In my constant quest for new bushcraft information, I recently came across the website of Eric Stoskopf, the Woodsdrummer. His outdoor philosophy and methods resonate with me: he prefers old fashioned, even privative equipment that can take lots of abuse. He is about function over form. For example, he uses a body bag as part of his sleeping system. In fact, a discussion about using body bags that way is how I found out about him. Apparently, body bags are very warm, lightweight, and robust. The downside seems to be that they don’t “breathe,” and so perspiration can be a problem.

But, I think what makes me a fan of his is the subtle sense of spirituality that pervades his posts. When moved by the feeling of being in a natural sacred place, he feels an impulse to make offerings to the local spirits. He is ambivalent about doing this, as he is “wary of putting on facades of nativeness,” but this impulse was shared by our European ancestors as well. I hope to have a conversation with him about this sometime soon.

I was also touched that he came to my home area, New Orleans, to help rescue animals after Katrina. The log of the trip was very moving. Reading it is what impelled me to write a post, and track Woodsdrummer’s “digital footprints.”

Woodsdrummer is a an advocate of Ron Hood’s survival methods, and from reading Woodsdrummer’s outdoor exploits, I plan to get my hands on some of Hood’s video’s ASAP. Hood also provides a very active forum, which is providing me hours of distraction from work.