The Most Massively Useful Thing A Bushcrafter Can Have?

A micro fibre travel towel: 
shown in the traditional outdoor blog style, 
with brass and blade [for no discernible reason]

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels...

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams www.douglasadams.com

All true, great advice, and well worth keeping an eye out for in the sale bin of your local outdoor store.

More soon

SBW

Unboxing: Spyderco Urban Knife Review

Big, big fan of the Spyderco design aesthetic; some very well thought-out knives at price points from cheap to mid range. If you're spending £25 or £175 the knives represent very good value, (even better value in the USA where prices are 30-40% cheaper) and the choice of steels is enough to satisfy the most anal collector discerning enthusiast.

As ever my choices were determined by:
A, the second hand market (contrary to popular belief there is a limit to the amount I'll spend on toys kit)
B, the time I have to put into watching the second hand market. I've missed a few bargains, this catch was not the spec I really wanted but the price was about what I wanted to pay.

In folding knife design what I really like are 'integral or frame locks' (like the Subcom F) but in the UK this most ingenious of safety features is deemed to make your knife 'weapons grade' and is therefore only permissible with 'good reason' and good reason is to be determined by a costly visit to the local courthouse.

Unit of Measurement .270

As is so often the case, restriction has led to innovation, with many makers seizing the opportunity to provide a 'street legal' knife for our EDC needs. Spyderco have been leaders in this field with the UKPK (UK Pen Knife) and the Urban both being slip-joints i.e held open but not locked open - just like a traditional penknife. Blade length for UK pocket carry is restricted to 3 inches (75mm) and the Urban comes in at 2 and 9/16ths (65 mm) with the whole knife only 6 and 1/16ths (154 mm).

The Urban is made in Japan with VG10 blade steel and G10 for the handle. Although the Spyderco-rati deem the made-in-Japan models to be second fiddle to the USA made knives in terms of finish, as users they are the same.

I already own a VG10 bladed knife (its the centre section of the laminated Fallkniven F1's blade [Reviews here] ) and while it's one of the more difficult steels to sharpen, when you get there it really takes and holds an edge.

I'm going to be using a Spyderco Sharpmaker (review here) to care for it.  I've had the Sharpmaker for a few years now and I'm even happier with it now than I was when I got it. The Sharpmaker sets the angle between stone and blade. As its Spyderco/Spyderco the angle of the stones is 20/20, perfectly set to the blades grind. I'll let you know in part two how easy a blade it is to maintain.

First impressions:
Neat and Petite - Not ideal for slicing a whole ham, but perfect for sausage or biltong
Well Made - The fit is good, all the parts are tight, some of the surface finishs could be better
Excellent Materials - VG10 is a great knife steel, and the handle's G10 is totally uniform
Good Value - Just that little bit nicer than the cheaper knives, almost as nice as knives twice the price.

Looking forward to some thorough field testing

Your pal
SBW

I Want One - A Not So Occasional Series Pt19

Now this is seriously cool, and for once not only something I cant afford but something that isn't on sale at all. Hopefully that will change an it'll go into production. I want one!

We've all seen small wood and wood gas burning stoves, we've all seen them with electric fans, but this puppy uses no batteries AND generates electricity to power your gizmos afield!

For More Click Here


More soon
SBW




http://biolitestove.com/Full_Demonstration.html

Oetzi: Putting A Face To The Name

Twenty years after his ice preserved body was found the 5,000-year-old "Iceman" discovered on the border between Italy and Austria we can now see Dutch artist Adrie Kennis' impression of what Oetzi would have looked like.

Picture credit and more here

PS This is a really great resource to learn more about Oetzi/Otzi

More soon

Your pal

SBW

Hat's Off For The NorCal Cazadora!

A few of you have posted disparaging remarks about my choice of headgear. Only Holly has put her money where here mouth is and sent in a prospective replacement.

The Littlest Bushwacker "It's cool"

Ex Mrs SBW "Looks, er, like it'll keep you warm"

The Northern Monkey picked up the hat, assessed the size and asked
"Did she measure your head or does she just know you? Most people don't make 'em this big"

Your pal
The Suburban Bushwacker

Timewasters - For Fox Sake

In London we love to build hooj vanity skyscrapers, the next one is called the Shard, it's supposed to look like a piece of broken glass, yeah. We also have the most hilarious attachment to the disneyfication of animals, even mangy foxes that live off dropped takeaways. 

A fox has been found living on the job site that's the Shard, so instead of  ignoring it until it made its own way home, the chaps saw the chance to loaf around for a couple of hours and chat to the pretty girl the newspapers sent to cover the story. So they gave the fox the name Romeo (the papers are hardly going to send Lucinda Posh-Bit down for a nameless fox are they?) and called the council, who despite having better things to spend our money on sent Les Leonard, pest control manager at Southwark Council to spend the afternoon fooling about catching the fox.

The work-shyness doesn't end there! One Barrie Hargrove, cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling at Southwark Council, felt he had nothing better to do with the time we pay him for and chipped in "Romeo has certainly been on a bit of a jaunt, and proved rather elusive, but I'm glad our pest control officers were able to help out. He's obviously a resourceful little chap, but I'm sure he's glad the adventure is over and hopefully he'll steer well clear of skyscrapers in the future."

Timewasters!

SBW
PS Picture credit and more of the story - told in a less angry and more cutesy way

Preparedness: NYC

My connection to recent events in New Zealand has moved preparedness to front-of-mind, instead of actually doing something to be prepared, I thought I'd take a look at a time when I was in a city that suddenly switched off and see what if any lessons could be learned.

A while back I was visiting the New York office of an English company while writing my long lost book "The Ankle Swingers of Rat-dog Land". It was getting towards the end of the afternoon. Stifling an air conditioning inspired yawn I ventured down 39 floors to the lobby in search of sugary snacks and coffee. But instead received a lesson in preparedness, and the publics response to surprise.

Thursday, August 14, 2003, at approximately 4:11 p.m

The First Signs
There were slowly increasing numbers of people standing around, checking their crackberries, and just standing, where only moments before the torrent of worker ants was relentless it was now suddenly momentum-less. I went back to the lift [elevator] where the doors were half open and a woman was about to get in, she turned to me and chirpily asked "wanna take a chance?". I don't know about you but I've been led astray my glamourous older girls before, but this time the doors didn't look like they'd ever close so I bowed-out.

The Assumptions
Meanwhile back in the lobby: the startled stop had been replaced by a belligerence that was taking its toll on the building's security staff. The chick behind the desk looked more frightened than the public.  She was using the words "we'll let you know as soon as we know" as an ever shorter stick to push back the tide of  ever more belligerent requests for information. One of her colleagues spoke to the group so Securi-chick and I got into conversation.
SBW: So I guess, no one is telling you anything and everyone is asking you for everything?
"I just don't trust them terrorists!" she confided in a note of rising panic. I have to admit I had to stifle a laugh. Surely that is the point of terrorism? But telling her that would have been counter productive. I'm an optimist by nature and optimism can be just as contagious as fear, the idea 'it's too early to tell' seemed to cheer her up. Looking out over the sheeple she agreed that panicking wasn't going to help, and I left her, good nature restored, confidently directing people to stay calm.

On the walk home I stopped off to chat with the Dry-Cleaning Guy, as usual a font of wisdom. I told him about the panic mongers working themselves into a frenzy certain of a terrorist attack. He responded with this wonderful ambiguity

"Bullshit! That's the first thing that comes out of their mouths"
He went on to sight a principle that I'm a big believer in. Offering this more likely speculation  'It'll be a blown relay in Canada"

Evil happens occasionally, incompetence is happening right now.

As we'll see in part 2 even in the worst of situations, incompetence is far more likely to get you than anything else. For the meantime I'll leave you with this sobering thought:

'Preparedness' is a process not an event

Its also a catch-all term for people from the heavily armed nut job of popular imagination to the just plain prudent - who have a water container, a first aid kit and some batteries to hand. Just because you don't feel the need for a foil-lined hat doesn't mean you wont feel the need for some batteries and a drink of water. It's worth mentioning that there aren't enough batteries or torches in the supply chain between factories and shops at any one time for everyone who needs them to buy them once the situation has started.

Just sayin'!

more soon
your pal
SBW

PS The art work is by the amazing  Christop Niemann

True Grit A Review By Roald Dahl And SBW

I've neither the time, or anyone to go with, so I've not been to the pictures to see the Cohen Bros version but yesterday I read Charles Portis' True Grit from cover to cover. I was going to tell you how amazing a piece of writing it is, but that's like a street dog recommending fine dining. Here's a review from someone who really really knows great storytelling

"True Grit is the best novel to come my way for a very long time. What book has given me greater pleasure in the last five years? Or in the last twenty? What a writer."
Roald Dahl

David Petzal liked it too, and being yer 'republican gun nut' by nature my guess is he has at least a passing interest in the genre

"The film, in which John Wayne played himself and got an Oscar for it, was a sort of comedy with gunfire, and had little to do with the novel, which was grim, sad, and filled with gallows humor."

He likes the new movie too

While the 'republican' thing means something very different where I come from, I'm not averse to a bit of gun nut-ism myself

The excellent Internet Movie Firearms Database has this nugget for film and firearm nerds to chip in to after dinner conversation.

"Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) carries her father's Colt Dragoon, as is described in Portis' book. The gun used in the film is an actual percussion Dragoon, while the 1969 film used a cartridge-converted Colt Walker. It can be surmised that the Walker was used due to its even more imposing size in contrast to Mattie's small stature. But the adherence to the source material in this version is much appreciated."

I actually paid the full £7.99 cover price, and consider it a bargain.

More news as I make it up, more views as I raise the funds for more kit
SBW

What Is It About Fly Fishing?

Really what is it? The sight of buds on the trees, the slight shift in air temperature, the sudden realisation that although it's still light the days works are over. A recurring thought rises, like a trout to a fly, 'I must get my fly gear together, and a boat, we need a boat'.

Now as regular readers will no doubt have noticed I only fish for free, wild fish caught in wild places as nature intended. Due to the rampant over crowding of a small island sometimes those wild places are hidden between discarded shopping trolleys and dumped stolen mopeds. But as in all things, we must learn to seek out the simple comforts that nature offers. What is hidden suddenly reveals itself, the elusive wonder of nature poking its head out from between the debris of urban degradation.

So the great dichotomy of the fly continues, the simple life of simple unadorned pleasures, pursued with the aid of kit and equipment that are often stunning examples of the machinists craft, and jaw-droppingly expensive. See:

Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God.

- Tony Blake

Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary.

- Patrick F. McManus

If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each.

- John Gierach

See?

All this kit reviewing is getting in the way of buying food so I'm delighted to tell you that this post is supported by boaterexam.com which in my book makes them very very nice people. If you're in Canada and have a boat it's now mandatory to have a ticket to show you're taking the whole health and safety thing seriously, conveniently you can now take your Boating licence online, so you don't have to take a day off from working like a dog to afford that new reel!

See you out there, I'm the one in the silly VERY COOL hat

Your pal

SBW

New Zealand Earthquake and Mrs BoB

I don't know if you've seen this mornings news but an earthquake has hit New Zealand's south island.
Power is out, sanitation is out, the domestic gas supply is unsafe, water is out, and at least 65 people are reported dead, hundreds are trapped and the city is in turmoil. BoB (Brother of bushwacker) lives pretty close to the epicentre in the south islands capital Christchurch.  BoB, Mrs BoB and the small BoB's are safe.

I just wanted to tell you how proud of Mrs BoB I am, she was right in the middle of the city and being properly trained in First Aid was one of the first people on the scene and rescued several people from one of the crushed buses.

On a lighter note MoB (our mum) called to tell me that BoB was already in the garden setting up a trap to collect rainwater and I quote

"He's like Ray feckin' Mears that brother"

Thanks for reading
SBW
PS If you'd like to leave a message for them in the comments - I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear from you - just sayin' 'sall.

How to Buy an Outdoor Knife By George

"Made with infinite care by our most expert old craftsmen, 

and 'actually made far better than is necessary.” 

It is a well known fact [ a favorite Herter-ism ] that 'How to Buy an Outdoor Knife' is one of the most searched for tips amongst outdoorsman, bloggers, gear junkies and kit tarts. With nearly every outdoor commentator or writer chipping in their opinion - usually with a view to selling you one, and that legend of outdoor self promotion, and mail order sales, George Herter was no exception. He dished out all kinds of advice over the years, usually in the 'self published' vein. All delivered in a writing style best described as 'Barking'. Classic stuff.

How to Buy an Outdoor Knife by George Leonard Herter

An outdoor knife must be made for service--not show. Your life may depend on it. Real outdoor people realize that so-called sportsmen or outdoor knives have long been made for sale, not for use. The movies and television show their characters wearing fancy sheath knives. Knife makers advertised them and drugstore outdoorsmen bought them. Nothing marks a man to be a tenderfoot more than these showy useless knives.

Here are some of the duties a true woodsman knife must perform:

1. The knife must stay sharp for long periods of time without sharpening. The steel should combine the best characteristics of electric furnace quality high carbon 1095 steel and high carbon 440 B stainless steel. The blade hardness, known among steel experts as 56 Rockwell C, should not be affected by atmospheric moisture, salt spray, fruit acids or blood. It should withstand extreme temperatures without becoming brittle, no matter how cold it may be. A good steel knife blade will "blue" or darken itself with use, making it pratically rustproof. If knife blade steel is really good, it will cut through nails without bending over the edge.

SBW 56 Rockwell is a bit soft if you're wanting a knife that 'must stay sharp for long periods of time without sharpening'.  440 isn't that good by today's standards

2. The knife must be shaped so it is ideal for cleaning and skinning game of all kinds, from rabbits to moose. The best shape for this is the improved Bowie.

SBW Apparently you had to have one of these to be a "real" outdoorsman. Other knives were just for novices and often as not “like they were made by indifferent schoolgirls.”

3. The knife must have a handle long enough so that it fits a man's hand so pressure can be put on the blade when desired. On nearly all outdoor knives the handles are much too short. The handle of the knife must be made to last a lifetime. Leather handles rot and mildew, stag handles crack, plastic handles crack and are highly flammable. African mineral-type woods are best, and they will stand all kinds of weather for a lifetime and more. 

SBW I guess plastics have moved on a bit

4. The blade of the knife must not be hollow ground. Hollow grinding weakens a blade so that the edge will bend or break under heavy usage. A wedge edge is the strongest and most durable ever designed. 

SBW No George that would be the convex edge. More metal behind the cutting edge init.

5. The blade of the knife must be hand forged in order to give the steel maximum strength and hardness.

SBW I guess steels have moved on a bit too

6. The blade of the knife must not have a blood groove. A blood groove is strictly advertising and badly weakens the blade. Professional butchers do not use them.

SBW I make you right.

7. The knife must be easy to carry and light in weight. The blade length must be 4 inches long. Four inches is the length established for a woodsman knife by over 200 years of experience. Blades shorter are all right for Boy Scouts, but not for serious woodsmen, Longer than 4 inches is unnecessary and adds weight. 

SBW apart from the one you're selling eh George!

8. The knife should have no hilt as it only adds weight. If the knife blade is properly designed, that is slightly indented, you cannot cut your finger no matter how hard you thrust. You need only thrust in a hand to hand combat with a man or a wounded animal. 

SBW But it's ok if the fight doesn't work out, because as george has reasured us

"Most people don't realize that being eaten by a hyena doesn't hurt very much".

From The Truth About Hunting in Today's Africa (1963)


9. The knife must be capable of slicing bacon and cutting bread. It must be a comfortable knife for eating and cutting cooked meat.

SBW If you've run out of cash for new knives, not to worry Mr Herter also published
“Milking Scorpions Brings You $150 or More a Week.” Please post a video of your attempts!


More soonish
SBW

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/books/review/Collins-t.html?_r=1

http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/cache/articles/articles.htm

http://thedossiers.net/george-leonard-herter/

Aim Low

Bored and tired SBW entered the 'Silly Pictures' period of his blog in early 2011, results have been 'mixed' to say the least.

SBW

Blogs Of Note And Adult Onset Hunting

Tovar has helpfully outlined a list of my symptoms and come to a diagnosis. You can read the whole post here.

Adult Onset Hunting Know The Signs

When fully developed, the primary symptoms of Adult Onset Hunting are unmistakable: an otherwise normal, heretofore-non-hunting adult repeatedly goes to woods, fields, or marshes with a deadly implement in hand, intent on killing a wild animal.

Other potential symptoms include (1) a feeling of connection to nature, to one’s food, and to one’s hunter-gatherer ancestors, and (2) a re-calibration of one’s beliefs about hunting. Previous beliefs may suffer from atrophy, seizures, and even death, especially when an anti-hunter contracts AOH.

Knowing the early warning signs may protect you or a loved one from the worst effects. These early signs include:

• Excessive reading about the production of industrial food, especially factory meat. 
• Esophageal spasms upon learning that the average pound of supermarket ground chuck contains meat from several dozen animals slaughtered in five different states. 
• Sudden bouts of wondering why the local food co-op—with its cooler full of local, organic, free-range meats—doesn’t sell hunting licenses. 
• Compulsive eating of “real food” purchased directly from farmers. 
• Recurrent realizations that farmers are killing deer and woodchucks to keep organic greens on your plate. 
• Impaired ability to find meaning in chicken nuggets or tofu dogs. 
• Insistence on a literal reading of Woody Allen’s dictum “Nature is like an enormous restaurant.” 
• An uncharacteristic compulsion to initiate dinner conversation about firearms. 
• Impaired ability to see humans as separate from the rest of nature. 
• Repeated contact with real, live hunters (experts suspect that AOH is highly contagious, though transmission mechanisms are not yet fully understood). 

My Name's SBW And I Have AOH - I've recorded some of the outbreaks to help other sufferers 

My best friend kills himself, his brother and I hunt a deer, and I start writing a blog

RGN “ I know you spoke about this with Stuart, and I’d be honoured if you allow me to take you both deer hunting”

Mrs RGN “ No! This is your obsession! They don’t want to hunt!”

TNM and SBW “We’d love to!”

SBW “I’m not sure we’ve got the right gear though”

TNM “won’t we need camouflage clothes?”

RGN “you wont need anything special, this is gentleman’s hunting, dress warm I’ll pick you up in the morning”

A Nice Chap Who Writes A Hunting Magazine Teaches Me About Hunting Rabbits With Ferrets

Sunday morning dawned cold and transport-less, so I dressed up in a base layer of nylon sportswear, hoping the static generated would act as on-board central heating, with a layer of cotton work wear on top to keep out the thorns. I chose a bag that I'd be able to hose down if I needed to and said goodbye to the kids. As I was leaving the house I could hear Mrs SBW sniggering and singing Simon and Garfunkel's well known ode to successful rabbit hunting
'Bright eyes, Burning like fire. Bright eyes,How can you close the pain. How can the light that burned so brightly Suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes.'
After three changes of train due to engineering works I was finally on my way to meet James for a spot of old-school rabbit hunting. With Ferrets.

The Deer Take US By Surprise!

We crept into the woods and were rewarded with a sighting almost strait away, cunningly the deer had silhouetted themselves against someone's farmhouse. No safe backstop - no shot. We stalked on, creeping down the pathways between the trees, after a long slow walk

BB - "think of it as armed rambling" we had worked our way around our half of the wood and met up with the others - they'd seen a highly shootable buck, but it had given them the slip. We split up again and with the chaps walking up into the part of the woods we'd just left. Then We Were Bushwhacked!

In Search Of Tree Rabbits (AKA Squirrels)

A flicker of movement ahead and to the right revealed our quarry, munching on a nut at the base of an Oak. I twisted so my body would obscure my hand signal to TNM. The squirrel froze, and did a very good job of disappearing into the leaf litter. I shouldered the air rifle and realized just in time that the scope was set on too higher level of magnification. Finding a grey camouflaged thing against a backdrop of leaf and shadow wasn’t that easy. The cross hairs danced over his shoulder and as I should have been at my stillest my squeeze of the trigger must have pulled the muzzle to the right. The squirrel jumped four of five feet to the left; I worked the bolt back and forward and sent a perfectly aimed puff of air towards him. Sadly the puff of air wasn’t pushing a pellet.

It appears I'm not the only one exhibiting symptoms. 

Here recent dad Will Stitch gives us an insighnt into the experimental stage of AOH

Our last armed hike at the Geysers almost lead to some kills, but the kills would have been due to hypothermia and would have been us, not pigs. It was on that windy rainy near-death experience that we realized how tricky these animals are. We found a fresh pig hoof-print that day. In the middle of a huge muddy puddle. There were no other prints nearby. None. How is that even possible?! The pigs were taunting us.

We decided we needed to step up our game. If the pigs are going to use ninjitsu on us – flying around magically and leaping huge distances – we need to study their craft and train to be ninjas ourselves. Bingels and I aren’t exactly ninja material, but we have an ex-Marine on our team who was gifted a compound bow from his dad. Plus he has a boat! Everyone knows that ninjas use bows and travel by boat. Oh it was on. 

You can read the whole story here

Further news of the outbreak has reached us from The Bumbling Bushman

Warren is elected to take the shot, for which the rest of us should all be thankful for. As we pull up, Mr. X hands Warren his favorite 30-06 and points to the porker - 200 yards out in the field. Video cameras are deployed for posterity and there stands sleep-deprived Warren, with a bloodthirsty audience breathing down his neck, an unfamiliar rifle, two cups of coffee coursing through his veins and the prospect of the furthest shot he's ever attempted. It doesn't go well. There is a problem with the gun. Warren can't figure out how to chamber a round into the chute. He looks back at the crowd for guidance, gets it, and pushes the receiver button. "SCHWANNNNG" The pig looks up for the first time, sees his would-be executioners and decides life might be better somewhere over in Nassau County. I have never seen a pig run so fast.  It is the only pig we see all morning.
Part 1 and Part 2

More soon

Your pal

The Suburban Bushwacker

Bagpipes - Cooler Than You Thought

I ask you:
Who amongst us hasn't looked upon a goat and thought
"I know I'm gonna make me some Bagpipes!"?
Genius!

More news as it comes in

Your pal

SBW

PS I found them here

WTF? WTF!

A while ago I wrote a post called 'Travails with Laptop Rod and Rifle' it started with a silly pun and was a light hearted look at the simple fact that I'm still way more suburban than bushwacker. A few of you were kind enough to chip in with comments.

Since then blogger has been filtering spam from my comments moderation page, this evening i used the translate function to see what they were all about - frankly I'm none the wiser.

Maybe you can shed a little light?

How about spending the night with them intense burning indecent frustration they've spent every day in meeting the community site for lonely widow?

The photo is taken and whatever erotic uncensored video! Can get a lot of famous AV uncensored video free ass amateur super super cute girl in all genres ranging from only actress on this site! !

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The question remains WTF?

More soon-ish

Your pal

The bemused SBW

Picture credit

Book Review: A Year In The Woods

Sorry about the dearth of posts lately - sometimes work stops play. In the meantime a spot of commuting has enabled me to catch up on some reading.

Colin Elford's 'A Year in the Woods'

I was lent this one by E of Stoke Newington, herself a woodland management aficionado, and the owner of that cool hut The Northern Monkey and myself use as a base for our Tree Rabbit hunting.

The book is pretty blog-ish it reads like someone's diary that's been edited by someone else, which is what it is. The premiss is a simple one - a chap works in woodland management and spends a lot of time alone in the woods with his rifle stalking Roe and Fallow deer. It's such a fulfilling job that at one point he reveals that he actually has a permission where he leaves his employers rifle at home and takes his own to sit in a high seat for shits and giggles outside of work time. That's it in a nutshell; he REALLY loves his job and as he's been doing it a while has a hooj knowledge of the flora and fauna of the woodlands he 'works' in. Lucky fella.

"I work with nature and I appreciate that every forest block is different. When considering a cull, I'll often look at the brambles in the rides because they are of use to butterflies and dormice. When the weather is hard, deer can eat all the brambles, and this is an instance when they have to be controlled.

Personally, if it was me putting the book together, I would have interviewed him to gain a bit more detail about some of the things that happen over the year. I always got the sense I was reading someone's diary, rather than being told a story. Which in fairness I was, shame though, as I think he has more to tell.

As usual with the actual pros there's none of the rifle fetish of the bloggers and weekend woodsman, I don't think he ever mentioned the brand of rifle or calibre he uses once, but he is very keen on a pair of boots he has. After all dead is dead, but dry feet are really something to be exited by.

Along with his forestry, and deer management duties he also has to take the odd paying client out stalking, and here the book give us an amusing insight into a mind of a calm solitary man having his peaceful day invaded by a German loudmouth with a trophy fixation.

"Today I have a German client with me who has come for a few days stalking......After a little episode in the woods I have to reign him in. In Germany and elsewhere on the continent it seems, there are numerous traditions involved in stalking and hunting. one of them is new to me. Basically if you are older than the resident stalker or guide, apparently you the visitor know the ground better than your guide within a day.I'm also informed that deer don't like to come out in the rain and other such nonsense. It amazes me how some people manage to get older without getting any wiser. Everything I have learned has been given to me by the forest and if the lesson is a good working practice I use it............


German man sulking


The next day: German man still sulking


Today I am god. The client even attempts to kiss me............For the next twenty minutes my ears hurt with the bragging of what a great hunter he is. It seems to slip his mind that the poor old buck was standing twenty meters away from him. I almost say, but hold back, that shooting a medal buck is no different from shooting a doe, and it certainly doesn't make you a better stalker."

In short I liked it and would defiantly like to read his next book

There's a short interview with the man himself click here

More of the usual silliness, outdoor incompetence and kit tart-ness very soon
Your pal
SBW

Unboxing: Kifaru Long Hunter G2 Review

I’ve needed a new pack in the 70+ litre class for a while now, the last one, a Berghaus,  having lasted well over twenty years, was looking a bit tired and it’s adjusters had succumbed to plastic fatigue and I was being mocked by The Northern Monkey (jealousy init).

In pack design there are two schools of thought; light but flimsy for ultralight hiking and tough-as-old-boots but heavy for hauling. At both extremes there are a couple of manufactures that really have it going on and a host of ‘me too’ outfits some good, some good-ish and loads where you’d have more fun burning the cash and roasting marshmallows over the flames. The fit of your rucksack is so important and no off the shelf pack can fit all people, so adjustability is the difference that makes the difference, but all that adjustability comes at a premium. One that personally I think is worth paying for. After ‘boots and bed’ the pack is the most important thing you’ll buy, for most bushcrafters not as covetousness inducing as another new knife, but a huge influence on your comfort levels and when actually afield a bigger influence on morale than that (now scratched) custom knife.

For the kind of the money the really good ones cost these days, a new pack has to be one that’ll last a long, long time.  I wanted a big-ish pack that would do double duty as a pack frame for manoeuvring heavy loads: be that carrying tanks of butane and water to the hut in the woods, collecting wood, lugging a dead deer across the fields (or even that as yet elusive bow-hunted Elk), or if history were to repeat itself in Italy it would be a lot more use than a stretcher getting someone off the hillside. When buying that last pack as a teenager I'd had a choice between tall and thin or squat and square-er with an extra five litres and if I've learned anything from carrying the same pack all those years it's a pack that's long and narrow not only gets in the way less but it also lets you keep the load closer to your spine making for a much less fatiguing carry.

Which gave me this list of criteria:
Very fit-able
Super long-lasting
Big-ish
Frame and pack separate-able
Tall-Narrow load

Kifaru have an amazing reputation and from what I'd read a credible design philosophy. Handmade in Colorado, Kifaru are the brain child of Patrick Smith (who founded Mountainsmith in the 70's), developing packs made to a standard not a price in very small production runs. My kind of company and the closest thing to a 'bespoke' handmade pack.

Kifaru now do three ranges of pack: lightweight, military and hunting; with the military being the coolest and most expensive, I've never seen lightweight, and hunting being the best value. Be warned, set against a backdrop of cheap Chinese manufacturing, anything handmade will look expensive - with Kifaru that means anything bigger than a day pack and you're at famous-maker custom knife money. I’ve bid on a few second hand Kifaru military packs on ebay but they seem to go for most of (or even more than) the new price.  I had been seriously considered buying just a frame from another maker and cutting the straps off my old pack and lashing it to the new frame. Then the LongHunter came along - I told myself; it was my birthday soon, crimbo too, I could live without food if I really had to, and if it lasted as well as the last pack I’d be nearly seventy by the time it would be due for replacement. The second hand price clinched it.

The last time I bought a big pack, soft packs with semi-frames were the new thing, and while they are lighter, they don’t support the big loads like the framed packs do. The idea is to carry all the weight on your hips, with the shoulder straps just stopping the pack falling over backwards. Kifaru’s aim is to achieve this by darts, and adjustable straps sewn into the pack, shaping it to your spine and directing the weight onto your hips. At 85 litres (5,200 cubic in) the G2 Long Hunter was a bit bigger than I'd been looking for but I've tried travelling with a full pack and it's neither convenient nor comfortable. Briefly transported to a dream world where I find a horde of treasure in the woods or on the beach and am delighted by the extra carrying capacity I pressed 'send' and the new-to-me LongHunter was on it's way.

The LongHunter makes the base of a custom set up you get:
The 5200 c3 pack frame
The sack in 500D Cordura (a lighter grade than the military packs)
The belt with 'power pulls'
The compressible wedged-shaped hood that removes to become a shoulder bag or lumber pouch.

I've also got a couple of extras coming in the post so I'll show you my customisation as and when they arrive.

Stuff that comes with the LongHunter that I didn't get:
Camo/Blaze orange cover - supposed to make the pack quieter
Internal pouch - I would upgrade this to the lined pouch
Gun Bearer - an excellent idea puts the weight of your rifle on your hips not your shoulder
Shoulder strap for the hood/lumber pouch - I'm using one off an old tool bag

In summation:

Very clever design

Handmade in the USA

Lifetime guarantee

Bombproof construction

The cognoscenti’s choice

More to come in part 2

Your pal

SBW

Appy Crimbo Peeps

So another year almost done,the rug rats are tearing round full of suger and me and the Ex have had a row.Just gotta fight our way through a mound of turkey an trimmings and it'll be time for the Xmas Dr Who!

I'd just like to wish you all a very happy Crimbo and thank you for reading and commenting on your humble scribes ramblings. Next year I'll be growing the business and throwing more cash at blogworthy activities, so stay tuned for some hunting stories, many of which will just be the usual record of mishaps, misjudgments and good old incompetence - you never know I may even break the mold and actually end up inviting some of the wildlife to dinner - but on past form I wouldn't hold yer breath. I've been buying and trading for kit over the last few weeks so I'll be doing lots more kit reviews, I've seen a new 'camp' sized knife that I'll be ordering, I'll be catching up with the regular characters that you've already met, some of the regular co-conspirators and I will be returning to Italy  to increase the range of our scouting and maybe, just maybe bow hunt some hawgz and some commenters may even be in danger of a visit.

Thanks again for your input, help and encouragement, the comments and the emails. Through-out the trials and tribulations of this suburban life, it's your  involvement that keeps my dream alive.


All the best
Your pal
SBW

Framed: Old School Pack Design

While we're on the subject of packs, I saw this recreation of the pack frames worn by climbers on the early alpine expeditions in a shop window display. It can't have been too comfortable but it did allow one clever innovation (not included here) where the addition of a drain valve and a fill point (available from any plumbing store) meant that the tubes served double duty as a tank for the liquid fuel of a cooking stove.

More soon
SBW

UnBoxing: The Duluth Pack Pathfinder Review

A short while back the lovely Molly of the Duluth Pack Co. must have been feverish as she came into her office one morning and thought "I need a plumber - to review one of our packs" the winds of fate and the mighty power of Google led her to my door. Ever a fan of free swag I waited all of a tenth of a second before biting her arm off and accepting her generous offer of a review pack. Hoping against hope that she wouldn't come to her senses and say 'sorry I was trying to email a proper outdoor writer'.

I knew the sum total of not-a-lot about the Duluth Pack Co, but as you may have noticed I have questions about everything. All I knew was that they are a heritage brand (not just marketing BS - they've been trading for over a hundred years - 99 of them from the same premises) and their packs are much favoured by the ‘trad’ bushcrafters.

It turns out that when the company started proofed leather and waxed cotton were the cutting edge of outdoor technology and to be fair, while neither of them is going to win any prizes for lightness, they are still about as good as it gets functionally, and have a user experience and smell that Cordura and Goretex will never match.

A French-Canadian named Camille Poirer, made his way west to Duluth in 1870 with his "little stock of leather and tools", he set up a shoe store and as living in a booming frontier town is hard on the feet, found favour as one of the towns shoemakers

Records show that by December 12, 1882, Camille was sufficiently well-heeled himself [ber-bom] to file a patent for a new type of pack. A canvas sack, closed with a buckled flap, with new-fangled shoulder straps, and the first known use of a then revolutionary sternum strap. Wisely he included an umbrella holder (if you need to ask why - best not stray too far from the car).

In 1911, Camille sold his pack business to the new Duluth Tent and Awning Company. Who opened for business on 1610 West Superior Street. 99 years later that's still where you find the company. The company’s facility with heavy weight canvas made them the natural choice of awning maker for the areas stores. If it could be made from canvas they were making and selling them. In the 20's the company made the 'auto pack' a forerunner of today's rooftop boxes, so gear could be stowed on the outside of the a car and a clip-on tent giving birth to car camping. Companies only get to become heritage brands by making what the punters want for good times and what they need for the hard times, the same stout waxed canvas and leather was deployed to make working clothes and packs for the people who made their living outdoors and needed affordable kit that would stand up to hard use.

Pathfinder Pack

I chose The Pathfinder, a pack designed by TV bushcrafter and survival dude Dave Canterbury of the Pathfinder School.  I wanted a pack that would cart a fair bit of kit around, but not one big enough for The Littlest Bushwacker to ride in. For reasons that will be obvious to any parent of lazy offspring young children

Although the design is new the pack screams old school:

Tough 15-ounce canvas construction.

Very tough, you can have any of nine colours, but I went for the waxed natural canvass edition which is actually a far nicer colour than in my pictures or as depicted on the website. I’m thinking the pack will be ideal for fishing trips to the pebble beaches of the south of England where although not soaking everything that sits on the ground ends up getting damp.

Riveted premium leather flap straps.

Which seem like they’ll out live the first couple of owners, although the sturdy metal buckles do make a bit of noise while walking. It should be pretty easy to make some quieters.  

Two side pockets with buckling flaps.

The pockets are a little over ‘nalgene’ sized,  take a hammock and tarp.

The left side pocket has a slide pocket behind it to slide a knife behind the pocket.

I like the idea of a handy yet unobtrusive way to carry another knife when out in public places.

The right pocket has a slide pocket to hold an axe, which secures with the leather cinch strap above the pocket.

This is actually a great idea, as nothing says ‘dangerous axe-wielding maniac’ to the public like an axe on the outside of your pack, but where else would you want your axe to be? I would have put the cinch strap at an angle so it holds the head of the axe rather than the shaft, but only dirt-time will tell if I’m right about this.

Zippered pocket on the front of pack and underneath pack flap.
Maps, Licences, and bars of chocolate all need to be kept to hand.

Leather drawstring attached to the left side of the pack, as well as on the bottom with D-rings to hold extra gear.

Leather looks totally fitting for the pack, but isn’t really as good for this role as elastic.

Cotton web shoulder straps that are comfortable from day one.

They’re wide, they’re cotton, they’re comfy. Yep.

Made with the Pathfinder Leather Logo and a Duluth Pack tag sewn on the front pocket.

Will be removed as soon as I get round to it – No Logo – it’s the way I roll. Other kit-tarts will already know it’s a Duluth and like most snobs I just don’t care what the uninitiated think :-)

  

In the interests of a proper test how’s this? 11 litres (2.9 US gallons) per minute, even if only for two minutes or so, is quite some downpour……

I left it on the wet bathroom floor and went to get dry and changed.It did pretty well at keeping stuff dry

 With only a slight bit of wetness on the paper stored in the outside pocket.

Interestingly the only water to get in came through the seem at the bottom, where the pack had sat on the soaking wet floor. Pretty good. If you like 'Trad' style gear you'll like it.

So that's the unboxing, let the dirt time commence.

More soon

Your Pal

SBW