Hey guys I am planning to do some deep woods snowshoeing over the next few weeks.
My pack is going to be very light - efficient saw, lighter and matches, backup compass for bearing, CCI CB Longs and some Velocitors loaded into separate magazines (10 shot rotary clips for a Ruger 10/22 with a collapsible (folding) Butler Creek stock).
I plan to have a very small tent but plan on setting up camp deep and hidden in the woods where I plan on having it very sheltered in a deep hollow. I have a jug of canola oil and cast iron pots and pans hidden there and oiled up an put in plastic bags.
I can leave the camp set up like this for the whole Winter and it is impossible to find so I always have a safe place to sleep and eat, I know the area like the back of my hand.
What has always bothered me is a GPS unit that I struggled with for a very long time - over 10 years I imagine. It is a yellow Garmin eTrex unit that is well made but not very accurate and has a very hard time finding satellites.
Also, you really have to be on the move and under an extremely clear sky which I rarely see... Think of the woods where Luke Skywalker met Yoda. You truly disappear here, the first few days your ears ring from the silence before you get used to it. But there is no other way to escape so completely and think. I have come up with some of my best ideas out there in the absolute unknown.
The woods are so thick that even wind doesn't really hit you in some areas... You would swear you were indoors. And therefore the woods are thick with critters you can eat so food isn't an issue at all. I keep some multi-vitamins heavy in vitamin C so I can wander around and chew on barks, make a tea with birch bark and pine needles and silly stuff like that and not worry too much about fresh fruit as I don't think trail mix and dried fruit has any vitamin C in it.
Anyway, what I am looking for is a GPS unit that is very easy on batteries, and you turn it on and it can find satellites deep in the woods, and it knows where you are without having to move. I just like to have it so if I find something I can set markers like an old cabin, bones, game trails or where I find a lot of rabbits.
Also, if I can set way points so I can pass by 15-20 good game areas and keep adding them as I find them for maximum hunting efficiency so I can go back to camp and cook up a few days of food in one shot to buffer me until I get a next lucky streak. Also I won't have to clean pots and pans so much, oil it up with the Canola oil and tuck everything away. Cleaning hot cast iron cookware by melting snow in it and scraping around and rubbing it out with dirt, then putting it back on the fire to melt snow in it to give it a good rinse works really well. Then you dry it well by just putting it over the flames again for a minute, then oil it up with Canola oil.
I could easily live out there for an entire Winter and may plan to do so next Winter when my daughter is almost 4 so she understands why I am gone for so long. I have been doing odd outdoor adventures since I was very young so it is just a part of my nature at this point.
My pack is going to be very light - efficient saw, lighter and matches, backup compass for bearing, CCI CB Longs and some Velocitors loaded into separate magazines (10 shot rotary clips for a Ruger 10/22 with a collapsible (folding) Butler Creek stock).
I plan to have a very small tent but plan on setting up camp deep and hidden in the woods where I plan on having it very sheltered in a deep hollow. I have a jug of canola oil and cast iron pots and pans hidden there and oiled up an put in plastic bags.
I can leave the camp set up like this for the whole Winter and it is impossible to find so I always have a safe place to sleep and eat, I know the area like the back of my hand.
What has always bothered me is a GPS unit that I struggled with for a very long time - over 10 years I imagine. It is a yellow Garmin eTrex unit that is well made but not very accurate and has a very hard time finding satellites.
Also, you really have to be on the move and under an extremely clear sky which I rarely see... Think of the woods where Luke Skywalker met Yoda. You truly disappear here, the first few days your ears ring from the silence before you get used to it. But there is no other way to escape so completely and think. I have come up with some of my best ideas out there in the absolute unknown.
The woods are so thick that even wind doesn't really hit you in some areas... You would swear you were indoors. And therefore the woods are thick with critters you can eat so food isn't an issue at all. I keep some multi-vitamins heavy in vitamin C so I can wander around and chew on barks, make a tea with birch bark and pine needles and silly stuff like that and not worry too much about fresh fruit as I don't think trail mix and dried fruit has any vitamin C in it.
Anyway, what I am looking for is a GPS unit that is very easy on batteries, and you turn it on and it can find satellites deep in the woods, and it knows where you are without having to move. I just like to have it so if I find something I can set markers like an old cabin, bones, game trails or where I find a lot of rabbits.
Also, if I can set way points so I can pass by 15-20 good game areas and keep adding them as I find them for maximum hunting efficiency so I can go back to camp and cook up a few days of food in one shot to buffer me until I get a next lucky streak. Also I won't have to clean pots and pans so much, oil it up with the Canola oil and tuck everything away. Cleaning hot cast iron cookware by melting snow in it and scraping around and rubbing it out with dirt, then putting it back on the fire to melt snow in it to give it a good rinse works really well. Then you dry it well by just putting it over the flames again for a minute, then oil it up with Canola oil.
I could easily live out there for an entire Winter and may plan to do so next Winter when my daughter is almost 4 so she understands why I am gone for so long. I have been doing odd outdoor adventures since I was very young so it is just a part of my nature at this point.
I am assuming that you plan to be away from civilization longer than typical time the battery lasts.
