Bows, knives, amd fire

I have found out that archery is not like riding a bicycle. Twenty years ago I owned a recurve and a compound bow. Both have long since been sold. Now I have made a longbow and was thinking (stupidly) that I could just pick it up and hit at what I shot. If I instinctually aim and shoot, releasing my draw as soon as I get the bow up I can hit my target about 80% of the time. If I aim, it drops down to about 50%. I have a lot of practice ahead of me. No biggie. I have nothing but time for the most part and if I didn't want to shoot it I would not have made it.

I am still holding out for a sling shot. I don't think they make innertubes the way they used to. These bands seem a lot less weak and store less kinetic energy. I have made three (as mentioned in the last post) and none of the three would be good for small critter hunting unless you could get within 10 feet of your game. I am planning on getting one of the store bought wrist rockets. After all, I don't hunt for sport so if I use it, I am going to be hunting with it in a situation where I want food.

Speaking of purchasing, what is up with Wal*Mart not selling REAL mess kits and canteens? All they have is family sized cookware and water bottles.

As for bushcrafting, since my last post I made some shavings and a firestick for the BCUSA classes* and have been working on a woodspirit carved into willow. Today I am going to work on making five man made tinders (also for the classes), hopefully finish my carving, and of course practice my archery.

(* http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/forum.php)

This is what I did today.
Carry on,
Scotty

Survival

Haven't written in this in quite a while. No worries though because no one was reading it but me. I write, like I do everything else, for me and not the masses. This blog will now turn from fiber crafts, painting, and drawing. It will now focus on survival.

I am a person who knows survival techniques. I am NOT a survivalist. There is a big difference. Please learn the difference before you start bashing me for this. What makes me qualified to post this stuff? Well, I was in the scouts for most of my childhood. Went from Cub Scout to just a little shy of Eagle Scout. Why didn't I go the distance? because I enlisted in the Army on my 18th birthday. I spent eight years in the possession of Uncle Sammy with six of them as a Ranger. In trade for my service "he" trained me to survive and gave me a set of skills I still use today. I have been out for 17 years but I still enjoy camping and not only using what I learned all those years ago but teaching it also. Since my heart condition set in I can't get out as much as I like but I still like getting ready for when I can. I do not know everything there is to know about bushcraft but I do know enough to survive and am willing to learn, study, and practice what I don't know.

The new direction of this blog will be to record what I did to further my skills, my bush-bag (commonly known as a bug out bag), and other generally related stuff.

Over the past three weeks I have:

• made a self bow out of red oak. It pulls 47# at 28" and is 70" n2n
• repacked and discarded items from my bush-bag. I now have it down to 19 pounds and can live comfortably out of it for a week or more. All I really need is a knife and my firestick but comforts are nice)
• made three slingshots. One each for my son, mother-in-law, and father-in-law
• made two wooden spoons
• made some firestarters with dryer lint and vaseline
• made a new fire-bow set
• made a new walking stick/cane (the two I am now forced to use are too nice to go into the woods to get banged up and I have my first camping trip in a long time coming up in a month or so.)
• practiced with the blowgun
• practiced with the air rife
• practiced primitive fire making using both the fire-bow and my flint and steel.
• learned to make cordage
• learned to make a flemish bowstring
• learned two different knots; the timber hitch and the canadian jam knot
• made a spy capsule to carry my meds in. I made it by hacksawing off the tops of two soda bottles and glueing them together.

You can find instructions on all of these with google. I did. A lot I have known how to do for years such as the slingshots, carving (spoons, cane), fire starters and fire making. Others like the bow, bowstring, knots, and cord making I have learned in just the last few weeks. Currently I have just learned of a creature called a spoon knife (also called a hook knife). I am to broke to pay for one so am now in the process of searching my shop for something I can use to make one. I am debating between trying a hacksaw blade or a butter knife.

This is what I did today. (And over the last few weeks)