The Figure 4 Spring Snare

I have recently been playing around with a new spring snare trigger.  It looks and functions a lot like a figure 4 deadfall trigger.  I like it because if is quick and easy to construct, and because you can control the sensitivity by adjusting the bait stick in the same way you would on a figure 4.  I also like the fact that it only calls for 3 straight sticks, which tend to be far easier to find than ones with forks.

As you can see, the white cord (tied to sapling) is exerting upward pressure on the toggle.  The top end of the toggle is sitting in a notch on the upright stick.  This means that the bottom end wants to swing outwards, but the bait stick is retaining it.  The bait stick (the horizontal one) is just barely caught on the squared off surface of the vertical stick.  It's pretty self explanatory.

Next, lets talk about how I build the rest of the trap.  I start by placing two logs in a V position, with the trigger at the back.

Triggers where the two logs come together.  

At this point I will bait and set the trigger.  I will then cover the top of the trap with a layer of sticks.  This is to prevent critters from approaching it from above.  Squirrels in particular will try this.  They love to sit on a log and look at stuff before approaching it.  You gotta make it inconvenient for them to go through the top because of this.

At this point you need to set your snare out.  Put it over the opening and support it.  Make sure its far enough out from the bait stick, otherwise critters can touch off your trap without getting caught.  

To really insure that critters will approach from the correct direction, you can put some bait in front of the path you want them to take.  I have done this by smearing bait (peanut butter) on one of the logs used for funnelling.  

I feel that I need to talk about some of the challenges of this trap.  I had a good deal of trouble getting it set at first.  The toggle would roll to the side, which prevented me from being able to set the trap.  I proceeded to do some small scale experiments, and discovered that the trap is easiest to set when you do these things:

1. Make the toggle (the diagonal stick) sit at right around 45 degrees.  If it's too vertical, or too horizontal, it will be far harder to set.
2. Place the toggle carefully in the notch, so that it's sitting to the same side as the bait stick.  (If the bait stick is on the right, the toggle should be on the right side of the notch in the vertical stick.)  This serves to keep the toggle as vertical as possible, which makes it easier to set.
3. Don't have the cord attached to the toggle pulling straight up.  Have it pulling back and away from the toggle.  Imagine your trying to form a 90 degree angle between the toggle and the cord. This will make the trap infinitely easier to set.  
4. Attach the cord to your toggle in the middle.
5. Follow the correct construction sequence (described below).

Here, I will talk about the order in which you should build the trap.  It's complicated, but there is logic to the order.

Start  by making the toggle.  Then the bait stick.  The length of the toggle should be equal to the distance between the notches on the bait stick.  Doing this insures that your toggle will be at the correct angle.  

Next, find the upright stick.  Do not square it off or notch it though.  Simply sharpen the end.  You will notch and square off the stick once it's in the ground.  Once reason for doing this is to prevent the stick from splitting as you pound in into the ground.  The other reason will become apparent shortly.

At this point you have 3 sticks.  Before you go pounding stuff into the ground, attach your toggle to your sapling about a foot from the end.  Bend it over and measure where your trap will be.  Once the saplings bent over, hold the toggle and pull it straight away from the trunk of the sapling.  

Doing this does 2 things.  It lines up the tip of the sapling and the cord.  It also shows you which way you will want you bait stick oriented.  The reason you want your saplings tip in line is simple, by attaching your snare there you get a faster trap.  This is because as soon as the toggle releases, the snare is tightening.  If your snare was attached to your toggle cord, it would take longer for the noose to begin closing.  The reason you want to know which way to orient your bait stick is also simple.  If you have your notch on the wrong side of your upright, your trap will be impossible to set.

At this point go ahead and pound your upright into the ground, cut your notch, and square it off.  The face of your notch should be facing the same way the cord is pulling.  If it is not, the toggle will torque sideways out of the notch.  

Getting the notch angled the correct direction is the most challenging part of constructing this trap.  By following the sequence described above however, you should be able to avoid most of the headache associated with the task.  After you have the notch made, you can assemble the trigger, along with the rest of the trap.

First time at the Velodrome

Today I tried riding at the Forest City Velodrome.  It is an indoor cycling track, which is very intimidating/strange to a mountain biker.  I went with a couple friends from school, including one very serious track racer.  We borrowed bikes from the Velodrome, after signing some waivers.  To start off with we rode circles in the middle of the track.  We got out seat height dialled in, and learned how to start and stop on a fixie.  After this, we practised picking up 2 liter pop bottles from the ground.  This was to help us get balanced on the bikes.

After what seemed like an eternity of riding in little circles, we were allowed to go onto the track and ride some big circles!  The pace was pretty slow, and we didn't go very high on the track.  We practised  going from standing to sitting, and moving our hands around on the bars.  It all felt familiar from previous road and mountain biking adventures.

What didn't feel familiar was the track.  As a mountain biker, when I see anything as off camber as the track I get careful in a hurry.  As such, I was very tentative the first few laps.  Soon though, I was itching to go faster.  The corners feel safer when you go faster, and it becomes more fun as well.  Unfortunately we never got to really open it up on the track.  Next time.

The hardest thing about the riding (aside from stopping) was maintaining an even speed.  I found I had a tendency to creep up behind people, especially when I came out of corners.  I suspect that this wouldn't be as much of an issue if I we had been going faster, but I will have to wait till next time to test that theory.

Here is a video of me riding.  I am the red helmet with the black t shirt and white frame.

Riding Easy

My Flint Knapping Kit

I am by no means an expert knapper, but I can usually turn a beer bottle into something that would put a decent sized hole in a critter.  This post is about the kit I use, why I use it, and how (or if) I made it.

As you all probably know, there are two types of knapping tools.  Percussion and pressure.  I have very few of the former, as I don't use them much on the beer bottle bottoms that I usually work with.  This is why you won't see very many pics of antler billets and hammer stones.

Lets start with safety gear.  This is the leather pad I use.  I got it with a flint knapping kit I got as a gift many years ago.  I use it flat on my leg for percussion flaking, and folded up several times for pressure flaking, particularly with the Ishi Stick.

The percussion flakers that I do use consist off a medium sized antler billet, and a tennis ball sized hammer stone.

I tend to use the antler billet more than the rock.  I find I can hit harder and more accurately with it.  

The three pressure flaking tools I use are (from top to bottom): My notching tool, my pressure flaker, and my Ishi Stick.

The notching tool is made from a dowel and a nail, the pressure flaker came with the kit I spoke of earlier, and the Ishi Stick is made from a nail and a broom handle.  When I make these tools i just drill as straight a hole as I can, then hammer the nail in.  When I sharpen them I tend to hammer them to a point, the pressure seems to harden the metal and keep it sharper longer than if I used a file.

I use the Ishi Stick the most.  I find  it's easier to control because of the long handle, not to mention the extra power that really helps when I don't set up a very good platform.  I dunno how long the handle actually is, but you can get a sense of the size from my foot in the next picture.

The last of my tools is my humble yet essential abrading stone.  It came with the kit, and works great.

As far as materials go, I tend to stick with every ones favourite practice material, namely glass.  I always try to get coloured glass because it's easier to see the platforms than with the clear stuff.  This typically means I work with the bottom of beer bottles.

The reason I knap glass is three fold.
The primary reason is price and availability.  Glass is free, and everywhere.  I usually just pick up the bottoms of bottles that I find when I'm hiking or fishing.
The second reason is practicality.  I figure if I get into a survival situation where I need to make my own cutting tools I will likely be somewhere that has bottles and other garbage around it.  My reasoning behind this belief is its darn hard to get me in deep wilderness without a knife.
The third reason I knap glass is kind of embarrassing.  I work with it because its easy, and tends to turn out well despite my shortcomings as a knapper.

My standard knapping material

If you ever need to remove the bottom of a bottle cleanly just drop a big nail in, cover the mouth with you thumb, and shake vigorously until the bottom falls off.  Make sure to have something for it to land on, its a waste to pop out a nice piece of raw material only to have it shatter on the pavement.

Some of the other materials that I have worked with include heat-treated novaculite, dacite, obsidian, and a mystery chert from around my area.  I like the dacite the best.  The novaculite seemed too tough, and the obsidian was a little brittle feeling.  The obsidian also left slivers in the leather pad, which led to many cut fingers.

Mystery stone flakes

Dacite

Obsidian

Novaculite 

At this point some of you are probably wondering where the pics of things I have knapped are.  There will be none in this post.  The reason for that is I don't have any points that I am proud enough of to post.  I don't have any because I tend to give them away, or play hide the arrowhead with my old English teacher.  There will be another post soon, in which I will document the steps to making a beer bottle arrowhead.

Huarache Sandal Initial Review

I am a huge fan of Vibram Five Fingers, but they do have some issues.  They stink, are expensive, give you pruny feet after long damp days, and tend to collect sand during wading.  They also get slimy and seem to stretch when they're wet.

The Huarache Sandals made by Invisible Shoes seemed to address many of these issues, so I bought some.  I planned to use them for wading, going to school, and perhaps hiking and running in.

The package arrived reasonably quickly, and was just in time for an upcoming kayak adventure.  Hopefully I will enjoy wearing these in the boat.

Getting back on track, the package I received contained:
2 Black Nylon cordage Laces
2 6mm Rubber Soles
1 Bobby Pin
1 Hole Punch
1 Set of Instructions

I am not sure what the bobby pin was for.  Perhaps for helping push the laces through the holes?
It seems a little flimsy for that though.  As for the instructions, they are more about barefoot running in general than how to assemble the shoes.  I think this is perfectly acceptable as the instruction on the website are more than adequate.

Some assembly required!

The hole punch.

Check out the tan lines from the Vibrams!

To assemble a set of these sandals you have to punch a hole for the laces between your toes, then thread the laces through.  I didn't want to put the hole in the wrong spot, so I made some cardboard mock ups of the sandals to experiment with first.

Once I was happy with the hole placement I proceeded to make a hole in the rubber.  Punching through the rubber was harder than I expected.  It required multiple hard hits with the hammer to get through the 6mm rubber.  This says good things about puncture protection from glass and such.

After I had made the holes, I tied a figure eight knot in one end of the cord and started lacing up the sandals.  Getting the laces through the holes was a challenge, so I used needle nose pliers to help.

Once I had the sandals laces I spent bucket loads of time messing with the laces, finding out how best to tie them up.  I found the instructional video from the Invisible Shoes website a good place to start.  I opted to add an extra loop of string across the top of my foot, in the same spot where the strap on my Vibrams strap goes.  This seemed to help hold the shoe in place better.

Once I had messed with lacing for a while I went for a hike.  I went up and down steep hills, over rocks and roots, and through water.  The shoes performed reasonably well.  I will go through the things I liked first, then the things I didn't like/need to fix.

Things I liked:

• Traction was great.  It seemed better than with the Treksports that I usually wear for races.  
• My feet stayed cool because they weren't covered up.
• My feet and the shoes dried out almost instantly.  No more soggy feet!
• When rocks and stuff did get in the shoes, they fell right out.  This is because the cord laces don't keep them fenced in like normal sandal straps would.  
• The shoes felt very secure, and didn't ever feel like they would fall off.  
• When the knot under my toes eventually breaks down, it will be simple to fix.  These shoes are far lower maintenance than Five Fingers.  
• The rubber sole doesn't have a fabric over it like in the Vibrams, this seems to help keep my foot from sliding around as much.  

Things I didn't like/need to fix:

• The soles are slightly too long, I need to trim them down about 3/4 on an inch.  They caught on stuff a couple times and made floppy slapping noises.
• The laces rubbed slightly in some places.  I had them too tight though, so hopefully I won't need to tape around the laces in those areas.
• When going down hills the laces put pressure between my toes.  With Vibrams the pressure is distributed evenly across my foot because all my toes press against the end of each toe pouch.  
• The shoes were uncomfortable at first, because I had them laced way too tight.  I found that you need to lace them so that you can easily slip a finger or two under the laces. 
• The knot showed a bit of wear.  My walking form wasn't great today however, so it may have been ground on more than usual.
• These take longer to put on than Vibrams.  I might be able to change that with a different lacing method.
• I can't make footprints with toes any more!

The tread pattern on the soles

Some wear on the knot

You can see where my foot was, and how there is a lot of extra rubber past my toes.

3/4'' looks like the right amount to remove

Overall I am quite pleased with the sandals.  I think they will be excellent for wearing at school, and in the water.  I might do some running in them, but I will definitely stick to my Treksports for Adventure Races and such.  Having the tops of my feet protected from raspberry canes is important to me, as it makes wearing bike shoes a lot more comfortable.  Wearing the Vibrams also speeds up my transition times.  The jury is still out on whether these will come backpacking or not.  They would be nice during wet hikes, but its a lot of extra weight for something I don't really need.  If I was going to hiking along sandy beaches though, I suspect I would bring them.  Or I could just go barefoot.

My Slingshot and Accessories

Its about time I do a post on my slingshot, as I have had it for about a year now.  I also recently refined my ammo carry system for the slingshot, and I felt like sharing it.

Here is a picture of my slingshot:

It is a modified "Pocket Poacher" made by John Webb of Game Keeper Catapults of the UK.  It is made of 18mm birch plywood, has a home made  bandset (more on that later) and one of John's standard pouches (no centre hole).

When I got the slingshot, I found that certain parts of the fork were uncomfortable in my hand.  I used a sanding block and 80 grit sandpaper to reshape it in some areas, particularly around the points on the arms of the forks.  I did not re-varnish the areas I worked on, as I get a better grip on the fork by leaving it unfinished there.

Now on to the bandset.  I use double Theraband Gold, cut from 30mm to 17.5mm.  I find this amount of taper gives me a good balance between speed, draw weight, and band life.  To attach the bands to the fork and pouch I use strips of Theraband, cut from my broken bandsets.  To secure the strips I use a simple half hitch.  This gives the rubber great holding power, but also allows me to remove it without hacking up the strip.

When I attach my bands, I purposely leave a tag end at the fork.

See how the bands stick way down on the fork?  There's a reason for that.

This allows me to get better band life.  Because the bands are tapered, they tend to break at the pouch where they are thinnest.  When this type of break happens, I can simply undo the wraps and slide everything down.  This lets me maintain the same active band length (15cm for my 73cm draw) and lets me use the same bandset several times longer than if they were trimmed neatly.  Enough about the bands though, on to the ammo!

I have shot a variety of ammo with my slingshot, here is a quick list:
Grapes
Paintballs
Rocks
9.5mm Steel Balls (50 grains)
14.3mm Steel Balls (184 grains)
Hex Nuts (70 grains)
Hex Nuts (245 grains)
3/4 Ounce Egg Sinker (330 grains)
1/2 Ounce Egg Sinker (220 grains)
1/4 Ounce Egg Sinker (110 grains)

I currently prefer the 14.3mm Steel Balls, as they are heavy enough to hunt with, easier to grip than the smaller balls and nuts, and relatively inexpensive.  The slingshot is slightly quieter with the large hex nuts, but the trajectory and ballistics seem to favour the steel balls.

The 1/2 ounce lead sinkers are quite nice as well, and I would happily hunt with them.  I don't have the equipment to cast them though, and can't buy them cheaply enough.  Lead is also less re usable for target shooting because it deforms easily and needs to be re cast.  I suspect I will eventually transition to lead ammo because its better for hunting (greater density) but for now I will use the steel balls I have.

Now on to the carry systems, where I will show off a variety of pouches:

My field pouch

This hand knit camo pouch is made from synthetic fibres, and is secured shut with a cord lock.  I carry it in my pack usually, but it can fit in a pocket fairly easily (its a little heavy for pocket carry).  When I put this pouch together, I had field repairs and emergency food gathering use in mind.  As such I have stuffed it with:

30 14.3mm Steel Balls for hunting with.
5 Bands, enough to fully replace the 4 currently on my slingshot, as well as an extra.
Spare pouch, in case I break the current one
Theraband strips, for repairing the bandset.
Dacron cordage loop, for making a half hitch with the rubber strips.

Here is what that all looks like:

3 of the 14.3mm Steel Balls and the pouch.

Rubber strips for tying bandsets together.

A spare pouch and a loop of dacron cordage.

The all important spare bands.  Note the taper to them.

Here is my orange pouch, which I use for Every Day Carry.  It is a nylon fabric bag with a cord lock and shock cord to secure it shut.

As you can see, the shock cord keeps the pouch rolled up nice and tight, making for a very compact package.  Rolling up the pouch also serves to silence the noise created by steel balls bouncing against each other.

Inside this pouch I have:

10 14.3mm Steel Balls
2 245 grain Hex Nuts

This orange pouch can hold the slingshot along with field pouch and its supplies. Having this capability is very nice if you want to pack away all your shooting stuff in one bag.

Overall I have been very happy with my slingshot, I carry it almost everywhere with me.  I was even allowed to use it in class for a game once!  The teacher obviously didn't know how powerful modern slingshots set up for hunting could be.  In my time with the slingshot I have only shot at two animals.

The first was a bird that had hit our window and couldn't fly, I put it out of its misery with a 14.3mm Steel ball.  The shot almost took it head clean off.  The bird was by far the best fowl I have ever eaten, it had beautiful dark breast meat.

The second animal I took a shot at was a groundhog.    I know, this is a big animal for a slingshot.  In my defence, I was about 10 feet away and going for a head shot.  Unfortunately I was quite nervous at the time of the shot and held my slingshot drawn for too long, (one of my favourite shooting mistakes).  This error caused me to hit it a little back from where I wanted to.  The groundhog ran off with what I assume was a sore shoulder.  The next day I saw it back in the exact same spot where I took the shot the day before, just munching away like nothing had happened to it.  Groundhogs are tough.  Not too long after this my neighbour asked me dispose of the groundhog, as it was destroying his garden.  I did this promptly, but used a 50# longbow with a 2 blade zwickey broadhead on a 550 grain arrow this time around.  When I was cleaning it I checked for signs of damage from the slingshot.  I found none.

From these experiences I took away several things:  First, do not shoot groundhogs or other large and tough critters with a slingshot, (slingbows are okay though).  Stick too smaller game like rabbits, squirrels, grouse, and maybe waterfowl if you can get a clean head shot.  Second, learn what your shooting mistakes are and avoid them like death.  I shoot instinctively which means that I need to be in the correct mindset before I even raise my arm, it also means that I need to shoot fairly quickly or I will miss.  Lastly, I learned that wild fowl tastes a million times better than mass produced domestic chicken.

Knowledge Regurgitation and Lack of Experience Surrounding the Ojibwa Bird Snare

Throughout my eternally ongoing research and training in survival and bushcraft I have observed many trends within the online community and I feel that this particular trend is worth mentioning.  

The trend I speak of is people constantly regurgitating information they find, without testing it, practising it, or otherwise experiencing it.  This makes it especially difficult for people like me, who rely on the internet and experience as their teachers.  The sheer volume of duplicate images of traps is staggering, and yet no one seems to have experience with it.  Even if there were someone who wrote about, or made a video about it, it would be next to impossible to find in the mess of copies that exists.  

Lets be specific, and use an example here.  I'm sure your all familiar with the Ojibwa Bird Snare.  If not, it looks like this:

This is one of the stock pictures that are spread throughout the web.

Many people have built this trap, often quite crudely.  They demonstrate how it WOULD trigger IF a bird did land on it.  I have yet to see anyone catch anything with it yet however.  I have only seen people play with their cutting tools in the bush, then throw the words IF and WOULD around a lot.  

This is great if you just want to know how to build a trap, but that's not what I want.  I want to know the subtle nuances of the trap, I want to know how best to make it, so I maximize efficiency both in construction and in critters caught.  In short, I want to be able to make it, and catch dinner with it.

Unfortunatly for me, the knowledge I seek is difficult to convey in words over a computer.  It needs to be acquired through dirt time.  I have no problem with this.  I spent countless hours perfecting the construction of a figure four deadfall.  I learned what angles are best, which size stick works best where, and how to set it sensitive enough to catch a mosquito if need be.  I also used it successfully to catch squirrels, multiple times.  Because of this, I feel confident that I could feed myself with the figure four deadfall.

So you can only learn what you want through experience you say.  Then what's your problem?  Why not just learn how to use the trap?

Well, I'll tell you why.  Because its a long process with more failures than successes.  It's also possible to take short cuts throughout the process, by simply reading tips from people who know how to use the trap already.  They definitely can't teach everything, but they can steer you in the right direction for sure. They can post pictures of how to properly make a trap, and explain why they do what they do.  They can then show it work, preferably on video.  

I have been able to find articles in the manner I describe above, on some traps, but never on the Ojibwa Bird Snare.  I have not even been able to find a picture or story of someone catching something with it.  Eventually I did find a little bit of information about the trap, here.  From what I read, the species that the Ojibwa Bird Snare was meant for (passenger pigeon) has gone extinct.  This explains why the trap is not used as successfully as expected.  It does not however, explain the complete lack of documentation of its use, or the ineptness that it tends to be demonstrated with.  

So Ben, what are you going to do about this you ask.  

Well, I'm going to do two things.  I am going to gradually gain experience with the Ojibwa Bird Snare probably fine tuning it to target a different species, such as Mourning Doves, Grackles, or Sparrows.  I am also going to write about what I learn on here, in an attempt to end the chain of redundancy that has been created around this trap.  

In regards to what this post was originally about, before I went off on a trapping tangent, I have a couple ideas.  The first is to start just trying things, and learning the hard way.  I figure that will teach me what I need to know, and maybe others will benefit as well.  

My second thought is that we, the survival and bushcraft community, need to get serious.  We need to stop half assing it in our youtube videos, and our blog posts. We need to realize that if were going to teach something, we should know it inside and out.  We need to stop acting like little boy scouts with dull SAK's, and do things like we mean it.  No more incomplete trap posts, no more barely thatched debris huts, just no more.  Treat the skills you have with respect, and practice them like your life depended on it.  After all, it might.

Bruce Peninsula Trip Report

Dad and I went on a short two night three day backpacking trip at the Bruce Peninsula this past weekend. We started by going along the Cyprus Lake trail, then onto the Horse Lake trail, which put us on the Bruce trail.  From there we hiked east to Storm Haven, where we spent the first night.  The next day we continued east, past Halfway Log Dump, and ended up at High Dump, where we would spend the night. The final day we hiked from High Dump back to where we started, at Cyprus Lake.  I tried to take a lot of pictures over the course of the trip, and some of them turned out okay, so lets work through them.

This is a picture of me, during the hike in.

Dad hanging our food from an artificial tree

My tarp over Dad's tent.  There were no good hammock trees at this site, so I slept in the tent instead.

My Vibram KSO's and Injinji socks

Wild Roses

We saw lots of Garter Snakes

Climbing a small uphill section of trail

There was a fork on a tree.  We don't know why.

Just as we were getting to our campsite, we saw this.

This is my hammock setup, bug net and tarp included.

This rock had a hole in it!

An eastern milk snake, not a rattlesnake.