What are some good resources for increasing field craft skills, other than on here obviously. Thanks
Fieldcraft Fieldcraft resources
- Thread starter INgunner54
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Basically anything other than the shot. Picking the right spot for a hide, building said hide, choosing ingress/ egress routes etc.
Proficient during the day using topo and compass/ GPS. Night time not so much. Would be a good area to start with.
Take up turkey hunting. You dont have shoot them, just hunt them so you dont have to worry about seasons and tags. But build a blind and call them in. Turkeys unlike most critters can distinguish colors. They have excellent eye sight. You fool turkeys you can fool people.
As to night land nav. Learn the stars and there relationship to your area. I spent a lot of time in Western Alaska, there is zero terrain features and pace counts on skis suck so I learned to use the stars.
Nothing new, people have been using the stars for navigation for thousands of years. Get a pocket watch and leave it set to zulu time, then with the sun and stars you can pretty much tell where you are. It takes practice of course.
As to night land nav. Learn the stars and there relationship to your area. I spent a lot of time in Western Alaska, there is zero terrain features and pace counts on skis suck so I learned to use the stars.
Nothing new, people have been using the stars for navigation for thousands of years. Get a pocket watch and leave it set to zulu time, then with the sun and stars you can pretty much tell where you are. It takes practice of course.
Been hard to get out lately, but I've been able to get out a couple of times by myself and a couple of times with my partner. The weather has been a challenge being cold and snowy a lot the last couple months.
One thing we did was set up a target in a spot then went to a starting point and planned our route in and possible firing positions. We worked our way around to one of these positions with the goal of doing so though cover discretely then ranging the target and either taking one shot or just confirming distance with range finder then ex fil through a different route back to the starting point.
I am comfortable moving through the woods quietly and discretely having hunted all of my life. One thing I had never had to consider before is being conscious of leaving my trace behind for a good tracker to pick up. This is likely not something I will need to worry about in my capacity, but it is always good to have knowledge and skill even if it's not necessary going to be always put into practice.
I would like to try and do more of this in an urban environment, but this obviously brings forth it's own set of challenges in itself. I did find out that it's a real bitch trying to range a target in the blowing snow and failing light! I am having a blast doing it though and it beats the hell out of sitting on the couch!
One thing we did was set up a target in a spot then went to a starting point and planned our route in and possible firing positions. We worked our way around to one of these positions with the goal of doing so though cover discretely then ranging the target and either taking one shot or just confirming distance with range finder then ex fil through a different route back to the starting point.
I am comfortable moving through the woods quietly and discretely having hunted all of my life. One thing I had never had to consider before is being conscious of leaving my trace behind for a good tracker to pick up. This is likely not something I will need to worry about in my capacity, but it is always good to have knowledge and skill even if it's not necessary going to be always put into practice.
I would like to try and do more of this in an urban environment, but this obviously brings forth it's own set of challenges in itself. I did find out that it's a real bitch trying to range a target in the blowing snow and failing light! I am having a blast doing it though and it beats the hell out of sitting on the couch!
If you're looking for some books, I reccommend looking at "Ultimate Sniper" by John Plaster and the Ranger Handbook (SH 21-76) published by the US Army. You can fined copies of the Ranger Handbook in PDF and book form in the internet.
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/ranger.pdf
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/ranger.pdf
Great topic, too bad it hasn't got much of a response. I think that people spend way too much time chasing 1/2, 1/4 MOA and not enough on fieldcraft. It's a wide topic with many little subtopics to discuss. People who don't know how to live comfortably in the field will see their combat power degrade rapidly. As my old PSG said "some guys just don't field well" (as he looked at a private who was covered in dirt and looked exhausted on day 2 of 7).
You asked about resources. Ultimate Sniper, and the school handbook for Army Sniper are good starting points. I write posts from time to time on fieldcraft. Going camping and hiking is how I commonly vet my gear, and keep my own ability to thrive in austere environments.
I'll end my post with "one weird trick." If it starts raining, and you don't want to or can't mess with ponchos or tents... just get under a cedar tree. The dense, fine leaves of the tree cause the water to run down them, and then down the trunk, while generally blocking the rain. Next time you are in the woods during a rain event, look at the ground under a cedar tree versus the ground under a deciduous tree. I once stayed almost totally dry during a driving thunderstorm in the Tora Bora mountains by doing that.
You asked about resources. Ultimate Sniper, and the school handbook for Army Sniper are good starting points. I write posts from time to time on fieldcraft. Going camping and hiking is how I commonly vet my gear, and keep my own ability to thrive in austere environments.
I'll end my post with "one weird trick." If it starts raining, and you don't want to or can't mess with ponchos or tents... just get under a cedar tree. The dense, fine leaves of the tree cause the water to run down them, and then down the trunk, while generally blocking the rain. Next time you are in the woods during a rain event, look at the ground under a cedar tree versus the ground under a deciduous tree. I once stayed almost totally dry during a driving thunderstorm in the Tora Bora mountains by doing that.
As a teenager (in the 70s) we used to play this game where we would try to infiltrate the local military base, Jefferson Barracks.
The game was to get from one end of the base to the other without getting caught by the MPs. In daylight you had to basically just look like you belonged there and try not get noticed. At night it was cat and mouse.
The game was to get from one end of the base to the other without getting caught by the MPs. In daylight you had to basically just look like you belonged there and try not get noticed. At night it was cat and mouse.
