Gear that Works: Linen Buckets

I love these things. First encountered them in Zimbabwe years ago, where they were used because they kept water cool via evaporation. When they get wet, the linen swells and becomes stiff and watertight, and it's stronger than cotton. These particular ones are French army surplus. Bought them to keep in my car because they're better than plastic bags for picking fruit, mushrooms & etc. Today I noticed a bunch of ripe Staghorn Sumac seed heads. Stopped, gathered a bucketful, then steeped them in cold water in the same bucket. Strained through a cloth, added some honey, and had "Indian lemonade". I'll keep one in my daypack this hunting season and be able to bring a few pounds of acorns or hickory huts out of the woods every day.

Grub lists

Packing and Portaging, Dillon Wallace:

Two weeks for two men, canoeing:

Bacon, 6 pounds

Salt pork, 2 pounds

Canned ham or meats, 5 pounds

Egg powder, 1 lb (equals four dozen eggs)

Milk powder, 1 1/2 pounds

Grease, 3 pounds

Fresh bread, 2 pounds

Flour, 12 pounds

Corn meal, 1 pound

Rolled oats, 1 pound

Rice, 1 pound

Baking powder, 1/2 pound

Potatoes, dehydrated, 3 pounds (equals 21 pounds of fresh potatoes)

Carrots, dehydrated, 3/4 pound (equals 3 pounds fresh carrots)

Onions, dehydrated, 3/4 pound (equals 3 1/4 pounds fresh onions)

Cranberries, dehydrated, 1/4 pound (equals 2 1/2 quarts fresh fruit)

Beans, 2 pounds

Peas, dehydrated, 1/4 pound (equals 1 1/4 fresh peas)

Coffee, ground, 2 pounds

Tea, 1/2 pound

Cocoa, 1/2 pound

Sugar, 5 pounds

Preserves, 1 pound

Lemons, half dozen

Limes

Prunes, 1 pound

Raisins, 1 pound

Salt, 1 pound

Pepper, 3/4 ounce

Standard Hudson's Bay rations, per man per day:

2 pounds of flour and 1 pound of salt pork, or

1 pound of pemmican and 1/4 pound of hardtack

Book of the Forest, Stewart White:

Provisions per man, one week:

flour 7 lbs.

pork 5 lbs. pork

tea 1/5 lbs.

beans 2 lbs

rice 1 1/2 lbs.

prunes and raisins 1 1/2 lbs

lard 1 1/2 lbs

sugar 1 1/2 lbs

oatmeal 1 lb

baking powder

pepper

salt

"This will last much longer if you get game and fish."

Paul Provencher (author of "The Last Courier du Bois)

bannock

bacon

fat (ghee)

salt

pepper

tea

flour

sugar (honey)

onions

Edna Calkins Price's (author of "Burro Bill and Me"):

two people for one month:

flour, 50 lbs

cornmeal, 10 lbs

beans, 20 lbs

honey, 10 lbs

coffee, 2 lbs

sugar, 2 lbs

oil, 1 gallon

salt

soda

onions

cocoa

dried apricots

salt pork

canned milk

canned bully beef

"When times were hard":

flour

coffee

sugar

grease

Meddling Neighbors

Our busy-body neighbors have been making anonymous complaints to the Department of Environmental Services and the Division of Lands and Forests, trying to stop us from cutting trees or building anything on our 52 acres. This bogus sign oughta give them something to talk about.

In the News:

Former Marine Chris Everhart was attacked by a black bear while camping with his sons in Chattahoochee National Forest. He couldn't get to his pistol. He killed it with a chunk of firewood. The Forest Service fined him $75.

This is the baddest dude since another former Marine, 62-year-old Dale "I got scratched up pretty good" Rippy, strangled a rabid bobcat.

I want to be on whatever team those guys are on.

Turtle Love

The things you see when you don't have a camera:

It was too windy for open water today - whitecaps - so I decided to explore a swamp. The wind was perfect there, just enough to keep the blackflies to a minimum. While hauling a canoe over a beaver dam, something that initially looked like a large paper bag slowly fluttering in the wind caught my eye. As I got closer, I could tell that it was something alive, but I was within a couple yards before figuring out that I was looking at two huge snapping turtles in the throes of passion.

They were on their sides in mud, with their heads under water. First they were 'spooning', then there was a great deal of clawing and scrambling and they turned face-to-face. Probably trying out new things they just read in the turtle Kama Sutra. Eventually one of them - certainly the female - left in a huff. Maybe his elbow was on her hair. Maybe it was just that time of the month and she was crazy. Anyway, no snuggling, no post-coital turtle cigarette. He probably won't even call her. She probably gave him a bogus phone number anyway.

Heaved the cad into the canoe by the tail. Measured his shell with a dollar bill: 21". He was remarkably docile. Probably still basking in the afterglow. Let him go with a warning not to trifle with the affections of others.

It was amazing how quickly they could simply disappear in a couple inches of water by burrowing under the vegetation and soft bottom mud. On the way back a couple hours later there was no sign of them, but by probing in the same spot I found another, smaller one. I'm always slogging around in the mud foraging for things, I'm going to mind where I'm stepping a lot more from now on.

I need more friends

Bought some 6" x 12" x 18' Hemlock beams for the cabin. Cut the notches to fit over the posts. Collected all the friends I could. We dragged them to the building site, but couldn't lift them into place.

How to catch dinner with dental floss:

Been playing around with the "figure four deadfall" since Boy Scouts. However, they tend to be frustrating to set, and have a tendency to not trip when they should.

Have recently been experimenting with the "Paiute deadfall", and like it much better. It's easier to make, easier to set, and more likely to work. The trigger is more reliable, more sensitive, and faster.

There are some good videos online (some a lot better than others) and Google is your friend.

I made this one from some small serviceberry sticks and dental floss. It's on top of a rock frequented by the chipmunks that are raiding our garden. A smear of peanut butter on the long trigger stick is the bait. The lever stick is about six inches long, and the post stick about five. Seems just about the right size for chipmunks and red squirrels, and likely to work for anything from mice to gray squirrels.

Maybe a few of these belong in your pack on treks where you intend to supplement your diet by foraging, or when there is a significant risk of being stranded or lost. They're much lighter than Conibear 110's, and even lighter than snares. The posts and trigger sticks are so easy to fashion that you really only need to carry the lever/string/toggle assemblies. They don't get beat up the way snares do, so you can use them over and over.

I whittled a few on a rainy day, in front of the woodstove with good light, proper tools and warm hands. It was fun, and I'll have either them or the knowledge to duplicate them from now on.

Trapping laws tend to be strict, so be informed and careful. But don't wait until you're starving to figure out how to do all this stuff. You can practice without harming any animals if you use a weighted cardboard box instead of a rock. I went through a military survival school years ago and didn't catch anything for the first five days. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have been a lot more comfortable.

When you set traps, the more the better. Half a dozen minimum. Mark the location of each one somehow, AND draw a map. Otherwise you'll never find them all again.