Bushcraft skills you struggle with?

What skills do have trouble with that other may have tips and tricks for

 

I tried to make homemade arrows with limited tools. It was a fail. The branches I had were awful and the instructions, well they didn't work for me. I just found this method so I may try this way.Making Primitive Arrows from Scratch The other method you tried the branches together and dried with the bark on then skinned. Even though they dried on a flat surface they still bent.

 

Try hanging them with a rock or wight off the bottom and the other end hang from a tree or rafter

I know from all my years of shooting archery that wood arrows and feathers are very forgiving even if the arrow is slightly bent lol I have been shooting since I was 8 years old

 

As a tired old fart, the biggest problem I have in the woods are insects. What can you do for ticks, black flies, mosquito's, deer flies, and such if you have to go back to the old ways. They are not only pain full, with all the diseases they carry, they have been in the past and could be in the future be deadly. Are there any natural sources available that work? Hard to believe today but in the early 1800's the English gave their diplomats hazardous duty pay for serving in Washington DC in the summer due to malaria, yellow fever, etc. Many of the early towns in NH were built on the hill tops and put up with winter wind and snow in order to avoid the "bad air" of the low lying areas and it was only the need for water power and transportation that lead to the newer low lying cities.

 

Don't know about the rest. But I've heard from some country boys that eating garlic will stop ticks from biting. They'll still crawl on you.

As a child growing up on the east coast, south of NH, closer to DC (no longer live there) I became quite ill from a tick bite. Don't remember the nature of the illness but had to go to the doctor and get some sort of medication for it.

Ticks are nasty.

 

I have heard that to, but it doesn't seem to work for me or I am not eating enough. Have a lot more things to worry about now than we did 30 years ago. Dogs now get heartworm, lymes disease, we get lymes, etc.

 

Sulfur in and on your body actively discourages biting insects. Powdered sulfur at the waistband and in the cuffs, etc. Eating a lot of food high in sulfur, such as eggs.

And, always a hat to keep the droppers from raining down on you.

 

being vewy, vewy quiet

 

coat your exposed skin in mud will help and if you are bit I know common plantain and selfheal are two plants that will help with the bites

I my self don't get bit very often at all bugs don't like me much lol

 

Yup, thankfully that's my case as well - I rarely get bit or bothered while people I've hunted or camped with get eaten alive.

I think the trick is to be massively handsome and they leave you alone.

I have studied books on snares and traps for small game. While I am a lifetime whittler and good with a knife, I have never taken the time out in the forest to just focus on those skills.

Possibly because I always take an extra .22 and small bag of peanuts. Figure if I can lure them close enough then I'll be eating that day.

 

that is something that you will have to study on and practice I like to teach different snares but that is a lot of hands on teaching for me there are a lot of good ones in utube try to start there I will help as much as I can but it is kinda hard for me to just type it all out lol

 

The compass.

A GPS is so easy and accurate I don't use a compass often enough these days.
I force myself to use a compass even when I have a GPS.

What if the GPS satellites go down?
No, the Russians or Chinese would never mess with the US GPS satellites...

 

Lucky you. If there's a single mosquito in the whole county, it's on my arm.

 

that is something that I have always stressed even in my search and rescue groups what if you break your gps, bat dies, loose it or any thing learn how to us a compass learn how to make one, know that the difference between true north and magnetic north

ITS ABOUT 20 DEGREES WEST OF MAGNETIC NORTH BTW LOL

 

yea roger that all my maps are Washington state maps lol I forget about everyone else that is not here lol

and I found out that about every 5-10 years it moves a few degrees at least so I have found from my older maps to my newer ones

 

yea that's what I was thinking I have some very old maps of my area and I noticed that

 

My biggest problem is sleeping when its dead quiet. I can sleep thru rain, wind even gun fire but quiet I hear every trig snap.
Not sure wearing ear plugs makes a difference but on quiet nights in the wilderness I often do not sleep well when its quiet,

 

I got a pretty decent book for a birthday or something that covers a large variety of snares and how to look for the right place to put them as well as watch YouTube often - I'm a hands on learner though so until I do it myself I tend to not remember things as well.

I greatly appreciate the offer for help though!.