The Situational WoodsWalk

[Hungry Horse]

Rich;

  I guarantee nothing will streamline your gear faster. You will be astounded at how much a smaller kit, in the most convenient carry spot, can make you a contender. The best part of these events, if set up correctly, is it's a lot more about thinking your way through it, than fighting your way through it. The problem is if you are pretty good at thinking your way through one of these courses, you inadvertently train those who set it up. Back in the day I did quite a few of these, and help run a few as well. Back when Seneca runs were all the rage I won a few of those as well, using the same techniques, less stuff, easy access, compete with your brain. Always concentrate on what they forgot to outlaw. I won a Seneca run years ago that had been dominated by a couple of young shooters, for several years in a row. I showed up at the start with no shooting bag, no powder measure, no
patching material, and no short starter. I had a hawk, a knife, a powder horn, my rifle, and a fire lighting kit. The run was in a dry creek bed, so no shot was over about sixty yards. I poured the powder into my palm, dropped it down the barrel at a dog trot between targets. Dropped an undersized ball down the bore, and bumped the butt against the ground to seat it. You should have heard them scream. They just hate it when an old fat guy outsmarts them.

 Hungry Horse

[Mike_StL]

Dave, that's  my neck of the woods. Looks like I need to hone my skills. I have more time open now for such things.

There are two Woods Walks held at Fort de Chartres during the year.  I believe that February is the time of the situational woods walk.  The other Woods Walk is the Fall Woods Walk.  That is held on the first full weekend of the year.  This year is November 3 to the 5th.  On Friday the team captains gather for the revealing of the scenario and the assigning of the time slots.  Scenarios are for a five member team.

What makes November special is that the group preparing the scenario for the Woods Walk is chosen from the 2nd through 5th place finishers the year before.  Each year the scenario is different by time from roughly the 1740s through 1780s.  Basic knowledge of local history can be useful along with the standard skill set needed by someone in the woods.  Yes, thinking your way through some of the situations can be more beneficial to your final score than shooting your way out of station.

[T*O*F]

Yes, thinking your way through some of the situations can be more beneficial to your final score than shooting your way out of station.

It took me several years to figure out that overall time was more important than shooting every single target.  For instance during the ambushes with multiple hostiles, each man would shoot two and then we would break contact and move on rather than wasting time to shoot all of them.  My team went from finishing last to 3rd place and it was a team made up of stragglers who didn't have a team.  All the hotshots I used to shoot with came in last again.

[nosrettap1958]

Would be great to see more ML clubs holding these events but it takes participation. Our club required you to participate in maintaining the 'woods walk' range at least once a year to be in 'Good Standing.' 

[Hungry Horse]

The survival walk I was involved in scored the elapsed time, but it wasn't worth passing up targets for. If you make it a speed event you increase the danger of an accident, and eliminate a lot of the thinking. If it becomes a shoot and scoot event it benefits the young and strong, and doesn't teach them to think their way through the event. Things like loading behind a log, without exposing yourself, and tree in up, when ambushed, were some of the hardest things to teach the team members.

  Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

Is say a 20 or 24 ha smoothbore often a gun of choice for these or are some better suited for rifle work due to range?  Figuring my spring/summer smoothbore build.

[Mike_StL]

Each woods walk depends on the target set up.  At Fort de Chartres,  a smooth bore is not at a disadvantage for most targeys.  Most teams have a mix of rifles and smooth bores.

[Osprey]

These sound cool as all get out, wish there were some close in the East.  I'm running our club woodswalk this weekend and my biggest worry is one of the old guys tripping over an errant stick and breaking a hip - something like y'all are describing we'd need a wheelchair lane!

[Longknife]

Fort de Chartes has a fall woodswalk 1st full weekend in Nov. 5 man teams.

Mr. Bingham, Little Joe, and Longknife, we should get together. Red Bud and Alton are close by to me. Little Joe, where are you?  PM or email me at richpierceetl@gmail.com

I'm game, haven't competed there in 20 years though!

Is say a 20 or 24 ha smoothbore often a gun of choice for these or are some better suited for rifle work due to range?  Figuring my spring/summer smoothbore build.

When we won the event we had in our possession, a 12 gauge trade gun (mine) two Charleville muskets and a 20 gauge fowler. I competed in several events with an eleven ga. musketoon and did real good, they hold more BUCK!!!!

[Mike_StL]

The most recent Woods Walks at Fort de Chartres have restricted the loading to single ball.  At most of the ranges, a buck and ball load gives too much advantage to the smooth bores. 

Yes, this was an up front rule made clear at the initial team meeting.

Buck and ball might have meant more targets down foe using an 11 gauge long land pattern musket.

[Hungry Horse]

Years ago we did an event on our range called "The Stand". The property we had been using for our Rendezvous had changed hands from the Army Corps of Engineers, to the B.L.M. And the latter wouldn't close public access for the two day event.
 So, we tried to come up with an event in the spirit of our Rendezvous, that we could do on our range. We collected a bunch of old pallets, discarded appliance boxes, and partial cans of house paint. We cut the pallets to represent a crumbling adobe wall when all were nailed together, with highs, and lows. We covered it with cardboard and painted it to resemble the remnants of an old structure. All shots would be prone, shot from behind the wall. All loading would on your back, behind the wall. Exposure for more that just a moment got you a draw from the penalty bag, be it when loading, or when firing. Bullets were limited to 8 rounds apiece. The targets were of the steel fall down type. They had their own wall, with highs, lows, and a couple of gun ports. This wall although much like the one we were shooting behind, was filled with loose dirt. So arent shots create a dirt cloud that made accuracy a problem. The event had a wind up timer going, and when the timer sounded off you were done. Unshot  targets got you a draw from the penalty bag. You got points for period clothing, but it wasn't required. So, newbies could compete right along with the old timers.

 Hungry Horse

[nosrettap1958]

That sounds like another great event that could turn into a great recruiting tool. Additionally, bring the period correct firearm but come as you are.

[Tim Crosby]

 Did I miss it? How large an area do you have to have for an event like these? Just curious.

  Tim C.

[Hungry Horse]

Tim ;

  The shooting wall took up five or six shooting stations, on our firing line. Our range is 200 meters long, but the wall was between seventy five, and a hundred yards from the firing line. We had six teams of five shooters.The filling the target side wall with dirt was to keep somebody's stray shot from clipping a support, and taking the whole wall down. The dirt clouds were a bonus the we had'nt planned on, but really made it seem real.

  Hungry Horse

[Longknife]

Did I miss it? How large an area do you have to have for an event like these? Just curious.

  Tim C.

Tim, the area that is used at DeChartre is hundreds of acres. It is the  area between the levee and the river, it consists of woods and fields with a lot of water ways too. I used to put on a woodswalk for a local club on the club owned 40 acres but probably less than 10 was used for the actual walk. The land had two valleys running parallel to one another. We would walk up the first valley and all shots would be to the left, then we would curve to the right, over the top and down the next valley still shooting to the left so we ended up at the starting point....most targets were steel hit or miss targets that would swing or reset themselves. If there was a target that needed scored it was close to the trail  so the scorekeeper could score it as the team walked by. We made a couple of moving targets that would swing out from behind a tree or "run" across the path on a wire, and they were hooked up to small stationary "guns" that were loaded with BP and shot gun wads fired by percussions caps on trip wires so when a "target" jumped out from behind a tree it would "shoot" at you. You had to shoot before the target did and hit the target, if you missed you had to draw from the "bag of death" to see if you got hit. A white poker chip meant you were not hit, a blue one meant you were wounded and a red chip meant you died. If you drew two blue chips during the course you would also be considered "dead"...Those were FUN days!!!!!!!!!!!

[bgf]

Now this stuff sounds like fun!  Re-enactment with an edge.

In my experience, a lot of woodswalks seem to have been diluted over time in order to accommodate the muzzle loading demographic, but I've often thought more activity might attract and retain a younger group.  The solution to reconcile the two requirements is still eluding me, but I think some elements of the situational type scenario combined with branching paths, choices of tasks (eg one requiring some youth/dexterity, the other more experience/skill), in general more engagement and variety, might make it possible to keep everybody happy and coming back.  Backwoods Dungeons and Dragons, after a fashion.

Sorry to ramble, just wanted to thank you for a very interesting post!

[nosrettap1958]

It not like you will need all that much room for these events either with black powder firearms. Building materials can be had and various obstacles erected pretty cheaply if everyone pitches in. You're only limited by your imagination and if that's the case post here for some ideas.