North American Survival and Wilderness Education

07/18/2017

As promised, here are a few photos of this past weekend's outing.

A few highlights, we were expecting rain--and weren't disappointed. As you can see in the construction of my shelter, I "shingled" in large leaves below my debris layer for added rain shed. The plant (not edible by the way) is called the "California Corn Lily". The large, oval leaves layer in very well and keep water out. They are spiked on thin branches that make up the shelter from below and held down with dirt and debris from above.

There was quite a mixture of edibles within 50 yards of where we built our shelters (and a great water source as well) including wild parsnip, plantain, raspberries, gooseberries, clover, thistle, dandelion, and cattails below closer to the river.

brown standing reed grass makes an excellent cordage. Shown is a simple twisted braid--small enough to make a couple hunting stars, and tough enough to lash the two pieces of sharpened willow together and stand up to being thrown over, and over, and over again. We never actually got to do any hunting--such a short trip really doesn't allow for a lot of things to happen, but it was fun to demonstrate, see someone successfully make their weapon, and then do some target practicing against a rotted stump.

I DO have some video footage of Steven putting his flint & steel kit to use for the first time, and being rewarded with success almost immediately. But I'll have to get that trimmed out a bit and make it more viewer-friendly because A) the little video camera I brought sucks (terrible sound quality) and B) I was playing with different angles and such a bit while he was doing his thing, so I need to cut out all the non-important stuff cluttering things up. I'll work on that. Until then, enjoy!

Rangefinder

07/13/2017

All right--YES, I've been scarce for quite a while. And yes, I know, I still haven't posted last fall's video compilation of our cold weather outing at 10,000+ feet with debris and no sleeping bags in teens to single-digit temperatures... I blame that on my video editor (because he isn't here) for deciding that getting his house and land in order, cutting roads, putting in culverts, etc, is more important than editing...

Well, this coming weekend, several of the guys decided they wanted to go for a minor gung-ho weekend. I have restricted them to standard outing clothing (worn, not extra), a straight-edge knife, water bottle, and the traditional flint and steel kit I made for everyone for Christmas---that's it. No food, no other gear, nothing. It really should be a piece of cake. The added fun is that we've been getting afternoon to all-night thunder showers here regularly. Looking forward to that. On this one, I'm going to be shooting a lot of raw photos and video that I probably won't even tell my video editor about. So you'll probably see it before lat fall's cold weather outing. See you all soon!

Rangefinder

12/20/2016

All right, I know this isn't much of a post, or that I haven't added anything in quite a while. I haven't been sitting idle, I assure you all. In fact, I have a good bit of video that i am trying to get finished editing covering this fall's elk hunting outing. A few of us went out with minimal packs for a weekend over 10,000 feet in single digit temperature using tarp shelters and no sleeping bags. We didn't bring any elk home, but it was a great outing and we did manage to field test some gear. It's coming, I promise.

05/28/2015

So what's been happening?? Well, a short time ago, I got myself "persuaded" into teaching a Women's Fi****ms course...for a few women who had basically ZERO knowledge or experience with fi****ms of any kind. Sound scary? I thought it sounded like brilliant opportunity on many levels. So I accepted. Allow me to break it down a little...

I took on a few women who really knew nothing about fi****ms, and had never even so much as handled a firearm (much less fired one) with the hopeful goal of teaching them the basics of what they really needed to know to see, handle, and effectively use a variety of the common fi****ms they might encounter. Wow, what a chore! In all honesty, WOW, what an opportunity!!

We began with a classroom. Three hours later, their heads were swimming with the basic need-to-know things. But they absorbed it all even better than I could have ever hoped.

Second class--the first range day..... Oh boy. Do you want to discuss nerves? This was the first live-fire day. Bear in mine none of these women have ever handled a loaded firearm--ever. And now is when the hammer drops.

They ALL performed amazingly!!! The first range session was handgun "introduction" day. We went through both semi-auto and revolver platforms beginning with 22lr, 38 spl, 40SW, and finished with 357 Magnum. They each went through tedious acclimation and familiarization with each, focusing on feel and function. Procedure, safety, grip, squeeze...Whether or not paper what hit didn't matter.They tried and became 'friends' with everything. It was a good day. In general 'guy' terms, any day at the range is a good day. But ending the day with a group of ladies who'd never fired a handgun before but just finished a range set ending with full-house 357 Magnum loads and happy about it... Well, that was something all-together special....

So let's catch up to today's events. The previous range day was focused on procedure and familiarity. They fired everything in stages to get acquainted with the different platforms, feel the different styles between revolvers and auto-loader, feel the weight, recoil, etc. Today was when they got to see what they could do with what they'd learned. Today was the fun-day.

No ladders, no magazine restrictions, no steps. They had free run to pick what they wanted to shoot and what they wanted to shoot at. I set up two qualifier targets with paper so they could dial in sight alignment, and a field of 16oz. water bottles for fun. These were placed random from 5 yards to 20 yards. Then they each went to the bench in turn, picked what handgun they wanted to fire, loaded, and proceeded to engage what they wanted to shoot. I stood on the side and observed nearly the whole time. These ladies performed AMAZINGLY. What's more, they were all engaging and hitting they were ALL hitting targets squarely out to 20 yards very efficiently with everything they picked up. And I'm talking about 16oz water bottled, not a refrigerator box. They shot extremely well.

Next class is rifles. Personally, I can't wait. It's going to be outstanding. ;)

11/03/2014

a little more cleaning, bone bleach, and the monster will be ready for the wall. i need 12 foot ceilings to hang him right, but we're going to make due for now.

10/21/2014

Yup, a busy week indeed. He's a monster 6x7.

10/21/2014

It's been a busy couple of weeks...

09/08/2014

Well folks, it's that time of year again---hunting season!! Next week I'll be packing the "smoke-pole" out to put a nice, fat doe in the freezer! Beyond that, it's an amazing opportunity to cover some of the lesser-known things about wild game handling and uses for things. The series I'm working on is extensive, and my doe will cover one little section nicely. What I'm hoping to include beyond the basic field-dressing, skinning, and butchering are things like how to use the REST of the animal such as intestines as natural sausage casings, rendered fat to use with hardwood ash for making real Lye soap. hide glue, tendon for permanent lashing on spear and arrow points, and of course my brain tanning method for buckskin. Those will all be long, tedious projects to be fleshed out primarily for the book series, but I'll be posting teasers here along the way. Just giving a heads-up.

Oh, and to those who are also out or will be soon to bring home their meat-----GOOD LUCK, and above all, BE SAFE! Mother Nature does not discriminate. Get your head on right BEFORE you go out. There is no room for 'macho' or 'stupid' out there.

04/26/2014

All right Folks, the infamous Black Beard of Rescue Ropes put together some of our photos and videos into a great video compilation. CHECK IT OUT!!

WWW.RESCUEROPES.ORG Official Rescue Ropes Wilderness Wear Video! A group of guys went out on a survival trip ONLY using our Elite Belt!

04/22/2014

The Rescue Ropes April Survival Outing was a HUGE success! It was way too short--time indeed flies when you're having fun--but we had a great time with what little time we were all able to scrounge up together to do it. Be sure to check out the album...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.418252701564269.98460.410187825704090&type=3

So first off, how about a quick recap of the purpose? There was Trent, one of the three co-founders of Rescue Ropes LLC found at www.rescueropes.org. Then there was myself, Founder of North American Survival and Wilderness Education--AKA NASWE. But, not to be left out was my son Nic, and his best friend Jacob--they took the challenge as well. What was the challenge?

"Can we, using nothing but what we were wearing for a short wander in the wood and a Rescue Ropes Elite Belt, put together the necessary means of surviving in the woods?"

Well, I can honestly say we didn't have enough time to put to use everything that was available to us within the belt. We could have done SO MUCH MORE with it! What we had available: 70 feet of 550 cord, a rope saw, 2 feet of snare wire, 10 feet of 8 # fishing line, 1 hook, 1 sinker, one small folding knife, one ferro-striker, 2 water tablets... That's what's in the belts. Besides that, we had our clothing--and one beverage of choice since most people take something with them even on short walks. That's it.

We did manage to use the knife, the rope saw, and I'm pretty sure none of us used more than about 12-feet of our 550 cord (the elite belt has 70 feet available!). And with just that little bit, we each put up very serviceable shelters, plenty of fire wood to keep two fires burning all night, and then struck our fires with the USG fire striker that each belt is equipped with. It was all accomplished in under 2 hours, and we really weren't hurrying.

Temperatures dropped to just shy of freezing that night, then it rained at some point (not exactly sure when that happened because I slept through it). How'd we fair? GREAT! A little chat in the morning revealed a couple minor changes each of us would have made had we been able to stay another night. Trent would have moved his shelter a little closer to the fire, Jacob and Nic would have dug out a little more room in their 2-man shelter and positioned their hot-rock a little better, and I would have thrown a little more foliage over the thin spot I found letting cold air in right about butt-level. It's never perfect, and the first night is usually the toughest. Had we been able to stay through another night, we'd all have been sleeping even more comfortably that we did the first night.

I did take a few minutes the next morning and built a quick spring-snare, and I still need to get the video of that. We'd hoped to make a quick walk over to the river that was just across from us and do a little fishing (which every belt, sling, and bracelet is equipped for), but we didn't have time to squeeze that in. Next time though...

For now, check out the photos in my Rescue Ropes Album if you haven't already. That details a few things throughout the trip!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.418252701564269.98460.410187825704090&type=3

04/22/2014

I'll be building an album and write-up next, but here's the teaser video clip. ;) Stay tuned!! It actually seems to take more time to post these things than to DO them!