Fall Hunting Survival Scenario (Beware: Pic Heavy)

Good day,

I have been wanting to conduct a personal field test of my survival equipment/ability in a typical fall situation; like getting lost while hunting moose in northern Ontario and having to spend the night outdoors with only the gear on you.

The trouble is that I am very busy in the fall; working, instructing with our local youth group and actually hunting. So this week I conducted the exercise in the early spring as the weather and forest conditions are very similar.

I did a recce to the general area (about 35 km from my home) on Sunday afternoon with my family to determine that the roads were passable, as the electronic 4x4 selector switch on my truck is broken.

I was very busy on Monday planning/booking our summer vacation trip to Bristish Columbia, so it was 4.00pm by the time I grabbed my normal hunting gear, skipped supper and headed for the bush.

I had to chop a tree off the road on the way into the site and at about 5.00pm left my truck parked about 1 km from the area.

The temperture was app. +15*c, but there was still patch snow in the shady sections of the bush. I hiked an old pole-line to a dry beaver marsh, where I walked north about 200m up the bank of the flowing creek, to the head of the clearing. I have actually hunted moose in this area before (unsuccessfully) so the scenario was realistic.


Dry beaver marsh looking north from pole line.


Patchy snow along creek in dry beaver marsh.

The forest floor surface was very dry especially on the upland sites and I was very concerned about the danger of a "pre-green up" spring fire. Therefore I selected a bivouac site on the edge of the marsh, probably lower than I would in the fall. It was now 5.45pm and I needed to get started on construction ASAP.


The bivouac site as I found it.

I built a tapered lean-to by tying a pole to a tree, anchoring the end into the ground and bracing other poles against it. I stretched an All-Weather Blanket over the framework, I keep this small reflective poly-tarp in an orange nylon bag and use it as a dry seat while stand hunting. I made the shelter a little too high and deep so the the tarp was not quite long enough to cover to the ground, this caused a draft that I felt later in the night. I should have sealed the gap with moss and logs. The tarp is about 10 years old and has many duct tape patches, I made a few more tears in it on branch stubs while covering the shelter.

I then cut 4 balsam fir saplings and stripped the branches from them at the biv site. These I arranged twig end down to create a browse bed about 30cm thick; the ground under the surface layer was wet and cold so it was important to insulate myself from it.

Due to the fire danger I excavated the duff layer down to mineral soil and constructed a small fireplace about 1m in front of the shelter. Rocks and green wood were scarce so I made a base of wet logs, a reflector of thin green popular poles and put the only rocks I could find between my bed and the fire.

There was lots of standing dead wood in the marsh but it was almost all balsam fir, which makes very poor firewood (short lived and lots of sparks). I did locate one small dry black ash tree and numerous outer pine stumps as a result of logging in the area about 100 years ago.

I did the bivouac site construction in this order because I was rapidly losing daylight and felt that I could gather adequate firewood around camp after dark if I had to, using only my headlamp.


Shelter site at dark, I am just about to build a fire.

Throughout the shelter construction I felt very rushed as I knew I only had a couple hours till dark. If I had to gather enough evergreen boughs to cover the shelter instead of using the tarp it would have taken much longer to build.

I used 2 short lengths of para-cord to build the shelter but much thinner cord or fishing line would have worked as well.

I used only one tool to construct the biv site, a 25 year old Fiskar Brush-hook (billhook). This is a simple short heavy machete with curved blade and hooked tip. I bought this tool in the early 80's and have used it hard ever since. A slightly different version of "Brush Axe" is available from Fiskar/Gerber , it has a different blade shape and hollow handle. Wetterling also has a "Clearing Blade", which I own but have not tried yet. It can be seen on the Wetterlings site under camping tools.

I used a Bahco Laplander saw to cut the firewood to length. It did a good job for it's small size but a bow saw would have been quicker. Some larger logs I just dragged back to camp and burnt through to make them smaller.

Tough leather groves are also important for both shelter contruction and working with the fire; I had an old pair and still got some nasty cuts/slivers on my hands.

I dug into my AMK/DR PSK kit to try the Sparklite and Tinder-Quik, it caught on the 3rd strike and I lit the birch bark under my twig bundle; I had an instant fire.


Here you see my old Brush-hook, the Spark-lite and burning Tinder-Quik.

I then gathered my equipment into the shelter and took this picture of some of the tools I had with me.



Leatherman TTi, Grohmann #4 Survival Knife , SAK AA flashlight, Savage M24 .22RF/20ga Combo Gun, Silva 15T Compass, Laplander saw, old Fiskar Brush-hook. My Petzl headlamp was on my head, where it stayed throughout the night, it was terrific.

It was fairly warm during the day and I traveled, worked in a long sleeve synthetic undershirt and light pants. About 10.00pm I made a cup of tea over the fire and changed into my normal fall hunting clothes.


Gore-tex/thinsulate hunting hat, fleece neckwarmer, synthetic long underwear, poly liner socks, wool socks, wool shirt, wool pants, Red/Green suspenders, leather belt, Danner "Trophy" insulated leather boots, poly glove liners, wool "flip" mitts. Later in the night I added a thinsulate liner coat, camo rain overcoat and pants. I also had my cell phone Mini EDC Cell Phone Kit and Bolle Sunglasses.

It got a little windy and quite cold dropping to at least freezing (0*c) because the puddles in the marsh froze over. Sleeping was difficult because of the bright light of the fire right in front of me, the bright moon and the roaring noise from large rapids/waterfalls about 800m and 1500m from me. I also had to be careful of sparks from the fire shooting embers into the shelter, I would have appreciated much better firewood.

Rest consisted of 10 minutes of dozing, 10 minutes of light napping, 10 minutes of procrastination, then getting up to add wood to the fire.


At around 2.00am I felt chilled so I made an OXO beef broth hot drink in a stainless steel container hung over the fire and ate a Vector energy bar, I felt warmer after this.

The first bird sang at 4.58am and by 5.30 it was getting bright in the marsh.

I had instant coffee and an oatmeal bar for breakfast; the camp packed-up quickly because they was not much to it.



Extinguishing the fire took a long time because I needed to be absolutely sure it was out. Even after it was totally extinguished and the charcoal was moved to the marsh puddles I still waited around for an hour, just to be sure.

I left the site at about 8.00am and walked out on the other site of the creek; as usual I found a better shelter site there!



On the poleline road I saw the tracks of a large wolf that had passed by in both directions sometime during the night? (Note: the picture of the tracks does not seem to want to post, I will work on it?)

So I hiked out to the truck, drove to town and ordered a big greasy breakfast bagel sandwich at the drive thru, it and a coffee tasted fabulous.

This post is really long so I will cut it off here and add to it about the lessons I learned later.

For now, I will say that I have a new found respect for those who endure and overcome a true wilderness survival situation.

More info (if you want to hear it) soon,

Mike

I like the idea that you are testing your skills. Great pics too! I look forward to further details of your adventure.

I'd love to do this, but the state of MI frowns upon overnight camping in the state parks. And, oh yeah, bringing a gun is probably a no-no.


Nice pics. Looks like a fun, if chilly time. Did you have a space blanket or something to actually cover yourself with, aside from the space blanket on the lean-to?

Hi MDinana,

I did have some more survival type equipment with me that I wanted to test, but never had the time.

Other shelter items were an AMK Heatsheet and an orange leaf-trash bag. I should have used the trash bag to block the small opening at the rear-bottom of the shelter; it would have cutdown on the draft.

I should have tried the Heatsheet around 3.00am but just piled the wood on the fire instead. At the start of the night I was wearing my raincoat, lying on my rainpants/light daytime pants and had my thin liner coat over my legs as a cover. In the middle of the night I put on the liner coat and rainpants, that was warmer.

I used the thin foam seat cushion from my treestand under my back and nylon dry bag (containing GPS, Sat Phone, Camera) as a pillow.

The reflective All-weather Blanket did reflect/contain a lot of heat in the shelter, but I should have built it about a foot lower. It was also about a foot too short so my boots stuck out the end, live and learn.

The hunting season for varying hare is still open here so the gun is no problem. The only hare I saw was on the drive out but I was thinking of another type of "fast-food" then.

The land I was staying on is Public (Crown) Land, any resident can camp there for up to 21 days without a fee, at which time you have to move on to another location. There are millions of acres of this type of public land in Ontario.

Mike

Here is the picture the wolf tracks about 200m south of my camp on the pole-line road.



My Leatherman Charge TTi is beside the track for scale, the multitool is 4 inches long.

Mike

Big wolf! Wow!!

- no sweat--you got it down to a "T"..except for a busted hip or having a tree fall on your head i'm sure you could last untill the Mounties,or whoever,found you..i have read the crown land camping rules for Americans as i was thinking about some canoe trips in the bush and not a park but with permits and such it may as well be a park..you are lucky to have so much land to wander around in-

Hi CANOEDOGS,

I agree with you, for non-residents by the time you factor in the "Crown Land Camping Permit" fees you might as well camp in a Provincial or National Park.

There are residents here that have large motorhomes/trailers and camp for 3 weeks at a time, all summer (about May till October), across the northern part of the province; all at no charge.

It comes at the price of higher taxes, but we will not comment on that here.

Concerning surviving with an injury, that would be very difficult. I found that I was pushing really hard to get the Biv site completed in the time I had before dark, if I had an injury the camp would have had to be much more simple. I had to force myself to slow down and drink water, I was also extra safety-conscious while constructing the camp and had a 1st Aid kit with me.

I did know exactly where I was, I had left a map with my family and had good communication with them (Cell/Sat). Had I been in real trouble, after 1st Aid, a call for help would have been the next move, before any camp set-up.

Later,

Mike

Great write-up with great pictures of a great time. The only thing you should have done different was bring me along!

Seriously, I love seeing how little people can get by with in the woods. Each time I see a report like this my pack gets lighter.

Thanks!
-Blast

Hey Blast,

I was thinking of your Spring Creek trips as I was huddled in the beaver marsh, the wildlife was not at all the same (e.g. snakes, alligators, armadillos, feral pigs .... half-dressed European Sunbathers)!

If my shelter was too short for me, your feet would have really stuck out the end.

If you ever find yourself in northern Ontario brother, just call.

Mike

All you needed were some Lifecaps and some AquaMira...;^)

John E

Your a funny guy John, made me laugh!

Mike

I do what I can with what I've been given...;^)

JohnE

And more beer ends up on my computer screen.


-Blast

What, you mean you don't have ladies like this (naughty bits covered but still NSFW) in your neck of the woods? In that case carry on without me!

-Blast

Blast, I am afraid it will have to be at least a month and many degrees warmer before any of that sort of wildlife shows up in my area.

But by then, the black flies will be so thick that it will be extremely unlikely.

Mike

During my over-nighter in the bush I took some notes on what equipment worked and what did not.

I felt pressured for time while I was constructing the shelter site and if I found a tool or technique was ineffective, I quickly replaced it if possible.

I had taken a few cutting edges (belt knife, Mora knife, EDC folder, mini-folder, SAK ...) to test but found that the brush-hook blade and folding saw were the most effective wood cutting tools I had. If I had a swede saw or axe I would have used them, when it was getting dark and I needed firewood in a hurry I wished for my Husqvarna chainsaw that was sitting in my garage at home.

First aid tools became important for a brief time during the evening. I received numerous scratches on my hands when I had my gloves off (duh), but when reaching for a piece of firewood I drove a 3/4 inch sliver into the palm of my right hand, at the first knuckle. I used the needle from the AMK/DR PSK and the tweezers from my SAK Classic Whistler (EDC attached to my keyring), to remove it by the light of my headlamp.

The headlamp I used was a Petzl Tactikka Plus it was terrific and I wore it from dusk till dawn.

I also had a SAK AA LED flashlight with a neoprene glove on it so I could hold it in my teeth, it is a good light but I only used it long enough to find the headlamp buried in my pack.

Being able to heat water over the fire was a big help in staying warm. The 400ml SS metal container I hung over the fire came with a see-thru lid, I bought it at the local dollar store. This container forms the exterior of my "Shelter Kit" that contains cordage, an AMK Bivy, an AMK Heatsheet and a second smaller tin can container. I did not take all this kit with me, so I will post about it in detail another time.

A poncho liner or even better a wool blanket would have been great to sleep under; the wool would have been more ember-proof than synthetic.

When I was starting to build the shelter I had a light airplane circle low once over me. I had a blaze orange hat on and think the pilot was just curious what I was doing in the marsh? If this was a real survival situation I am sure I could have signaled the plane for help with a mirror, flare, smoke or even just arm signals.

I was very suspect of the water in the area because of the amount of old mines/tailings nearby. The creek I was camped beside would probably be OK for drinking after treatment, but if I had to drink the water I was going to walk about 800m southeast to a stream that flows out of a trout lake at the top of the local watershed. As it turned out I carried 4 litres of water in with me and did not use all of it.

I had plans of setting out hare snares and hand-fishing in the large river about 1km south of me but there was just not the time, things to learn/test on another trip.

Mike

Great post... Always good to get a little practice in. I'm always trying out my gear in controlled situations to see if something should be replaced.

Loved the Lifecaps comment...

Now everyone in the coffee shop is looking at me like I'm a madman. And no good way to explain this joke...

Classic!

How do you like the Savage 24C? What was your ammo loadout for the Savage?
I have several 24C's, one with a matching set of .22lr/20 gauge & .22magnum/20 gauge barrels.

Do you know where to get barrel sets? I would love to have a
30-30/shotgun for my 222/20.

Try Savage Savage Arms Parts Department at 413-568-7001
I bought mine used with the 2 barrel sets

Hi SBR,

I do like the older Savage M24 Camper .22RF/.20ga combo gun. I bought it used a couple years ago and have only killed a few grouse with it. It is very functional, light and handy, so I often carry it as a camp/bumming-around gun. The ability to take the gun down into a smaller package is also nice, but I do not have the original padded case. I would buy a second one for my son to use, but they are hard to find.

I had to change the front sight on the gun as the original was too high and I ran out of adjustment in the flip-down rear sight. I would like to put a rear peep (aperture) sight on the gun but am not eager to drill/tap the receiver so I have held off. The gun has sling swivel posts but on the day I was out I forgot the sling at home. I also had a combination trigger lock with me, a light cloth gun-sleeve and the Registration Card (this is Canada).

I have thought of creating a mini-survival kit that fits in the trap-door butt shell compartment of this gun, but I have not done it yet (maybe in an aluminum cigar tube?).

I had a new Savage 24 in 30-30/12ga but found it too heavy so I sold it, I would like a lighter combo gun again with a shotgun (12, 16 or 20ga) plus a centerfire rifle suitable for moose (6.5X55 and larger), I am going to look at the Baikal O/U. I would use this for hiking around in the fall when both the small game and moose seasons are open. Currently I carry a lightweight 12ga Rem. 870 with a rifle-sighted deer barrel; shot for birds/slugs for calf moose, not the best option but functional for now.

If I am hunting moose more seriously then I carry my real moose rifle (centerfire or muzzleloader) and maybe my Marlin Papoose ,22 takedown for grouse. The grouse here are typical northern birds and rarely flush on approach. Hunting handguns are not an option in Canada.

I carried a handful of 20ga lead #4 and 6's in case I saw a shoeshoe hare as I walked into the site. The shotgun barrel has no choke, therefore load selection has to be tailored to the expected range, with heavier loads/denser patterns better as the range gets longer. I also had 2 slugs and 2 buckshot shells with me just in case a black bear stuck his head into the shelter. The river valley I was in has an abundance of bears in the spring because the hillside openings green-up early and fish (pike, walleye, suckers) spawn along the major river.

I also had a can of bear spray with me, it would have been my first choice if I had a wildlife problem.

The only wildlife trouble I had was with a few big mosquitos that at dusk managed to bite through the light undershirt I was wearing. I had timed this trip to be before the bugs came out and was only a day or two late.

Wildlife I saw were: 3 woodpeckers, a vole in the marsh (it was neat as it swam the creek), a loon flew over in the early morning, a pair of mallard ducks launched from the beaver pond as I walked out and a shoeshoe hare as I drove the gravel road home.

Later,

Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the info!
Stu

Great report on a great time!
Live and learn, learn and live.

Thanks for the write up and photos, SwampDonkey. Very enjoyable and informative.