Hunter Gatherer Challenge- Wilderness Survival Skills (may want to grab a brew first)

[Man of Tanith]

Several months ago whilst emailing Joe O'Leary about other courses I wished to attend I mentioned I planned to do the Hunter Gatherer Challenge before i was Forty thus giving me seven years in my mind to get myself to a comfortable level of skills to cope with what i perceived to be one of the hardest tests of my bushcraft skills and knowledge.
It was then that Joe dropped the bombshell he had decided to no longer run the HGC after this year. Numerous emails flew back and forth between us, I begged work for the time off, got the O.K from the lovely Lady of Tanith to attend it and booked myself onto the challenge.
There followed a very intense few months of self motivated practice and study of assorted skills to get myself up to a level where i felt comfortable to be attending.
I spent a while agonising over the kit choices. Joe had loosened the restrictions of the course as it was the last one but I still wanted to remain as close as possible to the stipulated kit without embarrassing or endangering myself.
In the end I settled on the required items-Knife, saw, work gloves,billy can,3m of paracord,phone (safety and contacting home) camera, power pack to charge phone, head torch,First aid kit including a large Israeli dressing for major oopsies, pen, journal, pencil,millbank bag, spare batteries for head torch, map case.
The additional items I took were smokes, clipper lighter for smokes,kuska, modified USAF moccassins, pre seasoned hearth and spindle for bow drill set.
Clothes had to all be of natural materials no goretex pertex or fleece, wool ventile gaberdine leather and cotton were the order of the day.
I went with Merino baselayer, Swedish m59 shirt, Merino gilet, Twodogs Boreol shirt, Swedish snow smock, Gaberdine trousers, 1 pair Merino wool socks, 1 pair British Army Arctic socks,Rogue boots, Shemagh, merino wool/ possum fur hat and Merino wool fingerless gloves.
Whilst this may sound like a lot for a minimal kit challenge i wore the majority of the clothing all the time and the equipment all fitted either in my Yugoslavian pack or on my belt.

all ready for a week in the woods
So it was that on the 5th I kissed Lady of Tanith and Son & Shan of Tanith good bye got into my parents car following a slap up meal and off we went to Wiltshire where Joe is based, the weather forecast was to coin a phrase looking ominous but I had given it my usual well if it ain't raining it ain't training and hoped for the best.
I arrived at the drop off point at 17:00hrs and say having a smoke whilst i waited for someone else who knew the way to Joe's base camp.

I knew a few from a previous challenge I had attended in February (winter bushcraft challenge its somewhere here in the out and about section if you want a read of it) after saing hello I pitched my tarp slung my standard kit under it and went to find the kettle for a brew.
Dinner was a group effort (thanks Martin very tasty) of chilli and rice, whilst we ate Joe gave us a run down of aims for the week, good practice for foraging and harvesting materials and food, the risks of hypothermia and dehydration and an assortment of other vitally important things. Sketch maps were drawn of the areas we would be out in and everyone else headed to bed whilst I did my utmost to fit five days worth of tea consumption into one evening

 

[Man of Tanith]

Monday morning came faster than i expeceted and embarressingly Joe woke me as i was the last awake (although those who camp with me know this is not uncommon )
we were all then weighed(including my kit, clotihng and boots i came in at 14 1/2st), Joe took pictures of the groups of three as we left( we were grouped into three's for the trip to the woods we would be playing in and for the deer to be divided between) and three already slightly damp modern damp hunter gatherers went off in torrential rain towards our woods.
Hour later we found our woods and spotted Joe who was establishing our water source for the week.A hole lined with pond liner and then filled with water open to all the woodland detritus to fall in to it.
once we had confirmed we were in the right spot we went in to find suitable sites for our shelters. I commenced building the fifth natural shelter i had ever made whilst also putting my billy can and kuska out to catch any of the rain i could.
around 12:00 one of my fellow hunter gatherers came over and informed me that the third had decided to pack it in and we were down to two folk in our woods.Needless to say I was surprised by this but in some ways it gave someone to push against mentally telling myself you aren't giving in like matey did.

By about 13:00 hours I had a decent amount of thatching of bracken on my shelter and was scraping leaf mould onto it when Joe appeared and provided some helpful hints on what to focus on.
I collected as much firewood as I could gather before Tim and I both attempted to get an ember using my pre seasoned hearth and spindle and then tried to get one working together. Individually we were both unsuccessful, together we did get an ember but it was so damp it wouldn't transfer and we fell back on our individual contingency plans in my case my clipper originally meant for my smokes. After getting the fire lit and established I went off to the water hole filtered it with my millbank bag and stumbled back up the hill, whilst getting water I did gather some beech nuts but was lacking in energy or gumption to process them, once the water was boiled I slowly drank the entire billy's worth to make sure i was hydrated.

After some refreshing boiled water it was time to skin and butcher the Roe deer the only source of meat for the week, I have butchered exactly one deer prior to this and that was a muntjac but splitting between Tim and I it worked very well, in part I feel because this time it was suspended from a tree branch not on the floor in my parents back garden and part because I got stuck in with my hands. Tim then cut the meat off the skinned carcass whilst I had a breather and then we high tailed it back to our shelters.

Joe made another appearance and gave us a bit of a kick up the bum as there was only two in the "group" the safety margin was smaller so we had to be more on the ball as there was a third less back up if something went wrong.
i ate my first and the worst of the weeks survival stews literally just broiled venison in hot water and collected yet more firewood whilst trying to dry my clothes.
Belly full and hydrated i bundled up in my two dogs and laid out on my (woefully indequate) bed before sleeping the sleep of the exhausted waking every hour to hour and half to rebuild the fire smoke a cigarette whilst it took. Each time I woke another idea of something to improve my lot popped into my head, starting with a better bed!

 

[Man of Tanith]

Waking around 08:00 Tuesday morning convinced I had a pressure sore I heated some water drank it all and began gathering more firewood and materials to make a tripod to suspend the venison over the wood smoke on to preserve it and also to hang my sodden clothes from to dry out. By this point tiredness caffeine and sugar withdrawal (anyone who knows me will testify I am a tea based life form) were starting to take their toll and I was making some mistakes for example leaving my silky saw suspended off of my shelter when I went to get firewood resulting in me having to return to get it and wasting two journeys.Shortly after this I hit a real Low where I HATED EVERYONE staring with myself then Joe then the other challenge participants absolutely everyone. so i sat down in my shelter had a drink of water, had a smoke and gave myself a very stern talking to and felt much better about everything after that. After my little moment I worked on my bed improving it immensely (to be fair it would of been a miracle if I had made it worse). When Joe came for safety check at around 14:30 I was in a much better place mentally. Another person had bailed in the morning and we were down to seven Hunter Gatherers now.With Joe gone I continued working on my bed padding it with conifer saplings and built one of the two reflectors for my fire to make my shelter cosier. I planned to use the fire wood I had gathered to make a temporary second wall for my reflector that night, although it depleted throughout the night it definitely worked.
Shortly after this Tim and I went for a forage finding Dandelions, Ribwort and Greater Plantain, nettles and sweet wood ruff, Rose hips and Haws most of the leafy greens went into that evenings survival stew

, All I can say is Dandelions are foul and I will only eat them if I have no choice in the matter.After several Kuska's of rosehip tea I processed the rest of the venison into thin strips for jerky and left them over the fire to smoke. I then turned in and slept much better than the first night waking every two to three hours and repeated the restoke, smoke and doze off routine of the night before.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Waking at 07:00 to rain I decided to go back to sleep until the weather improved and woke again at 09:00 and began what was already becoming a daily routine of drinking plenty of fluids gathering firewood and filtering and boiling more water.
I built the second wall of the reflector and roasted the beech nuts in the embers/ash of the fire. It was only a small amount but tasted magnificent.

By this point I was getting more into the swing of things gathering more beech nuts when I collected water, harvesting sweet woodruff for tea on the way back rather than doing one thing at a time I was multitasking and using my time more productively.
Joe visited again and suggested we look for some carbohydrate rich food so off Tim and I trundled off on a foraging wander. Finding Burdock root, mint and of course nettles once again. The mint greatly improved my mood as from there on in all I drank was mint and woodruff tea much more palatable than boiled water or rose hip tea.
Getting back to the shelter I made another survival stew each one improving on the last one, I spent the evening working on my primitive hunting tool-Flemish dart for the hunt on Thursday.

At this point in the week I was totally at home and comfortable in the woods, socks and foot wear drying by the fire, feet warming, a project being worked on and the Hunters moon overhead.

That night there was heavy rain thunder and lightening when I turned in but I just stoked the fire higher and dozed off.

 

[Man of Tanith]

After another on off night I woke at 07:00 put my water on for more tea and promptly knocked it over, after some cussing I went down to the water hole collected more and gathered squaw wood on my way back.
i finished off my flemish dart and had a bit of a natter with Tim. After more survival stew Joe appeared with a deer target for us to "hunt" to repay the meat debt.
There were also prizes to act as an incentive and to highlight the need to persevere when hunting with primitive hunting tools.

I've never made a flemish dart let alone thrown one but eventually I hit the target enough times to win all the prizes a potato, a corn on the cob, a jelly stock pit, a babybel and............. a SNICKERS bar.

i would like to claim that i saved my snickers bar until the evening but I ate it immediately (in my mind it was the same as the hunter eating the liver straight away to replace energy expended in the hunt honest) I did make it last half an hour and savoured every bite.
I spent most of Thursday afternoon in a food coma it really felt like a treat eating half the potato, half the corn cob and half the stock pot as there wasn't any venison in it.
Thursday evening was spent immersed in the woods just 'being' which is always a treat in the hectic world we live in.
Thursday night was passed sacrificially burning everything i had made my eating sticks, flemish darts,jerky rack all went up in flames.
Friday morning came and I sadly extinguished my dismantled my home in the woods and off Tim and I wandered back to Joe's base camp

We got well and truly lost on the way back and were the last back to the roundhouse. We were weighed again and I had gone down to 13st 8 winning the dubious honour of the most weight loss within the group. I didn't care as I had finally got the one thing I had been working towards all week, a cup of tea. After a fry up and long chat we all mucked in and cleared up the camp before saying out goodbyes.

 

[Man of Tanith]

I can honestly say that the past week was without a doubt the hardest and most rewarding week in all my time messing about in the woods and calling it bushcraft.
The kit I took was all top notch with thanks to Bilmop5 for his billbank bag, Two dog for his boreol shirt, hillbill for his M.o.r.a and Angst for the sheath. ( i have no connection with any of the makers mentioned bar being seriously impressed with their makings)
The Swedish Trangia pot and Kuska worked brilliantly allowing me to cook, boil and drink all at the same time and with the kuska i didn't overload with water but hydrated slowly.
The Swedish snow smock was a poor choice for the weather conditions and i would of been better off using my SASS smock but I lived.
This "Challenge" definitely highlighted aspects I need to work on but I feel as one of only twelve to of completed it ever I gave a good account of myself.
Whilst I say Tim and I in several stages we didn't team up apart from the butchering of the deer and the fire by friction. The foraging was more like a wander down the shops with someone.

There are those who will question why I felt the need to pay to do this challenge but the reassuring presence of Joe popping in to check and to advise helped immensely.Joe worked very hard through the week and I would like to thank him for his efforts on a top notch experience.
I'll finish by saying what I was saying since Wednesday. I'll do it again.

Thank you for taking the time to read my report and I hope it wasn't too much to read
Sam

 

[Man of Tanith]

my oath writing this up was almost as much of a challenge as doing it

 

[Mesquite]

That's a great write up Sam of what looks to have been an really memorable course for you

That's for sharing it all with us

 

[MrHare]

my oath writing this up was almost as much of a challenge as doing it

Thanks for taking the time to do it - a really interesting write up Gave me a few chuckles too

Looks like a tough challenge - functioning effectively whilst short on food and in cold wet conditions is really hard, serious kudos for doing such a good job of it.

But what is it with you and courses, and utterly foul weather? Are you some kind of rain god?

 

[Clouston98]

Fantsatic mate! Looks like it was a good one!

 

[John Fenna]

That sounds like fun
I am amazed you had the energy to take all those photos ....

 

[HillBill]

It was a good write up though Sam.... Nice one on all of it mate

 

[decorum]

Nice one Sam, glad it went well despite (or, perhaps, because of) the rain .

 

[falcon]

Congratulations on your achievement

 

[crosslandkelly]

Great report Sam, thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[decorum]

But what is it with you and courses, and utterly foul weather? Are you some kind of rain god?

Foul weather? You should have heard him whinge and whine when it was warm and sunny!

 

[Albus Culter]

Amazing mate

Glad to see it all in one place and so well written up :You_Rock_

 

[Teepee]

Thanks for sharing the HG course and congrats again on completing. Looks a great thing to do. Good to read about the highs and the lows of it. Enjoyed that.

I can almost taste those roasted Beech nuts.

 

[decorum]

I saw no mention in the write up posts but ... after 5 days with minimal kit and major ingenuity did you develop a favoured material for making as the eponymous bear?

 

[Man of Tanith]

There are more photos those are just the highlights John.

Thanks everyone.
Joe has subsequently said he will run it again having been re enthused by how well we all did.


I'm already wanting to do it again.

I reckon with a hatchet a bag of carbohydrate goodness a water bottle and a blanket I could of happily remained there longer.
others on the challenge did better than me but I'm still part of a very select few nutters