The Practical Woodsman
Education • Travel • Preparedness
The Practical Woodsman is a way to share love of the wilderness, as well as my observations, thinking, and approach to what folks today are calling 'bushcraft' and 'survival'. The focus is on what is practical, as well as pointing out certain things being demonstrated by 'bushcrafters' today that are not practical at all.
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The Aviator (1985)

I just saw the movie The Aviator (1985) last night with Christopher Reeve and Rosanna Arquette. It’s actually not a movie about flying as much as it is a movie about wilderness survival. If you’ve been on the fence about watching it, I can say that I enjoyed it.

There’s some childish cliches about it, like a whole subplot involving scary wolves. But the shot-on-location scenery is spectacular, as are the costumes. I caught myself wondering what I’d do throughout most of the movie, and that’s probably the best part about movies like this - it gives your imagination a chance to play through certain scenarios.

One example: Arquette is injured and Reeve needs to be able to transport her, but he doesn’t have the energy to carry her. So he builds an Indian “travois” from a few trees (those platform-like things that could be pulled behind horses or behind a man pulling it).

Anyway, I’m watching Reeve pull her on this thing and I’m thinking, that’s way too short. If he made those poles much longer in length and put her down at the tail end of it back behind him, it would require about half the energy to pull her around like that…

But I really enjoyed the film. It’s one you can watch around your kids no problem. I recommend it, it was fun. It’s currently available on Prime, but will be gone by the end of the week.

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What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
September 08, 2026
Yotes (Coyotes)

In Appalachia they get confused as ‘haints’ or otherworldly creatures roaming the dark woods. Hearing this, you can probably understand why. They make a downright spooky sound in the dark, Appalachian backwoods!

00:00:24
September 02, 2026
WARNING: Otters & Bears Teaming Up

We need Alfred Hitchcock to come back and do a movie about this.

In all seriousness, I’m glad both people are ok.

Have you ever been attacked by an unlikely animal? I almost got into a fist fight with a white-tailed deer once. My grandpappy’s hens always tried to kill me when grandma would send me to the henhouse to collect eggs. I’ve had a few feisty run-ins with geese. On another occasion, a shrew about the size of my pinky toe didn’t like me camping near her burrow and she was going at me pretty heavy.

00:01:50
August 31, 2026
Grand Canyon Flash Flooding
00:01:01
PW 217: The River Don’t Care How Much Mountain You’ve Walked

The River Don’t Care How Much Mountain You've Walked

September 08, 2026

It’s gettin’ serious…

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September 08, 2026

I like this picture I took of these three tomaters from my garden. The colors of each one compliments the colors of the others.

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