Monday, June 19, 2006
Chapter 14D-Winter Training
When Tobal tracked down Nick later that night, he was with Tara. Tobal congratulated Nick on his solo and proposed his plan. Nick wasn’t really interested. He had just soloed and was happy about it. He didn’t think he needed anymore training and was partnering up with Tara for the winter anyway. He needed to be helping her get their winter camp together
.
“Tara, I thought you were training someone this month?”
She regarded him with cool eyes and said, “I thought you were training someone this month too. What does it matter if I have Nick over this month when you are going to have six people at your place. I wouldn’t point too many fingers if I were you”, she cautioned. “Maybe you should just mind your own business.”
With a glum face he found Melanie and Becca and told them Nick wouldn’t be joining them. Becca was so excited about the plan she jumped up giving him a big hug and a kiss. As she kissed him, he felt an electric spark that tingled his ears and worked it’s way down his spine to his tail bone. She had already turned and was hugging Melanie so she didn’t see his face turn white in shock.
He was not at all comfortable with the way he felt around her. She jangled his nerves and shook him up. He still hadn’t dared explore his feelings about her. Forcing his mind back to the subject at hand Tobal suggested they all go to his base camp for the next month and prepare for winter by working together. They agreed to start out the next day after breakfast.
His little valley was protected and full of browse. There would be deer and elk in it all winter and trapping fur bearing animals for winter clothing shouldn’t be hard if everyone was working at it. They could also work at shelter building and be welcome to stay as long as they needed to. By blind luck his little valley was the perfect location for a training camp.
He had most of it built already and making a few more shelters would go quickly. Together they could make what they needed and share resources. What they really needed was winter clothing and equipment. Making it would be time consuming. This fall furs would be prime enough to make good winter clothing and it was time to start trapping.
Late September brought snow in the mountains but it didn’t stay. There was just enough to make things seem white. They worked as a team. Melanie was the best trapper and she worked with the others on getting enough pelts for winter clothing.
They practiced intensely with the bow, making arrows and working on a permanent shelter. In all there were six of them. They were Tobal and his trainee, Sarah; Melanie and her trainee, Butch; Becca and her trainee, Mike. At first they thought the best type of shelter would be a log cabin but that presented difficulties since they had no axes to cut the trees. In addition finding and laying rock for a fireplace and chimney would be too time consuming. Thatching material for a roof was no longer available. They had waited too long and winter was too close.
What they did settle on was to continue using the teepee shelters and further insulate them with furs on the outside. They built two other teepee structures that could be used for storage and for privacy or work space as needed. That solution was quick, simple, effective and allowed them to focus on other things like winter clothing, snow shoes and food caches.
They rigged more deadly traps and dead falls. They noticed the air sleds more often checking them out during the days. The medics were keeping closer tabs on everyone and smaking sure they were prepared for the coming months.
It was easier to hunt with some tracking snow. One hunter would track the animal and it would move toward one of the others that waited hidden in a blind. They got plenty of deer that way. Still the final weeks in October were increasingly difficult and Tobal understood at last why most people didn’t try training newbies during the winter.
His group was prepared though and each member of the group was outfitted with warm fur outer clothing and boots, blankets, emergency food rations, snowshoes for when needed and a small sled to pull and carry their supplies when they traveled. There was too much to carry in a pack.
The weather was still fairly nice but could change any time. Mike, Butch and Sarah were anxious to solo since they had been training for almost two months. They felt more than prepared and wanted to get it over with.
Becca and Melanie wanted to find their own base camps, set up for the winter and start training newbies. They were going to help each other get set up right after the coming circle. Tobal was not accustomed to being around so many people for such a prolonged amount of time and anxious to get away and have some time alone. He wanted to get back to the lake.
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