Although Woodlife Trails has carried out some day courses already, this weekend was the first weekend course.
It couldn’t have been better weather-wise as the sun shone throughout the weekend and in the main it was warm and sunny.
The temperature dropped a little at about 3am on Sunday morning, just to remind us that spring has only just begun – and perhaps the choice of the thin, summer sleeping bag was still a bit premature.
JP led the course attendees through a variety of bushcraft skills on the Saturday as they had yet to experience some of the skills hands-on. This included fire lighting, fire-lays, knife safety, knife-sharpening, game prep game cooking and carving techniques amongst others.
Barry carved a great little spoon…
… while his son, Archie, (pictures by permission) was completely fascinated by the fire. He even successfully managed to light a fire on his own by using his fire-steel and a junior opinel.
We managed to prise him away long enough to show him knife safety and good carving techniques. (Note JP’s Woodlife Trails instructor shirt)
We spent Sunday morning looking at at tracks, signs and trails and discovered a badger sett.
A live tracking scene for everyone to ponder was the final task for Sunday afternoon. Who or what was the victim; how did it die and who was the suspect? A Midsomer Murder if ever there was one.
It took a while but finally, by using newly learnt tracking knowledge and some excellent deduction, the mystery was solved. No, it wasn’t Col. Mustard – it was none other than the legitimate culling of a fallow deer (even the firing point was identified) and the dragging of it’s carcass to a point where a vehicle collected it and drove away.
As we waved everyone off, we noticed how tired, dirty but happy they looked. A great start to the year.
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