The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number Ten©

 

 

This is the tenth in a series of eleven articles on the top ten wilderness survival skills, things you should know before you go into the wilderness.  To read the previous article go HERE – Author’s Note

 

The Number Ten, Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skill: Having a Map and Compass and Knowing How to Use Them

 

The number ten, top ten wilderness survival skill on my list is,
having a map and compass and knowing how to use them.  

 

If you don’t have a map and compass, or you don’t know how to use them, when you are travelling in the wilderness, then you are already in a survival situation -- you are just waiting for a time and place for it to happen.  And it will happen!

 

You don’t have a built-in sense of direction!

 

Colonel Meir’s sense of direction was wrong, Thom was right, and the compass wasn’t the problem.  From The Hesperian, 1839, by John Gallagher.

First off, let’s be clear, you don’t have a built-in sense of direction or a sixth sense that will allow you to navigate un-aided through the wilderness!  Often, people who believe that they have one of these, point to famous hunters and Native Americans of the past, who were apparently able to travel long distances through the wilderness without a compass and still reach their destination, to prove that they can too.  The people that they point to were experienced woodsmen, who were consciously or unconsciously navigating by using nature’s clues, like the location of the Sun, the stars, or the Moon.  And let’s face it, none of us moderns are as wood-wise as Daniel Boone or a Native American hunter of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries was.  And besides, even Daniel Boone when he was eighty-four, admitted to painter Chester Harding that "I have never been lost, but I was once bewildered for three days"¹. 

 

The “Unfinished Portrait of Daniel Boone”, by Chester Harding, the only portrait of Daniel Boone, painted from life, in June 1820, from Wikimedia, HERE.

So, do you have a map and a compass?

 

Maps and compasses, photograph by the Author.

Whenever you are out in the wilderness, you should always have a compass and a map of the area that you are going to be traveling through, and when it comes to compasses, two are better than one!

 

Emerson Hough’s wrote in his 1915 book, Out Of Doors, you should always have two compasses, not only because you have a spare if one is lost or broken, but more importantly because often when person is “misplaced” they panic.  And when a panicky, misplaced person begins to bend their mental map to fit their preconceived notion of where they think they are, they might not believe one compass if it doesn’t agree with their built-in sense of direction, thinking instead that the compass is broken.  However, while they may believe that one of their compasses is broken, likely they won’t believe that TWO compasses are both broken, especially when they both point in the same way. 

 

It is a good idea to always have a spare compass.  Excerpt from Out of Doors, by Emerson Hough, page 278 to 279.

A compass and map are like peanut butter and jelly, you can have one without the other, but they just aren’t just the same alone.  Make sure you always have both with you whenever you go out into the woods, even if it just for a day hike in an area that you know well.  Once, in an area that I know like the back of my hand and have visited often for the last 40 years, I had to break out my map and compass to help someone else navigate their way back to the trailhead!

 

Now, a map is simply a drawing of the actual wilderness that you are travelling through and shows more or less detail, depending on the scale that the map is drawn to (for more on map scales read “Map Scales...Say What! ©”, HERE).  And before you venture out into the wilderness, and every morning before you begin your travels, you should study your map and fix the location of prominent landmarks in your mind, creating a mental map in your head, so that you can successfully navigate through the wilderness that the map is picturing.  Also, sometimes it is helpful to print out and use Google Maps’ satellite photos to get an eagle’s eye view on the area that you are going to be travelling in (for more on this read “Being Bewildered and Bending the Map ©, HERE).

 

You need to have a map!  Excerpt from Out of Doors, by Emerson Hough, page 279.

Remember a compass just points north, it is not a magic device that will bring you home and a map is not a magical scroll that you simply take out and wave and it will show you your way to your destination.  You must learn how to use both of them!

 

How do I learn to use a compass and map?

 

Some books on how to use a map and compass, photograph by the Author.

There are a lot of great books out there on how to use a compass and a map.  My two favorites are, Better Ways Of Pathfinding by Robert S. Owendoff, and Staying Found by June Fleming, both are clear and easy to read, with helpful illustrations, although they are older books, and you will have to find them in a library or a used bookstore.  Whichever book or books you pick, read them, study them and then, and this is the only way of getting really good at any skill, practice, practice, practice! 

 

My two favorite books on how to use a compass and a map, photograph by the Author.

Another way of practicing your skills is to join an orienteering club near you and get out in the field.  No matter what though, you should learn and practice how to navigate around obstacles and how to fix your location on your map, compared to the landmarks that your see around you.

 

Things you should know how to do with a compass, an excerpt from “How to use a compass II”, in Field & Stream, April 1973, page 188-191 & 195, by Steve Netherby, HERE; part one is HERE.

And remember you don’t have a built-in sense of direction, but your compass does, so trust it!

 

Always trust your compass, it has a built-in sense of direction, you don’t!  An excerpt from “How to use a compass II”, in Field & Stream, April 1973, page 188-191 & 195, by Steve Netherby.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Naismith’s Rule ©”, where we will talk about estimating time and distance when travelling in the wilderness.

 

Rough winter terrain, how long will it take you to walk a mile?  Photograph by Kathleen Reynolds, used with permission.

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 Margaret E. White, Editor, A Sketch of Chester Harding, Artist Drawn By His Own Hand, page 47 to 48.

 

 

Sources

 

Gallagher, John; The Hesperian, Vol. III, July 1839, published by John D. Nichols, Cincinnati, OH, 1839, page 114,

https://books.google.com/books?id=vucXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA114&dq=%22dam+compass%22+indian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ICqdVa_GL8GaNrT3gOAJ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22dam%20compass%22%20indian&f=false, accessed February 3, 2017

 

Hough, Emerson; Out Of Doors, (D. Appleton and Company, New York, New York [1915]) p. 269 - 282, reprinted in https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QadnZNQ1xrsbkS3T4VJlC_uZQ8t4yj2UNH5POGbNio-1SDyFM8TAqUfl7ciDY5CuNZxvnnE0Pcxf1j6Thu_zOs5kz8rgR9MOtsbTxVgRVa3bwaKo0-D5YX2T4JaBO_z6G8vgwFNgLiJ9XCfBVnn9K4qR7ZFa0faNe3zmvfWDfmEo049sqXQlw697XIHDWNblRJj9niiabZoBB7aQHl82tf4y03cpU2hMdLVADF-7P2pvJKsZbLDnJN8ncLZ9IftMudapmn8E, accessed November 8, 2018.

 

Netherby, Steve; “How to use a compass”, Field & Stream, March 1973, page 180-182 & 220, https://books.google.com/books?id=IGTXx0TNr_cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed February 19, 2022

 

Netherby, Steve; “How to use a compass II”, Field & Stream, April 1973, page 188-191 & 195, https://books.google.com/books?id=e6tsV53NNgAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed February 19, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Unfinished Portrait of Daniel Boone”, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Unfinished_portrait_of_Daniel_Boone_by_Chester_Harding_1820.jpg, accessed September 21, 2018.

 

White, Margaret E., Editor; A Sketch of Chester Harding, Artist Drawn By His Own Hand, (Houghton, Mifflin and Company, New York [1890]) p 47-48, https://books.google.com/books?id=zgROAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22he+had+a+very+large+progeny%22+%22chester+harding%22&source=bl&ots=I9y_v-yRI2&sig=qxwqKUR9y42naWBjhoArGJi2P5U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4goGi7czdAhXEnOAKHWvECaoQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22he%20had%20a%20very%20large%20progeny%22%20%22chester%20harding%22&f=false, accessed September 21, 2018

Skinning a Leather Couch...Say What!?©

 

 

Urban leather, roadside reclamation, garbage picking, scavenging, call it what you like, but leather is leather!  Photograph by the Author.

For a video on this, watch “Skinning a Leather Couch”, HERE – Author’s Note

 

Have you ever skinned a couch?  No?  Well, I have. 

 

“But why would you skin a leather couch”, you ask?

 

Well first off, I hate waste and if is being thrown out, then repurposing the leather from a couch, instead of leaving it to be landfilled, strikes me as a good idea.  Also, there is a lot of leather on a leather couch, and I use a lot of leather when I’m working on various projects.  About ten years ago, when I skinned my first couch, I did it because I needed some leather, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money to buy it.  And let’s face it, there is a lot of leather on a leather couch!

 

How to skin a couch?

 

Before you get started here are some important housekeeping and safety tips.  First, whenever possible, before you start, ask the landowner’s permission.  And never, ever leave a mess for the landowner or the garbage-persons to have to pick up.  Always pick up everything that you aren’t taking with you and put it back onto the frame of the couch or in a garbage bag next to it.  And last, you are going to be working with a sharp knife, so be careful! 

 

One of my skinning knives.  This knife was made by my father, photograph by the Author.

A skinning knife must be sharp, and it should keep a sharp edge.  Now all knives need to be sharpened, either after or during use, depending on what you are cutting, but you don’t want to have to stop cutting too often to re-sharpen it.  And personally, I favor smaller bladed knives when skinning because I find them handier to use.

 

Photograph by the Author.

When you start skinning the leather off a couch, start at edges and along the seams.  The best leather on a couch can be found on the back and sides, because they are large flat surfaces and will usually have the least amount of wear.  So, start by skinning this part of the couch, first.

 

The seats cushions are also large flat pieces of leather, although often they have the most wear, but you can still usually use the leather.  If your project calls for aged or distressed leather, the seat cushions are the part of the couch for you.  Also, many times to skin a seat cushion, often you simply have to unzip the seat covers and slide out the foam. 

 

That’s a lot of leather, photograph by the Author.

So next time you see a leather couch, tossed out alongside the road, waiting for garbage day, pullover and pick up some urban leather!

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number Ten©”, where we will talk about compasses, maps, and the importance of knowing how to use them.

 

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!

 

Skinning a Leather Couch

Clue -- The Woodland Edition©

 

Parker Brothers CLUE Board Game, circa 1972

 

Do you remember playing Clue?  I haven’t played that game for years, even though it was a favorite of mine as a kid.  But I was out in the woods the other day, and I thought I would play a game of Clue -- The Woodland Edition.  How about you, would you like to play too?

 

The crime scene and the body of poor Professor Squirrel, photograph by the Author.

While I was out walking the other day, I found the remains of poor Professor Squirrel, who had been brutally murdered, and worse, he’d been almost completely devoured!

 

Professor Squirrel, on a better day, from Wikimedia, HERE.

So, who do you think killed Professor Squirrel, in the woods, near the creek?  Was it Dr. Owl and the owl gang, Mrs. Red T. Hawk, or that ruthless gangland enforcer, The Coyote?

 

The gallery of suspects, Dr. Owl, Mrs. Red T. Hawk and The Coyote!  Photographs from Wikimedia¹

The Clues...

 

So, what does the crime scene tell us?  What clues did the killer leave that will allow us to pin the blame squarely on him or her?

 

Tracks in the snow...

 

First off, there are no dog-like tracks anywhere near Professor Squirrel’s corpse.  If it had been The Coyote who had killed and eaten his old enemy, then there would have been coyote tracks around the corpse, so we know it couldn’t have been The Coyote.  He is off the hook...this time!

 

This time it isn’t The Coyote!  “An eastern coyote in a Connecticut forest”, from Wikimedia, HERE.

Hmmm... so, let’s take a closer look at the crime scene, what other clues are there and what do they tell us

 

Feather marks and the body of poor Professor Squirrel, with wing marks on the left and tail marks on the right.  Photograph by the Author.

 

An excerpt from A Guide to Nature in Winter, by Donald Stokes.

While there aren’t any paw or footprints of any sort, near the unfortunate and recently deceased Professor Squirrel, there are wing prints!  Just as we thought, the guilty culprit must be either Doctor Owl or Mrs. Hawk, but which one is it?  Are there any clues which can help us decide which one of them is the guilty culprit?  Yes, yes there are!

 

The freshness of the crime scene and the time of day...

 

A zoomed in view of the feather marks and the Professor’s eye, photograph by the Author.

I came upon the crime scene at about 5:00 p.m., on the 30^th of January², it was just before dusk, on a cold day which had reached a high of 21^o F (-6^o C), a day that had been beautifully sunny, with no snow or any wind to speak of.  The feather marks were still crisp and fresh, which means that they hadn’t been there very long, because if they had been, the Sun would have blurred and enlarged the marks.  Also, Professor Squirrel’s open left eye wasn’t filmed over or sunken in, and there wasn’t any frost on his cornea, this is another clue that the crime scene was fresh. 

 

So, we know that Professor Squirrel must have been killed during the afternoon.  Now owls and hawks both will eat squirrels, who are most active during the day, although they can be found at both the dusk and dawn.  But owls are crepuscular and nocturnal, meaning that they are most active at dusk, dawn and the nighttime hours, and hawks, just like squirrels, are diurnal, meaning that they are most active during the daylight hours.

 

So, it appears that Dr. Owl and the rest of the owl gang are innocent, at least of this crime!

 

It’s not Dr Owl and the rest of the owl gang!  From Wikimedia, “Barred Owl hunting in winter”, HERE.

Wingspan...

 

Red-tailed hawks are common birds of prey where I live, and I see them often along the creek where I found the remains of Professor Squirrel.  That is why I at once guessed that it was Mrs. Hawk who did the deed.  And there is one more clue that can help us prove that it was Mrs. Red T. Hawk, who did in the unfortunate Professor Squirrel.  Wingspan!

 

“But how can you tell the wingspan of a bird from a snow-covered crime scene”, you ask?  Good question!  By scaling the photograph!

 

Photograph by the Author.

To scale a picture, you must measure a couple of things and then use some math to compare them.  In this case, I measured the length of Professor Squirrel’s tail in my crime scene photo, at 40% magnification, and came up with a length of 3-1/2 inches (8.75 cm).  Then I compared this with the distance from the Professor Squirrel’s body to the edge of the feather marks, which at 40% magnification, was 10 inches (25 cm).

 

Also, you need know the average length of a squirrel’s tail which is 8-10 inches (20 to 25 cm) long³.  After that, taking the ratio of the length of the Professor Squirrel’s tail in the picture, to the average length of a squirrel’s tail, which is 9 inches (23 cm) long, and comparing it to the distance of the feather marks in the picture, 10 inches (25 cm), gives us a length of 25.7 inches (65.3 cm).  Then to get the total length of the wingspan we multiply this distance by two, getting a total wingspan of 51.4 inches (130.5 cm).  This length is within the average wingspan of a red-tail hawk which is 44.9 to 52.4 inches (114 to133 cm).

 

The math for scaling the photograph and figuring out the wingspan, graphic by the Author.

So, now we know that the murderer of Professor Squirrel was none other Mrs. Red T. Hawk!

 

The guilty culprit, Mrs. Red T. Hawk.  From Wikimedia, by Don Green, HERE.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Skinning a Couch...Say What?! ©”, where we will talk about skinning a couch and finding urban leather.

 

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 From Wikimedia, “Barred Owl hunting in winter”, HERE; “A Red-tailed Hawk at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Pennsylvania, USA”, HERE; and “An eastern coyote in a Connecticut forest”, HERE.

 

² There had been no snow all day long, the winds had been light, and it had been mostly sunny.

 

From Timeanddate, “Past Weather in Buffalo, New York, USA — January 2022

 

³ “Mammals of the Adirondacks: Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)”, by Wild Adirondacks

 

Sources

 

April; “Do Owls Eat Squirrels?”, [© 2022 Exploration Squared], https://explorationsquared.com/do-owls-eat-squirrels/#Do_Owls_Attack_Squirrels, accessed February 5, 2022

 

Stokes, Donald W.; A Guide to Nature in Winter: Northeast and North Central North America, [Little Brown & Company, New York, New York, 1976] p. 271-296

 

Timeanddate, “Past Weather in Buffalo, New York, USA — January 2022”, [© Time and Date AS 1995–2022], https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/buffalo/historic?month=1&year=2022, accessed February 5, 2022

 

Wild Adirondacks; “Mammals of the Adirondacks: Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)”, [© 2022 Wild Adirondacks], https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-mammals-gray-squirrel-sciurus-carolinensis.html#:~:text=Gray%20Squirrels%20are%20medium%2Dsized,between%201%20and%201%C2%BD%20pounds, accessed February 5, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “A Red-tailed Hawk at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Pennsylvania, USA”, by Mark Bohn of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region, August 13, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buteo_jamaicensis_-John_Heinz_National_Wildlife_Refuge_at_Tinicum,_Pennsylvania,_USA-8.jpg, February 5, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “An eastern coyote in a Connecticut forest”, by John Stockla, October 21, 2021, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Coyote_in_Connecticut.jpg, accessed February 5, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Barred Owl hunting in winter”, by David Hemmings, December 11, 2009

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barred_2010_3_web.jpg, accessed February 5, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA”, October 21, 2012, by Diego Delso, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Ardilla_gris_oriental_%28Sciurus_carolinensis%29%2C_Grant_Park%2C_Chicago%2C_Illinois%2C_Estados_Unidos%2C_2012-10-20%2C_DD_08.jpg, accessed February 12, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Red-tail hawk”, by Don Green, February 8, 2021, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red-tail_hawk_(50943692853).jpg, accessed February 5, 2022