I Must be Trippin'

Bear with me as I seek to explain why life seems to go by exponentially faster.  When we first grasp the concept of time and we measure it without any set time we base lengths of time compared to our own life span so far.  When I was 6 and I had to wait another year for Christmas to come again that was an added sixth of my life I had to wait.  Now that I'm 24 that's only another 24th of my life, which 1/24 is considerably less than 1/6.  As we get older we base a year's length relative to our lifetime so as we get older a year starts to approach zero so it gets smaller and smaller.  I hope that makes sense.  It's something my dad told me once and I think there is some merit to it.

That all is relative to me "trippin'" because pretty soon I'm gonna be old and I have to do awesome things now.  I've been working hard and saving my money like a miser for something for several years now.  I save for things that I haven't thought up yet so when I think of them I have the funding to do them at that moment.

Anyway, I've decided to go on the most ridiculous trip of my life (hopefully not).  I will of course be starting in Florida and I will roughly head north, then west, then at some point come back to Florida.  That has to do with how far I've gotten and how much money I have left.  Thus far I'm planning on leaving in Late April.  That will get me lined up good for the Tennessee Classic and a Turkey hunt that I was invited on.  I'm making a map of friends in North America and this is what I have so far.  I guess I'm a little thin out west but I'm sure I'll make plenty of new friends out there!

So the plan is to do this in the 86 Toyota van that I got for $800.  That's the main reason that I say this trip is ridiculous.  It's only got about 82k miles on it so I have high hopes. 

The purpose of this trip is to see friends, see nature from all over this beautiful country.  It's amazing to be able to travel such long distances in relative safety and I'm blessed to be in a place and time where that is possible.  Along the way I want to hit huge expanses of wilderness and just head out into them for a couple days and see what's out there.  I'm interested in finding animals, natural materials, and anything beautiful in nature.  I want to capture what is so amazing about nature on my camera and put out videos during my trip.  So here's what's bouncing around my head at the moment:  Film and edit as I go and release videos, these wilderness trips will be for AnimalBytesTV, I'll also film other shenanigans which will go on my personal channel, like the Turkey hunt, and go on adventures with old friends and new.

Videoing and documenting everything that happens is really important to me so I have already started with documenting the process of transforming my van into a camper van.  The first two videos are below.  Be sure to subscribe to my channel and join me on my adventure!

When I Fail

I hate failing.  I hate failing at anything I attempt no matter what it is.  I think I am like this because I am athletically inclined and can pick up most activities pretty quick so I am not used to putting the hard work necessary to acquire proficiency.

My latest failure hit me pretty hard.  I felt ashamed that I had failed, most because I was so confident I would succeed.  I went about 8 miles up a river and was filming a nature/survival show.  I had all day to collect materials and craft a hand drill set for making fire by friction.  It was evening and I had a few hours before it got dark and I had to make a fire and there was no backup plan for fire.  The purpose of fire was to keep me warm and help ward off mosquitoes.  So, I got to drilling and I started getting smoke.  I knew better than to quit there so I began yelling loudly "DON'T STOP!" to psych myself up.  I repeated it over and over and kept drilling.  By this time smoke was pouring out from the base of the drill but I just kept drilling and drilling until my arms were so fatigued that they were no longer coordinated enough to spin the drill.  My drill fell out of the socket I had burned and the smoke slowly started to fade.  If the smoke stays for a little while it means there's a coal, if not then no coal.  The smoke all faded out and I was left with no coal.  I tried several times, each time failing.  I had some cordage I had made so I tried the bow drill method.  I had finally got it going pretty well until my string broke.  I started feeling hopeless.  At this point I was so exhausted and felt defeated.  I had choice to make.  Do I stay out the rest of the night as planned or do I head back and paddle a few hours through the dark.  If I stayed it meant certain discomfort from the cold and mosquitoes and if I left I had just had to paddle in the dark.  I paddle in the dark all the time for work so I figured it wouldn't be that bad.  I went with the latter option and only ran into one log on the way back.  I'll be honest though, it was one of the creepiest things I've ever gone through.  Moving shadows, weird noises, and the whole kit and caboodle.  I was pretty exhausted after that.

Now what?  I went to shoot a video about the wilderness and survival and stuff and I failed.  I copped out on the second night.  That's so lame.  I've built a friction fire before so why couldn't I do it this time?  It's the most frustrating thing in the world.  I'm supposed to be good at this sort of stuff but it just didn't work out this time!  It made me want to throw in the towel and say screw it.  I even thought for nano-moment about getting a normal job.  However, my purpose in life is to do something great.  I want to change this world in a big positive way.  I think that means I have to fail sometimes but I cannot, under any circumstance, lose my vision and my drive.  When I fail I must keep trying until I master!

Trading

I love trading!  When I got into this primitive archery stuff I vowed never to spend money on natural materials and so far I haven't.  It's a pretty good hobby when you don't have to spend money.  I've really been getting into flint knapping and I'm starting to get confident with it.  My material was getting smaller and smaller and I was slowly but surely reducing it down to a pile of gravel.  I needed some rock and I found myself messaging a man with a good reputation out in Oregon and he wanted an arrow made by me.  He likes to collect arrows from different people that he respects and I was flattered that he wanted one of mine.  So I made an arrow and sent it to him and he must have really liked it because in return I got a huge box of obsidian with a knapped blade included.  I've made 3 points from it so far and I'm really pleased with the material and over time I'm sure I'll get some points that I really like as well.

New "Toy"

My brother texts me and says he found a really good deal.  So I open the link he sent me and it's an 85 Toyota van.  I've been flirting with the idea of getting an old van, stripping out the inside, and making it into a camper van.  When I saw this deal I had one of those moments when I was like, "Crap, I have to act now or this opportunity is gone forever."  So I went out and bought the van that night.  I'm pretty excited  and it's a trip to drive.  I'm sure that excitement will wear off but for now it's just kind of fun to drive.  So far I've stripped everything out of the back  and I'm about ready to start outfitting the inside.  To be honest I'm not too concerned about the color but I have some friends that want to paint it for me so we'll see if I let them.  I kind of like the primer gray.  As of now the plan is to get it outfitted for camping and take it across North America!  I've got some ideas that I'm pretty excited about but I'll update y'all as they're implemented.  This should be interesting :)

Georgia Hogs

My mom's side of the family is from Georgia and my dad's side is from Florida.  I kind of like it that way because it's almost like having a secondary home.  Just before the new years I headed up to Georgia with the goal to hunt and kill a feral pig. There's some family land that's got pigs on it so I wanted to harvest and process one with my primitive bow and arrow and a stone knife, all of which I have made with my own two hands and all the stone worked with antler tools.  

When I got here I was eager to hunt the morning and every single day.   The first morning I got up early and got in the woods before the sun came up.  I stalked through an area that had good wind and I saw nothing.  I spooked one deer when I wasn't paying attention and the wind began to get shifty on me.  I decided to go scout another area and as I headed down the hill I saw a feeder.  There's another guy that hunts that land that traps the pigs.  As I got closer I noticed there were 4 pigs under the feeder.  I was instructed not to shoot pigs under the feeder as the others will get feeder shy and become difficult to trap.  So I watched for a little then decided to see how close I could sneak up on them.  Finally they spooked and ran off into the woods.  I'm not really interested in shooting pigs off of a feeder anyway.  I might as well use a rifle if I'm going to do that.  

I decided I'd come back that evening and hunt back in the woods where I saw them flee.  That way I could get them when they were on their way to their food source.  I waited and waited that evening until I heard some commotion behind me.  The pigs were beginning to move.  They came closer and closer. Behind me and on my right I was covered by two palmettos so I wasn't really visible from those directions. The pigs were so close but I couldn't move until one came around the side or in front of me.  I half expected to feel one sniffing my leg.  Finally one comes up on my right.  Just a few more steps and it would be out in front of the palm frond and I could take my shot.  It stops and sniffs... then turns away from me and walks away.  My heart had been beating almost out of my chest and I wouldn't be too surprised if the pig heard it.   

The following days I continued to hunt but either the wind was finicky or I just wasn't getting myself into the right scenario so I was unsuccessful.  However, it's not all about making the kill.  I still continue to learn and one day I even gathered up a bunch of river cane for arrow shafts.  I found a few rocks that may produce a sharp edge as well.  It was a good time in the woods.  When I get home I will hunt the small game season.  I need to make a kill soon, otherwise all this work in making my primitive bows and arrows is almost useless.

Thanks for reading and I will have some more videos soon.  Until next time, find a new way to appreciate nature!

How to Build a Primitive Bow

This year I made a bow that I really liked and I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be great if anyone could have the information on how to make a bow like this?"  So I set out to show my entire process on how to make a primitive bow.  In the smallest amount of time the process of making a bow will take at least a month.  I took over 6 months on this one but the vast majority of that time is just letting the wood cure.

I first had to film harvesting the wood which I like to do in the summer time and it's too hot during the summer to be out working on a bow.... Although, I did make one bow over the Summer.  I couldn't help myself.  When the weather cooled down I got working on the bow and it turned out to be a little trickier than I had expected.  There was some deflex and reflex I hadn't expected that will mess with your mind while you're tillering.

It took about two months to film the whole thing and get it edited out.  I thought that was pretty fast and I actually got it all done ahead of schedule (the random time in my head that I wanted to finish it by).

The bow came out pretty good and I'm very happy with it.  It's only the second time I've ever used hickory and I really like hickory.  I think there's a reason the natives in the area used it a lot.  I've been making a lot of  "bendy" bows so I think I'm ready to change it up and maybe try some styles from Europe.  After all, I am of European descent and only have a dash of native American.  I hope these videos are useful to you and you enjoy them!  Thanks for reading and watching :)

The Hunt

Recently I've been hunting locally.  I love hunting locally as it's so convenient and you've got all your hunting gear and materials on hand.  The closest WMA (Wildlife Managment Area) to where I live had a two week small game season that was pretty much unregulated as there was no one ever at the check station.  Basically you came and went as you pleased.  Unfortunately I was unsuccessful at harvesting anything but I got really close and I learned a lot.

Basically during small game season you can shoot anything except for deer and turkeys.  I was going to shoot anything that would be worth cleaning and eating.  For me that means anything the size of a squirrel or larger.  I really wanted to get a pig as they are invasive but anything to eat would be fine.  Now I was of course hunting with a primitive bow and arrow that I had made with my own two hands.

It was so satisfying just being in the woods with my own primitive bow that I had made, sneaking around playing the wind and being quiet.  I would find a hidden spot near a well used game trail with the wind blowing from where I expected my quarry to come from.  After that I would let my instinct kick in.  I'd either wait or move on toward an area that might be better.  The level of focus and alertness I was able to achieve was something that I had never experienced before.  The desire for success overcame discomfort or boredom.  Paying so close attention to the slightest noise in the leaf litter and faintest wisp of a half-hearted breeze across my face became the most important thing in life for those few hours spent hunting.  A change in wind direction could spook the only prey in the area and cause me to go hungry for another day.  These natural factors were everything!

By the end of the season I got close to a pig, a few deer, some turkeys, and several squirrels.  Squirrels ended up being the only thing I shot at as they didn't seem too wise about me being a predator.  The first squirrel I shot at was in a stand of young pine trees as it made its way to an oak tree.  I was tracking it with my arrow waiting for it to pause so I could take a shot.  It paused and my vision tunneled on it and I released my arrow.  The arrow flew an inch high and sailed off into oblivion.  That's why I don't knap arrowheads for small game arrows.  The second squirrel climbed down an oak tree that was about 20 feet or so from me and sat chewing on something.  I slipped my broadhead arrow back into my quiver and slowly slid out my small game arrow.  In slow motion I nocked my arrow and brought my bow up with full confidence.  There were a few smilax vines in the way but I took the shot anyway and I thought I nailed the squirrel but it limped up the tree a little ways then ran across a branch and made a leap to the next tree as if nothing had happened.  I was glad it ran off okay.

I think it's safe to say that I'm hooked on primitive bow hunting and I can't wait to make my first successful kill as that is the next step in recreating my ancestors' means of survival.