FOREST AND STREAM 
339 
Advice To Campers 
What to Take to Camp—Camp Hunts, Camp Cooking--The Camp Range, The Camp “Growler.” 
By One of Forest and Stream’s Oldest Contributors, Dick Swiveller, Who Has Taken Up His Pen Once More in Interest of the Younger Generation. 
(Concluded from last week.) 
Provide yourself with a good compass and 
learn to use it. If you are on a camp hunt, 
or simply camping for amusement in an un¬ 
known part of the country, inform yourself of 
the camp bearings on setting out. If, unfortu¬ 
nately, you lose your way do not lose your head. 
The compass may seem to point against your 
judgment as to the trail you should follow. 
Remember that the cowpass is right and follow 
the needle. Usually people lost in the woods be¬ 
come possessed of one idea and that is—“This 
must be the way back,” or—“This is north,” 
while at the time the needle points silently north 
east by east (the way you should go). 
If you are convinced you cannot find your way 
to camp and night is near, make a bright fire; 
keep it going all night, eat your lunch, compose 
yourself and make up your mind to be as com¬ 
fortable as circumstances will permit, and re¬ 
solve to try it again in the morning. 
The knowledge of just what and how much to 
take into camp in the way of provisions, is a 
great advantage in fitting out. The writer has 
found the army ration a good basis. Although 
this ration is known to old campers, there are 
probably many readers of this paper who do not 
know how it is made up. It is given in ounces, 
being one ration for one day, for one person. 
Flour 18, cornmeal 20, hard bread 16, rice 2, 
hominy 2, peas or beans 2 1-2, salt 3-4, coffee 
1 1-2, tea 1-4, sugar 2 1-2, bacon 12, pork 12, 
fresh beef 20, salt beef 20, salt bread 18. This 
is the U. S. Army ration and, by the way, the 
best and most plentifully fed to soldiers in any 
country. It is understood, of course, that there 
is but one meat ration issued at one time, i. e., 
if pork or bacon is issued, fresh meat is not; if 
hard bread (hard tack), soft bread is not issued. 
This ration gives an idea of how to propor¬ 
tion the provisions to the number of persons go¬ 
ing into camp, and is the best, in quantity and 
quality, to provide for a life in the open and 
thus avoid the common error of taking too great 
a quantity of most everything. 
The writer on frequent trips, when there were 
four persons to feed for three weeks or so, 
based the quantity taken on the Army ration 
and included a couple of “A 1” hams, potatoes, 
onions, dried peaches, salt, pepper, a pail of good 
lard, one of butter, coffee, sugar, self-raising 
flour, cornmeal, pilot bread or hard tack, smoked 
bacon, mess pork, our guns providing the fresh 
meat. 
If a permanent camp is to be established, a 
log house or shanty, properly built with a broad 
fire place, will be comfortable and secure in wet 
and cold weather. In such case the transporta¬ 
tion of a tent is avoided. 
' A mess chest is a camp luxury, and finds place 
only where a permanent camp is to be establish¬ 
ed. It should be made large enough to contain 
rations for four people for two weeks, and em¬ 
brace compartments for the groceries, and space 
in the bottom for vegetables; any extra quan¬ 
tity being carried in a bag. Of course, there 
are occasions when such a chest cannot with any 
degree of comfort or convenience be trans¬ 
ported, as for instance, when camp is changed 
occasionally, or there are carries or portages to 
make. In such event, the camp outfit is arrang¬ 
ed for each person in the form of packs. 
There should be one pair of blankets, medium 
weight, and one rubber blanket for each person. 
As remarked previously, wear old clothes; they 
“fit” and are comfortable. Try and have them 
of a color that will not contrast with surround¬ 
ings ; grays and browns will answer the purpose. 
Wear an old felt hat of neutral color. The writ- 
Nessmuk Style of Camp. 
er has such a hat, and it has seen many seasons’ 
service. It is old, some holes in it, is off color 
around the band—a tough looking hat—but the 
memories that cluster around it are dear to the 
heart. I sometimes look at that hat and an old 
corduroy coat, and if the hour is propitious and 
the pipe going well, I grow reminiscent and I 
am afield again. 
It will be found handy to have a “kit-bag” for 
two persons, in which is carried extra clothing. 
The bag should be made of good canvas, but¬ 
toned at the opening. Boots are hardly to be 
recommended in any phase of field sports. The 
writer has shot game from New England to Ari¬ 
zona and California, west, and to Louisiana, 
south, and has not yet found an advantage in 
wearing boots as against the stout laced shoes 
and moccasins. Should it be snipe shooting, 
over heavy ground, such as is found in the Miss¬ 
issippi River bottoms, then hip rubber boots will 
be found indispensable. If shooting snipe over 
hard, wet ground, when the water comes over 
the shoe tops at times, a pair of old hunting 
shoes with the toes cut off from the uppers for 
an inch will answer the purpose. The water 
can be kicked out as fast as it runs in, and 
thus the wet rubber boot, the cold rubber boot, 
and the rubber boot that gets full of water and 
is days drying out, is avoided. When deer shoot¬ 
ing—still hunting—moccasins will be found the 
most comfortable. 
Extra ammunition should be carried in a box, 
absolutely waterproof. A box to hold, say 500 
rounds of shot gun cartridges can be made of 
one inch lumber, the lid to lap over the edge all 
round and fastened with hasp and lock. The 
box lid should be well made, tight fitting and 
the inside of both lid and box should be lined 
with zinc. 
Now a short sermon on the handling of the 
gun: The rules of courtesy to govern sports¬ 
men apply to all kinds of shooting. The begin¬ 
ner should remember and practice them, keeping 
constantly in view the fact that there is no 
place where selfishness crops out so readily with 
men, and particularly with the tyro, as in the 
pursuit of game; hence, we should be on our 
best behavior and never for a moment forget 
our good breeding, if we have any at all. 
In handling the gun it is only through the 
grossest carelessness that accident happens. The 
gun opens at the breach for the insertion of the 
loaded shells; after the discharge the gun is 
again opened and the empty shells withdrawn. 
Thus at no time in the manipulation of the 
breach loader is it necessary to stand over the 
muzzle in handling. It is never necessary to 
have the gun loaded in the house, or when get¬ 
ting in or out or riding in wagon, or when on 
horseback, going up or down a steep and danger¬ 
ous place, or getting over a fence. Never in 
play point a gun at a person; probably more ac¬ 
cidents have happened and more lives been sac¬ 
rificed through the instrumentality of firearms 
occasioned by people pointing guns and pistols 
at each other “in fun,” supposing they were not 
loaded, than in any other way with firearms. 
Many hammer guns are still in use. They 
should be carried at half lock if not fitted with 
rebounding locks, thus lessening the danger of 
a premature explosion by an accidental blow on 
the back of the hammer, as it rests on the firing 
pin. 
Remember when you are walking with a com¬ 
panion, to carry the gun muzzle well up, or point¬ 
ing to the ground. When shooting in thick cov¬ 
er, and conditions have separated you from your 
companions, never fire, no matter how tempting 
the shot, if it is shoulder high or under, unless 
you know at the time just where your friend 
is. Never under any circumstances grasp the 
