Woodlife Trails

Some people like them and some don’t. They go under various names. Nessmuk called them ‘ditty bags’ (pic) which is a sailors term. He described his as 4 inches by 6 inches with a long strap and contents ranging from buttons to fish hooks. Klephart, however, disliked them stating that they were either too heavy to wear on a belt or dangled “… provokingly when you lean over…” The original Mountain Men, according to some, called them possible pouches, but they were in fact bags. Out of all this then, we have an array of names, but the function or should I say function of the contents seems to be the same and that is to make life as easy as ‘possible’ in the wilderness.

As I have both a pouch and a bag (no surprise there) I’ll differentiate between the two by calling the larger bag a shoulder bag and the pouch …er… a pouch. I’ve experimented with various bags and contents for the shoulder bag. I started off with a camera bag, but the long width (rather than height) made carriage quite prohibitive when wearing a rucksack. I quite fancied the Indiana Jones type shoulder bag and found that this was in fact a WW2 gas mask bag. I bought a couple off Ebay for £10 each and they seemed to do the job size wise.

I thought I had found the ultimate bag when I bought a Raider bag (photo), which is a larger and more expensive version of the gas mask bag. This bag had the additional advantage of having backs straps as well as a shoulder strap. I still use this excellent bag as a small day sack, but guess what…it’s a little too big for normal use. The beige colour also put me off a bit as it attracts dirt like no other colour. I don’t usually mind dirt on kit, but even putting the bag down for a second seemed to attract copious amounts of mud. I finally settled for a German army version of the gas mask bag. This one has the advantage or having a waterproof lining and ‘flektarn’ colour. It has 4 compartments, 2 being able to carry a 1/2 or 3/4 litre bottle of fluid. The other 2 longer compartments are ideal for carrying light tools.

I have standardised the contents over the last year and carry more or less the same content for every excursion. Looking at the photo and starting at 12 o’clock working clockwise we have: sandpaper (for wood projects), 4×4 meters of green string, tinder (dried grass and birch bark), field notebook, the bag itself, Bahco folding saw, Frost Clipper knife, hook knife, soft leather gloves, container with nuts and raisons, bag containing throwaway lighter and a sachet of fuel gel. Not shown are binos and the camera. There will also be another tool addition next week (all being well) which I’m not going to reveal just yet. It should fit in nicely. Guesses in the comments area please… Oh, come on! I’ve got to have some fun on here!

So there we have it. My shoulder/tool/possible’s/ditty bag to make life a little more comfortable in the woods. The contents are easy to get at and they are the most commonly used items as well as (in addition to the pouch) acting as a modular part of a larger survival kit. I’ll describe the contents of the pouch in another post. In the shoulder bag there’s still room for a few sandwiches, a small flask of tea and even a small tarp if necessary. Try it. You may like it. By the way, for the record and with apologies to Klephart, I don’t find that this bag dangles ‘provokingly’ at all.

If you’ve not read last weekend’s post yet, scroll down, otherwise thanks for the visit.

Pablo