548 
FOREST AND STREAM 
December, 1921 
TENTING IN THE WINTER 
'"’THERE is no great difficulty or hard- 
ship in spending a time in the woods 
in the winter if the proper precautions 
are taken to make the tent comfortable. 
In the first place, a fly is desirable, 
though by no means necessary, for it 
keeps the snow off the tent and insulates 
it to a certain extent. 
In choosing a camping site, get among 
the trees and tramp down with snow- 
shoes a spot large enough to hold the 
tent, the deeper the hole the better. 
After erecting the tent in this hole, 
look about in the woods for some old 
dry sticks, as rotten as can be found, 
and carry them to the tent. Put them 
inside and break them up till there is a 
flooring of the rotten wood an inch or 
more thick covering the floor of the 
tent. This can’t be beat for a flooring. 
For a stove, use one of the collapsible 
tin ones and have lots of dry, soft wood 
and some green birch or beech on hand. 
If possible, it is better to have enough 
stovepipe to run the lead from the back 
to the front of the tent. 
A good thick browse bed, with birch- 
bark or a rubber sheet for insulation, and 
two or three pairs of wool blankets will 
give the camper all the comforts of 
home, and when the stove is drawing 
well with some pitch-pine knots in it he 
will be lucky if he doesn’t have to go 
out doors to get cooled off. 
Robert Melrose, New Brunswick. 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to 
make this department worthy of 
his name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camp- 
ing and “going light” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 4 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances. — [Editors.] 
HOOKS FOR CAMP USE 
’""THERE are several kinds of camp 
hooks offered upon the market for 
a variety of uses in camp, but to one 
who wishes to make his own I offer the 
following : 
Buy a half dozen or so snap-hooks, 
about an inch and a half long, from the 
hardware store. Attach a loop of stout 
cord to each as in “a” of Figure 1. 
When in camp pass the loop end over 
whatever is handy and through the loop 
as in “b” of Figure 1, and snap on your 
food bags, boots, etc., safe from “por- 
kies” or any other pest. 
For pot hooks, obtain some heavy, stiff 
wire and shape into elongated letter 
“S’s” as in “c” of Figure 2, each hook 
of a different length. A half dozen of 
these in a bag of their own and tucked 
into the camp coffee-pot will save a lot of 
loose language and burnt fingers. 
Another kink, and one which I prefer, 
is to obtain some lengths of light-weight 
chain from the plumber. To each piece 
attach an “S” hook of stiff wire, as in 
“a” of Figure 2. When in use, pass over 
your fire-stick and hook into whatever 
link of the chain may be desired to raise 
the pot the right distance from the fire, 
as in “b” of Figure 2. These “pot 
hooks” have the advantage that with 
three or four you will find less weight 
and bulk. But take a tip and lug along 
a wire “S” hook like that of “c” in 
Figure 2, about six inches in length, to 
lift the pots on and off your pot hooks 
in use over the fire, and you can leave 
the soda at home, as far as using it for 
burns is concerned. 
Harry Irwin, New York. 
HOW TO HANG UP A BIG BUCK 
UT a gamble-stick about two and one- 
half inches in diameter at butt end 
and say two feet long out of some soft 
wood, like basswood, popple, or soft- 
maple, that can be sharpened at both ends 
easily with your hunting knife if you 
don’t happen to have a hatchet with you. 
Put a two-inch slit in the hide at each 
gamble joint between the big-knuckled 
hind tendons and the muscles of the leg. 
Select a willowy sapling, about five 
inches through at butt (ironwood or a 
young elm is best, but birch, popple, 
hemlock or maple will do) and drag your 
buck, head-first always, with the hair so 
as not to muss him up, to within say 
twelve feet of your hanging-tree, which 
should be stiff enough so the average 
man will have to climb it a few feet be- 
fore he can bend it down to the buck’s 
carcass. Now with your leg over the 
near top of the hanging-tree and your 
weight holding it down, slip one end of 
your sharpened gamble-stick through the 
slit hide at one gamble joint. Then with 
the gamble-stick over the hanging-tree, 
just ahead of a limb so it can’t slip back 
down the tree when raised, draw up the 
other hind leg and slide it onto the free 
end of the gamble-stick. Pull the buck’s 
hind legs together and slowly take your 
own weight off the hanging-tree. The 
stiffness of the hanging-tree will keep 
the buck’s legs from slipping off the 
stick while also lifting part of his weight. 
