Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

BIVOUACS 27sound down-wood for an all-night fire,natural shelter,and browse or other bedding.Now when you start out to recjver the trail, makebush-marks as you go along (see Chapter III, Fig.6) ; otherwise it will be the easiest thing in the worldto losethe way back to that blazed tree.In trying to pick up your old footprints don't givemuch attention to dry ground, except where theremay be dusty places, or rocks where your hobnailsmight have left scratches. Look for tracks (I don'tmean run around hunting for them) in the dampplaces that you pass, mossy spots, swales, margins ofbrooks, and for "scrapes" on the tops of fallen logs.When searching for a trail, do not look close toyour feet, but three or four j^ards ahead of you ; fora faint trail is more readily seen at that angle thanby looking straight down upon it. Cast your eyesalso from side to side, bearing in mind what a trailshould look like when you walk parallel with it, aswell as when approaching at right angles.If you get a shot at a squirrel or other animal (ofcourse, you don't wander around looking for them)kill it and tie it fast to you. It is one of the littleironies of wilderness life that food may be extraordinarilyscarce when you most need it—and thatmay be to-morrow.Bu^ if you don't soon find that back track ofyours, and if no familiar landmark shows up beforethe sun is within an hour of setting, QUIT IT forthe day. It is high time, now, that you go right towork to make yourself snug for the night. Yoursuccess or failure to-morrow will depend very muchupon what kind of a night's rest you get.Bivouacs.—In nearly every story that you readof a lost man's misadventures you find him strugglingdesperately on until black night shuts down. Thenhe throws his exhausted body upon the cold, dampground, soon to awaken in bitter misery, and backhimself up against a tree, to droop there throughthe long, long hours ; or, the cold being intense, and