Survival Shelters - Copeland Forest - November 16, 2011

If stuck in the woods in decent weather we know that we can eat a certain family of mushroom and probably live to tell the tale. Which one is it? Do you remember?

 The body can get along without food for a long time. Water is a different story. If you have to drink water in the wild you want it from the deepest part of a lake or from the fastest part of a river. If you can boil it for 10 minutes then great!

We know that since we're loved, if we get lost then eventually someone will be sent out to find us. For that reason it pays to tell someone where you plan to be walking, canoeing or camping and when you plan to return. Cell phones are great but not 100% reliable.

If lost the best bet is to settle down and await rescue. Make yourself as visible as possible in the process. Get comfortable. It might take a few days.

Comfortable is easy if the weather is temperate. If you bring snow or rain or cold into the equation then it gets ticker. Today we built shelters. Our aim was to build ones that would hold up against snowfall and be still standing in the spring.

We had passed a model on our previous hike. It was round and sturdy and small. It was sort of daunting to imagine copying it.

However, we're hardy types. We gave it a go. Instead of building a free standing structure, we built a lean to, using a tree as a support and a fork in it to support a second branch. We used a lot of ironwood trees. They're straight and strong.

Initially we had 2 structures going. One was a nice tall Eeyore House. The other was short and long, like a truncated longhouse. Both were very cool. The difference between them turned out to be the ease with which they could be roofed. In the end we moved the sticks from the Eeyore House over and built an uber-shelter. It made our model look a little, well, small. Cute, mind you, but small.

We tested the strength of the roof by simulating snow fall using 8 year olds. We roofed over the ironwood ribs and the stick supports with fern and hemlock branches. We also found some dry white pine to add substance. We began to empathize with beavers.

We also noticed that it was in fact warmer inside the shelter. The roof was dense enough to trap heat and the walls proved an effective wind break. I wonder how many animals will use our shelter over the winter? The land on which it sits has good drainage. It is snug and situated in a fairly open area. Location, location, location. Who will decide it is prime real estate?

While gathering sticks I noticed that in terms of mushroom rot the maple, pine and ironwood looked pretty resistant. Some sticks just fell apart when I picked them up. These looked to be poplar or birch. If I had to build a shelter and my life depended on it I now know which wood I'd want as ribs.

At the end of an hour and half or so we had some pretty comfortable looking housing. It was almost tempting to try sleeping out in it. It was definitely fun to use it as a fort.

I think that for me the coolest thing about the entire build is that we just went at it and ended up with something viable. I figure that if I am lost in the woods by the time I figure out I'm going to need a shelter it will be a few hours until sunset. I wont have time to plot out all the angles. I'll want to build the way we did, fast, sturdy and strong.

The following is a link to the group that does the survival talk at Ste. Marie Among the Hurons during the First Light event.
http://www.survivalinthebushinc.com/index.html

Field Trip - Haliburton Forest - November 9, 2011

Like the song says, Canada is really big (Arrogant Worms). Usually we have to be on a logging road or north of North Bay to really get the hang of that but there are parts of Southern Ontario that also are kind of wild and wooly. Take out the road map and have a look at the land under Algonquin Park.

If you're going from point A to point B then chances are good you won't go there. Of course if point B IS there then things are different. So it was that we went south of Algonquin in search of wolves. Wooly country it is, rife with hunters and loggers and S-curves, oh my!

The Halliburton Forest has an interesting history. It is privately run and managed and sustainable. You can read about it here: http://www.haliburtonforest.com/

You will note that it is branching out from forestry into eco-tourism and so forth. You will note that there are wolves there and you can read the story of the wolves. You will not yet see the story of Hershey and it is a pretty nifty story.

Once upon an night in June a mother moose was hit by a car and killed. The Ministry of Natural Resources went out and found two calves, both a few weeks old, both assumed to be female. The question arose, what to do with the calves? If they were to survive then they would need care but it illegal in Ontario to keep a wild animal as a pet. On the other hand, if you keep a moose long enough for it to thrive then this will, more than likely, make it unfit to be released back into the wild. Exceptions were made and the "meese" came to the Halliburton Forest.

One died due to stress. The other was nursed carefully by Elka, our guide to all things moose and wolf. It lost a tremendous amount of weight. Elka slept in the barn for most of the summer since the moose needed feeding every 2 hours. Eventually it decided to live. It began to thrive.

Hershey's formula and subsequent diet was adapted to suit him.The health of any animal, Elka told us, can be predicted by the form of its stool. Diarrhea almost always spells disaster. Constipation is easier to deal with. Here we have healthy moose poop. Hershey is doing fine.

It became apparent that the moose was not a female which makes it a doubly lucky moose. Female moose are occasionally rescued but male moose are routinely euthanized. This is because male moose in rutting season run amok. A male moose, habituated to humans, running amok is not a good thing.

So here we have Hershey, cute fuzzy and living with a donkey and a horse and a sow. We have Elka, who is learning many things about moose. We have a lovely opportunity to learn about moose. Who knew, for example, that moose like carrots? Who knew that they dislike camera lenses? I'd guess that the big open lens looks too much like the eye of a predator. Who knew that a moose will play with a dog and run him off but with a half wolf half dog be much more wary? Hershey has a fascinating life ahead of him. He will be castrated to cut down on the running amok and, hopefully, he will continue to thrive.

We left Hershey and ambled down to see the wolves. Along the way Elka told us about exotic animals and a few reasons why you might not want to rush out and buy one.
1) Sure, it might be trendy, and it makes great conversation at cocktail parties but your cute bundle of exotic will grow up
2) If it has big teeth or a tendency to strangle people then this can be a problem
3) Getting a babysitter, even if you only want to nip out and see a movie will be problematic
4) You can pretty much forget about ever going on vacation
5) Wild is wild - ask any lion tamer

In the wolf center we learned that wolves are present in the history of every nation on Earth. Even the Egyptian jackal gods were originally wolves. One assumes that once they ran out of wolves they had to switch to jackals. We learned that coyotes and wolves are very different. We learned that if your wolf skeleton gets all jumbled up in it's box it takes a real labour of love to piece it together again.

We even got to see the wolves. There is a viewing station with 1 way glass built so that the wolves will not be stressed by having people stare at them all the time. The wolves have 14 acres to roam and the hill in front of the viewing station has a southern exposure and is also the highest point in those 14 acres, so they are comfortable there.

It was very nifty to watch the wolves. We saw one pup lying on a patch of what we thought was grey and blighted grass. In actual fact it was moose hair. We saw 3 of the pups string out in a line and watch a couple of people who had approached the fence in order to take pictures. We saw the alpha female alert to something, inform the alpha male and then take up guard duty while he streaked after it. Wolves are really fun to watch.

When I was a teenager wolves were big news. They have been hunted to extermination in some parts of the globe. As humans we have a hind brain reaction to wolf howls that tells us to run and hide. Wolves and humans are at the top of their respective food chains. Each can kill the other, though wolves prefer not to eat other omnivores. Elka told us this has to do with the bacteria in their tummies which is best able to deal with herbivore meat.


When everything is said and done, science is made up of a body of knowledge. Knowledge sometimes comes from odd and unusual places. The more knowledge we have the more tolerant we tend to be because we make our decisions based on our understanding. Hershey and the wolves are contributing to our understanding. Pretty nifty stuff.





Wolf Links:
http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/wolfhome/home.html
http://www.nfb.ca/film/cry_of_the_wild/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Cry_Wolf
and one about moose:
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=93