2013 Hill Country Bushcraft Rendezvous

This August a group of us got together in San Saba, TX for a little fun in the woods along the San Saba river.  We camped on my in-laws property enjoying the landscape of one of their huge pecan orchards. We started out with almost 30 people.  Several could only stay one afternoon, a few more left saturday and a dozen or so of us battled the 100 degree temps for the entire three-day weekend.

Day started out setting up our "common area" down next to the river.  Central location for a fire pit, medical supplies and most importantly...SHADE!

Next order of business was hanging hammocks and setting up tents.

New York freelance photographer and woodsman Alexander Yerks (http://theaxeisboldaslove.com) helping unload some sycamore that would be used throughout the weekend for carving spoons, kuksas, wood spirits, etc..

Even though we were basically "car camping" I got the chance to load up my new Bison Gear pack...I love this thing!  Will be my new 2-3 day pack.

Before the carving could begin steel had to be sharpened.  Here another New Yorker, blacksmith Matthew Paul (MP Knives) works on a small hatchet.

Alex doing some instruction on the differences between spoon carving knives next to a pile of his hand carved treen.

Ed working on a bowl at his carving bench                                    Some other talents being shown off..                                

                                        

While everyone else sat relaxing at the river, fishing the river, carving and telling lies I snuck off to a little hunting.  I had spotted a few Rock Squirrels fleeing the area while i was setting up my camp earlier in the day...sure enough i found them again...

(picture courtesy of Matthew Paul)

Rock Squirrel with a little garlic pan friend on my Ember-Lit wood burning stove.

Had to get creative with my hammock on the second night.  Down by the river bank the trees were dense and little air moving through.  So I moved up into the orchard where the wind was blowing more constantly.  The pecan trees are spaced too far apart in most cases for to hang properly so the front of my truck did nicely for an anchor point.

One of the guys brought a beautiful canvas tent setup...made for perfect picture with the sun just set and the glow from his lantern inside.

And of course no trip into the woods is complete with some fine hand forged American made steel...this one is my "Drifter" model by Matthew Paul, MP Knives 

MP Knives vendor forum on bushcraftusa.com

Thanks to everyone who made it out for the weekend.  I wish I had more photos but I spent more time enjoying the company then taking pictures of it.

And a huge thanks to my family for letting a bunch of hooligans and cooky woodsmen invade your land for a few days.  I hope we left it better then we found it...God bless!

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