GENERAL ADVICE
In preparing for camp, one of the most important questions to be
settled is the choice of companions. Nowhere will human nature be
developed as in the camp, where quarters are limited and when there is
no opportunity to get out of the way and stamp down “that ugly feeling”
that the best of us have at times. If there is a single bristle on a
man’s back it will rise on an uncomfortable rainy day in camp. If a man
is a gentleman he keeps his coat on and it bothers no one but his own
conscience; but a surly grumbler, a gourmand who _must_ have just what
he wants to eat, irrespective of how much trouble it may make, or a
selfish, lazy man, will disturb the feelings of all the rest.
And a word of advice here. Constitute one man, the best-posted and
most equal-tempered man in the party, as captain; and when a man makes
himself obnoxious and will not be reasoned with, let the captain call
assistance, if necessary, and either cool him off in the nearest lake
or quietly escort him to the nearest point of embarkation and bid him
a long farewell; at all events, remember next year that he is not
eligible for membership.
Make the party small (four is enough, three is better), for many
reasons. There is less chance for argument, crowding is avoided, and
transportation facilitated. If the party is necessarily larger, divide
it up into squads, so that the man in charge of the party may not have
all his own fun spoiled in attending to the needs of others. Make one
man paymaster and do not ask him to shoulder the whole expense of the
trip, but make an estimate of the cost and hand over your share in
advance. Then when the trip is over, cheerfully settle up, and if you
are not wholly satisfied, do not put up a kick, but swallow the dose
and remember it the next time.
More than that, always remember that life is too short to grumble or
fight, and if any campmate makes himself too obnoxious, get rid of him,
or manage to get a letter calling you home on important business. You
go to camp to get needed rest and escape the fights of a busy life,
and no man has a right to interfere with another’s pleasure; always
provided that the other party behaves like a man himself.
Now let us suppose that you have procured your outfits, selected your
camp ground, and have arrived at the place. Set to work quickly to
select a site for the tent, and get it ready for occupancy at once. All
hands take hold under the direction of your captain, and the work will
all be over in a short time. Pitch the tent and get your beds ready;
make a fireplace and get wood for a fire, so the cook will be able to
tend strictly to his cooking. If Joe or Tom grabs his rod the moment it
is taken from the conveyance, unless he is so ordered by the captain,
just insert your fingers under his coat collar and politely kick a
little sense into him.
When you get your first meals do not give way to the abnormal appetite
always generated by fresh air and exercise, but eat moderately until
you get accustomed to the changed conditions, and thus avoid a
multitude of ills. It is disgusting to a sensible man to see a campmate
gorge himself and then wake everyone in the small hours of the night
groaning with colic. A sick man in camp is a nuisance at the best, and
if the sickness is caused by the sufferer’s own fault he will hardly
get much sympathy.
Again, if you have any liquor in camp, put it in the hands of the
most level-headed man in the party, and use it only moderately. I am
not preaching a temperance lecture, but the use of liquor should be
in moderation, if used at all. When drinking, hunting and fishing go
together, the hunting and fishing get poor attention.
The first night that you are in camp will probably be destitute of many
of the conveniences, for you seldom get well settled. About all that is
really necessary is to get the beds well established and a light supper
prepared.
The next day, get all the camp luxuries fixed up. Make some hooks on
the trunks of the nearest trees to hang the odds and ends on. These may
be nails, or they may be forked twigs pinned to the wood. Sort out the
provisions and put them where they will keep sweet and dry. Do not lay
the pork on the sugar bag, nor the salt against anything else.
The beds are of prime necessity. If you must economize on anything, let
it not be on the bedding. If you are where you can get plenty of fir
or spruce boughs, you have the finest bed in the world. Cut a large
supply and spread them over the sleeping place. Start with the larger
pieces and lay a row along the head of the bunking place. Then work
toward the foot, lapping them like shingles till the bed is at least
seven feet long. Next start again at the head and put on another layer,
forcing the butts down into the first layer. Continue this process,
using smaller branches with each layer, finishing off with the fine
tips on top. Make this bed as thick as you can, for it will settle with
use. When you have nothing else to do, put some more fir tips on the
top. Lay the rubber blankets on this, and make up each man’s blanket
separately, so that he can easily crawl into it and cover up, without
disturbing the others.
If “fir browse” is scarce or absent, make a pole bed. Cut four sticks
with a crotch at one end. They should be at least three inches in
diameter. Force these into the ground so that the head and foot of the
bed shall be about seven feet apart, and so placed that poles of about
the same size shall lie across the head and foot. Across the poles lay
other smaller ones close together till the frame is wide enough to
accommodate the party. On this foundation lay the brush or dry leaves.
When nothing else is available, and I am in a camp that is to be
permanent, I generally buy a bale of cheap hay, if I can get it. There
is generally a farmer who can supply it, or it can be obtained at the
point of disembarkation and brought in with the luggage. This may seem
fussy, but I am supposed to be writing for the benefit of people who
are accustomed to soft beds, and who come to camp to enjoy themselves.
If you wish to “rough it,” spread your blanket for one night on the
ground beneath the starry sky. The next night you will have a bed made.
A convenient bed is made of a strip of canvas, 6-1/2 feet square,
doubled and sewn together at the sides, with the ends open. When you
put it up, drive four crotched sticks into the ground at the four
corners and stretch on poles placed on these crotches.
The next important adjunct is the camp fire. It seems almost
superfluous to tell a man how to build a fire, but it is an old saying,
that “It takes a wise man or a fool to make a good fire.” I take it the
reader classes himself as neither. The cooking fire will be the most
important. If you have flat stones, lay up a fireplace, placing the
stones close enough together so that the fire will play all around the
kettle, and with a space long enough to hang two pots. It is a good
idea to have a low place in front wide enough to set on the fry pan,
and high enough so that you may haul the live coals between them. This
will save you holding the pan in your hand all the time you are using
it.
[Illustration: Matasiso Stove]
If you are in a permanent camp where there are plenty of rocks, build
a pier of stones about three feet high, leaving a hollow in the center
for a fireplace, which may have a bottom of turf.
This device will save a good many back aches. Make the fireplace at the
back a little narrower than the fry pan, and wider at the front. On
this you may boil your potatoes, make your coffee, and fry your fish at
the same time. The rocks will hold the heat, and food may be kept warm
while waiting, if care is taken to have the stones on the top flat and
level; in fact, I have often stewed fruit, etc., with the dish on the
edge of the fireplace.
In temporary camp, cut three logs, about a foot in diameter; lay one
for a back log, two for side logs, build your fire on top with small
stuff, and when it falls in coals you have a convenient place to set
your fry pan, coffee can, etc.
Remember that a small fire is better than a large one. With the latter
you cook your face more than your food, and there is more liability of
spoiling the cooking.
Hard wood is better than pine or spruce; the coals are what you want,
and the longer they will remain hot the better for the cook. By no
means use hemlock or cedar, as the sparks fly all over everything,
burning the towels and the cook, soiling the food and setting fire to
the surrounding dry leaves.
Although I prefer “frying pan bread,” I want an oven to bake beans,
fish, etc., and construct it as follows: Dig a hole in the ground,
preferably on the side of a knoll; line it with rocks, if possible;
build a fire of hard wood within it and keep it up for a half hour at
least, till the rocks or the surrounding earth is very hot; rake out
the coals and ashes, leaving three to four inches of live coals and ash
in the bottom. Put in whatever you have to bake, cover with the ashes.
The length of this operation will depend upon so many conditions that
it will be impossible to set a time, but a little experience will soon
settle the question.
The evening camp fire is a great comfort, and is an altogether
different proposition. Select a place in front of the tent, and some
ways from it, and place a big log, or pile up several smaller ones with
stakes to hold them in place, for a back log. Build the fire in front
of it. Start the bottom with fine dry chips, branches, or shavings,
place larger dry branches on these and top off with good sized pieces.
After it is well alight, it will consume damp or even green wood. The
back log will reflect the heat into the tent, and will hold the fire
for a long time.
Supposing that you wake in the morning with a steady rain pouring down.
Do not try to make a shift with “cold grub.” That is the time you
need a warm meal. Put your rubber blanket over your shoulders, and go
out. If you are wise, you will have prepared a store of dry soft wood,
which will be stored in the tent, but if you have used it up or have
neglected this precaution, hunt up a pine log or a dead pine tree, and
chop off the outside; you will find plenty of dry wood inside. Rake
open the ashes in the camp fire, where you will probably find plenty
of live coals, put on your dry chips, cover with pine, fir or spruce
boughs, blow up the fire and you will soon have heat enough to keep the
tent dry, and coals enough to cook by. It will take a pretty hard rain
to put out a good fire if once under headway.
If there are any mosquitoes, as when are there not, fasten the netting
over the opening of the tent. Hard wood splinters will do the trick.
Keep this netting in place as much as possible. It is much easier
to keep these pests out, than to get them out afterwards. If these
insects are too troublesome use the Insect Repellent freely. There are
numerous preparations which can be purchased ready made. The most of
them answer the purpose very well. But if you wish to make it yourself,
the following recipe, furnished me by Dr. L. O. Howard, the U. S.
Entomologist, is easily mixed and very good.
INSECT REPELLENT
2 oz. Oil of Citronella
2 oz. Camphor
1 oz. Oil of Cedar
The recipe furnished by “Nessmuk,” one of the best old sportsmen that
the country ever knew, is made as follows:
PUNKEY DOPE.
Pine Tar 3 oz.
Castor Oil 2 oz.
Oil Pennyroyal 1 oz.
Simmer the tar and castor oil together; when well amalgamated add the
oil of pennyroyal, and set to cool. It is well not to have the mixture
too warm when the pennyroyal is added, because it may evaporate, and
it is the real life of the mixture. Bottle and cork it tight. Use
copiously and you will have no trouble with the pests of the woods. It
is equally efficacious for black flies, mosquitoes or horse flies, and
will do no injury to the skin. Please wash your hands, however, before
you mix the bread.