Boys learn outdoor skills

Page 42

Three hungry and cold little boys huddled around their teacher as they waited for him to start a fire with flint and steel. Suddenly a spark caught in the tinderbox. This glowing ember was then carefully transferred to a loosely-rolled ball of dry grass. The boys watched him intently as he then blew the glowing ember into a ball of flame.

This was the first fire to be made on an outdoor winter survival trip held recently for the Edmonton Eagles Junior Forest Wardens group. Later, as they sat around the campfire after having been joined by the other members of the party, the group was explained the ground rules of this trip by club supervisor Dwayne Desjarlais.

"From now on all fires that are made on this camping trip will be made with a flint and steel. Pretend that you've been in a plane crash and that you have to walk out to get help. All you have is what you can carry on your backs and what you can load onto these toboggans. We have some food, pots and pans, a warm sleeping bag for each of us and snowshoes. We have to walk until dark, camp overnight and then walk back out in the afternoon."

Accompanied by parents and volunteers Garnet Lizotte, Morris Cardinal and Jeff Caya, the small group then strapped on their snowshoes and continued along their journey through the bush in the Long Lake area of north-central Alberta. The three adventurous boys were Garnet Jr., Billy Giroux and James Lefleur.

All were members of the Edmonton Eagles. This Junior Warden club teaches its' predominantly Native youngsters forest appreciation values and bush skills using the new Forestry Adventure Program developed by the Alberta Forest Service. Of the sixteen active members of the club, only three of them were able to attend this boys-only camping trip. In the past, the club as a whole had participate in canoeing trips, campouts and cross-country ski trips.

At the location that they picked for their survival camp, the boys were taught how to construct a lean-to. Before long all had their shelters up for the night and a warming fire built in front of it to reflect the heat during the evening and night. Of the four lean-tos that were constructed, the boys outshone the adults by building a shelter that would have done service even if the trip would have extended into several days.

Snares were set along the way and a rabbit caught in one of them was brought to the cooking fire early the next morning by Garnet Jr. and James Naturally, a skinning demonstration followed, as well as a quick demonstration on the intricacies of eating rabbit head. This was shown by the club supervisor, who claimed right of first choice by insisting that it was his snare that produced the rabbit. It wasn't known until we were walking out later, that the rabbit was actually caught by Garnet Sr., a woodsman of many talents, who had also rigged up a few spring snares, using the string method, so as to show the boys how to snare animals if they didn't have any wire.

Knife work, tips on various ways to find directions, bannock cooking demonstrations and other methods of making a fire without the use of matches occupied the rest of the boys' time.

The trip itself was successful, in spite of the fact that only three of the wardens were able to attend. The parents/volunteers had at least as much fund as the boys, and in spite of the -20 C weather, nobody was any more uncomfortable than could be expected. Plans were made to take the whole group out on a cross-country ski trip during the middle of March.