Stealth and wilderness survival training.

[Amorak]

Hey have you seen this website before?

http://wildwoodsurvival.com/

It seems to have a good deal of info on here and they claim to be affilliated with Tom Brown somehow.

[Jarvis]

Actually I read that site all the time.  I have it as a bookmark.  Some of the guides are extremely informative.  As usual, it's best used as a supplement to a base knowledge and understanding of survival.  Most of what I've read in there is good knowledge though, and I often to use it to answer a lot "niche" or specific questions I come up with as I practice.

[Jarvis]

I'll be working this next Sunday, 4/6, so I won't be able to do any survival.

Instead, I'll give you homework assignments to try and get done before next time.

David: Still have that hunk of Hemlock from the drive up north?  Make a bowdrill set out of it.  Extra credit: if you bust before we meet next, I'll make you a survival gift.  I'm telling you man, you own this skill.  Go ahead and dry it out in the oven or next to a fire or something.

Hannah: Make a new figure four trap.  You can use your old one as a model.  Also, make a paiute dead fall.  To jog your memory, it's the one that's like the figure four only the horizontal bait stick is replaced with cordage.  Extra credit: next class if both traps stand for 30 minutes and still function; and the paiute is made from natural cordage; then I'll give you a survival gift.

Chad: Make a fully functioning debris hutt.  Either here or in the woods out behind the school, or any old patch of woods you have regular and easy access to.  You can tear down the old one and use the sticks, but see if you can get the full amount of debris on it.  Big project, I know, but you have a couple weeks to work on it in increments.  Extra credit:  create a doorway and at least a semi-permanent door for a survival gift.

Myself: Find, Identify, and make cordage from Dogsbane.  Extra credit: successfully bowdrill with natural cordage.

Good luck, and have fun!

[Jarvis]

Sorry guys, I'm probably working again this Sunday: 4/13.

I normally try to avoid working Sundays, but I'm flirting with the idea of doing a second Tracker School trip this summer, to the Scout class.  Money will be tight if I go with it.  I haven't made a decision yet, it depends on how things look over the next month.

Anyway, I'm willing to do something on another day if you guys are up for it.  Just let me know, and I'll carve out some time.  The following week end is, of course, the trip.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Next time we meet for a regular class though, which would be a couple Sundays from this one, I want to take a minor "field trip".  I spent some time training the water stalking step in a creek yesterday.  I had a lot of fun, and I'd like to get you guys out there to train it a bit.  The place is littered with deer trails too, so it's ideal for tracking.  It's pretty close to the school too.

Let me know what you guys think!  In the meantime, keep working on the projects in the previous post.

[Amorak]

Hey, whatever you got to do brother.  Me and Hannah both feel you about the money situation.  We both have plenty of work that we should probably be doing anyway. 

I'll get back to you on the alternative days.  I have to go over what I have due for school.

[Amorak]

Sorry I missed your phone call last sunday.  Not sure what happened to my phone.  Anyway, I didn't have a car that day to show up anyway.  The clutch went out.  That's another $900 I have sunk into that truck in that past 6 months.  It'll be brand new by the end of the year at this rate.

[Jarvis]

Ouch.  Hard times man.  Don't worry about not showing.  I was already in the area anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to drive over there anyway.  I didn't think anyone would show up on Mother's day, I was just playing it safe.  I don't ever want to leave you guys hanging.

The tentative plan around here is to go to Rock Town on Sunday.  If that goes down, I'll not be there at the Martial Arts Center this coming Sunday.  The week end after that, I'll be out doing a raid again, and then I'll be gone through the next couple of weeks from there to do my Tracker School class.  So we probably won't be able to meet again for another month... around the 15th of June.  Of course, I'm sure by then I'll be ripe with new stuff to go through (though you guys still need to brush up on the basics).

Well, if I don't see ya until then, take care man.  Keep in touch, and let me know if you want to get together on any odd days.  I'm always up for this stuff.

[Amorak]

That's cool.  So what is the good word for Sunday?  Congrats for the new tracker class.  I'll be looking forward to some more info and details.  Maybe you should ask the thermal imaging question.  That is if you are allowed to ask questions.

[Jarvis]

I may ask, though I doubt it'll fit in at all at an Advanced Standard class.  The focus will be survival.

I'm busy this Sunday, so it'll be awhile before we can do class as usual again, as I said.  So take a break.  Train what we've talked about so far.  Hopefully things will move forward with even greater momentum when I return.  I'll be doing a lot of my own stealth training this summer, and of course you're welcome to join in where you can.

[Jarvis]

Just got back in from Tom Brown's class, and we have a lot to cover.  Some of this stuff I'll need to practice a bit before I introduce it in my class, so give me a little time to process some of what I learned.  I can give you an idea of what's coming though:

Primitive pottery, Baskets from vines, Bows, Arrows, Stone tools (flint-knapping), bone tools, glass blades, grass mats, pine sap glue, throwing sticks hunting, a mother-load of traps (we learned over 30 or so), a few man-traps (oh-boy!), spears, fish spears... amongst other things.

Remember also that I'll be attending the Scout class at the Tracker school on July 6th.  Hopefully I'll have a lot more stalking information then, along with a boat load of man-traps and counter-tracking techniques.  I'm really excited.

...but!  I want to see better bow-drilling in class.  Even from me.  Tom threw down a challenge this week.  We were told to hit the woods and make fire in one hour.  We were only allowed to use natural materials we found, which meant we couldn't even use knives for cutting.  Only stone.  That's the new level I intend to train for.  On a whim, with nothing to start with, fire in an hour no matter what the circumstances.  I'll begin studying hand-drilling as a fire method too.  Expect to see that introduced in class in the coming months.

Much fun to be had guys, and unless work get in the way I plan to be there for survival class this coming Sunday.  See ya there!

[Amorak]

Hey man that sounds awesome!  Hannah and I are really excited.  But...we can't make this Sunday. 

We are in the Caribbean!  We are stationed on the small island of St. John.  We just got here today and we're staying for a week.  Then we won't be in town for the next sunday either.  We should be good to go on the 29 though.  Maybe we can meet during the week.  My thursday evenings are free now for a while.

So we'll be ready to hit the ground running after we get back.  We've both missed coming to the classes.

[Jarvis]

Have a good time!  How's that finger?

I'm up for getting on this stuff at any time.  You just let me know, and I'll go.

On bow-making:

We learned to make three kinds of bows.  One: what they called a long term bow. When made properly it'll last for years, and is meant for distance shots.  It's big enough for a full draw.  Two: a snap bow, which is also a permanent bow, but much smaller.  It's meant to be fired at a half draw and is meant for much closer range firing in thick wooded areas.  Ideal for talented stalkers.

Both of those require that you season the wood for a full year, or more sometimes.  Which simply means splitting out the staves and storing them in a cool dry place for that time, where they will be safe from termites obviously.  I want to begin that seasoning process as quickly as possible.  So, next time we do meet, I'll bring my notes so we can look over my list of effective wood types.  I know Sassafras is on the list, and I've got a few other uses for Sassafras as well, so that's high on my list.  We should go out and try and find some and see if we can get into bow-making a year from now.

In the mean-time: the third type of bow is called the "Father-Son" bow, or the Survival bow.  It can be made from saplings, green, and used in the same day.  It's draw strength will be lower, and it could break in a day, a couple weeks, or maybe a month.  It's any one's guess.  Good thing they are relatively easy to make.  I'll be getting into that and arrow making soon-ish.  I'm pretty excited.

I'll see you guys when you get back!

[Saltatrix]

I'm all into bows, I think they're the only projectile weapon worth using...on the other hand, I got really excited when you mentioned that you learned basketweaving and such. The hunter-gatherer survival instinct, though unnecessary in the modern world and contrary to the common perception of the morals of the feminist movement, is still unusually strong. I really want to sit and learn how to make dye and baskets and prepare food and which plants are good for what dish and what medicine...rather than learn about the stalking and the bows and whatnot. Not that I'm not interested in the other stuff...quite the opposite. I love all that helpful nonsense. I just feel this bizarre strong elemental draw to learn about the sitting-in-my-hut-singing-while-I-work stuff. You know. "Y'all ketch it and kill it and I'll make it into supper and a new pair of drawers to boot" [<- spoken in Hannah's accent].

So whenever we can get back to class doing ANYTHING would be great.

[Amorak]

Thought you might like to know that I have a forge up and running.  It's not exaclt what I wanted but I couldn't take it any longer.  I had to get back into the swing of things.

I'm still working on the shop part of it.  I still need an anvil.  Right now I'm making due with part of a rail from a rail road and a tiny anvil that is better used as a bookend.  So if you have one and need somewhere to put it I volunteer to donate my workspace. 

But, if you want to come over sometime and give it a swing just let me know. 

Just so you know, you'll probably want to wear shoes though. 

[Jarvis]

Sorry guys, I work on Sunday.  Then I leave for another two weeks.  I'll be headed up to the Scout class.  I'm pretty excited.  After two classes it'll give us a lot to work on.  I'll be back by the 16th of July.  So check back then, and we'll start training.  Until then, work on your skills.

I work this Friday too, but I'll see if I can make the party afterwards.  I may be late.  Cya!