Open Season

Hunting season starts tomorrow. I write this as I'm about to head out the door to drive to Washington D.C. My brother, his roommate and I are going to hunt at a friend's property in Virginia. We will all be hunting with primitive self made bows and arrows.

The point on the left I'm hoping to haft into and arrow. It is the first point I've made that is good enough to hunt with. The notches are kind of bad, but the width is almost an inch at the greatest. I'm hoping to make the piece on the right look like the one on the left tomorrow.


I finished my bow string made out of yucca fibers, but when I shot with it, it broke. You can see at the top right where it broke. For now, I'm going to hunt with a nylon string.


Hopefully the next time I post something it will be a picture of me with a deer.

My Second Baltimore Bowman Event

Last weekend I attended the Baltimore Bowman Traditional Classic for the second year in a row. Like last year I rented a car and drove from Indy to Washington D.C. and then to Baltimore. I hung out with my brother and some other friends. The focus of the weekend was shooting 3d targets. I didn't take pictures of shooting because it was basically the same as last year.

Learning wild edible and medicinal plants was an added bonus of my trip. My brother taught me many. All of them were ones that could be eaten raw. To me there is something cool about being able to feed yourself on plants as you're casually walking through the woods. I think it's the instant gratification. It's food that's free and the energy exerted is just that of grabbing a leaf. There is also a scout aspect to it. You can travel long distances without stopping. You don't need a fire that could give away your location.

I took pictures of some of the plants I tried out last weekend. Each name is linked to a external reference for more information.

Wood Sorrel - This has a lemony taste. According to the reference, it is more a medicinal plant than an edible. I guess you wouldn't want to eat too much of this at one time.


Black Locust - According to the reference all parts of the tree are very poisonous except the flowers. Luckily the flowers were the only part I ate. They are very good. They have a slight sweet taste to them. I ate many handfuls of these throughout the weekend.



Cleavers - I ate the whole stalk. The link says that the seeds of this plant often end up in cereal grains because they are hard to filter out so you may have already eaten this plant and not known it. It also says that the plant can be used to treat skin diseases.


Garlic Mustard - This is an invasive species. It has an effect on the soil that makes it harder for native species to grow. I ate the leaves of this plant. It tastes like it is named. The first picture is the plant in it's first year. The second picture is it's second year.



Tinder Fungus - While gathering black locust flowers, I noticed a fungus growing on the tree. This fungus can be used as tinder for making fire by friction. After reading the linked article I found out that this isn't "true" tinder fungus. When I lit it, it did burn for awhile before going out so I think it's good stuff.


Finally, I made my first quality biface on the trip. The stone is dacite which is a little bit harder than obsidian on the lithic scale. I mostly used small stones to take this from a big chunk of rock down to this form. I wanted to get a picture of this before I try to take this down to a nice point in case I make a bad mistake.

Weekend skills

I think being able to travel on foot quickly and for long distances is an important survival skill to have. It is more important than being strong so I have stopped lifting weights and started running. I am also in a basketball league so I'm trying to get in shape for that. So far I can barely make 2 miles without stopping.

I ran at the park Sunday and afterwards sneaked into my sit spot. It was a little after noon, and I was sweaty so I figured there wouldn't be much activity. Noon is one of the less active times of day as animals are often avoiding the mid day heat. Animals also pick up on human scent so extra sweat wasn't doing me any good.

Yet after 10-15 minutes a muskrat came swimming by and never looked in my direction. He was literally 8 yards in front of me. I had never really seen anything besides birds and squirrels there so it was a very pleasant surprise. Right after the muskrat swam by I looked upstream from where he came and saw a family of mallards. Soon after that a pair of American goldfinches, birds I'd never seen there, flew in and played in the tree to my left for awhile. As soon as they left I looked up to see two mallards flying overhead. They crossed the stream and then made a tight descending circle and landed in the stream to my left.

It all happened in a 10 minute time span. It was pretty unexpected and pleasant as if a reward for getting myself in shape.

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I've been meaning to experience eating wild plants. While at the park I tried some young spruce needles as I was running. I think they are edible however I haven't seen them in any wild edible book I've read. They tasted pretty good and the texture was enjoyable. I also grabbed some chives that grow with the grass. There's something cool about being able to just grab plants and eat them as your walking by.

When I got home it was time to mow the lawn. Our lawn as most has dandelions. These are unacceptable weeds to most people. Since I'm trying to sell my house, I figured it would be a good idea to remove them. To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to remove them and eat them.

Below is a dandelion. Notice the size and length of the root.


I referenced "Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants" to find out which parts were edible. The leaves and flower heads can be eaten raw so I tried that.


I've eaten the leaves in the past and I think the key is to make sure they are young leaves. Anything old or big enough to have fuzz is too woody. I also tried to boiling the leaves for five minutes. This did get rid of some of the bitterness but the texture isn't as nice as when they're raw.

Finally, I dried the roots in the sun and then baked them in the oven for 3-4 hours. The now brittle roots will be ground up to make tea. I haven't tried this yet but look forward to it.

For another look at eating from the yard, check out Rix's blog here.