Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a drink )

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man_of_tanith
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Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a drink )

Post by man_of_tanith »

first up if this isn't of interest or in the wrong section please move or delete as appropriate.
Whilst not done in ranger I feel it may be of interest to the forum. All the clothing was natural materials so went along with my approach and compliments/adds to my plans for rangering
Fast forward to February and we find ourselves in the dampest winter i can recall.
The horrific windy conditions meant that the woods were unsafe for us to meet on the Friday as originally intended. So at 03:00hrs on Saturday I dragged myself out of bed, crept downstairs and got dressed so as not to disturb the rest of the family and ambled down to my folks for a lift to Wiltshire. The journey went smoothly and after a service station stop off for poncy coffee and food we arrived at the course site.

Joe had been held up but the other course attendee's knew where they were going so cars were parked, packs with standard winter camping kit(to be used only in emergencies) were slung onto backs and we wandered to the main parachute shelter. A fire was lit and the kettle was put on.

Joe arrived and we had a safety brief/discussion about the weekend ahead of us. This covered things such as signs of hypothermia, things to watch out for, usual rules and so on and safe cutting techniques (as it happens I was the only one attending who had not been on other courses with Wilderness Survival Skills).
We then went and had a looksee at a demo shelter which was nearby.
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This shelter had been standing since last February and was still done dry within.
Brews were then finished, the packs with our standard winter kit were left in the parachute area and off we went with only a standard bushcraft knife, folding saw, metal cook pot,non metal mug, spark stick, head torch, whistle, wool blanket and first aid kit( I also had smokes and lighter and Boris my mascot Badger)
Originally it was intended for us to pair up for safety but four of the guys decided to go solo. This left me and two others banded together as a group.(more on the differences between solo and group as I continue)
Chris, Andrew and Myself decided on a two sided lean to with one end sealed in a bay as our shelter and set about with gusto
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Fortunately Joe appeared and gently 'hinted' and advised that we may wish to consider a larger shelter to comfortably house the three of us. Luckily we hadn't gotten too far into the construction and having three of us mean that whilst the workload was larger it was also split into three parts. A quick rethink resulted in us building a shelter more U shaped which gave sufficient space to fit in (I'm so glad Joe suggested we change tactics it would of been a dreadful nights sleep)

To transport the debris/leaf litter to thatch the shelter we used my wool blanket. I swear we must of shifted two tonnes or more on my blanket.
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We must also of stripped the surrounding areas of all the leaf mould(fortunately there were several demolished shelters we raided) and uncovered quite a few shoots using the debris as insulation
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Slowly (painfully slowly it felt) we thatched the entire shelter. The temperature difference was noticeable immediately whenever you entered the shelter- I noticed my trousers were steaming whenever I went in there.

Whilst two of us were thatching the shelter the third was working on getting the fire going.
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Joe appeared at this point and after pointing out that it shouldn't take three men to light a fire (I confess I had hit a slump point and was having a smoke whilst Chris and Andrew were focusing on the fire) demonstrated feathersticks (first sign of dehydration starting to kick in not thinking it through).
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Whilst Chris and Andrew made up some more feather sticks I focused on gathering boney oak and ash for the fire wood and the fire was soon lit
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man_of_tanith
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Part two

Post by man_of_tanith »

Once the fire was lit one member of the group went off with all our cook pots and collected water and food from two spots marked with a dot on the map. Meanwhile the other two continued gathering firewood and in my case squirrelled away any and every tinder i could find in case the fire went out.
I also spotted this interesting Fungi and would love to know what it is if anyone knows?
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Upon the third members return it was time to boil the water to simulate purifying gathered water. By this time it was around 15:30 and I was feeling the first stages of dehydration. never has tepid boiled water tasted so good!

Next our thoughts turned to bedding. Hazel staves raised us ever so slightly from the ground
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and whilst I built these the others went off and gathered fallen Douglas Fir boughs
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Here was where being a group held advantages over going solo as the work could be split between us rather than it all being dependent on one person.
I stripped the boughs whilst the others gathered more and i constructed the beds.
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As twilight fell we were confident that our beds were up to the task and so thoughts began running towards food. This was a personal hurdle as whilst I am not fussy in what I eat there are certain things I dislike and lucky me the food we got rice and trout are both things i am not keen on. As I dislike fish it isn't something I've really looked into cooking primitively so Chris and Andrew demonstrated and talked me through ponassing the trout.
Whilst the rice boiled and the trout cooked we hung my soggy blanket across the open side of the shelter to dry. Warm, dry, with dinner cooking and sipping tepid water we had a bit of banter whilst watching the trout cook
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Once the food was cooked we munched our way through it (I'm not so anti fish and rice that I wasn't going to eat it, it was the first food since 05:30 and that was a ropey steak slice from the services)
After dinner we went off convinced we knew where the water was-oops after stumbling around hunting for it we backtracked and started again one of the group staying on the track which acted as a focal point for the other two to prevent them getting misplaced in the woods. (another perk of being in a group I could of still been there come sunrise)
once we had gotten the water we returned to the shelter. Belly full, warm and dry I dozed off around 22:00hrs.
Joe appeared at 22:30 and the sound of conversation woke me up. a half asleep conversation was had and I dropped off once more.

I woke at 03:00 convinced i had rolled out of bed and into the fire!
In reality what had happened was one of the group had woken up cold and shivering and stoked the fire well up. It was so hot that I ended up sleeping on top of the blanket until around 06:00 when Joe appeared again and said "you've lost your blanket!" to which I mumbled a reply of "it was too ruddy hot". (Joe checked all the course attendees every three hours day and night if asleep he just tucked himself between the fire and the sleeping area to check how warm it was and if awake he had a chat and offered tips,suggestion and advice) i slept once again until 08:30 when i was woken to the offer of boiled rice for breakfast which I declined.
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man_of_tanith
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Re: Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a dri

Post by man_of_tanith »

wet my whistle with some refreshing tepid boiled water and had a smoke and Chris decided to pay a visit to another of the participants Andrew and I elected to remain sat around the fire and chat, Joe made another appearance and told us if we wanted a brew to go grab one, after checking this wasn't some kind of slightly off joke we practically sprinted to the main parachute and got a brew (those of you who camp regularly with me will know I am a tea based life form and that brew was like ambrosia after nothing but boiled water i can tell you)
we then had some grub for the communal fry up and two dutch ovens delivered, there is nothing like the smell of bacon cooking especially after short rations of food and food you are not keen on at that
as the pic shows Andrew was quite excited too
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All the course participants gathered at the main parachute and had brews and brunch
possibly the best fry up of the year
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After brunch we ambled around everyone's shelters and we all gave a brief talk about what worked, what didn't work, what we would do differently and answered any questions the others had.
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side view to give you an idea of the depth of thatching
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I found it quite interesting that all the fellows who had gone solo had very very similar shelter designs but with certain variations to them all
our shelter
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Scarlet Elf Cup
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Mr O'Leary's Lab rats all smiling despite sleeping out in February with minimal kit
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After packing up our kit we all chipped in and cleared up before heading back to the cars and making our good byes.
I got home at 18:30 to be greeted by this banner made for me by Lisa and Jake
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Before I did this course I had a fair bit of theoretical knowledge and this course allowed me to gain practical experience to go with the theory side of things.
I learnt just how important certain pieces of kit are and also how superfluous other pieces are.
Even when not minimal kit camping this course will influence my thinking on what I take and how I use the kit I have.
Some Naysayers will no doubt say that they can replicate my experience without having to pay for it, i would argue having a professional instructor checking regularly really added to it. Joe was polite but firm when needed, he gently guided us with hints and tips and occassional brutal honesty so we genuinely learnt from the experience.
He was also monitoring us to ensure we were if not comfortable then safe.
Being in a group was definitely an advantage. It meant we could divide the workload, we had more resources (such as three cook pots so one was used to cook the rice, one was containing boiled water to drink and the third was holding water waiting to be boiled) and it meant we could jolly each other along when one of us hit a slump. It really brought home to me why tribal groups were the norm rather than individuals, its just a darn sight easier the more folk involved.

I thoroughly enjoyed the winter bushcraft challenge and I am already debating about doing it again next year but solo.

My thanks to Joe for an excellent course and to my two collegues in the shelter for really adding to it (also my apologies for snoring)

disclaimer I have no connection with Joe O'Leary or Wilderness Survival Skills although I seriously doubt this will be the last course I attend with them

Hope the write up hasn't been too long or dull
Sam
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man_of_tanith
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additional reflections

Post by man_of_tanith »

As I stated at the beginning this wasn't done as a ranger trip so I hope it was ok to post.
That said I definately learnt things that I will apply when rangering.
It also highlighted to me what kit I pack that I consider is essential isn't and what I didn't have that I really missed
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ineffableone
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Re: Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a dri

Post by ineffableone »

Great post. Getting experience in an educational setting is a great idea if most of your knowledge is theoretical. It gives you the ability to ask questions, have someone there in case you make a mistake, and of course adds to the camaraderie of the experience.

Some great shelter examples posted up, thanks for sharing not just yours but other ones. Including that first one that was an example shelter.
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man_of_tanith
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Re: Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a dri

Post by man_of_tanith »

Phew.that's a relief!
I'm looking at some of the other courses the company runs with a mknd to doing the hunter gatherer eventually
I'm a firm advocate of a mix of courses/formalised instruction and personal experimentation.
Here in the UK all land is owned by somebody so it limits the possible options to do stuff like the debris shelters
Courses offer the oppourtunity to do things I may not be able to do so easily on my own.
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Manveruon
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Re: Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a dri

Post by Manveruon »

I have to admit, I'm shocked that more people haven't replied to this! What a great post, thank you so much!

This is the sort of thing I've always wanted to try, but I have never had the opportunity. I wish there was some person or group out here in Colorado who could organize something like this, because I'd go in a heartbeat, just to learn all about it. I admit that I love the comforts of home (I'm probably more of a hobbit at heart than a ranger, in truth), but I'd like to at least experience something like this, if just to say that I'd done it. I think I could get over pretty much all of the discomforts of it, except perhaps the "bathroom" situation, haha. That's the only thing I think I would have a really hard time with. Otherwise, the rest of it sounds like a grand adventure!
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Re: Belated write up. Winter Bushcraft challenge (grab a dri

Post by Gondian »

That was an AWESOME post! Very informative and instructive! Your shelter and the example shelter reminded me of the wigwams my dad, brother, and I used to build when we went on camping trips during or vaca's to Kentucky when I was but a wee adventurer! :mrgreen: Love all the pictures too!
LOVE NOT THE BRIGHT SWORD FOR IT'S SHARPNESS OR THE ARROW FOR IT'S SWIFTNESS, BUT RATHER LOVE THAT WHICH THEY DEFEND
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