Intermediate Survival Class

Sunday, I attended the Intermediate Survival Class put on by Ozark Adventures in conjunction with Hiking the Ozarks and Satori Adventures and Expeditions . I won't be able to make the Advanced class next month. Just too much going on. But I hope to make the April Advanced 2 class.

In the Intermediate Class, we learned some basic navigation rules, natural cordage (rope) construction, napping stone for an improvised cutting edge, a few items on wild foraged edibles, as well as how to make a simple fish trap and a Paiute deadfall.

Being better at "hands on" learning than listening, I decided to attempt some cordage before heading out for the practical exercises.

Then it was down to Busiek State Forest to apply what we'd learned in class.

The fish trap, normally you'd make this a little bigger and further out in the stream. It works a lot like the crab traps I used to use in the canal behind the house I grew up in, in Florida. Fish swim into a funnel-like opening in the stick enclosure, get confused and can't get back out.

Natural cordage that I made for our deadfall trap. While breaking sticks for our fish trap, strips of bark peeled off. I hung on to them and used them to make this.

The Paiute deadfall. Again, not quite "to size", but it got the basic mechanics down to learn the construction. In a situation where I would use one of these, I'd take more time to find a larger, flatter, easier to balance stone and do some finer tuning on the sticks. The way we made this, it wasn't quite as easy to trigger as it should have been. But next time.