I well remember my first bear encounter when I was still a very young boy. The only bear I had ever seen prior to this encounter was a drawing in a childhood storybook in Holland. My family immigrated to Canada from Holland in the early fifties and moved to a remote hunting and fishing lodge on a lake in north-central British Columbia. My mother worked at this lodge and it was here that I was given my first job at the age of 10.
Many years ago, on a sunny fall Sunday morning, when both of my two sons were still very young, I decided to take my wife and sons fishing for the day. I was living in north central British Columbia at the time and a friend had told me about a serene, but remote, lake with lots of hungry, one pound trout, about 100 miles south west of Prince George. My friend also had told me that this lake was fairly inaccessible and that the only possible way to drive in there was with a 4-wheel drive vehicle,
What if you are in an emergency situation in the middle of nowhere, with no weapon available, and find that you need to eat something to survive? Out in the wild, there are many food sources available. All you need to do is look. While porcupine has traditionally been an old trapper standby, their numbers have steadily diminished over the past several years. The next best thing though, is the grouse. They are a common bird to find in the back country,
Many years ago, I bought a number of 160 acre parcels sight unseen on the northern part of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. These properties were very remote and inaccessible by road. To view them, I would either have to take a helicopter to the properties or hike into the properties and spend a few nights under the stars which, while I prefer, I did not have time for. For about 15 years, I did not have time to travel to these properties,
In my seven day survival vest, I carry many things, including 100 feet of thin strong nylon rope which I store in the back of my vest. Rope is very handy out into the bush. I have used it not only just for camping, but it has gotten me out of some very tight situations.
Out in the wilderness, you may not have a tent, or you may be unexpectedly caught in the woods overnight.
I can say, in all honesty, that I have experience putting stitches in my own head!
It began on a crisp morning late one September when I took off from Prince George in a 185 Cessna float plane with Dan, my friend and flying instructor, for four days of Caribou hunting in Tweedsmuir Park.
At seven thousand feet we leveled off and reduced power to cruise. It took us two hours to reach our destination,
I have had hypothermia a number of times in extreme circumstances and conditions, but the experience that stands out the most in my mind is a hiking/hunting trip I took some years ago with my oldest son Dean, when we went to a very remote area of northwestern British Columbia for a ten day hunt.
I love getting close to nature and enjoy hiking alone, or with my sons, going from one destination to another,
It happens to the best of us. You are enjoying a marked trail, and decide to go a little further than you should into the unmarked woods. Maybe you misread a map or your compass settings, and wind up going the exact opposite way than you should. And all of a sudden, you find yourself in an unfamiliar setting, with no idea how to get home. That’s right, you’re LOST!
Hundreds of people each year get lost in British Columbia’s wilderness.
I have used a variety of compasses from time to time, but it was not until spring of 1960 that I used a compass every day as part of my job – that job being a compass man establishing boundaries in the forests of northern British Columbia. With a small, hand held compass, I had to be very accurate, starting out at one corner, traveling the perimeter of a square and arriving back at the same spot.
Anyone can walk into the wilderness and walk out again in two weeks. How you fare in those two weeks depends upon how prepared you are. The English used to go on safaris for months into the South African wilderness and would have 30-50 porters with them, and when camp was set they would have a table, white linen cloth, crystal glasses and a bottle of wine, and good meals. This is what we called “prepared”.