Winter bushcraft course pic heavy

[jacko1066]

Hi guys,
I thought I would share a few pictures of a winter bushcraft course I went on last weekend with wildwood bushcraft.

I have never been on a course before, and as I'm off to Estonia in march I thought the topic if the course would work brilliantly for what I may encounter over there.

With the instructor Leon Durban, everything that was covered brilliantly and we were given loads of time to complete each task and also alot of 1 to 1 instruction if we struggled, which to be fair I did a Lot lol.

Excuse the quality I did the pics on my iPhone as iv not got a camera at the mo, I'm also not a great story teller so I will give a brief explanation of each picture.

We met up about a mile away from the actual wood we would be staying in, I arrived at 6.30 for a 7pm meet.
There were 8 of us on the course, 7 men and a very nice young lady, who's partner was also on the course.

By the time we all got set up and I figured out my new hammock and tarp time was getting on so Leon kit the fire, some of the guys had some food I just had a nice warming hot chocolate, we the did the usual introductions and Leon went over what we were going to do on the course.

After a general chit chat we all turned in looking forward to the Saturday morning and getting our hands dirty.

Saturday morning after an eventful night in the hammock with temps elbow freezing, som snow fall and rain I slept well although my feet did get a bit cold, we started straight away on some wet weather fire lighting, collecting wood, splitting it down, and Leon gave a very good demo on making fetcher sticks.

Basic I no but I got a few good tips on how to make nice long curls to allow them to be kit with a fire steel

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He then showed us how to use the fire sticks and how to light the feather sticks with the firesteel and then putting on dry small sticks etc

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After breakfast Leon started to talk to us about trapping techniques and showed us a few easily made traps that e had prepared, obviously they were taken back down as he didnt want to trap any live animals on the course it was for demonstration purposes only.

Rabbit snare

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Figure 4

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Pressure pad trap

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[jacko1066]

After the trapping demo we went for a nice walk where we looked at all the native trees in that particular wood in Sussex.

Razor strop fungus on a fallen birch tree

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Leon then showed us the badger set that is in his wood and the various latrines they dig to mark there territory

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This is the natural spring that Leon dug which gave us out drinking water.
It was great experience collecting the water, filtering it through a milk bank bag and then boiling it to remove the nastys

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[f0rm4t]

Sounds and looks like you had a great time. I'd love to have a some professional trapping instruction.

Thanks for sharing!
T^

[jacko1066]

After lunch we were them tasked to build our own survival shelter from debris that were in the woods and then insulating it with leaf litter

My attempt

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Before we started Leon urged us to stay in our built shelters using a long log fire and no sleeping bag to experience what it was like.

I was trying my new hammock tarp and under blanket Santa bought me for the first time and wanted to see what it was like in different weather so I declined.

These guys did stay in there shelter, I finished mine fairly quickly so helped them finish off

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They lasted till 2am with a fire in te middle of them before the rain got the better of them. Great effort.

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[f0rm4t]

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This one freaked me out when I first saw it. It took me a few seconds to figure out the picture! HA!
T^

[jacko1066]

After the shelter building exercise and loads of brews we then set about cooking tea Saturday night.

The plan was for us to prepare some trout, gut it and cook it over the open fire.

Unfortunately the fish monger gutted these fish which Leon was to impressed with as he specifically asked for them no to be.

We built up the fire so it was nice and hot

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Leon then went about discussing with how to gut a fish and prepare a stick for it to go on remove the liver, washin the fish out and then outing it by the fire

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Whilst we were eating he was giving us a mini lecture on different things he has done over his bushcraft career and people he had learned skills from.

Leon is a qualified and experienced wildlife biologist with a BSc (hons) in Ecology and a PhD based on otter research in Scotland. He has over 13 years field experience, studying badgers, foxes, grouse, otters, loggerhead turtles (Greece), kodkod cats (Chile), and Asiatic wild dogs (India).

After a busy day I turned in at around 9pm to watch a film on my iPod and chill out in my hammock.

[jacko1066]

After getting up around 8am in Sunday and doing done personal admin it was time to get the fire going again.

Saturday night brought some interesting weather to say the least, very strong winds and driving rain so everything was soaked.

This made lighting a fire a real challenge and one that I can reasonably expect out in Estonia.

After making a shed load of fire sticks and peeling a load of birch bark we eventually got going with a fire steel.

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During breakfast we discussed about cold injurys and hypothermia and related cold issues along with clothing and insulation options.

After we had all cleaned up and made brew Leon gave us a demonstration on knife sharpening.

Here is the young lady using a water stone for the very first time

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Our next task was fire by friction.
Leon gave us each a now drill set and showed us all how to use it

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I didnt fair to well at this, I got several embers going but with the dampness if everything, and an injury to my thumb ( never actually manger to cut myself on paracord before lol) I didn't get to blow it into a flame. Very disappointed!!

[jacko1066]

After lunch it was then down to the last part of the course and that was to do some carving.

Iv never really done a lot of carving before and to be shown some small tips and hints to make life easier it really was an excellent demonstration.

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I got quite a good way into making a spoon but really ran out of time to finish it

And that really finished off a great weekend.

We all got a nice little certificate to say we had attended the course and said out final good byes.

My biggest regret was not getting a group photo as a reminder.

Leon is a great teacher, very relaxed and very very patient.

I actually suprised myself that quite alot that he spoke about I did have some knowledge of, but that doesn't come close to the amount i learnt.

All in all a top weekend and finances permitted I will certainly be returning for another course with wildwood bushcraft.

Here is a link to his website

http://www.wildwoodbushcraft.com/

Absolutely no affiliation to the company other than an extremely satisfied customer.

Thanks for looking

All the best
Steve

[wildish64]

laid in bed watching a movie? sounds like home from home

sounds like you had a good time and it was a good course.

thanks for sharing

[jacko1066]

laid in bed watching a movie? sounds like home from home

sounds like you had a good time and it was a good course.

thanks for sharing

Thanks, it was a brill weekend!!
I watched the Grey with Liam Neeson, great film too lol

[OakAshandThorn]

Wow - what an excellent course and wonderful time you guys had :). T^
Lovely photos ;).

Oh gosh....spring water is absolutely delicious :D. There are a few springs (I know of 3) nearby in the woodland across the street, and I'll tell 'ya, nothing beats drinking the cool liquid on a hot, humid day. With me though, I don't have to filter/purify it.
Ah yes, leaf litter - I've been startled when the occasional wolf spider emerges from the leaves when you're scooping the stuff up. Not that I have arachnophobia, but most people don't expect an eight-legged creature the size of your palm to appear out of nowhere. ;)

[Thumbcrusher]

Looks great! Thanks for sharing mate!

[BJ]

very interesting report and photographs on the course, thanks for sharing.T^

[Ehecatl]

Thanks Jacko for such a detailed and interesting report I really enjoyed it. I often wonder if these courses are any good so it's great to read such a comprehensive review.

Thanks,

M@

T^

[Tigger004]

looks like it was a good course and memories last forever