Camping and camp cooking

In preparing for camp, one of the most important questions to be settled is the choice of companions. Nowhere will human nature be developed as in the camp, where quarters are limited and when there is no opportunity to get out of the way and stamp down “that ugly feeling” that the best of us have at times. If there is a single bristle on a man’s back it will rise on an uncomfortable rainy day in camp. If a man is a gentleman he keeps his coat on and it bothers no one but his own conscience; but a surly grumbler, a gourmand who must have just what he wants to eat, irrespective of how much trouble it may make, or a selfish, lazy man, will disturb the feelings of all the rest.

And a word of advice here. Constitute one man, the best-posted and most equal-tempered man in the party, as captain; and when a man makes himself obnoxious and will not be reasoned with, let the captain call assistance, if necessary, and either cool him off in the nearest lake or quietly escort him to the nearest point of embarkation and bid him a long farewell; at all events, remember next year that he is not eligible for membership.

Make the party small (four is enough, three is better), for many reasons. There is less chance for argument, crowding is avoided, and transportation facilitated. If the party is necessarily larger, divide it up into squads, so that the man in charge of the party may not have all his own fun spoiled in attending to the needs of others. Make one man paymaster and do not ask him to shoulder the whole expense of the trip, but make an estimate of the cost and hand over your share in advance. Then when the trip is over, cheerfully settle up, and if you are not wholly satisfied, do not put up a kick, but swallow the dose and remember it the next time.

More than that, always remember that life is too short to grumble or fight, and if any campmate makes himself too obnoxious, get rid of him, or manage to get a letter calling you home on important business. You go to camp to get needed rest and escape the fights of a busy life, and no man has a right to interfere with another’s pleasure; always provided that the other party behaves like a man himself.

Now let us suppose that you have procured your outfits, selected your camp ground, and have arrived at the place. Set to work quickly to select a site for the tent, and get it ready for occupancy at once. All hands take hold under the direction of your captain, and the work will all be over in a short time. Pitch the tent and get your beds ready; make a fireplace and get wood for a fire, so the cook will be able to tend strictly to his cooking. If Joe or Tom grabs his rod the moment it is taken from the conveyance, unless he is so ordered by the captain, just insert your fingers under his coat collar and politely kick a little sense into him.

When you get your first meals do not give way to the abnormal appetite always generated by fresh air and exercise, but eat moderately until you get accustomed to the changed conditions, and thus avoid a multitude of ills. It is disgusting to a sensible man to see a campmate gorge himself and then wake everyone in the small hours of the night groaning with colic. A sick man in camp is a nuisance at the best, and if the sickness is caused by the sufferer’s own fault he will hardly get much sympathy.

Again, if you have any liquor in camp, put it in the hands of the most level-headed man in the party, and use it only moderately. I am not preaching a temperance lecture, but the use of liquor should be in moderation, if used at all. When drinking, hunting and fishing go together, the hunting and fishing get poor attention.

The first night that you are in camp will probably be destitute of many of the conveniences, for you seldom get well settled. About all that is really necessary is to get the beds well established and a light supper prepared.

The next day, get all the camp luxuries fixed up. Make some hooks on the trunks of the nearest trees to hang the odds and ends on. These may be nails, or they may be forked twigs pinned to the wood. Sort out the provisions and put them where they will keep sweet and dry. Do not lay the pork on the sugar bag, nor the salt against anything else.

The beds are of prime necessity. If you must economize on anything, let it not be on the bedding. If you are where you can get plenty of fir or spruce boughs, you have the finest bed in the world. Cut a large supply and spread them over the sleeping place. Start with the larger pieces and lay a row along the head of the bunking place. Then work toward the foot, lapping them like shingles till the bed is at least seven feet long. Next start again at the head and put on another layer, forcing the butts down into the first layer. Continue this process, using smaller branches with each layer, finishing off with the fine tips on top. Make this bed as thick as you can, for it will settle with use. When you have nothing else to do, put some more fir tips on the top. Lay the rubber blankets on this, and make up each man’s blanket separately, so that he can easily crawl into it and cover up, without disturbing the others.

If “fir browse” is scarce or absent, make a pole bed. Cut four sticks with a crotch at one end. They should be at least three inches in diameter. Force these into the ground so that the head and foot of the bed shall be about seven feet apart, and so placed that poles of about the same size shall lie across the head and foot. Across the poles lay other smaller ones close together till the frame is wide enough to accommodate the party. On this foundation lay the brush or dry leaves.

When nothing else is available, and I am in a camp that is to be permanent, I generally buy a bale of cheap hay, if I can get it. There is generally a farmer who can supply it, or it can be obtained at the point of disembarkation and brought in with the luggage. This may seem fussy, but I am supposed to be writing for the benefit of people who are accustomed to soft beds, and who come to camp to enjoy themselves. If you wish to “rough it,” spread your blanket for one night on the ground beneath the starry sky. The next night you will have a bed made.

A convenient bed is made of a strip of canvas, 6½ feet square, doubled and sewn together at the sides, with the ends open. When you put it up, drive four crotched sticks into the ground at the four corners and stretch on poles placed on these crotches.

The next important adjunct is the camp fire. It seems almost superfluous to tell a man how to build a fire, but it is an old saying, that “It takes a wise man or a fool to make a good fire.” I take it the reader classes himself as neither. The cooking fire will be the most important. If you have flat stones, lay up a fireplace, placing the stones close enough together so that the fire will play all around the kettle, and with a space long enough to hang two pots. It is a good idea to have a low place in front wide enough to set on the fry pan, and high enough so that you may haul the live coals between them. This will save you holding the pan in your hand all the time you are using it.

If you are in a permanent camp where there are plenty of rocks, build a pier of stones about three feet high, leaving a hollow in the center for a fireplace, which may have a bottom of turf.

This device will save a good many back aches. Make the fireplace at the back a little narrower than the fry pan, and wider at the front. On this you may boil your potatoes, make your coffee, and fry your fish at the same time. The rocks will hold the heat, and food may be kept warm while waiting, if care is taken to have the stones on the top flat and level; in fact, I have often stewed fruit, etc., with the dish on the edge of the fireplace.

In temporary camp, cut three logs, about a foot in diameter; lay one for a back log, two for side logs, build your fire on top with small stuff, and when it falls in coals you have a convenient place to set your fry pan, coffee can, etc.

Remember that a small fire is better than a large one. With the latter you cook your face more than your food, and there is more liability of spoiling the cooking.

Hard wood is better than pine or spruce; the coals are what you want, and the longer they will remain hot the better for the cook. By no means use hemlock or cedar, as the sparks fly all over everything, burning the towels and the cook, soiling the food and setting fire to the surrounding dry leaves.

Although I prefer “frying pan bread,” I want an oven to bake beans, fish, etc., and construct it as follows: Dig a hole in the ground, preferably on the side of a knoll; line it with rocks, if possible; build a fire of hard wood within it and keep it up for a half hour at least, till the rocks or the surrounding earth is very hot; rake out the coals and ashes, leaving three to four inches of live coals and ash in the bottom. Put in whatever you have to bake, cover with the ashes. The length of this operation will depend upon so many conditions that it will be impossible to set a time, but a little experience will soon settle the question.

The evening camp fire is a great comfort, and is an altogether different proposition. Select a place in front of the tent, and some ways from it, and place a big log, or pile up several smaller ones with stakes to hold them in place, for a back log. Build the fire in front of it. Start the bottom with fine dry chips, branches, or shavings, place larger dry branches on these and top off with good sized pieces. After it is well alight, it will consume damp or even green wood. The back log will reflect the heat into the tent, and will hold the fire for a long time.

Supposing that you wake in the morning with a steady rain pouring down. Do not try to make a shift with “cold grub.” That is the time you need a warm meal. Put your rubber blanket over your shoulders, and go out. If you are wise, you will have prepared a store of dry soft wood, which will be stored in the tent, but if you have used it up or have neglected this precaution, hunt up a pine log or a dead pine tree, and chop off the outside; you will find plenty of dry wood inside. Rake open the ashes in the camp fire, where you will probably find plenty of live coals, put on your dry chips, cover with pine, fir or spruce boughs, blow up the fire and you will soon have heat enough to keep the tent dry, and coals enough to cook by. It will take a pretty hard rain to put out a good fire if once under headway.

If there are any mosquitoes, as when are there not, fasten the netting over the opening of the tent. Hard wood splinters will do the trick. Keep this netting in place as much as possible. It is much easier to keep these pests out, than to get them out afterwards. If these insects are too troublesome use the Insect Repellent freely. There are numerous preparations which can be purchased ready made. The most of them answer the purpose very well. But if you wish to make it yourself, the following recipe, furnished me by Dr. L. O. Howard, the U. S. Entomologist, is easily mixed and very good.

The recipe furnished by “Nessmuk,” one of the best old sportsmen that the country ever knew, is made as follows:

Simmer the tar and castor oil together; when well amalgamated add the oil of pennyroyal, and set to cool. It is well not to have the mixture too warm when the pennyroyal is added, because it may evaporate, and it is the real life of the mixture. Bottle and cork it tight. Use copiously and you will have no trouble with the pests of the woods. It is equally efficacious for black flies, mosquitoes or horse flies, and will do no injury to the skin. Please wash your hands, however, before you mix the bread.