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Show Family Weekly Vacation soft, so he By ERWIN A. BAUER spent six daysrUving off the Saturday), but we were too busy gathering our meals to notice it The first night, we simply found shelter beneath a shelf of rock on a steep hilkidejand collected enough firewood to last the night Our bonfire was on the outer edge of our shelter so that the rock wall became a giant reflector oven. And by adding fuel at intervals during the night we slept as warm as could be. During the day, we found trees full of walnuts or hickory nuts, and we filled up on them. We cracked them between stones and that meant bruised knuckles, but the nuts were tasty and highly nutritious. When we crossed a stream, we checked to see .whether t contained crayfish or frogs in any numbers. If it did,' we collected as many as we could. Getting crayfish meant wading barefoot in - 6 With a fishhook baited with white handkerchief, Bauer hooks a fat bullfrog for the evening meal. - the cold water, turning over rocks, and scooping the shellfish out by hand.-W- e also caught several on baited our with strips of fishhooks, bullfrog white handkerchief. It is amazing how many nourishing edibles exist in an average wilderness. Frank pointed out e for example, that hips are nutritious, although not too palatable. The roots of the common cattail, although hot as are mild and more edible when boiled and have great food value. So have wild parsnips, wild carrots, haws, crabapples, acorns (when boiled), beechnuts, hazelnuts, and onions. One particularly damp evening, Frank warmed our innards .with a pot of delicious tea made from the roots of a sassafras tree Any living critters, from salamanders and chipmunks to turtles and snakes, are survival wild-ros- horse-radis- h, May 29,1966 -- -- landand in comfort foods. One afternoon a gray squirrel scampered down an oak tree only 20 feet away. It was an easy target for Bob. Right away, I had visions of squirrel stew because squirrel is among the tastiest of all wild meats. Bob managed to draw his slingshot but the pellet missed by several inches and my dinner disappeared. . Survival food sounds unappetizing. It isn't Roasted over an open fire or cooked in a stew, the crayfish tails were as delicious as any supermarket shrimp. And frog legs are a delicacy in the woods as well as a restaurant Fall also happens to be a good season for mushrooms. And the ripe papawa on which we gorged were as toothsome as any bananas. We also found wild grapes in surprising abundance. We might have tried fishing, but I decided against it From long experience I knew that in fall the fish move away from the shore line to deeper water. Therefore we could find more food by expending our time and energies elsewhere. In any kind of survival, it's wisest to utilize food most readily available at the time. We also might have set snares to catch, small mammals and birds. But because Ohio game laws greatly restrict this type of capture, we decided to use it only in absolute emergency. As a precaution, I had obtained a collector's permit beforehand, as the state law requires. Twkt) during Mm holiday we found wild beehives. But we couldn't safely drive away the bees. Then, at the end of the trip, we found a small hive, and with a smoke fire we drove the bees away. The reward was a cupful of honey. To survive, a person must have adequate shelter and warmth. We always had a cave in which to sleep. If the sandy floor of the cave wasn't soft enough, we simply made mattresses from fallen leaves and hemlock boughs. This isn't as comfortable as sleeping on a foam camp mattress, but I didn't miss much sleep. On our last night we slept in a woods which was infested with chipmunks. One climbed up on my rucksack and explored inside." Another tasted the laces of Frank's boot. y "It's lucky," Frank said, "that I can see a beefsteak in my immediate future. Otherwise there would be chipmunk soup tonight" y Our trip wasn't easy, nor was it a hardship. To tell the truth, we had fun and viewed ome beautiful lonely country which too few Americans see. Such things as the fragrant wood smoke, the frosty mornings, the haunting hoot of a horned owl, and fleeting glimpses of warblers and piles ted woodpeckers are ample compensation for sore muscles and an occasional empty feeling in the stomach. 1 doubt if I lost more than a pound or two, and maybe the beard I gained more than made tip six-da- for it! Family Weekly, May t, 1988 Bob found snacks galore while hiking. Here he devours wild grape: The nights were chilly, but campers (below) kept cosy in sandstone cave. lW7! 1 LIB: fj J3 Bauer pulls up roots of a cattail a very hot dish unless boiled. It took a lot of work to drive off bees, but Frank Sayer(below) got some honey. 2 V |