Nature Daddy

Nature Daddy Bushcraft, survival and outdoor adventure from Alberta, Canada. Field tested gear. Real trips. Shelter builds, fire craft, hunting and fishing.
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soft weekends leave no marks.blisters, bug bites, and a sunburned neck. that’s the recipe for a day actually lived. spli...
05/09/2026

soft weekends leave no marks.

blisters, bug bites, and a sunburned neck. that’s the recipe for a day actually lived. splitting rounds until the gloves are soaked through and the handle has worn a groove into both palms.

nobody films this part. the hauling, the splitting, the sweat running into your eyes while the bugs find your neck. but this is most of it. the payoff is ten minutes. the work is ten hours.

we’d take it every time.

what wrecks you faster on a long day out, the axe work or the hauling?

the fire was the only thing on the listwe hauled the wood in, stacked the tripod, and let the light go out of the valley...
05/09/2026

the fire was the only thing on the list

we hauled the wood in, stacked the tripod, and let the light go out of the valley on its own time. no build to finish, no catch to clean, nothing that needed doing. just two guys and a fire doing what fire does.

some of the best nights out here have nothing to show for them afterward. no photos worth much, no story that lands right when you tell it. just good coals and somebody sitting across from them.

when you get a night like this one, are you the guy tending the fire or the guy sitting back letting it burn?

05/09/2026

seventy five rocks in one day

every one of them carried by hand from the creek bed up to the build site. the shelter needs a solid stone base or the whole thing sinks come spring. no shortcuts on this part. by rock forty the arms stop complaining and the legs take over. by rock seventy you stop counting and just move.

slow work, but it is the work that holds everything else up.

would you haul them one at a time or rig a sled and drag ten per trip?

bucking rounds before the cold shows up.nothing fancy here. bow saw, a fallen spruce, and an afternoon of steady work. t...
04/09/2026

bucking rounds before the cold shows up.

nothing fancy here. bow saw, a fallen spruce, and an afternoon of steady work. the buck saw does not care how strong you are, it cares whether you keep a rhythm. let the blade do the cutting and it goes easy. force it and you will be resting every third stroke.

this is the part of bushcraft nobody films. no fire, no shelter reveal, just wood getting shorter one round at a time. but every warm night in camp this winter traces straight back to an afternoon like this one.

what is your go to saw for camp wood, folding or full bow?

04/09/2026

we found clay so we made mortar

no bags, no mix, just what was already in the ground. water worked in slow until it held its shape, then every stone got bedded in it before the next one went on. the wall pulls tight as it dries. this is the base course for the a frame shelter and it has to carry weight, so slow beats fast here.

would you mortar the full wall or dry stack the top course?

03/09/2026

Digging post holes for the bushcraft cabin. How deep should we be digging these holes?

03/09/2026

The ground has got to be leveled at the A frame bushcraft shelter. We dug some gravel, loaded it on a tarp, and carried it to the build site to level the area

03/09/2026

Blue Heron showed up at the pond today

02/09/2026

the notch does all the work here.

we spent longer on this cut than on anything else so far. the ridge pole carries the whole a frame, so the notch has to sit the uprights without wobble and without cutting so deep that the pole loses its strength. shallow and clean beats deep and fast every time. a few passes with the axe, then the saw to square it off, then a test fit before we commit. it seated first try and that felt good.

next up is lashing the uprights and getting the first rafters on.

do you cut your notch into the ridge pole or into the uprights?

02/09/2026

the bark has to come off first.

green bark holds moisture against the wood and that is where the rot starts. so every post for the a frame gets run down with the draw knife before it goes anywhere near the frame. pull toward you, let the bevel ride, and follow the grain instead of fighting it. the shavings pile up fast and the post comes out clean and pale underneath.

takes longer than most people expect. worth every minute when the shelter is still standing in five years.

draw knife or bark spud, which one are you reaching for?

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