Waiting by the Woodland Ways standard in Oxfordshire, the air was still, peaceful, and atmospheric. Adam, one of the day’s instructors, brought me through the lone gate and away from any sign of civilisation – into the unknown.
There were six of us in the group alongside the two instructors for the day. We were each issued a Bushcraft Knife which we were all taught how to use safely, referencing the ‘danger triangle’ in the centre of your body. This highlights your vulnerable areas, if you are slicing towards you or if you are holding the knife incorrectly. You work outside of your body for this reason.
When my survival companion arrived I couldn’t keep my inner Crocodile Dundee to myself and muttered, ‘ That’s not a knife…this is a knife’. It was too late, he was stuck in the forest with me now…
We would be covering the four key areas of survival: shelter, food, water, and fire. Out in the wilderness there is a general rule of three, which assists in prioritising within a survival situation. You can survive for 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. This is a general rule, which of course can vary depending on the conditions you find yourself in. However, this places shelter at the top of your priority list. Why? One of the biggest dangers is hypothermia – if you get drenched in the rain or are at the wrong temperature for too long, you could end up in dire straights pretty quickly.
So, first on the itinerary – building a shelter. There are a few things to consider before you begin construction: location, radiation, conduction, convection – insulation against heat transfers from the human body, strength, and size. You also need at least 8 inches of compressed material at the base of your shelter to be able to sleep!
Location? Stay clear enough from game – animal – trails and consider what’s living in the environment around you. Don’t build on a Badger Sett, that’s no good for you or the Badger. Choose reasonably flat land, close to resources such as water – never right beside a stream or on boggy ground, the conditions would be counter productive to insulation. Is there natural shelter? The canopy formed by trees maintains good cover, building in an exposed clearing on the other hand would not be beneficial, particularly in heavy rain.
With all this in mind it was time for us to learn how to build what is known as the ‘Thermal A-Frame shelter’, also known as the Kennel. You need what is called a ‘ridge pole’, which will act as the spine of your shelter, and needs to be at least twice your height. Next you have two ‘Y’ sticks which support the ridge pole and interlock at the apex, which should be about belly button height – creating an entrance with roughly a 60 degree opening. Is it strong enough to stay upright? We need to make sure the ridge pole is firmly placed in the ground – creating a ‘butt’ at the base by digging it into the earth at the required angle of your shelter. Time to jump on the ridge pole and see if everything comes crashing down or if you can sit on it, bouncing happily.
Our instructor Joe grabbed what he referred to as the ‘pokey stick’ to draw a line between each supporting pole creating a template for the rafters – sticks that would become our roof. This also keeps the shelter at a good angle, allowing water to run off of your shelter rather than collecting and seeping through.
Next we started to think about thatching for insulating the roof. How much does the Kennel typically need? About an arms length! For this we needed to forage for ‘leaf mould’, which is essentially dead leaves and forest litter you can find in clumps around the forest floor.
Doing all of this as a group with pre-prepared sticks to forage from, significantly reduces the time building a shelter would take. If we were each building one and had to locate all of the resources alone, it would have most of the day – at least three hours, depending on what’s available to you in the environment.
The building of a shelter is a huge morale booster out in the wilderness; one of life’s little victories. Watching something you’re building take form is quite incredible – even if it is the most basic of human architecture. It is a strong reminder of who we are, what satisfies us – away from civilisation you are constantly having to think and adapt to your environment, forcing you to focus on what you truly need and is important for us to survive.
So, the last thing I expected to be doing was dismembering and disembowelling a pigeon. I am already gaining a reputation as ‘The Pigeon Ripper’ among ‘friends’ since my return.
Wait, what? Ok, let’s back up a bit. We took a short walk away from base camp and stood in a clearing where our lunch-to-be was awaiting us. We were presented with an array of Wood Pigeons, pre-shot and obtained from a game dealer. Why were we away from camp? For all important hygiene reasons. Adam began taking us through the process of obtaining the breast meat from the pigeon, something not for the faint hearted. He told us of a dark evening teaching a group equipped with headlights and seeing one of these lights tilt up towards the sky, followed by a thud as a large man fainted. So, without going into too much detail, to get the pigeon breast you need to first remove the wings, followed by the head. From there, with one hand on the back and the front of the pigeon, your thumbs deep inside the neck – quite literally crack it open…
Once Adam had demonstrated this, in a very surgical and disconnected manner (this context helped me get on board with the idea), and taken us through pigeon anatomy 101 it was time for me to channel my primal ancestors and get my lunch…
I had my initial reservations about the activity and while this may all sound a bit much – contextually it made sense. It’s a process that occurs constantly, before our chicken appears in local supermarkets. As a species we are no longer used to catching and preparing our food because we don’t have to, it’s just expected that it will be there. This way, you get to be a part of the whole process – you know what you’re eating and where it’s come from. For example, you wouldn’t want to eat Trafalgar Square pigeons – they would be full of cigarette ends and the remains of the night before…this would reflect in the meat, rendering it most likely inedible. Our pigeon could also provide other resources, the feathers could be used as fletching for arrows or extra insulation material for your shelter.
Post pigeon I stared into the dancing flames of the campfire, mesmerised – the wood crackling and becoming ashen over time gave ‘Fireplace for your Home‘ a run for its money. You can’t beat the real thing.
We began chatting about the fire, as it is central to our camp, it is the centre of our world. Even in this modern period, our lives revolve around fire -it’s just not as prominent for us to be strongly aware like our ancestors. We need fire for everything; for food, energy, and in the creation of many of the things we have around us in our homes. We are so far removed from our natural world that it can be off putting to try these sorts of activities, particularly in our instant gratification society. Going back to nature, The Legend of Tarzan style, is no mean feat. Most people wouldn’t want to prepare their own food in the manner described here or take time practising the various Bushcraft processes, rather than focusing entirely on an end goal or product.
Back to the programme, keeping hydrated is our next priority. As humans we can only loose 2% of our body’s water before the beginnings of dehydration will set in. At 5% you have mild heatstroke and if you lose 10% you will no longer be among the living… When obtaining water, it is important to filter before purifying as you need to remove parasites, particulates, bacteria, viruses, and chemicals that could be present.
We were introduced to a variety of different methods of water collection from trees, such as the maple, to creating a well in the ground. One method was using what’s known as a Millbank bag, which has a handy 6 step guide attached to it:
–Soak the bag thoroughly by squeezing under water – this swells the cloth and opens up the weave to enable filtration.
–Fill the bag to the top with water to be filtered.
–Hang up, and allow water to run to waste down to the level of the black line – this is roughly four inches that needs to pass through, before you place your collector underneath. This also allows the surface water to run off.
–Place water-bottle under bag, and fill. This should take about 5 minutes – this is a bit optimistic, particularly if you are filling a large container, but less than 30 minutes should do it.
-Afterwards, wash any mud off the bag, and replace in pocket.
–Sterilise water in water-bottle using tablets from sterilising outfit – if you aren’t using tablets, such as chlorine, you would be filling up a pan rather than a water bottle, to boil. You would boil the water for 3 minutes on a rolling boil – adding an extra minute for every 500m you ascend.
-N.B. If filling is slow, repeat soaking and squeezing under water. – Saturation is very important for this to work well.
After our talk on water, we turned our attention to the all important fire-lighting…
We have been using tools such as flint and steel since the Iron Age, until the invention of matches. Today we can use a variety of tools in the wilderness, aside from the traditional flint and steel. Joe demonstrated a few tests with a fire steel and scraper, showing us what ,materials work well as tinder (not the dating service). For example, you can obtain tinder material from Cattail, which houses fluff, and place that within what appears like a grass pan – known as a ‘tinder nest’. A mixed concoction of tinder works best to create a sustainable fire, some materials are just too weak alone. Joe showed us an interesting experiment with cotton wool, which when lit is a flash and burn, but if petroleum jelly is applied it sustains the flame for longer. It’s little tips and tricks like this that could be a real boon in the wilderness.
We would be trying something called the Bow Drill method, which is a detailed process and a difficult skill. This falls under the category of friction fire-lighting, which includes techniques such as: Hand Drill, Fire Saw, Fire Thumb, and Fire Plough. The objective of the Bow Drill method is to create an ember which we can embed in a tinder nest.
Once you have this set up – without your shaft pinging off into the distance – you can begin to bow, back and forth as the charred wood builds up. You pace yourself through a series of gears. First, get a rhythm going, then once it starts to smoulder you pick up momentum until you give it all you’ve got – keeping the shaft in place and straight if you can! My companion and I gave a good effort and eventually everyone in the group had created a blazing fire. A spectacular feat!
Today we still rely on all of these things, food, shelter, water, and fire. Being at the source of these skills and processes we have developed over time is a truly inspiring and gratifying experience. It’s a shame there wasn’t a section covering ‘survival of the London commute’, as that was much more of a challenge than preparing a pigeon…
Go back to nature with The Legend of Tarzan, out now in UK cinemas!
Woodland Ways Ltd is recognised as the largest provider of adult and family based Bushcraft & Survival Courses in the United Kingdom, and we are held in the highest esteem for the quality of our instruction by both our peers and customers. Our bushcraft courses and instructors are some of the most respected in the industry. We have featured in many mainstream media arenas from high profile television projects, including the Bear Grylls Born Survivor series, to national and international newspapers and radio.
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