Bushcraft Manifesto

Hello all. Hope you are enjoying this unseasonally cool summer as much as I am. My summer was extremely busy and it just now starting to wind down. I am looking forward to fall, hunting season, and most importantly our new baby! In the meantime I have been asked to give a presentation on bushcraft to naturalists from across the state and I decided to put together a little outline.

Well the outline has turned into more of a mini-manual for beginners and I thought I'd share it on here, section-by-section, as I complete them. I am hoping for some constructive critisim from fellow practitoners so feel free to share your opinions (be gentle though, I'm sensitive...)

The Foundations

The foundations upon which bushcraft stands are knowledge and the knife. The skills that are used in bushcraft are nothing new; many predate recorded history. Of the two foundations, knowledge is the most important. With knowledge a person can fashion a cutting tool from stone (chert, flint, basalt, etc…) or a blade can be fashioned from discarded steel or iron in the woods, all it takes is a little knowledge of lithics and metallurgy. By combining together a base knowledge with the skillful use of a knife it is very possible for you to not only survive in the wilds, but to thrive. That is the major difference between survival and bushcraft for me. I think of survival as fighting nature to live and bushcraft as working cooperativley with nature for mutual benefit.

The knowledge needed to get a start in bushcraft I have broken down into 4 basic skill sets of:

• Bladecraft- the use and care of blades (knives, saws, axes, etc…).
• Bindcraft- the use and care of bindings (cordage, ropes, wythes, etc…).
• Firecraft- the use and care of fire and fire lighting techniques (fire-by-friction, flint and steel, ferrocerium rods, etc…).
• Fieldcraft- the combined use of the above skills and ecology to utilize the landscape to thrive while leaving it better than you found it (shelter building, green woodworking, observation/journaling, etc...).

Because bushcraft goes against some of the seven principles of leave-no-trace (LNT) camping it is crucial to have a strong working knowledge of ecology to ethically practice bushcraft. For example, if you want to build a shelter and need to cut down shrubs or saplings what can you ethically cut? By knowing what trees and shrubs sucker strongly (shoot up new growth from downed trees) you can harvest them while doing no long term harm. Better yet learn what trees or shrubs are non-native and invasive to the area. Removing them will help the native vegetation and help to restore ever shrinking habitats.

Also it is important to be aware of rules and regulations while using public land, and to respect private property. In most cases on public land it is against regulations to cut or remove living plants, so you have to work with dead and down materials. However, as a land manger myself I would be more than happy to let someone collect invasive plants like buckthorn for wood carving or honeysuckle for shelter building so long as they could prove to me their ability to ID the plants. Not every land manager will be so accommodating, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. More on this will be discussed in the Fieldcraft section.

Using the Slingshot to Hunt Big Game

I am going to have to try this...

A General Update...

Life has been pretty busy for me lately and I have let some of my passions slip. But now I am getting back into a somewhat normal rhythm again.

I recently collected son Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) on the family farm during a recent fencing expedition. Soon I hope to turn int into bowls, kuksas, and spoons. I My carving was being held up because I pitched my old baton when we moved from western IA and I just cut a new one from a Mulberry (Morus rubra) growing outside my bathroom window (I also have a spoon the works from said tree).

I have been doing quite a bit of canoeing lately in my new job. I love that. i don't seem to get out hiking as much as I used to though. I guess when you go from living IN a state park to living in town it makes hiking harder. Who knew?

You'll notice I haven't been posting pictures...we lost out camera. It's in the house somewhere, just no idea where. The adventures you enjoy with a 22 month old...

Until later...

No, I'm not dead, just busy...

I have been going through some MAJOR changes in my life and I have neglected my blog.  I am hoping to get back into posting new things monthly.  The reason I have been busy is that I have taken a new job in Northeast Iowa and had to move my family halfway across the State.  In other news I am going to be a father...again...  Sometime in either September, or mid-October.  The wife and I are both praying for September (October interferes with early muzzleloading season).  So until later take care and be patient with me!!!

My Satchel and my kit

Here is the satchel I have carried everyday for 7 or 8 years now. It is tin cloth, but not Filson. I picked it up from Piragis Northwoods in Ely, MN when I was a Wilderness Ranger there.

In it I carry:
small belt pouch w/ 6 nails, German army folding knife, magnesium fire starter, p-chord, small note pad & pencil

RX bottle with cotton batton covered in bag balm

Sewing awl

Silva Ranger compass (do you know what the mirror is for?)

Metal water bottle

Large enamel mug w/detachable wire bail

Tea in a flip top glass jar

Large stainless steel screen tea infuse

Bar of mexican chocolate

Carved wooden spoon (black locust)

Small sharpening steel

Mini-mag w/replacement LED head

Scharade vise-grip

2 dogwood fids

Crooked knife (aka hoof knife)

Small ruler

Blank journal w/pencil, mech. eraser, 360 degree protractor

New Testament (you never know how bad it will get!)

A week from now what I carry will probably change, but not by much. Let me know if you have any suggestions, or if you would like to know more about why I carry certain things.

Three Flintlocks

Here are some photos of two of my muzzleloaders, and one of my fathers.

The first is my "plain jane" .50 cal Cabela's Blue Ridge rifle. We picked it out of the Cabela's Bargain Cave in Kearney, NE back when I was 16 or 17 for $150 bucks. My Dad does an amazing job of haggling. I have been loading it with 65 grains of FFg and a .490 Hornady sprue-less round ball with .010 patches. After this past deer season I have decided to up my charge to 90 grains of FFg, and my Dad has put a new silver front sight on it to improve the sight picture in low light conditions.









The second is my .62 cal smooth rifle. I won it as a kit in a shoot about the same time we picked up the Blue Ridge. I had the gun custom built from the kit by a very talented gentleman from Indiana. It is called a "smooth rifle" instead of a fowler because it has rifle mounted furniture and a front and rear sight. I load it with 65 grains of FFg and a .610 round ball that I cast myself with a .010 patch. The smooth rifle is very versatile as it throws a round call as well as it casts shot.

The final smokepole is my Dad's Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mtn. Rifle that was customized by a friend of the family over 20 years ago I suppose. The amazing thing about the carving on the stock is that he did it all with a jack knife (I'm not kidding). Dad loads it with 90 grains of FFg his deluxe .490 round balls from a specially fabricated popcorn bottle, and .010 patches. Dad also tends to use a felt wad between the powder and patched ball to limit any scorching of the patch.

I lead a class today for a local community college and I had a couple of folks request that I post the links to a few sight I recommended for picking up inexpensive quality gear.

For army surplus I go with Sportsman’s Guide.

For knives I like to go through Smokey Mountain Knife Works.

Finally for kit I don’t make myself I go through Ben’s Backwoods.

If anyone that was at the course today (or anyone else for that matter) has any questions or request for my blog PLEASE leave a comment and let me know. Also if you attended and have requests for future course topics let me know.