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Details tonight

Edit:

Details in my posts below.

Thats awesome!

IN for info.

My only experience in the Maine woods was rememberable but not fun.

Tag for more info/pics/AAR

So in on this thread.  Looking forward to learning more.

Jack Mountain Bushcraft is located on 61 riverfront acres in the northernmost part of Maine. About 25 or so miles west of Presque Isle, ME.

Jack Mountain Bushcraft is run by Tim Smith. While he does employ instructors, he was the only person working with us for the entire week.

It was just him and the eleven students who made up the class.

We slept in whatever tents or tarps we brought with us. The camping area is an eerily thick section of woods dubbed “Moose Vegas” by previous students.
There were no predetermined tent sites. Tim told us, “Find a flat spot”. So we did.

This section of the forest was made extra trippy by the primitive shelters scattered here and there...all made by previous students. That first afternoon and evening, it all looked unfamiliar and had the feel of an abandoned Indian burial ground. (As the week progressed, we came to admire and appreciate the homemade shelters)

There’s no way I will remember everything we did, but I would like to list some of the highlights and maybe if anyone has any questions, those questions might spark my memory.

Axe work...... Felling, limbing, and sectioning.....safety, sharpening, and axe maintenance.

Tim was looking to clear out one of his acres in order to make a garden of some kind (I think). So...all of the trees on this acre had to go. It was the perfect opportunity to learn.

Many of us, whenever there was any down time, would head up to that spot and fell a tree...trying to get it to fall exactly where we wanted it to go. I felled a total of five trees. And....at week’s end, I came in second place in the tree felling contest.

We had to pick a tree in the forest, use the techniques the instructor taught us to determine its height, place a marker on the ground where the top of the tree would be AFTER we felled the tree. THEN we had to fell the tree and hit the marker. I came within four feet!
Got beat out by a dude who got ONE FOOT.
The consensus among the students at week’s end was that this was possibly the most interesting thing. Going from noob to getting within four feet of a marker makes you feel like you learned something.

Next post will be on fire starting

Can you give a list of the instructional days ,i.e. day one shelter, day to first aid etc.

Also what did you guys do about food and water  ?? Purify techniques, food acquisitions ?

Did you do a body start weight and ending weight ?

Could you take what you wanted ? or limited per instructions ?

Ive always wanted to do one of these courses, just never happened.

Friction fire starting, wet conditions fire starting, and “one match” fires



We spent quite a bit of time on fire lighting. We started out with something incredibly simple. “One match fires”

Tim taught us to use a technique that works regardless of whether the ground is covered in snow or not....and that is to gather your tinder bundle with material that is NOT found on the ground. We gathered the dead twigs found still attached to the base of most of the trees in the north woods.

The idea was to have enough thin twigs in the bundle so that one match would light it easily. All of the material is combustible and we all knew it would light, but the exercise was about making the bundle as perfect as possible...in order to prepare for the day when all you’ve got is that one match. For that reason, it really was a great exercise.

We then did fire starting in wet conditions. In order to do that, we had to process wet wood and light it on fire. It was dry that day, but we went through all of the following steps anyway.

We each had to find some standing dead tree. One that wasn’t too thick. The closer to vertical, the less moisture would be absorbed. We felled the tree, sectioned it, and focused on the upper section. We took that upper section, split it, exposed the wood inside, and made feather sticks with the pieces. We then had to do a “one match” fire with these. This was a bit time consuming, but it worked out great.

The friction fire stuff was the hardest and most interesting.

Tim successfully demonstrated the use of a hand drill, but he focused on the bow drill for us. More material to make, but better biomechanics for the user.

Not every student participated in this process......but those that did found the raw materials to make the bow drill.

Tim told us that the spindle and the hearth (or the base) were the key components. “Non dense, non resinous material”....that was important.

Tim used the bow drill successfully and then had us give it a try.
Out of the five of us who tried, only two succeeded. I was not one of them! It’s a great technique, but I got too tired. One of the two successful students was a 19 year old guy. He never quit. Broken hearth? He made another. Spindle flies away? He started over. 90 minutes later, he had a coal. It was amazing to watch. The picture in the OP is of the other guy who got a coal. It took him about 45 minutes.

All done with stuff pulled out of the woods. (With the notable exception of the twine we used for the bow)
We did learn to make rope out of grass, but we didn’t make any other cordage.

I will hit some of your questions in my next few rambling posts.

This class wasn’t a hardcore survival type thing. It was about taking care of yourself while out in the woods.

We were allowed to bring our own food. We pumped water out of a well.

There was a class equipment list...and it was pretty extensive.

Tim calls the class we took “Summer Woodsman”. It’s absolutely about staying safe, staying warm & dry, and staying aware in the woods. I’m SURE there are courses that are more hardcore. That’s why Tim doesn’t call this class anything nutty. More on Tim and his views on the subject later.

Improvised or Primitive shelters

This was cool.

With Tim’s help, we, as a class, built two primitive shelters. One “cone”, one “dome”. Anyone who wanted to could then build their own shelter and stay in it. (My son did this. He did a tremendous job)

According to Tim, you make the bed first....then build the shelter. That way, as long as there’s no precipitation, you don’t end up sleeping on the ground if you run short on time. He says he’s seen plenty of people who bust their asses building the shelter, but run out of daylight and energy...and end up trying to sleep on the cold ground.

The bed should have several components.... The first is that it provides space between you and the ground. Second, it should provide support and have “rails” or edges to help contain the bedding material so that it doesn’t spread out. Third, it needs to be fairly comfortable. We used bows from small pine and fir trees. It’s important to lay them down at an angle..so that the stems point out...away from you as far as possible.

The cone shelter is fairly simple. It’s a Tee Pee framework that you cover with a tarp or natural materials. The key to the cone shelter is the top opening. You either have to cover it with something like a hat....or you need to avoid building your bed under the drip area. You can also solve this problem by making the Tee Pee frame slightly off center. Then the hole does not allow drips to come straight down.

The cone requires a lashing at the top...unless the three foundational pieces of wood can be anchored to each other in some other way. The cone can be covered with natural material, but in order to make it rain proof, you’d need a mountain of bows. Much better to use a tarp.

The dome is the really amazing one. In the end, they end up looking like miniature Quonset huts. (Like if you cut a toilet paper tube in half.)

The dome is made by weaving saplings together. They’re usually made with three arches, a support running longitudinally along the roof, a support on each side wall that runs longitudinally, and a support on the back wall that runs floor to ceiling. The supports are always woven into the arches. Weave them overhead, weave them along the sides, etc. I will try to post good pictures of my son’s if I can.

No lashings are required for the dome. If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. ALL DONE WITH WEAVING THE SAPLINGS.
Can’t use pine or fir saplings. They’re too stiff and they’ll break.

The dome can be covered with natural material or a tarp.

These shelters are remarkably strong and stable.

Evidence of this can be seen all over Tim’s 61 acres. I would say that there’s probably the remnants of at least one primitive shelter per acre.

In. Sounds like fun. AAR please

No problem, sounds like a great class for all levels of "camper", Ive seen the hardcore ones, they be interesting, but I like the idea of a casual "survival" class that doent add the element , that I could die doing it, lol.

I didn’t know who Tim Smith was when we showed up to his camp in Masardis, Maine.

As it turns out, he’s huge in the survival and woodsman community.

He’s worked behind the scenes on almost every survival TV show you’ve ever heard of.

He was “on set” as an advisor for most of season one of Bear Grylls show. (The stories we heard about this show were amazing. I will not repeat them because I’m sure Tim wouldn’t want that information out there)

He helped interview prospective contestants for Naked & Afraid.

He worked on that show called Alone.

He was even on screen as a contestant on some show called, “Dude, You’re Screwed”. I think that was the title. Might not have been an American TV show.

Many of his alumni are contestants on all of the above mentioned shows. In fact, one of his alumni just might win this season of Alone.

OST
This is awesome thanks op

Tracking



This was a short, but amazing part of the course.

We evaluated human footprints, tire tracks, and animal scat.

The most impressive thing was Tim’s ability to evaluate scat.

Within seconds, he walked us through the evaluation process and established the identity of the animal that left the scat. Fascinating.

Shape, diameter, color, location, etc.

He did that twice.

The first time, it was coyote. He was able to determine this by the shape, diameter, and color. Color was the biggest determination for this scat. This was because there was white in it. According to Tim, the color white indicates that the animal either ate blood or had blood in the stool. (Can’t remember which. I think it was that the animal ate blood) This does not apply to bird droppings.

The second time, the deciding factor was location.

The second scat, based upon shape and diameter, could have been feline or canine.  But because it was in the middle of a trail and not buried, he deduced that it was canine....either an adult fox or a small coyote. Felines bury theirs.

As a noob, I found the speed at which he did this to be incredible.

Aroostook County is a beautiful place, sounds like you had a freakin' blast bub!

That sounds like a way cool way to spend a week with your son...
You get the Dad of the day award!!!
I might be interested in hitting his course with my ...ahem... grandson...
What's the cost? Any unforeseen expenses or surprises?
Got a web link?
Thanks for the posts....

I will get you everything I can shortly.

Summer Woodsman was the name of this class. He offers Autumn and Winter Woodsman courses too.

(Hell, he offers stuff that’s off the hook. Canoe journeys, guided stuff up into Canada, etc.)

Cost was either $800 or $900 per person. Can’t remember which.

The equipment list is at the website. We didn’t have much gear to start with so that was a decent expense for us.

No unexpected costs or surprises.

I will IM you with other personal stuff too

Another thing.....

The only “surprise” for me was getting used to spending a week in a tent.

At 54, I’m not as spry as I once was. Regardless, it all worked out.

My 18 year old son thought it was the coolest thing ever.

http://jackmtn.com

Sorry it took so long

very cool, thanks for the info.

Neat, would love to do that some day.