New Primitive Survival Skills Meet-Up

[Spots]

Timestepper has graciously agreed to once again try to have a skills get together. This time we will be using my place to do it. I'll be adding a few things I've learned in the military, and everyone is invited to bring their skillset to the table, as well as come and learn some new skills along side everyone else. I'll be camping by the creek the night before, and invite any and everyone else to do the same if they would like too. My address is 225 George Jones Road Oliver Springs, TN 37840. Camping on site friday night is encouraged, I'll be cooking a campfire supper that night, and there is fishing in the creek and lies to be told. Please let us know if your coming out for this. The date is June 29th, and 30th.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Spots

[Timestepper]

Maybe I'll even sweeten the pot a little and say that if anyone is up to doing a little knife chunkin' (provided we can find a suitable target, as I refuse to throw at a live tree) while we're out there, then I'll find some suitable piece of primitive survival gear (or a ten dollar bill) to award as first prize. If you've never thrown a knife then I'll be happy to also give some instruction in that area and let you toss one of my own knives to boot - if you have knife chunkin' experience then feel free to bring your own sticker and take me to the cleaners!

...TS...

[Guest bkelm18]

I might be up for this. I'll have to see when it gets closer to whatever date is chosen. The previous, and I think aside from Timestepper's attempt, the only meetup held in east TN (hosted by Big Baby Sweets) was a good time although with a rather small turnout.

Edited May 13, 2012 by bkelm18

[Moped]

This sounds interesting. But I'll have to see which day is chosen, before I commit. I have quite a few irons in the fire as it is. Thanks for doing this Timestepper!

Edited May 14, 2012 by Moped

[Spots]

Timestepper, I can provide a suitable target I believe. Will a large section of log a few inches thick work? If so, then I have a target for us to use. I would love to learn to throw, so that would be awesome.

[Timestepper]

Moped - Thank Spots. It was his idea, I'm just glad to tag along and flap my lips a little about my favorite hobby.

Spots - That'll work just fine. And if we can come up with a couple of screw-in eye bolts and some rope, I've got a "target hanger" that I made several years ago (when I was throwing & teaching all the time) that I can bring along. If I can find a pic, I'll post it.

...TS...

Here it is!

It's what I was throwing at in this pic from the Hays Daily News several years ago. I was at living history event at old Fort Hays and took a few minutes to show off for the public - Don't worry, I've gotten older and more handsome since then. LOL

Edited May 14, 2012 by Timestepper

[Spots]

I can come up with the eye-bolts and rope. Should have it down in the garage actually. Do you think you can do friday night and camp, or is a one day better for you? I plan to camp either way. Also, can you post and/or send me a couple pics of that knife your throwing, maybe with a tape measure in the pic for reference. I'd like to make a couple of cheap, "beaters" to throw at the skills camp.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Spots

[Sandman]

I will try to attend as well!

[Jonsaiga]

intersted in coming but I don't know my work schedule that far in advance yet.

[Timestepper]

Hey Spots, I'll try to get some pics to you, but it's gonna' be a few days - I'm at home right now battling a kidney stone (feels like it's winning) and can't get around too good, so bear with me.

...TS...

P.S. Yeah, I'd love to come out Friday night and camp. All depends on what time I get in off the road that week.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Timestepper

[Spots]

Im sorry to hear that man. I hope you start feeling better soon. I'm looking forward to sitting around the camp fire sipping coffee and telling stories and swapping info and ideas.

[Timestepper]

Thanks. Feeling a little better, just weak as a kitten. No promises, but I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

[Timestepper]

Okay, several have expressed interest in this and I think that's super. BUT, good ol' Spots is the HMFIC (Head mother-effer in Charge) and, as such, is the one you'll need to contact about the particulars. Me, I'm just gonna' show up and try not to bore everyone to tears or snore them out of camp.

I will mention that I plan on camping out Friday night if at all possible and, even though it's not exactly a "primitive" thing to do, I'll be bringing ear plugs... so that I don't have to listen to you guys bitch about my snoring.

All joking aside, I'm looking forward to this, but again, SPOTS is the HMFIC for this get-together and he's the one we'll need to get in touch with regarding where, when, and how.

If you haven't voted for a particular date, then by all means check your calendar and see which date would work best for you and then let Spots know by clicking on said date in the O.P. - it's the only way he/we can find out for sure what's going to work best for those who want to attend.

[Moped]

Hey Timestepper, what do you plan on teaching for your part of it? Also has anyone else stepped and volunteered to teach and if so what are they teaching? A outline might help some that are on the fence about this. Personally, I'm still not sure if I will be able to come. We are trying to work out a secret (from the kids) week long vacation to Florida during the same time period. That being said I hope to be able to attend. It sounds like fun!

[Timestepper]

Good question, Moped. For starters it'll probably be pretty mundane stuff like flint&steel fire starting, stick bread & ash cakes, maybe some wild plant foods (depending upon what we find at Spot's place), etc... Mostly, I think the simplest thing for me to do would be to just demonstrate the way I camp and if anyone has any questions or wants to learn some particular thing, then we'll take it from there.

[DaveS]

I'm interested in seeing what day too.

If I can make it, shall I bring my hawk? A little "hawk chunk'n" sounds fun. No promises now...just depends.

Dave

[Moped]

Timestepper, that sounds cool! Is Stick Bread the same as Bannock?

Never chucked my CS Trailhawk, but I don't mind bringing mine, if I can come!

Edited May 20, 2012 by Moped

[Timestepper]

I'm interested in seeing what day too.

If I can make it, shall I bring my hawk? A little "hawk chunk'n" sounds fun. No promises now...just depends.

Dave

Heck yeah, Dave! And I'll see if I can find a handle or two and maybe bring a couple of my trusty ol' 3-J's... far as that goes, I can always use a "co-instructor."

Timestepper, that sounds cool! Is Stick Bread the same as Bannock?

Never chucked my CS Trailhawk, but I don't mind bringing mine, if I can come!

Yeah, stick bread, Bannock, it's all more or less the same, just slightly different recipes and slightly different ways of baking it. What I call stick bread is really just a very simple flour recipe made into dough then rolled out and wrapped around a green stick to cook over the coals.

I've also got some hardtack that I'll bring along so you guys can try some of the "standard fare" rations of the 19th century soldier.

Might also bring along a couple of candle lanterns that aren't too tough to make and one that literally anyone can make with just a Mason jar, a couple of sticks and some foil.

Not sure what else, but as I've mentioned ad nauseum, I haven't really been thinking too clearly this week. But I'm sure WD-40 will come up with stuff that I haven't even thought about in years. Beginning to sound like lots of fun!

...Don...

[DaveS]

I might could pull it off on the 30th. I'll turn in for some time off and we'll see. My Son in law and Grandson will be here from New Mexico and they may want to attend. If I can do this, I'd like a little time to instruct some "hide tanning". Again, if I can pull this off.

Where the hell is Knoxville anyways???

Dave

Edited May 21, 2012 by wd-40

[Spots]

My address is posted in the first post, thats where it'll be, out by poplar creek behind my house.

My address is 225 George Jones Rd Oliver Springs, TN 37840 for anyone who missed it. Mapquest will find it, as well as most cell phone navigators, and if you don't have either one of those, PM me and tell me your starting point and I'll give you directions.

[DaveS]

Moped - Thank Spots. It was his idea, I'm just glad to tag along and flap my lips a little about my favorite hobby.

Spots - That'll work just fine. And if we can come up with a couple of screw-in eye bolts and some rope, I've got a "target hanger" that I made several years ago (when I was throwing & teaching all the time) that I can bring along. If I can find a pic, I'll post it.

...TS...

Here it is!

It's what I was throwing at in this pic from the Hays Daily News several years ago. I was at living history event at old Fort Hays and took a few minutes to show off for the public - Don't worry, I've gotten older and more handsome since then. LOL

Time, did this picture appear in any publications? I swear that somewhere along the way, I have seen this picture...somewhere!

[Timestepper]

Time, did this picture appear in any publications? I swear that somewhere along the way, I have seen this picture...somewhere!

The pic was taken by a guy named Charlie Leiker and appeared in the Hay Daily News several years ago - Aug. 8, 2000, I think, but couldn't say for sure without digging out the clipping. Charlie was/is considered to be one of the best news photographers in the country and it was said that anyone who did their internship under him could pretty write their own ticket to any newspaper in America. For a few years there, I seemed to be one of his favorite subjects - or at least he always seemed to have his camera out when I was around. Another pic he took of me - in my old '85 4X4 Dodge pickup, driving down a flooded street in Victoria, Ks. (I'd been out muddin' and wanted to wash the under carriage without getting dirty myself) was picked up by the A.P. and wired all over the country. This one might have been, too, I honestly don't know.

The whole story on this particular pic is this: Some fellow buckskinners and I had our Mountain Man Camp set up out at Fort Hays State Historic Site for "Fort Hays Days." The previous day (Friday) had been spent demonstrating flint&steel, knife & hawk tossin' and other day to days of frontier life for 9 hours - we literally had something on the order of 3,200 school kids coming through, 10 to 30 at a time, every 15 minutes for NINE hours, NON-STOP. (I knew when I got up that morning that it was going to be a loooong day because I'd been hit with sinus infection over night. The kids weren't supposed to start showing up until 08:30, but I'd barely gotten one cup of coffee down my gullet when they started showing up at 07:30! And I was the "mouthpiece" for our camp!)

Anyway, fast forward to Saturday morning - Fort Hays was open to the general public and things were more relaxed but I still had a bitch of a head cold (notice how my mouth is open in the pic? It's because that's the only way I could breathe! But I'm getting ahead of myself.). Anyway I was up and had the coffee going when Charlie showed up so I poured him a cup and told him he could hang onto the cup while he walked around taking pictures of all the other stuff going on out there and any time he needed a refill, just to come on back and help hisself and take a load off his shoes and shoot the breeze for a bit. He took off, but came back pretty soon and pretty much hung out at our camp the rest of the morning "shootin' breezes."

I was tuckered from the day before and still sick, so mostly I sat and chatted a bit with folks passing through while my stepson and some of the other skinners took turns torturing my knives & 'hawks by throwin' 'em in the general direction of the 'hawk block, but every now and then - when a fair-sized group would come over, I'd get up and go over and show off a little. Back then, I had the reputation of being the top one or two best knife & 'hawk chunkers where ever Mountain men got together West of just about anywhere but the Pacific and at least as far East as St. Joe, Missouri. (That's the rep I had - truth is I've never been worth a damn at anything but showing off, but I'm pretty darned good at showing off.)

Anyway, I had my stepson stand off to one side with a total of five knives (of varying size) and four 'hawks. I had another of each stuck in my belt. When I nodded, my stepson would start tossing me one of each every few seconds, starting with a knife and alternating every other toss to a 'hawk. Well, when he'd start tossin' them to me it was either get stuck or grab 'em as they went by and throw 'em at the 'hawk block and I didn't care to get stuck, so I did what I was good at (showing off) and commenced to stickin' 'em in an inverted 'c' or 'x' pattern, putting them close together so everyone could see just how damn good I was (at showing off).

Well, I'd done this a couple of times (always with that heavy-assed Mowrey rifle in my left hand, because everyone knows that a real mountain man ain't gonna throw away his rifle to fight with a knife or 'hawk and besides, I was... showing off) when Charlie got a gleam in his eye and started getting up and hunkering back behind the 'hawk block and just barely off to one side with his camera every time I got up to throw. At one point my (now EX) wife asked if he was sure that he really wanted to stand that close to a sick man with a loaded rifle and sharp implements. Charlie told her, "I've been taking pictures of this guy for a couple of years - he knows I'll sue him if he breaks my camera!"

I don't know how many rolls of film Charlie wasted on my ugly mug that day for that one picture, but he had morning coffee, then ate lunch (roasted buffler tongue and some other fixin's) with us and finally left about 3:00 that afternoon because he said he had a deadline. This pic was on the front page of the Sunday edition. The director (Bob, whom I've mentioned before), was pissed because it was the third year in a row I'd made the front page and his "soldiers" were relegated to a couple of grainy pics on page three.

The people in the background of this pic are Hannes Zacharias (one of Hays' City Managers) and his family - my favorite part of the whole pic is just that they look like they were having fun (and I figured that's what the whole damned event was supposed to be about - Fun - education comes second for me, because if it ain't fun, I ain't gonna' learn worth a damn!)

So now you know the whole damned story (which is waaay more than what you asked for) and I'd better do a "save" because I hope to hell I never have to type it all out again!

...TS..

Edited May 21, 2012 by Timestepper

[gjohnsoniv]

Do I need to forge a tomahawk for this?

[Timestepper]

Naw, you can bring a real one. I doubt that we're gonna' have any HA/PC (historically accurate/period correct) police out there, but if one was to show up he might laugh at your forgery.

[gjohnsoniv]

Naw, you can bring a real one. I doubt that we're gonna' have any HA/PC (historically accurate/period correct) police out there, but if one was to show up he might laugh at your forgery.

Laugh at my work, suuurreee. I worked as a blacksmith for a couple years so I think I could hold my own. In any case guess that means it's the Sog tomahawk instead... lol Edited May 21, 2012 by gjohnsoniv