Ozbow

Years ago I had this crazy idea which I put forward to three of my friends that we have a, lets say traditional indian weekend where we would get to the river put the canoe's in and the only gear we take is traditional indian ie bow knife clothes etc. No 20th century stuff. The only food we could get was from the land. The other idea was to count coup. What ever you did that was brave ( stupid enough) like borrow fruit, vegies eggs or even a chicken from some of the farmers along the river gave you a feather (coup points). The one with the most feathers was cheif. We would have to set up camp obviously away from the farms and eat our bounty. We never did it but I still think it would be a blast. As long as no one gets cought that is.

Reg Tex

Hej Tex,

Like the idea of your Indian weekend and even the feathers. However I have issues with the 'it's alright if you don't get caught" approach . (Don't read too much into this - it is typed in a light hearted tone ). The weekend might have been a bigger BLAST! if you were caught by the cranky farmer with a shot gun. You could actually make a game of it by setting up a mock farm to be attacked by the Indians and have chickens available to be stolen if the indians can get past the guard. Enough said.

Steve

Yeah I agree. That's why it never happened. Still sounds fun though. I was pretty young when I had the idea.

I am very interested in this sort of thing. The blackpowder fraternity have been doing this sort of thing here for years using period materials and equipment - mostly early colonial American.

Richard Snape from the earlier Archery Action years and some mates of mine in NE Victoria go on treks carrying their longrifles and what amounts to a swag with much of their kit inside.

They spend about a week trekking across country from A to B and living off what they carry and shooting legally shootable critters along the way for some additional grub.

The kit they take is VERY basic, and a lot less than I usually carry when I backpack on bushwalks.

I have seen those books which Mick refers to but never thought to buy them. Nothing wrong with developing an Australian version of trekking. Almost any animal is edible, but we don't have a lot of knowledge of what plants are edible in the southern half of the continent and there is very little literature on the subject as opposed to the northern tropical half.

That is something which needs to be followed up.

The aboriginal peoples knew all this stuff, but not many of them live off the land as they once did and many of the young people don't seem to see the relevance in keeping that knowledge alive and passing it along.

But, there is/was a strong European Australian tradition of living off the land and even that is passing into irrelevance.

Dennis La Varenne

Dennis

There was a great book put out a few years ago called The SAS Survival Handbook which while not all on point carried some very comprehensive material on living in the scrub as opposed to surviving in it (the bowmaking section is debateably useful).

And when I find the little B who borrowed my copy and never gave it back......

This is some thing I am interested in .A knowledge of the land and how to be practical in it .
Threes a lot for me to learn here about this stuff .But an interest in it is there .
There is a lot of stuff I want to learn about s how to smoke meat and make jerky .
How to pick a good place to sleep camp .How to get drinkable water .
How to tell east from west .How to get a good sleep .How not to get lost in the Bush .
Lots of things .I suppose in matters a lot where you are hunting .
But this would be a great tool for hunting because it would give you more freedom .
And its all connected to hunting .Its nice to have a good cup of coffee in the middle of nowhere.
This sounds really interesting because I would like to go as light weight as possible without missing out or suffering .
I suppose the lighter the weight of stuff carrying the more knowledge .
This is interesting stuff.

have a number of books on bushcraft /survival ( was an instructor in army for a few years long time ago ) might find something for walkabout no promises as I need to rummage through a lot of stuff also have a few copies of newer books ( it never leaves you always looking for new info worse than archery ) cheers hugh

Okay, appears to be a lot of interest here with this subject, so as it doesnt really fit into any other sub forum, Ill see if Jeff cant whip something up in the next week or so.

Hey did this get anywhere? or am I too impatient :lol or blind and cant see its new local.

Ill sort it out tonight for approvals..

The boss approved the new sub forum! Enjoy!

www.nfb.ca posted on british blades link to national film board canada archives some bloody good bushcraft stuff there OK not for OZ but still good stuff just spent 5 hrs there was meant to be cutting grass and doing garden but the hail and rain has been dreadful

gundy wrote: Tarp (currently researching a better one than I have)

Get an army hootchie, purpose built for personal survival.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10lbs of strong flour
5 pack of dried yeast
1lb of baking powder
1 tin of instant custard powder
3lbs of dried milk
2lbs of rice
1litre of vegetable oil
1/2lb of salt
2lb of sugar
3lbs of tinned meat( minced beef,steak,corned beef,ham)
15lb of mixed fresh vegetables
100 teabags
1lb of coffee
1 box of dried milkshake powder
10lbs of fresh fruit
2lbs of dried fruit
four tins of beans/spaghetti
3lbs of dried pasta
3 tins of tomato puree
lots of biscuits/sweets chocolate
5ltr UHT milk
The above if applied per person should see you alright for a week and apart from the fresh fruit and veg( which can be replaced with tins) can be kept in a box and will stay useable for years.
The flour can be used to make bread and cakes or pastry.
The important thing is to only store what you eat,it's no good having loads of something you are not too keen on.
this was posted on british blades forum from a guy the question was what would you need to store so that you had enough for a week without leaving the house PER PERSON

Interesting thread...
I haven't thought about this stuff for many years. In the olden days, 70's and early 80's for me I spent a fair bit of time in the bush eating leaves and bugs and stuff. Being the member of a bush walking club and owning a camping store led me to meet many interesting people who survived on minimal gear. I remember one fellow who was deaf from birth and a great artist - impressionist painter - who was also a great bushman. He was so interesting, that I learnt a little sign language to communicate with him. A skill that I have lost since. Something to revisit --

This guy, - Peter Adams - was a natural bushman and able to survive on, in my experience, virtually nothing processed or packaged. He only carried what he needed and lived very well. He was fit and walked like a train. Only stopping to repack the fires and put water in the boiler.
I will try to remember some of the thing he, and others showed me and post them here to share.

Heres an important tip. When you go for a walk with a deaf person who can out walk you, carry small rocks in your pocket so that you can throw them at their back pack to get their attention. Peter lost me a couple of times and suggested this as a solution. funny I know but worked well on those uphill climbs.

Another one that was very useful was to make lists. On some of my early walks I would carry everything. One walk I turned up with an 80 liter pack full to bursting for an overnight walk. Being strong and a little green I thought nothing of carrying this load but realized very quickly that I needed to look at carrying essential gear and making do with what the bush had to offer where possible.

It was worth the process to see the smile on Peter's face when I turned up for a walk with only a small day pack.
One of the first things that determines your ability to reduce stuff is to work out what it is you need and what it is that you want. In terms of nutrition, look at the calories needed to sustain your weight and the fluid intake to keep you hyrated and use this for a basis for the food you carry. for the average male adult, check out this calculator http://www.menshealthsa.co.za/static/tools/cal.phpare required to sustain your current weight. So when you look at what goes in the pack take this into consideration.
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/thecode ... /index.cfm Check this out. You can use this to determine what you need to eat. Use fresh vegies and unprocessed foods in your recipes and give it a crack.
The reason I have put this in here is that to survive you first need to know how much stuff to eat to do that. Having said that. When I look around my house now , all I see is stuff everywhere. Instead of being surrounded by things I need, I am surrounded with things purchased because of some whim. I am probably the biggest culprit! This goes for food and things.
Although I am watching what I eat now and slowly picking up my game.

So I will be reading this thread and relearning some of these skills to get back to a more simple AND economical mindset.
So thanks Jeff for starting this, I for one, will be reading intently.

By the way I have one of these firesticks and they work perfectly. Never needed to carry matches during those early days.
I did carry a little shellite though as I found this the easiest way to start a fire in the cold and high altitude. Small luxury but worth the extra weight in the pack.

Hi all, Dunno if it's " bush craft " as I learned it in the field in UK...that might be splitting hares... ...but I was thinking about the trapping that i learned from my old man and I'd be happy to do a photo essay on how we used to make up snares...and how to set them...maybe if anyone would like to see it...give me chance to work out how to drive this bloody computer too...never posted a photo yet 'cos I can't ....don't mean I can't track and trap though...

mate its always nice to have someone elses ideas I tend not to snare now as the flaming sspca and peta have caused such a flippng uproar mostly traps cheers

Thanks Nimrod...I know what you mean re: peta and all...and to be fair snaring is a pretty slow death in some cases...though I've picked up bunnies that had hit the snare so hard they'd damn near broke it and many others that sat quite still with it not even cutting into their fur...I think in a survival situation snaring offers you the opportunity to harvest protein with much effort...anyway I'll knock up a few and get something to send soon...Ta muchly
Hellier.

Love the bushcraft side of things. As another poster said previously - Archery is another wonderful primitive skill we can learn that takes us back to an earlier, simpler time. Very pleased to see the sub forum here. Regards, Charlie.

Has any one ever had a snake problem whilst camping under the stars.
It always sticks in the back of my mind when sleeping in my swag.
My brother was sleeping outside next to a camp fire and in the morning had a lot of snake prints in the dirt around him.
I think he was very lucky.

I also just got my latest traditional bit of camping gear. A series three landrover troopy.
Cant wait to take it out. The poor hilux has sufferred enough, not a panel without scratches on it. Too good a car to keep trashing so the landy was the best bet.

TEX wrote:Has any one ever had a snake problem whilst camping under the stars.
It always sticks in the back of my mind when sleeping in my swag.
My brother was sleeping outside next to a camp fire and in the morning had a lot of snake prints in the dirt around him.
I think he was very lucky.

I also just got my latest traditional bit of camping gear. A series three landrover troopy.
Cant wait to take it out. The poor hilux has sufferred enough, not a panel without scratches on it. Too good a car to keep trashing so the landy was the best bet.

I love landrovers, I just don't trust them

I think about snakes a bit too, one of the reasons I prefer a tent or a hammock.
There is a survivor man episode in the outback. He puts a circle of nylon rope around the campfire and his "swag". He says he's been told snakes won't crawl across anything synthetic.

I gather the survivor man process is he flies into an area a week or so early and then spends time with local experts, so I'm assuming this snake rope advice must have come from someone local, perhaps with a good sense of humor.

dmm wrote:I love landrovers, I just don't trust them

Good point.

Jeff

Land rover unreliable? mine never stopped on me.. it groaned alot , very basic, rained inside, rough but never stopped... well apart from that one time I totally drowned it even then we dried it inthe sun and off she went again....

now range rover! totally different story... toorak toy. should come from the factory with tow point and tow strap.

stringnstik wrote:should come from the factory with tow point and tow strap.

Jeff

Surely the Holden engine makes it half reliable . I took one for a drive once with the view of purchasing and couldn't get past the low gearing, even with the Fairy overdrive it felt like I was wringing it's neck. But they would be a fun second vehicle.
Have seen plenty of snakes around already so it is going to be a bumper crop this year, Erin stepped a young Brown last week and was lucky it was docile and sun baking . Steve

Everyone commented on the Landrover comment, and nobody touched the thing about snakes not crawling over ropes.

This URL says it is an aboriginal myth. Surely the Americans don't know more about Australian myths than we do!

Oh, and on the Landrover thing, I always wanted on of those short wheel base defenders.

Lots of snake activity where I am just North of Rockhampton. Have seen coastal taipan, browns and lots of tree snakes. Watched a black headed python strike a frog too...... need to get a camera. So, yes a good season for snakes this year I think.

I wouldn't worry about snakes while you're sleeping, they won't hurt you if you're asleep.

Always check bedding, shoes etc if they have been unattended for any time. This is when they may crawl in to camp for warmth undetected.

"Wild Food Plants of Australia" by Tim Low is an extremely good book on, well...wild food plants of Australia.

Also something that has intrigued me for many years is the National Trail and what is invovled in walking it, camping on it, taking game on it.

Sound like a great thing to do for a week with a group of archers. Anyone know any details about the National Trail??

This is the best I could find on it, Troy. http://www.nationaltrail.com.au/

Thanks mate, you and Roadie put me in the right direction.

I'm gunna do some reading and research and see what comes of it. I wonder at the prospects of taking a rabbit etc along the way, I appreciate that much of the time you would be on private land or national park but there would be times when you are on common land such as ???? is it 30 feet from a river, I seem to recall something like that. I'd have to check.