Quick shelters and pocket bottles

 

Blanket roll, pocket bottles wallet and kettle...pretty easy pack

So funny story about doing videos for youtube…They hate me. Ok not really a story as much as my opinion right now but hey it is what it is. I’ve attempted to do two separate videos so far in the  woods and the first one it was raining so hard the Microphone didn’t even help and the second one…well I busted a seam in my breeches that wasn’t readily observable until I watched the footage and it made it more of an only fans video then youtube how to.

                So to save something from those two self-inflicted disasters I thought I’d just put out the content here and try and shoot the video again in a more PG fashion (3rd times the charm?)  SO to keep being productive here is simple shelter trick based off a number of period descriptions.

“”a blanket stretched upon poles sheltered them from the storm, while a good campfire served the double purpose of cooking their bear meat & keeping them warm. A little camp kettle, a pint tin cup, and a spoon or two of hickory bark or buffalo horn: to these and the tomahawk axes the ever needful bullets, his rifle, …” George Bedinger

 

Beddinger camp

The process I use is simple I tie my tumpline (hoppus) between two trees and drape the blanket over the line. I use the direction of the wind to determine the side I drape the blanket too. I tie each corner using a “grommet” made of a rifle ball and tie it using leather wang. On this set up I simply removed the ties from my spare moccasins.  To tighten the slope I will sometimes use a forked pole in the center to tighten up the blanket.

rifle ball grommets ties with moccasin ties.

                While this will not give you a 100% rainproof shelter the blanket will keep the rain off and help you sleep in a more comfortable manner. This is why I carry either two blankets or a blanket and a blanket coat. This gives you something to cover up with while sleeping. It also helps to pile up leaf debris or pine boughs to sleep on top of. This helps gets you off the ground and a little more comfortable.

                You can also accomplish this by lashing poles using your moccasin strings or rawhide cordage if you don’t carry a hoppus.  All the materials for this you carry on your person and can then focus your time on getting a fire going rather than spread out and try and gather up enough material for a debris shelter.  While not 100% waterproof it is 100% documentable versus say the diamond shelter you so often see being used at events by “backcountry” folks. Also if you tie this up under say a large tree or group of pine trees it really helps keep the water off and can make life that much more comfortable in the woods.

                The other alternative is to simply “go cresswell” and stash all your gear under some bark, strip down and just ride the rain out until it stops. Honestly this is the best method I’ve found for quick summer thunderstorms as you dry out quicker then your gear but in the fall and spring when temperatures can fluctuate rapidly I prefer the blanket shelter method.

                So a question I received after the last post was about the “pocket bottles” I mentioned in the gear break down video I did with the Frontier Trade company video. Ok so here is a quick rundown on that. In looking at purchases and inventories canteens are actually a pretty hard Item to document for non military folks. In the Kentucky probabte inventories the only ones I’ve come across were also in the list of goods that also contained obvious military gear (regimental coat) and in purchases at Fort Pitt the only canteen I see being purchased is by a native. So before I go any further I want to say this loud and clear….This is a case of personal safety. In our modern world carrying water is a 100% need. So if you want to carry a canteen by all means go for it. I’m not encouraging dehydration or Giardia.My point in this all is to document what I can and provide the information.

                Ok now that being said I kept looking for what I could find on documented water containers. The most common item I could find apart from regular glass bottles was Pocket bottles. These appear in various sizes. What’s really interesting about them is I find them in a number of purchases, probates and mentioned a few times in passing in narratives. Also, an example can be found in the archaeological report on the Fletcher site (so one in a native context).

                A great quote about a fellow carrying one is about Joesph Ogle sr.

 “quiety seating himself with his rifle across his knee he drew forth from his side pocket a single morsel of jerked Venison and a tickler of pure water, from which he drew a refreshing draught”

Pioneer Sketch Joseph Ogle Sr. page 106 The Illinois Manuscripts Volume 1Z of the Draper manuscript collection Transcribed by Craig L. Heath

                Period dictionaries state that a “tickler” is a small bottle that held about ½ pint of liquid. These can be found in a number of sizes and purchased all over the place in the 18^th century. For example at Fort Pitt ion June 24 1768  they had for purchases:3 dozen pocket bottles at 1/1 each 3 dozen pocket bottles at ¼ each.

                The nice thing about these bottles is there are a number of reproductions out there available for purchase for under $50. The Met Museum in New York did a run of a bottle in their collection at one point and a number of vendors carry these. While smaller then a canteen I have been carrying one for awhile now and for most hunting trips they are great. Some folks are leary of carrying a glass container but Its something ive been doing for some time and I’m really hard on my gear.  We live in such a "single use" world that we often forget that items like glass bottles could and were reused in the past. Why do you think we see so much glass on archeological sites? 

Bottle slides into kettle onto hard bread

                For larger amounts of water Ive been carrying a mallet bottle in my pack as well. The one I carry slides right into my kettle in a wallet and over the shoulder. It doesn’t sound like an army tank clanking around in the woods and I don’t notice the weight at all. This doesn’t however mean don’t use a canteen or water filters or purification tablets. We live in a modern word and we need to be safe.

    I've got quite a bit more information on both these items and Im working on something a little more comprehensive but I just wanted to get this out now. Hopefully soon my thought process on all this will make sense. But until then just remeber that the Dutchman is evil and is not to be trusted.