A Murder of Crows! ©

  

A murder of crows, perching on an old building.  Spooky!  Photograph by the author.

For the sound of a carrion crow, corvus corone, click HERE, from “The call of a Carrion Crow recorded in a garden at Culver, near Exeter, Devon, England”, Wikimedia.

 

It is almost Halloween and the crows are flocking together for winter.  But what do you call three or more crows gathered together?

 

Why a murder of crows, of course!

 

“Hmmm...that is a rather unusual phrase for a flock of birds”, you might say, “why is it called that”?

 

That is a great question and since I didn’t know the answer, I did what I always do, and I did some research: here is what I found.

 

An excerpt from The Boke of Saint Albans, Dame Juliana Berners, 1486 as reprinted in 1901, page 114.

A murder of crows, or as it was spelled in the late 1400s and early 1500s, “a Morther of crowys”; is an old phrase that was used to describe a group of three or more crows¹.  This phrase first appeared in late medieval English books of venery², the earliest surviving examples of which were published in 1476 and 1486³.

 

Some sources say that this phrase fell out of use during the 1500s and did not reappear until the 20^th century.  In 1909 John Hodgkins, a member of the Folk Lore Society, wrote a 182 page explanation of the meaning of the various phrases, including “a Morther of Crowys”, which were found in The Book of Saint Albans and other manuscripts on venery: a murder of crows was back!

 

There are two schools of thought on why this particular phrase was used to describe a flock of crows.  The first is that crows, since they are scavengers, would have been associated with gallows, battlefields, murdered corpses and other scenes of violent death. 

 

And second, during the late medieval period in England and extending until the early 19^th century, when the statutes were repealed, it was the duty of every law abiding person who discovered a felony or had a crime committed upon them to raise the “Hue and cry”.  Anyone hearing this alarm was legally bound to join in and pursue and apprehend the offender.  Perhaps the late medieval writer who first coined the phrase “a Morther of crowys”, thought that the clamor that a raucous mob of crows makes, when they chase an owl or a hawk was similar to the “Hue and cry”?  Once upon a time, I saw a mob of really upset crows, in full cry, ganging up on an owl and it sure sounded as if they were screaming bloody murder! 

 

Personally, I think that both of the reasons are equally as likely and both probably played into the tongue-in-cheek description of a flock three or more crows, but in the end we will never really know.

 

One thing is certain though, those late medieval English woodsmen knew the difference between crows and ravens, and felt that it would be an unkindness to confuse a raven with a crow.  Maybe that is why a flock of three or more ravens is called “an unkindness of Ravens”!  In case you are confused on how to tell the difference between a crow, and a raven, read “And A Raven Came Calling…©”, HERE.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

“Carrion crows on a trash in Annecy on December 30th, 2011”, by PierreSelim, on Wikimedia, HERE.  

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ Three or more crows is a murder, and today people say that two crows together is an “attempted murder”.  The reason three crows is a murder and two are simply just two crows, could be because of an old English and Scottish border ballad called “The Three Ravens”, in which three ravens are discussing why they can’t have a fallen knight for breakfast.  This version of the ballad was first printed in 1611, but it is probably older than that.  A rather darker version of this ballad is the Scottish ballad called “Twa Corbies”, or Two Crows, in which the two crows are successful in making a meal of the fallen knight, this version probably dates from the 18^th century and was first printed in 1812.

 

From Scottish Country Dancing, “The Three Ravens: English Folk Ballad – Anonymous”

 

² Venery is an archaic word for hunting, particularly as practiced by the late medieval English nobility.

 

³ the Hors, the Shepe, & the Ghoos, was originally printed by Caxton, circa 1476, and it was reprinted by the Roxburgh Club in 1822.  The Boke of Saint Albans, which contains a section called “The Compaynys of beestys and fowles”, was originally published in 1486.

 

 

Sources

 

Berners, Dame Juliana; The Boke of Saint Albans, [Reprinted by Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London, 1901], page 114, https://archive.org/stream/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft#page/114/mode/2up, accessed October 16, 2020.

 

BirdSpot, “Why Is A Group Of Crows Called A Murder?”, [© 2020 BirdSpot], https://www.birdspot.co.uk/bird-brain/why-is-a-group-of-crows-called-a-murder, accessed October 18, 2020

 

The British Library Board, “The call of a Carrion Crow recorded in a garden at Culver, near Exeter, Devon, England”, April 2, 1961, Wikimedia, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Carrion_Crow_%28Corvus_corone%29_%28W1CDR0001425_BD18%29.ogg, accessed October 20, 2020

 

Grammarphobia; “A murder of crows”, January 18, 2008, [© 2020 Grammarphobia], https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/a-murder-of-crows-2.html, accessed October 18, 2020

 

Hodgkin, John; Proper Terms, Transactions of the Philological Society, 1907-1910, [Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co., Ltd., London, 1909], pages 46-47, https://books.google.com/books?id=I-gzAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA127&dq=%22morther+of+crowys%22+%22Transactions+of+the+Philological+Society%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigvPuhtb7sAhWrnOAKHcBSCocQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed October 18, 2020

 

PierreSelim, “Carrion crows on a trash in Annecy on December 30th, 2011”, December 30, 2011, Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annecy_-_Corvus_Corone_-_20111230_-_02.JPG, accessed October 20, 2020

 

Scottish Country Dancing; “The Three Ravens: English Folk Ballad – Anonymous”, https://www.scottish-country-dancing.com/three-ravens.html, accessed October 19, 2020

 

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Hue and cry”; February 23, 2012, [Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020], https://www.britannica.com/topic/hue-and-cry, accessed October 18, 2020

 

 

Piebald... Leucistic...Albino...Say What!? ©

 

“Piebald deer, odocoileus virginianus, walking in a herd, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons, HERE.

 

The other night I was driving with my Wife, on our way to drop off our Granddaughter, when suddenly a six-point buck jumped from the darkness and darted in front of the car.  Now that is a pretty common thing, especially this time of the year, and not something worth writing about.  What made it memorable though was that this buck had both a white belly and dots and splashes of white all over his brown sides!  He was piebald!  This is only the second piebald deer I have ever seen and that is what made that drive home worth writing about.

 

“But what exactly is piebald”, you might say, “and how rare is it”?  Those are good questions and while I knew one of the answers and could guess at the other, I decided to do what I always do and do some research.  And here is what I found.

 

“Piebald whitetailed deer, odocoileus virginianus, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons, HERE.

According to Jeannine Tardiff Fleegle, of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Deer & Elk Management Section, “There are only two conditions that cause a brown deer to be white”¹.  These two conditions are leucism or piebaldism, and albinism.  Piebaldism is a genetic condition which causes irregular patches of white to appear on an animal that is otherwise normal in its color and patterning.  Piebaldism is a recessive genetic condition and is characterized by a reduction of melanin and other skin pigmentation.  In whitetail deer, odocoileus virginianus, some piebald deer have white speckles or white splashes on their flanks, while others are almost or are totally white; in all cases, piebald animals will still have brown eyes, brown hooves and a brown nose.  Piebald animals are not albinos.  Albinism is also a recessive genetic condition, and results only in a reduction of melanin, this causes the albino animals to have a white coloration and pink eyes, a pink nose, and pinkish hooves.   

 

Additionally, according to Fleegle, along with the color changes there are physical conditions that can plague piebald deer; “they also typically have some other abnormality that may include dorsal bowing of the nose (Roman nose), short legs, curving of the spine, deviated limb joints (turned feet) and internal organ malformations”.  Fleegle continued by saying, "those with severe defects die at birth or shortly after”. 

 

An excerpt from Susan Miers Smith’s article from the Reading Eagle, “Piebald deer popping up in Berks, but what is the difference between them and albinos?”, found HERE

Just like albinism, piebaldism is a rare condition and sources suggest that it affects less than 1% or 2% of the whitetail deer population.²  And that is why you might go years without seeing a piebald deer, if you ever see one at all.

White deer, leucistic not albino, on the Seneca Army Depot Grounds, from Brian Adler, Wikimedia Commons, HERE.

So maybe you will get lucky and see that one deer out of a hundred that has splashes of white scattered about its sides, or maybe you will even see a completely white animal with black eyes!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ For an excellent article on the difference between albinism and leucism or piebald, see Susan Miers Smith’s article from the Reading Eagle, “Piebald deer popping up in Berks, but what is the difference between them and albinos?”

 

² From Susan Miers Smith’s article from the Reading Eagle, “Piebald deer popping up in Berks, but what is the difference between them and albinos?” and Rick Brockway’s article from The Daily Star,  “Outdoors: Piebald deer: a unusual phenomenon”.

 

Sources

 

 

Adler, Brian, Wikimedia Commons; “799px-Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1.JPG, accessed September 28, 2020

 

Brockway, Rick; “Outdoors: Piebald deer: a unusual phenomenon”, December 13, 2018; updated December 15, 2018; [Copyright 2020 The Daily Star], https://www.thedailystar.com/sports/local_sports/outdoors-piebald-deer-a-unusual-phenomenon/article_6d814446-4395-5a97-ba74-d5b71d4ac823.html, accessed September 28, 2020

 

Smith, Susan Miers; “Piebald deer popping up in Berks, but what is the difference between them and albinos?”, August 30, 2020, Reading Eagle, [Copyright 2020MediaNews Group, Inc.], https://www.readingeagle.com/living/piebald-deer-popping-up-in-berks-but-what-is-the-difference-between-them-and-albinos/article_6d1fc3e4-e616-11ea-9326-638f46939035.html, accessed September 28, 2020

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons; “800px-Piebald_white_tailed_deer_grazes_walking_in_a_herd_odocoileus_virginianus”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piebald_white_tailed_deer_grazes_walking_in_a_herd_odocoileus_virginianus.jpg, accessed September 28, 2020

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons; “800px-Piebald_whitetail_deer_animals_mammals_odocoileus_virginianus”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piebald_whitetail_deer_animals_mammals_odocoileus_virginianus.jpg, accessed September 28, 2020

 

 

 

Woodcraft 101: Putting Up A Tent ©

 

 

Photograph by the author.

This article complements the video “Woodcraft 101: Putting Up A Tent ©”, HERE, and teaches what you should look, for before picking your campsite.  As an aside if you are a Boy Scout this article and its associated video will help you complete, Tenderfoot rank, part 1b, sleep in a tent you have helped to pitch, Second Class rank, part 1a, sleep in a tent that you have pitched and Second Class rank, part 1c, explain what factors you should consider when picking a camp site and where to pitch a tent – Author’s note.

 

So first, what do you look for before you pick your campsite, obviously you need at least one tent-sized relatively level spot, but what else should you look for? 

 

Location, location, location…and the 5 W’s

 

Whenever you set up a campsite in the wilderness, you should always consider the 5 W’s, wind, water, widow-makers, wood, and wildlife, before you choose a location.

 

Wind

 

Wind can be your enemy or your friend, so always treat wind with respect and plan for it when you choose your campsite, because it can blow branches and trees down on top of you. 

 

On the other hand, wind can also blow mosquitos and other bugs away from your campsite. 

 

So, what type of winds are there besides storm winds? 

 

Prevailing winds worldwide, from “Essays on Long-Range Transport of Air Pollution and Its Health Outcomes”, by Moon Joon Kim, page 4

 Prevailing winds are, according to the Oxford dictionary, “a wind from the direction that is predominant at a particular place or season”.  It is always important when you travel or camp in the wilderness to know the usual wind direction, when canoeing it can help you stay in the calm water on the sheltered lee side of the shore or if you put your camp on the windward shore, it can help blow the bugs away from your camp.  It is important to remember that prevailing winds are not constant all day long, as Alan Innes-Taylor noted on page 53, when he wrote of prevailing winds in the Arctic Survival Guide: “Fair weather winds usually decrease at night”.  In Algonquin Provincial Park and much of northeast Canada and the United States, fair weather winds usually blow from the northwest to the southeast during the day. 

An excerpt from the Arctic Survival Guide, Alan Innes-Taylor, page 53

There are offshore, onshore and valley winds which are all generated by the daily warming and cooling of the land. 

 

An excerpt from Weather, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 9

During the day, the land warms faster than water and higher elevations warm faster than lower elevations, so...

 

During the day warmer air rises over the land pulling the cooler air over the water ashore in an onshore or sea breeze.  The warmer air above ridge tops and hills rises and pulls the cooler valley air upslope and up-valley

 

At night, the process reverses, and the land cools faster than the water, the rising warm air over the water pulls the cooler air over the land away from the shore as an offshore or land breeze.  At night, the air above mountain slopes and hills cools faster than the valley air and the warmer valley air rises and pulls the cooler hilltop air downslope and down-valley.

 

Onshore breezes seldom penetrate far inland, but they are usually stronger than offshore breezes. 

 

All of this is important, because you want to face your shelter so that the front is perpendicular to the general flow of the wind.  This will prevent bugs from being blown into your tent as your go in or out.

 

Water and Widow-makers

 

Speaking of wind, water and altitude, the second and third of the 5 W’s are water and widow-makers.  While you want to be near drinking water, setting up your shelter near that babbling brook is often a bad idea, as a storm far upstream can quickly turn that tame stream into a raging torrent and wash you away. 

 

Drawn by the author.

Also, you should look for a level area half between the summit of the hill and the valley bottom, as cold air at night collects in low spots and valleys and the summits of hills are also always cold.  It is often significantly warmer half-way up a hillside, between the crest of the hill and the valley bottom and far safer from flooding. 

 

A widow maker hanging in an oak tree, photograph by the author.

Always look up and around your planned campsite and make sure there a no dead trees, snags or widow-makers stuck in the branches above you, just waiting for the right wind to come crashing down on you. 

 

And lastly, don’t shelter under the tallest tree in the forest, it is a lightning rod!  If possible, shelter in a grove of equal sized trees.  Also avoid hill-tops and exposed cliff faces which can also attract lightening, so don’t shelter at the base of the tallest cliff in the area or on the top of the hill.

 

Wildlife

 

The fourth of the 5 W’s is wildlife, be careful of setting up your shelter on game trails, or near swampy areas that breed mosquitos.

 

Wood

 

An excerpt from “How Not To Get Lost”, by Charles Elliott, describing how mush fire wood you will need

The last of the 5 W’s is wood, the area that you choose for your campsite should have plenty of firewood, if you plan on having a campfire.

 

So now that we know what to look for in a campsite, let’s set up that tent, but before you do that, put up you tarp (for more on putting up a tarp, watch “Why Should You Put Your Tarp Up First ©“, HERE).

 

A tarp on an island in Maple Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park, 2017; photograph by the author.

The reason why you always put up your tarp first, is because if you are caught by a sudden storm, you will have a place to find shelter.  Also, if worst comes to worst, you can set up your tent under the tarp before moving it to its final location before staking it down over the footprint.

 

Always put a plastic footprint or ground cloth down between the tent and the ground, the footprint protects the bottom of the tent from abrasion.  Also, tuck any extra plastic footprint under the sides of the tent, so that rain or condensation doesn’t gather and pool on the plastic beneath the tent floor.  Also, always remember to take the time to stake out the sides of the tent fly so that condensation can run down to the ground and not soak your tent and you while you sleep

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

 

Sources

 

Boy Scouts of America; Weather, [Boy Scouts Of America, Irving, TX; 1992], page 9

 

Innes-Taylor, Alan; Arctic Survival Guide, [Scandinavian Airline Systems, Stockholm, Sweden, 1964], page 53

 

Kim, Moon Joon; “Essays on Long-Range Transport of Air Pollution and Its Health Outcomes”, [Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2017], p. 4, https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.20/34686/etd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y, accessed 9/28/19

 

United States Department of Agriculture, Outdoors USA: 1967 Yearbook of Agriculture, [United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1967], p 87-89, https://archive.org/details/yoa1967/page/n3, accessed 11/02/2019

 

 

Woodcraft 101: Putting Up A Tent

Test Your Survival Knowledge, Part Three ©

 

Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”, by Melinda Allan, from The Register-Guard, February 18, 1987, Eugene, Oregon, page 5D, the article can be found HERE

 

To read “Test Your Survival Knowledge, Part One” go HERE, and to read “Test Your Survival Knowledge, Part Two” go HERE – Author’s note

 

I bet you couldn’t wait for the last of the answers to the questions posed to us by Melinda Allan, in her article “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”?  I know I couldn’t, so let’s dive into the answers to questions five and six!

 

Question five from “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”, by Melinda Allan, The Register-Guard, February 18, 1987, Eugene, Oregon, page 5D

In this question Ms. Allan is asking how long you would survive “Waterchill”, which is the increased cooling that you will experience if you are immersed in water or a wearing wet clothes: your rate of cooling, when wet, can be many times faster than that of when you are dry.  The answer to this question, according Melinda Allan, is “B”. 

 

Answer five from “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”, by Melinda Allan, The Register-Guard, February 18, 1987, Eugene, Oregon, page 5D

 

To answer this question, I consulted the book Wilderness Survival, which if you are interested in survival and outdoors topics, is a must read and here is what it had to say on the subject¹.

 

An excerpt from Wilderness Survival, Ministry of Forest, British Columbia, pages 47-48

 

Your survival time depends on the temperature of the water and the graph predicts that your survival time will be less than six hours, any time the water is less than 60^oF (15^oC), however your survival time is increased by extra body fat and is decreased by small body size.

 

An excerpt from Wilderness Survival, Ministry of Forest, British Columbia, pages 51

An excerpt from Wilderness Survival, Ministry of Forest, British Columbia, pages 50

 

Also, you can increase your predicted survival time by up to 50% by using either of these two techniques: H.E.L.P., or the Heat Escape Lessening Posture; or by huddling.  These two techniques work because they reduce the heat lost from the critical areas of the sides of your chest, where there is little muscle or fat to act as insulation, your groin and neck, both of which lose can lose heat quickly due to the large blood vessels which are close to the surface there.

 

Question six from “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”, by Melinda Allan, The Register-Guard, February 18, 1987, Eugene, Oregon, page 5D

Photograph by the author.

 

In this question the author is asking you what to do when someone you are with has become hypothermic, but to answer that question, which according Ms. Allan, is “D”, you must know what hypothermia is, what the stages are and how to diagnose what stage the person is in.

  

Answer six from “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam”, by Melinda Allan, The Register-Guard, February 18, 1987, Eugene, Oregon, page 5D

Hypothermia is a condition where your body’s core temperature decreases, and when this begins you need to watch for what Matt Heid, the author of “Warning Signs of Hypothermia: Know Your “Umbles”, calls the “umbles”; the fumbles, stumbles, mumbles and grumbles. 

 

Mild hypothermia, which is when your core body temperature drops below 98.6^oF and begins to drift down to 95^o F (37^oC descending to 35^oC).  The symptoms of mild hypothermia are intense, but controllable shivering, cold and numb hands, or as Matt Heid says, “the fumbles”. 

 

Moderate hypothermia is when your core body temperature falls below 95^oF and descends towards 90^oF (35^oC to 32^oC) and its symptoms are uncontrollable shivering, confusion and movements that become slow and labored, or what Matt Heid calls, “the stumbles, mumbles and grumbles”.

 

Severe hypothermia begins when the person’s core body temperature drops below 90^oF (32^oC).  At this point the person becomes confused, their muscles become rigid, and walking becomes impossible, their heart and respiration rate both decreases, and they may become unconscious.  If the person’s core body temperature continues to decrease, they will go into cardiac arrest and likely die.

 

In the past, the best practice for treating moderate to severe hypothermia was to put the hypothermic person inside a sleeping bag and warm them up with direct skin-to-skin contact.  However, according to author Rick Curtis, in “Hypothermia: Field Assessment and Treatment”, as reprinted from The Backpacker's Field Manual, the current best practice for treating moderate to severe hypothermia is as follows:

 

“Make sure the patient is dry and has a wicking inner layer next to the skin to minimize sweating.  Use a plastic garbage bag as a diaper to prevent urine from soaking the insulation layers.  The person must be protected from any moisture in the environment. Use multiple sleeping bags, blankets, clothing, foam pads, etc. to create a minimum of 4 inches (10 centimeters) of insulation all the way around the patient, especially between the patient and the ground.  Use foam pads to insulate the person from the ground.  Include an aluminum space blanket to help prevent radiant heat loss if you have one.  Wrap the entire ensemble in something waterproof like a tarp or tent rainfly to protect from wind and water.  Your patient will look like she is in a giant burrito with only her face exposed.”^2.

 

Additionally, Rick Curtis, says that even though the hypothermic person’s stomach has shut down and therefore will not be able to digest solid food, like a PowerBar®, it can still absorb dilute sugars and water, and this will give the person the energy necessary to rewarm themselves.  Give the person a diluted mix of warm water and sugar or Jello® every fifteen minutes, if they are conscious and able to swallow.  Do not give the person alcohol, because it is a vasodilator and will increase heat loss, or drinks containing caffeine, which is vasoconstrictor, that will increase the chances of peripheral frostbite.

 

The best field test to assess if someone is hypothermic, is to have the person walk 30 feet in a straight line, if they are unable to walk that distance without weaving or stumbling, then they might be hypothermic.  Per Rick Curtis, in “Hypothermia: Field Assessment and Treatment”, another way to assess if someone is hypothermic is to ask them a question that requires higher thinking, such as counting backwards from 100 by 9: if they are hypothermic, they won’t be able to do it³.  

 

This is the end of the answers to the questions that Melinda Allan asked us, in her article “Test your survival knowledge with a simple exam” and I hope that enjoyed this survival quiz as much as I did and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

 

Notes

 

¹

 

The Ministry of Forest, British Columbia’s book Wilderness Survival, is a 151 page book which was first published in 1976 and was originally given out free “With the Compliments of the Ministry Of Recreation And Conservation, Recreation And Fitness Branch, Outdoor Recreation Division”, today you can find one on sale by googling "wilderness survival british columbia used book”, with the prices in U.S. dollars, varying from as little as $3.51 to as much $145.00!

 

This excellent book has chapters on “Survival Psychology”, “So You Are Lost” and “Building A Shelter”, to name a few.

 

² Rick Curtis, “Hypothermia: Field Assessment and Treatment”

 

³ Ibid.

 

 

Sources

 

Curtis, Rick; “Hypothermia: Field Assessment and Treatment”, reprinted from The Backpacker's Field Manual [© 2015 Outdoor Ed LLC], https://www.outdoored.com/articles/hypothermia-field-assessment-and-treatment, accessed September 18, 2020

 

Heid, Matt, “Warning Signs of Hypothermia: Know Your “Umbles”, February 11, 2014, AMC Outdoors, [© 2020 Appalachian Mountain Club], http://www.outdoors.org/articles/amc-outdoors/warning-signs-of-hypothermia-know-your/, accessed December 7, 2017

 

Ministry of Forest, British Columbia; Wilderness Survival, Third Edition, [Province of British Columbia, Victoria, B.C.; Third Edition, March 1978], p 45-51