Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I thought I would start up a page that links to some interesting sites on Bushcraft/General Outdoor Skills, a portal if you will. They are not all period but with some tweaking... well there ya go.

http://nwwoodsman.com/index.html
http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/
http://zombiehunters.org/forum/
http://www.bowsite.com/bowsite/home/ (Many sources for information on traditional Bowhunting. Check out the bloodtrail challenges. I have learned all sorts of tips and tricks from the explanation when I pick the wrong answer.)

I will be adding more I always wander on good stuff and never know where to archive it.

I think this has been linked other places but I like their system for ranking. I think it would be good to have standards in rank for combat, archery, bushcraft and fitness.

http://www.survivaltrainingohio.com/tab ... skills.htm

By the way, please post up your favorites too, this wasn't supposed to be just for me.

I suggest the books of Tom Brown Jr. I've taken his "Standard" class here in California. He knows a ton of stuff and is a very interesting teacher. The books have a lot of information about tracking and the kind of sensitivity that a Ranger would have.

For a great movie/documentary about a people with incredible and amazing skills for living off of the land and with nature check out "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga". It's on Netflix right now.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/?ref_=nv_sr_1

One of my childhood favorites was Wildwood Wisdom by Ellsworth Jaeger.
Part of the appeal may have been the cartoon-like illustrations, but also since the book was written in 1945, many of these old traditions were still alive or were recent memories.
Sample:
http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/lost.html

Kortoso wrote:One of my childhood favorites was Wildwood Wisdom by Ellsworth Jaeger.
Part of the appeal may have been the cartoon-like illustrations, but also since the book was written in 1945, many of these old traditions were still alive or were recent memories.
Sample:
http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/lost.html

On a similar note, I LOVE the *old* Boy Scout handbooks you sometimes see in used bookstores. Back before the post-war economic boom and 60's-70's hiking gear crazes it looks like they just made a lot of their own equipment, so there's pages and pages on crafting gear, brush shelters, and lots of other stuff. Most of it has the air of having been written by grizzled old men remembering the tail end of the Old West.

My reading and watching usually consist of:
*The Pathfinder FB page
*Pathfinder Youtube channel
*When All Hell Breaks Loose, by Cody Lundin
*Backwoodsman Magazine
* Boy Scout Handbook/9th Edition
*OUTDOOR LIFE - The Ultimate Survival Manual
*U.S. Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76
*Outdoor Survival Guide by Hugh McManners

I look forward to buying Dave Canterbury's Bushcraft 101.

I have a kindle version of DC's bushcraft 101. Good read.

For books i go with--
Ray Mears Outdoor survival handbook. Split into seasons with the major needs covered each time and some seasonal varieties
Mors Kochanski Bushcraft. Split into subjects such as fire craft knife craft sheltercraft etc.
Richard Graves Bushcraft. An excellent book slight australian slant but very good.

Some of the best bushcraft books and videos are the Naked Into The Wilderness series by John & Geri McPherson Books http://www.prairiewolf.net/store/Store_ ... 7857a21863 DVDs http://www.prairiewolf.net/store/DVDs.cfm





You can also find the videos on Dailymotion Here is the first one http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq4q6p ... _lifestyle

One of the cool things about the McPherson stuff is they teach concepts rather than specifics. Explaining for example why you want such and such plant, what it's properties are and why they are useful for the task. This means it is not overly region specific. If is good foundational knowledge to understand they why of doing stuff.

BTW Cody Lundin actually learned some of his stuff from McPherson and did the foreward to the updated McPherson book.

Another really good bushcraft info source is Ron Hood videos. You can find his DVDs here http://survival.instantestore.net/default.cfm

www.bushcraftusa.com
www.foragingtexas.com

Rysgil wrote:http://www.bushcraftusa.com
http://www.foragingtexas.com

Bushcraftusa.com is one of the best sites on woodcraft I have ever found. I highly recommend it.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com is also very good, and often has a more old-world flavor to it.