Its that time of year again - Spring FTX scheduled for next month

[mitunnelrat]

The title pretty much says it all. The seasons have changed, and with that the conditions we could be exposed to, so... off I go to expose myself again! :D

I plan on going out the 5th, but that's as fas as my planning's gone. Depending on what I do I could conceivably stay out a total of 5 days

Any requests or ideas?

[izzyscout21]

the mini hacksaw knife!

[mitunnelrat]

Of course! I haven't forgotten that one. I use it too much for that. It is definitely deserving of a good field test and review.

[The Stig]

Folks please please please please please avail yourself of the opportunity MI provides us. He does a top flight job of documenting his trips into the woods and the experiments he undertakes while out there. He then goes the extra mile to post the AAR and pictures for all of us to enjoy and learn from.

He is a valuable resource (for many reasons) so don't be shy about asking for him to try something out for you!

[The Stig]

Any requests or ideas?

Might be interesting if you use a water filter to generate all of your drinking water.

In other words, don't take any with you and use only naturally available sources, filter, fill your containers, etc.

It would be interesting (to me) to see how easy it is to find water, the energy needed to filter it, the time it takes to filter, etc etc.

Just a thought.

[mitunnelrat]

That's actually a very good thought! I was already considering something similar for food. Foraging/ hunting/ trapping/ fishing. However it goes.

The dates might change though, to accommodate something brand new and awesome to my forays!

[Grumpy Old Man]

MITR, you might want to try the foraging route. This time of year you could probably find morel mushrooms, chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms,watercress, stinging nettles (they make great greens, but handle with a pair of gloves) cattail shoots and roots, dandelion, plantain, trout in the streams where you would find the watercress and possibly mudbugs (crawfish). If it is legal, you could also set snares for squirrels like this guy.

Squirrel Snaring (http://www.thehuntinglife.com/squirel-snaring/)

[mitunnelrat]

Thanks Grumpy, that's what I needed to figure out for this time of year, what had thawed out and started growing already! ;)

I really do need to do more skills work than gear testing I think. I know I didn't manage to stay out overnight on my last trip, but it did show me I can stay warm and dry with minimal kit, if needed.

Now I need to learn how to keep myself fed and hydrated through natural sources.