd like to say I don't believe it myself. I would like to point out firstly a few historical facts, and then a few ladies (not by name) that have proven this belief wrong. At the end of this blog I would like to state my final opinion on this subject.

Firstly let us look at many Native cultures (both Hunter-Gatherer and Agricultural); Many of these cultures were Matrilineal. Meaning that their government/governing body/leaders were most often women. Those that were not, still held a great respect for women as outdoorspeople. People like to point out native women that did great feats for the betterment of "America".. however these women never thought what they did was amazing. Why? Their grandmothers, aunts, and eventually daughters would have all done similar tasks in one way or another. Women were not your everyday hunter and warrior, but their knowledge of the plants, and their ability to understand sheltercraft (often ten times better than a man) could not be overlooked.

Native men often suggested to white explorers that the women should be involved in the expeditions. Few listened, and those that didn't allow women on their expeditions often suffered. Those that did bring women along prospered. Why? Because the Native women knew how to make the clothing, set up the shelters, process the hides, butcher the game, start the fires and tend to the wounded. One Native man was quoted as saying "A woman is like three men, she can carry all the gear and leave the man free to walk". This sounds derogatory, and makes the women sound like pack animals. However if you understand that a hunter/warrior must pack light to move fast and stealthy, you realize the woman in that society truly was the "packer". The fact that they could carry the 80-90lbs of gear, set up the camp, have all the firewood for the night, and have everything well under way by the time a man could finally get a moose or caribou into camp is impressive. This shows the women knew Bushcraft as well, if not better than the men.

Now that we have the historical reference let us look at several women who I have met personally, that have proven this is not a Man's Game;

1) The first lady I would like to mention was one of my first instructors. She is a kind hearted woman, who listens to Johnny Cash and Bob Marley while making beautiful (and I really do mean beautiful) buckskin dresses.. But don't let this fool you, there's a reason she is the only Female survival instructor to ever train Canadian special forces.. She made me break down on my first ever survival course. I was a blubbering mess, believe me -it was not pretty. Tough as nails and smarter than any male instructor I have met.

2) The second lady I would like to speak of is a dear friend of mine. She was one of the fastest female canoe racers. Sadly the sexism in that sport (yup, I just said it) made it unable for her to compete professionally. She had Olympian talent, and the Male-centric attitude of canoe racing kept her from proving it. However I do recall her emasculating 100+ male Canoe guides in Algonquin Park by portaging her "own damned canoe", and having their boss basically tell them she was outdoing them in every way possible regarding canoeing.. yeah, they canoe tripped.. she raced the damned things against professionals from around the world..

She is now a dogsledder in Haliburton Forest, and works ungodly hours caring for 100+ dogs (the canines, not the male canoe guides), works with biologists taking samples from deer, and helps basically keep the entire place running. This lady is like a sister to me, and after doing knife sparring with her and coming out with a busted eye and fat lip enough times.. believe me.. she's tougher than tough.

3) The third lady I would like to mention is a former student of mine. She has attended several courses of Canadian Bushcraft's, and has even come out for a week straight to volunteer with Operation Wigwam: Phase II. She dug a steam oven pit, built a debris hut large enough to shelter 9 people, cleared and maintained trails, and gathered lots of firewood. Her love for the woods didn't stop there. When I last saw her outside of work, she was finishing a tattoo on herself; a cedar scale across her foot... now.. I have tattoos.. some done professionally, and some done "prison ink style".. the foot and the hand are two of the most sensitive spots to pain from tattooing on the human body (there are others, but the hands and feet are pretty sensitive).. to do that to your own foot shows passion and pain tolerance. The fact that it was a cedar branch she was inking onto herself? Made me want to hug her hard.

4) The fourth lady I would like to mention is my good friend and colleague. She got into Bushcraft in late 2008, and has never looked back. She joined myself and another friend on a week long trip into the wilds, and though it was constant downpour of rain, she kept an incredible Positive Mental Attitude that left me stunned. She fished (feverishly), tended the fire and wandered the wilderness confidently. This lady surprises me and makes me proud everytime I'm in the woods with her.

5) The fifth, and final woman of wilderness I would like to mention has only recently experienced Bushcraft. And that would be my girlfriend. We went out on one of the coldest nights of September and decided to camp out (you may have already read the blog, if not, GO READ IT). While I went and picked her some flowers, she actually took the initiative and gathered a buttload of firewood. She slept on one of the most uncomfortable beds I ever made, ate over an open fire in a smoke filled wigwam, and at 5 the next morning, with an hour of sleep in her, she cheerfully got up and joined me duck hunting. This woman made me proud to be her boyfriend that morning. She does everyday, and I promised her that the next time we'd go camping, there'd be less smoke, and better food. I hope she takes me up on it!

My final statement on this subject is simple. Women and men are equals, and I find it ridiculous to alienate ladies from enjoying the outdoors. And fellas, believe me, acting like the over-macho boyfriend? Won't help them enjoy themselves. Don't say things like "Just sit there, and I'll get the fire going, no no, I'll light it, you just sit there". Be respectful, and treat them as equals, because they are your equals. Ron and Karen Hood have proven this for decades.

Two articles of their's are perfect for this, and seeing as I do not have their permission to publish their work, I will simply link you to the two articles;

Scroll down to "Sex and Survival"

This one is titled "Ladies in the woods" and proves everything I just wrote better than I could ever write it folks.

So finally, Ladies; Do not think this is an All-Boys' Club, just because some jackasses think that it takes testosterone to survive. It don't, and it'll often getcha killed faster. Enjoy the woods for yourself and forget those that think otherwise. These are your woods too, be proud to be a part of them.

Oh, and by the ways folks.. the five ladies I listed? None of them carry a frigging gun in the woods when not hunting.. and never do they carry handguns... ahem..

November Rain

2010-11-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Last week was all sunshine and warm (too hot) weather, now we're getting rain that stings when it hits, and winds that make me whistle "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". If only this cold weather was around when I was out hunting deer, and I may have brought home some venison!

I spent a day of the deer hunt up in the foothills of Porcupine Hill, and came across the camp my Australian friend and I made a year ago. The birchbark shingles had fallen off the wickiup, and raspberry vines had grown through the firepit, but it was absolutely marvelous.

A good friend of mine and I are planning a winter Bushcraft trip this January. That friend is Robert Munilla of Practical Survivor. This gent is one of my closest brothers in wilderness skills, and we have spent many a night discussing and planning this trip. I will be flying down to Texas to visit Melissa for a week or so, and then hopping over to North Carolina to meet up with Mr. Munilla to drive back here to Canada with him.

So, what am I doing to prepare for this trip? Well, I purchased a Canadian Army 5 person Bell Tent, with additional pieces of stove chimney thimbles, and a liner. The entire thing is pretty weather beaten, so I will be patching the holes, and sealing the entire tent (and liner) with a canvas weatherproofing. It requires a single eight foot long pole to stand it up, and I even have methods of using no poles to erect it -much like this no-pole parachute tepee I set up;

I am also making a couple of ultra-light toboggans out of High Density Polyethylene. These are tougher than wooden toboggans and weigh less. We're planning on heading to Lingham Lake, the same place I went back in August, but more to the north end. Ice fishing may happen, and if the snow is right, we'll also be making an igloo. Regardless of whether it's legal to ice fish or not, I'll be taking an ice auger (hand cranck variety). Why? It's easier to get fresh water than trying to melt ice or snow (which can scorch or even crack a billycan if done improperly), and drilling through the ice is therefore worth it.

"What else is new Oz?" You ask? Well I've been playing with a Skookum Bush Tool. Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that's right, a Skookum Bush Tool. Dun Dun DUNNNNNNN!!!!!!

Okay, someone's gotta hit the sound technician for this blog.. Anyways, I snapped a few photos of the Skoo-... the knife, so here you go;

Yeah, she's a beaut. And I tested her in every imaginable way, and yet.. she succeeded to surpass my wildest dreams. I am heavily impressed with this knife, and need to say right now, on the record; if any one is wondering about ordering a Skookum Bush Tool (shut up Sound Tech) and they come across this blog.. please.. for your own sanity.. order it.

Outside of that, I've been invited to guest blog for a few people including Midwest Bushcraft, and Joel Delorme, among others. That being said, if you want to read more of my future rants, you should start checking out other outdoors blogs, I may just be there as well.

Next blog, I'll be getting into a more serious rant, that is again controversial, but I consider important. Hopefully you do too.

My most recent hiatus

2010-10-03T02:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry brothers and sisters for not being around lately (maybe some of you were enjoying my absense). I have spent the last week pretty busy with a very special guest/student of mine.

This is my girlfriend Melissa and I on her first morning in Canada (and her first time on a Native reserve). She came up for a week from Texas (yes, long distance, and an even longer story) to visit, and experience Canada in Autumn. Between visiting some of our friends and introducing her to my family on the reserve, we decided to spend a night camping out in a Parachute Wigwam, and spend the next morning duck hunting. She's always known of my love for the outdoors, even back when we were just kids, so she wanted to witness firsthand me in "my element" as she put it.

Me showing Melissa a tepee on the reserve

Home for a night

The wigwam was made from Alder poles, and had a small entrance way made from willow saplings.

The smokehole

Starting the first fire

Though there was a smokehole, with an elevated fireplace (on a piece of sheet metal found in the woods), and the entrance was open to offer air, the fire was quite smoky, due to the damp weather. However, it wasn't so smoky that Melissa didn't try out the fancy bed!

The bed was made from a frame of woven willows on top of several logs, and then piled up with spruce boughs, then covered with two of the four blankets.

I wanted to make sure Melissa was ready for duck hunting the next morning, so after honing up on the gun safety training she had when studying for Wildlife Management back in Texas, I let her try her hand at hitting some targets;

That girl is a damned good shot! Must be the Texan blood. She didn't set the shotgun right into her shoulder, and the recoil bruised her bicep slightly, but it never got rid of her smile.

Cooking dinner in a dutch oven (Steak Kebabs)

We took a few walks around, and I showed her the needles of the Tamarack, and how they were beginning to go yellow. Not as vibrant yet as the sumacs red leaves or the yellow of the trembling aspens, but she was still impressed to know a conifer can drop it's needles.

On our way back to the camp we came across this little guy, a red bellied snake.

The night was cold, around 9 degrees celcius, and although we had several blankets with us, and a nice fire by the bed. Melissa woke me up around four in the morning, telling me she was really cold. I got her closer to me and grabbed the sleeping bag I had in my pack in case of this. I draped it over her, and held her back to my chest while I drifted back to sleep.

An hour later we were up and getting ready for the duck hunt.

Me watching the skies for blue winged teals, mallards and wood ducks.

A little later I snapped this picture of her.

The ducks were flying high that day, and though we had Canada geese buzzing over us, I only had light duck shot with us, so we let them pass. After a few hours of watching, waiting and calling, we packed up and headed home.

This past Monday I took her back to Pearson Airport in Toronto, and watched her get boarded. I can't describe how much I miss her. It was like watching a part of my heart board and fly away from me. This December I will be going down to Texas to visit her and her family (and torment her dog). Hopefully I'll be able to see some of our Lone Star State members while I'm there!

Anyways, hope this explains my disappearance . Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

My Grandfather

2010-09-15T08:56:00.001-07:00

I was on the Bushcraft USA forum today. I read Old Philosopher's thread about a connection, and I've got to say, it brought a lot of emotions up. Remorse, regret, a few bouts of laughter, and an all-around confusion (cuz I'm a male, we aren't always good at identifying our own emotions it seems).

I often refer to a man named Gino Ferri as my grandfather. He is my adoptive grandfather, he raised me in the skills since I was 13, but he is not my blood. My blood grandfather was a man named Dale Muskrat. He changed the name to Musgrave when my dad was around six or seven years old. The reasoning I've heard was mostly because he was tired of his kids getting picked on at school for being Native. Who knows though, maybe he was evading taxes.. my grandfather was an enigma.

He was the last full blooded Ojibway in my direct family. He was a deadly-serious umpire for baseball. If he said "Safe", you never argued him. He had only one eye. During the wake, my father told the story of how my grandfather lost his eye. Suddenly my Aunt corrected him, then my Uncle corrected her with another version. My Grandmother looked at her kids and said they were all wrong, and then proceeded to tell them a different story, to which the Priest corrected her.. again, he was an enigma.

My grandfather loved to hunt. He never had a steady job, so spent most of the summers as a fishing guide, and most of the fall as a hunting guide for rich guys from New York State. My father ate wild meat for years before he knew what chicken tasted like. My grandfather had a passion for duck hunting, which he adored so much that he had my grandmother wallpaper their bedroom in ducks, and had stuffed mallards and buffleheads up in "His Room".

When I was very young he taught me the basics of tracking, he was the start of my passion for Wildness. Him, with my father and my great uncles always made sure my family had wild meats to taste; bullfrog, snapping turtle, duck, goose, muskrat, beaver, fish, deer, moose, all before I was Five. I loved it, one day a Happy Meal at McDonalds, the next night turtle steaks with fried froglegs..

He also started my passion for bizarre jokes, starting it with this joke when I was Five;

Q: "If you're a Canadian when you go in the bathroom, and a Canadian when you're out of the bathroom, what are ya when you're in the bathroom?"

A: "...European.."

When I laughed hysterically, he asked it again and I eagerly awaited the punchline, he changed it up and answered "Europooin"... needless to say it took me a while to understand the genuine punchline of that joke.. if you're taking a while to try to figure it out too, that's it exactly.. again, enigma.

When I was in the 8th grade, back in 2001, I hadn't seen him in about eight months. Around noon, on the 21st of September, my entire attitude went from calm to angry, like a switch was flipped inside me. I yelled, fought, swore at my teacher and seemed to be possessed as my entire heart felt like it was tearing in half.

When I got home I found out my grandfather had passed away from a severe heart attack... it happened around nine in the morning, but he passed at precisely noon.. The 21st of September was the opening day of Duck hunting. The day he would have wanted to pass on.

I have gone nine years without him. I have found mentors among men like Gino, Chief Vernon Roote, my Lakota and Apache friends, and countless elderly hunters.. but none of them could make up for one more day I could have had with my Mishomis (grandfather).

Next week will be the ninth anniversary of his death. It will also be the week my girlfriend comes up from Texas to go camping. She agreed and I cleaned up my shotgun and grabbed two boxes of No. 5 shot..

September 21st, you'll know where you can find me; down at the marsh with decoys and a call quacking in my mouth. It's time to honor my grandfather.

I don't know why I wrote all of this, but maybe it is because I wanted everyone to have a chance to reflect on the elders in their past, or present, who have helped guide us. Thank you for reading and being patient with this long winded rambling.

Philosophy, Flintknapping and other primitive subjects.

2010-09-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

I noticed how much more attention my previous blog got. Maybe it was because I was ranting, who knows. Blogs and ranting seem to go hand in hand. And although I loved getting more than two or three comments, really, it was me complaining about a subject I love. If you expect me to always be bitching, well, I was trained and raised to believe in Positive Mental Attitude, so sorry, but I have more good in my life than bad.

And yes, I promise I will write more "controversial" blogs in the future.

Recently I was contracted by a group of Archeologists and Aboriginals to create "tool kits", that native people from different eras (Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland) would have on them. This includes;

-scrapers, knives and points made from chert,
-Awls and knives from bone
-Adzes and axes made from polished basalt
-and finally, A completed axe, and a completed arrow per kit.

As well, a booklet will be added to each "kit", describing the processes of creating them, and the applications of the tools.

So as I began gathering hammerstones off of the shore of Rice Lake, I remembered that my friend Mark and I (more Mark than I) found a local deposit of chert on the northern shore of Rice Lake. It was a form of Fossil Hill Formation Chert, however it was not Collingwood Chert. Why? Because we're nearly four hours from Collingwood!

With that being said, we decided to name it Northern Shore Rice Lake Chert. Was originally North Shore Chert, but that was too vague and the people I polled for the name (on Facebook and BCUSA) made clear that they didn't like it being so vague.

I gathered about fifteen pounds of the chert, but as I was gathering I noticed rounded redish cobbles. I grabbed one and crumbled it with my hammerstone. I grinned and whooped happily. All of these years, I was looking in all the wrong places for chunks of red ochre. Hydrated Iron Oxide (red ochre) is one of the oldest art materials Humans ever mastered. It could be "carved" into crude figures, used like chalk (but reddish orange), or as most often, ground into a powder and mixed with a binder of some sort to create paint.

Well, seeing as making my tools pretty is nice, I figured I'd make some ochre paint up. Here's a few options with a basic recipe;

Step One: dry the ochre. This is easiest done by air drying it outside in the sun, though it can be done faster in an oven set to 350F. After 20 minutes remove the piece and let it cool. As it cools it will continue to dry.

Step Two: Turn the ochre into powder. This can be done by grinding it on a flat stone. However for less waste I suggest cracking a chunk of ochre in two and grinding the pieces together over a clean mussel shell

Step Three: Purify the ochre. This is important, depending on how well you ground the ochre. Add the ochre powder to a jar of water. the heavier particles will sink to the bottom, while the lighter particles will be suspended for a while. Count to 40 and then carefully pour the water off into a pie tin or other wide shallow tray. Wait for an hour and then carefully pour off the remaining water (into another tray just in case you feel like making a finer ochre).

Step Four: Dry the ochre. Leave the remaining "sludge" in the tray out in the sun for a week, or leave it in the oven set at the same temperature you would for jerky (Lowest setting possible). The heavier stuff from the jar can also be dried again and reground into more ochre powder.

Step Five: Contain the ochre. Make equal portions of the ochre, and pour either into mini-ziploc baggies, or find a primitive alternative (dead dry stalks of cowparsnip with the ends plugged up for instance). If you are planning to use the ochre for paint immediately, skip step Five and go straight to step Six. However if you plan on keeping the paint for more than a few days, I suggest following step five until you are ready to paint.

Step Six: Make into paint. Mix the Ochre into a smooth, runny "sludge" with an appropriate "binder". An appropriate binder is going to be a fluid that connects the ochre to whatever is being painted. My suggestion is to follow this rule;

"Always use a binder that is as similar to the painted object as possible"

This means using plant-based binders for plant-based objects, animal-based binders for animal-based objects.

A good example is simply painting an ash digging stick. I would usually make the painting happen in the summertime, so that milkweed sap would be present. I would cut and collect as much of the latex-based sap as possible. This I would mix with the red ochre powder and then use as a paint. However, if I was painting bone, rawhide or buckskin, I would either use hide glue, or rendered tallow. The reason for this, is because the binder will be quickly absorbed by the object, which means the ochre will be impregnated into the object, becoming part-Paint, and part-Stain.

Luckily, if you wish to make a cave or rock painting, red ochre is already a mineral, so using simply water should do the trick. I have been asked on several occasions if mineral water would be better. I honestly have no idea, so if you do, please contact me with your findings.

I am sure people will ask for some binders, so here you go. A list of binders I have used in the past;

Animal Based
-Bacon Fat
-Mutton tallow
-Suet
-Hide glue
-Beef tallow
-Deer and moose tallow
-Raccoon Grease
-Blood (not that great on bone, and can ruin a hide)

Plant based
-Dogbane sap
-Milkweed sap
-A mix of plant sap and water (if you are using a primitive white paint, like white clay, avoid this, it makes a weird olive colour)
-Linseed Oil

Misc.
-Water
-Rubbing alcohol
-Spit
-Sphagnum (Inspired by Ray Mears' Bushcraft: Aboriginal Britain)

Hope this helps you primitive artisans,

Tread Softly

Cliques, spoons and Survival vs Bushcraft

2010-08-23T02:41:00.001-07:00

I am in contact with a lot of outdoors instructors on a daily basis. From day camp counselors who teach wilderness skills to the kiddos, to veteran military survival-style instructors, to people that have recently earned the term "Bush Hippy", but I call quiet primitive enthusiasts. I've made a lot of friends in this field, and I'm sure the occasional non-friend (wouldn't call them an enemy, because we remain civil). I'm sure it's the same with everyone else in this field. But I've noticed something incredible, and I know I'm not alone.

The lines get drawn, the followers pick up their weapons (Mora versus Machete most often it seems, but that's a different story), and they head to the battleground.. the online forum. Or sometimes a private chatroom or... well.. a blog. Ironic that I'm using it too then? Maybe, who knows.. But I've noticed people become gung-ho for our celebrity outdoorspeople; Ray Mears, Les Stroud, Bear Gryllis, Hawke, Lundin, Canterbury, the list goes on.

The followers become rabid once in a while, and more often than not, those that just need to stir the pot start something. Eventually the forums are bombarded with ridiculous arguments, and the videos on youtube are filled to the brim with endless diatribe in their comments. It makes a lot of us look foolish, and if you are/aren't a fan of so-and-so, well then you're obviously a moron.

I hear people worship Ray Mears. I also know several instructors that bad mouth the bloke. I've never met him, but I've met a few folks that have, and they all say he's a nice guy. I've only met Les Stroud once, and that was so faint I doubt he'd remember me even if I showed him a hundred photos.

We all get irritated with stuff in the forums, or out there among viewers of these shows. I know I get frustrated all the time, and sometimes I think I could make a better tv show than any of "those idiots". I let ego and id get involved and suddenly I forget that "those idiots" obviously earned the fame. It's hard to fake survival skills, though tv can do anything. Trust me, when I started out I tried to fake a lot. I sucked and everyone knew it. That simple. I'm sure any other young teen trying to impress friends did similar things. We all get busted and embarassed and learn not to lie or fake it.

The cliques out there, following one guy or another, one "style" or another gets tiresome. It really does. I don't like to generalize everything into one title like "Wilderness Skills", but my god.. Aircrew Survival, Bushcraft, Primitive Living Skills, Long-term survival, Modern Survival, Canoe Camping.. Ultralight backpacking... if I hear another "Style" today I think I'll need a muscle relaxant or something.

A lot of people are following Ray Mears, I know quite a few of these people personally. They practise their knifecarving skills by shaping spoons, walking sticks and gorgeous wood spirits. These people enjoy using their smaller knives to shape the tools they find helpful in the field. To me a spoon is helpful, though a flattened stick gets the same job done. Better yet, split a twig and insert a cleaned mussel shell. There, perfect spoon and no carving! However, I do on occasion make a spoon. Why? The curves, thinness of the handle, size, and everything else help me practise my knife skills. The better I am at knifework, the more efficient I am in the field. That simple. However a lot of folks take it to an extreme. Some folks focus on just the spooncarving, as do they only focus on the Mora knife when it comes to knife selection. On the other hand, there's folks that mock anyone that carves a spoon. Me? I believe there is a middle-way to it all;

Do not focus on just survival skills. The basics just keep you alive. You want to thrive, no?
Use common sense. When it's a blizzard and it is -40, don't decide to carve a spoon
Respect all comers to this field. The less closed minds and more open ones we have, the better off we'll all be.
Remember, just because your way works doesn't mean it's the only way. I've met lots of people who I argued with till I was blue in the face. Only then did I realize they may have had a point.
Mora versus Machete: Who cares? If it works for you, than it works for you (the answer is Machete though... just kidding).

The voyage home

2010-08-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

After a week in the woods, I've come back to tell my tale (who knows, maybe I'll write a bestseller about the ordeal). I'll be frank, I hated every second of it. I despised it all. The blistered feet, the rain, the lack of good food, the amount of bugs, the... what? What is that? You say you don't believe that? You say I am full of it? I resent that accusation and remind you that I am not an outdoorsman but in fact a-.. oh wait.. yes I am an outdoorsman..

Okay.. so I loved it. We fished for bass, ate water snails fried in garlic butter, gathered purple flowering raspberry and even sweetfern (I think I got Lucas addicted to the smell). Where we were camped was across a small strait, with a small island about a hundred metres long.

One day we decided it'd be good to investigate the island. We stripped to our underwear and shirts, packed the dry clothes and some little goodies into our drybags, and used these as floatation aides. We drifted across the strait, kicking with our feet, holding our heads out of the waves by resting our chests on the drybags (thank you Archimedes Principle!). It was around the middle of the strait Lucas started divulging these ideas about long tentacles reaching up from the depths to grab someone.. when the seaweed brushed my leg moments after I was not too thrilled with him.

Upon landing on the island we found a rocky ridge covered in pines, spruce and birch. On the other side the mainland was only ten metres away, but the water between the island and it was full of driftwood. Near the southern shore we found six large bass drifting lazily. Regardless of how many lures and baits we tempted them with, they never once gave in to the hook. On our way back to the strait, I noticed large and small bear droppings just a foot from eachother. About eight days old or more, obviously Mama and Baby were long gone from the small island.

I made a greenwood Wickiup, in a half-tepee fashion. Thatched with maple leaves (that's just how Canadian I am) and ferns, the wickiup held up to the rain which seemed to never end. Lucas cooked bannock, I made pine cambium noodles which most were good, yet I took too many and I didn't change the water enough times. Next time, I'll be making it with venison.

I introduced a few wild plants to Lucas, including Sweet-fern, Bog Myrtle (Sweet Gale), and Purple Flowering Raspberry. Not as tasty as the Strawberry Blite or as unique as the May Apples back at Camp Mud, but as survival food, it did well. Lucas may not agree, but I enjoyed the flavours. Then again I'm accustomed to wild plants.

I went through quite a lot of bushwhacking, and Lord knows how many bugbites. There were more rainy days than sunny days, and the fire never had enough coals under my watch. But by the end of it, I still stood tall and revived. Wildness coursed through my veins as strong as ever, and even in this new land, I was in my element; the Canadian Wilderness. Home.

Heading off to the woods again, tell the Missuss I love her!

2010-08-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

Well folks, Lucas and I (the two main instructors of Canadian Bushcraft) are heading out at seven in the morning on Saturday (August 7th 2010) to an area called Lingham Lake Ontario. This area is approximately five thousand acres of crown land surrounding a healthy bass lake. Bordering both Boreal forest, and Mixed Hardwoods/Carolinian forest, this area holds a lot of natural secrets, which reminds me of a lot of the areas I've trained in.

Though I have never explored Lingham Lake, I have studied the topographical maps and wilderness pictures and have discerned a fairly good idea of what to expect, though there will more than likely be a lot of surprises for me. From what I know, the area is in the same climate as Camp Mud (Carolinian with mixes of old growth and Pine-Oak Savannah), but with a small lake with less avenues of travel. Though on the southern and northern shores of the lake, there are roads, the eastern side is not often traveled by people with atvs and trucks.

All this being said I figured I would list you all my gear, food and clothes for this trip. We will be out for a week. Not long-term by any means but it will definitely give us time to get some muscles flexed and exercised. Though we both teach with the company, there is really no such thing as too much practice. Just to explain;

## beside the item means the item will be on my body
* beside the item means the item will be in my belt pouch
No symbol beside the item means the item will be in/on my rucksack

So here's my list folks;

EQUIPMENT;

-Bedroll made from Ripstop Nylon poncho with three wool blankets (two for me, one as back-up)
-TOPS Shango Knife with Flat Whistle ##
-Chris Caine Survival Tool (Parang Knife) ##
-Billycan
-Firesteel (technically two, but one is the army model of firesteels and the other is a Jack Ward special) ## and *
-German 25Litre rucksack (Barely big enough to fit my drysack for clothing and other extra gear
-Two 1 Litre Nalgene bottles
-Pristine Water Purification and Milbank bag*
-Mini Survival Tin (Candle, exacto-knife razor, bic lighter, flat whistle and sharpening stone) ##
-Fishing kit (Little Pelican case full of different lures and hooks, and a soda can Hobo reel)
-Sling (for hunting small game if need be)
-Silva Ranger compass ##
-Brunton Monocular (for birdwatching, tracking and scouting terrain)*
-Signal mirror*
-Pocket Saw (these little suckers cut through anything, and beat one of the those wire saws by far!)*
-50 ft paracord
-First Aid Kit

FOOD;

-Pemmican (50% Rendered Tallow, 50% Shredded Jerky)
-Dried berry leather (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and some sugar liquified and poured thin to dry into leather-like sugary energy)
-1/8th of a pound of dates. I fell in love with these when my Australian friend and I went off into the woods for two weeks back in late November. Genuine energy
-Half a large ziplock bag of dried Labrador tea leaves for evening and morning brews.

(All other food will be harvested from the land and waters)

CLOTHING;
-Two pairs of pants (one for the day, one for the night)
-Four pairs of underwear
-Five pairs of wool socks (two worn at a time to help with preventing blisters)
-Two pairs of gloves (one pair for wearing out of the camp for cutting wood and such, the other pair for working around the fire)
-Army Jungle Combat Boots (I wear these whenever I will be near water or swamps)
-Teva sandals for when trying to dry my feet or leisure walks through and around camp
-Two wicking t-shirts
-One Polypro long sleeve (for the chilly evenings)
-One wool army shirt (for the chillier evenings)
-One wool blanket sewn into a tunic (For the 9 degree celcius evening)
-Acryllic Cowboy Scarf/Shemagh
-Leather bush hat (the one I always wear)
-One polypro vest (To go over the polypro shirt when working in chilly evenings)
-Vinyl drybag to pack all clothes inside

Now, some gear has multiple uses. My one wool blanket doubles as a poncho, so if we encounter extremely cold times (in July of 2007 I had to treat a gentleman for hypothermia, and last August the temperature at night sometimes dropped below zero) I will be ready. My Ripstop nylon rain poncho has grommets, and with the paracord I can set up a simple tarp shelter to deflect rain. I will be using leaf litter beds to stay warm and off the ground. My Cowboy scarf acts a a shield from the bugs for my face, a sling incase I injure my arm (done it before, long story), a filter for my water (though the milbank bag should cover such a task), and of course, as a bandana when it's just too hot for a heavy leather hat.

This may sound like a lot of gear, but it all weighs less than 12 Kilos (26.4 pounds), and that weight includes two litres of water (approximatelty 4 pounds) and my food (which is minimal and basically survival rations). Most of the weight in is the blankets and wool shirts, and though I could do without, I like the added comfort of wool blankets and wool shirts in this season, just for safety. Though I have a possibles pouch (made by Alan Ainsworth, whose pouch I reviewed) with many little items I may find uses for (and some of which I will definitely make use of, such as my water purification droplets) I will be mainly focusing on using my parang and small Shango neck knife to aquire the majority of my tools.

As well, shelter-wise, I will have no tent, sleeping bag, mosquito net, and at least for a couple of nights, no blankets. On the first night I will have my poncho-tarp roof, but after that I will be relying on natural materials and my lengthy experience of Sheltercraft to keep me warm and dry.

Though I will have nutritious food, it will be extremely minimal, relying heavily on my fishing and food gathering.

All in all, we will be focusing on many skills, including shelter building, tracking, wild edibles, firemaking by friction, survival psychology, Wildness and Awareness. All of these subjects and the other subjects which may come up our staff are skilled in and experienced in, but like I said, a little bit of practice can't be complained about. Besides, why else would we want to be outdoor skills instructors if we can't take off every once and a while for a week to enjoy the outdoors just for the outdoors?

-Oz

Two weeks in Dokis

2010-07-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well in the sunlight it has been fifty degrees Celsius (no, I am not going to explain that in Fahrenheit, I'm just too tired) for most of this week, and the deerflies have been more aggressive than usual. They were joined by their horsefly brethren as well, which we quickly nicknamed Mooseflies.. due to the sheer size of them compared to the deerflies.

I was traveling through the Dokis First Nation territory, between Lake Nipissing and the French River. Exact co-ordinates won't be given, simply because this was an archeological expedition and the last thing I want to do is encourage "robbers".

I found several plants and fungi while looking for artifacts (which were never found due to disturbance caused by loggers long ago). I found Sweetfern, Labrador tea, Beaked hazel, Boreal pitcher plant, Indian Pipe, Blueberry, Wintergreen, Raspeberry, Reindeer moss, Rock tripe and what looks like a member of the Amanita family (wasn't brave enough to test this of course). I gathered a good amount of the Labrador tea and Sweetfern, and even brought back some samples of Boreal pitcher plant.

When it was just too hot to dig test pits I busied myself by making several birchbark baskets. One I used as a gathering basket to collect blueberries (in one hour I had over a litre of them, and this isn't even the right time of year usually to harvest them in this area!), and another as a serving dish for them later after I froze the berries to make them a hot weather treat for the archeology team.

We spied a young black bear, countless foxes, a couple of deer and kept coming across extremely fresh tracks of a cow moose with her calf. I kept my eyes busy checking the trails and forests, trying to be aware of any moose. In a single month of 2008 I was chased three times by moose, and was in no mood to reenact that with a large pack on my back and digging tools!

While there I carved a small figure out of a piece of poplar. On the last day up there I wrapped the figure up in birch bark with a sprig of sage as a simple offering of thanks, placing the wrapped of gift into the rapids of a small river, watching my small parcel float on downstream, bouncing about in the waves and rocks. I closed my eyes and said thank you to such a beautiful land and the gifts it bestowed upon me while there.

Hunter-Gatherer

2010-06-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend, Canadian Bushcraft is offering one of our new programs, the Basic Hunter-Gatherer Course. We have taught similar courses in the past, such as our now defunct Swampcraft program "The Dragonfly", and the original Hunter-Gatherer course "The Black Bear". However, this new course has re-vamped and streamlined the previous programs and has grown into a whole new concept.

I have been fascinated with primitive skills since childhood, and though making deadfall traps and learning how to make a friction fire is not the main focuses of genuine survival training, primitive living still has a draw to me, and others. To be able to crack a stone and use it to shape tools, make fire, gather food and even clothe yourself inspires me. To me, that is the essence many of us wish to aspire to in the field of Bushcraft. So we brought back the Hunter-Gatherer course, but this time with a lot more focus on practical skills, some neat tricks on tracking and trapping, and a whole grassroots approach to the philosophy and mindset of a primitive food-provider.

With that being said, I feel like I should explain this mindset to a broader audience, and that is you, the person who is reading this. You may never take a Canadian Bushcraft course, and unless you find one of our graduates, it's very difficult to understand the philosophy of the Hunter-Gatherer course, and what we like to call "Wildness".

To live in harmony with your environment is not easy or impossible. Yes it is hard, and sometimes downright frustrating, but that is the beauty of it. What you get is what you've earned, and you appreciate it greatly due to this. The instinctual senses that grow on a person during this time is incredibly honed, especially their awareness. This awareness grows through their sight, hearing, scent and touch. Even taste to an extent.

The hunters and the gatherers of the past -and present- were/are incredibly honed to their environments. Tracking to them is like reading a book to us. Identifying the wild plants which are edible, medicinal, functional or poisonous is a science to them (it is to us as well, but you get my point).

They respected their prey, whether it be as minute as a trout, or as massive as a moose (or a Megalaceros of the Pleistocene era..), always appreciating the meals they received from the meat, the clothes from the hides, the tools from the bones, and countless other gifts. They adored the plants that gave them food, medicine and supplies. Whether it was sphagnum moss to nest their infants in, or a mighty black ash for canoe ribs. The stones, and even the soil were honored and revered. They relied on these materials, and considered them relatives, who they knew intimately and personally.

This being said, the Hunter and the Gatherer were people so closely intertwined with their habitat, that it is difficult to truly tell where the forest ended and they began. The most amazing part? They were you and me. Our ancestors all lived this way, and only due to what we nickname "The Sickness", which is anything and everything that helped distort our connection to such environments, have we changed. Any person can re-learn these skills, and I truly mean that.. this is a valuable teaching for anyone, from boy scouts, all the way to big business corporations.

A little Wildness never hurt anybody.

Tread Softly.