Shawn James and Joe Robinet Interview: Bushcraft and Winter Camping

Description

Join me as I interview Joe Robinet and Scout, learning how they winter camp and what Joe's plans are for his YouTube channel in 2017.

Tags: joe robinet,shawn james,self reliance,winter camping,atuk,bushcraft,survival,camping,dogs,fire,ontario,canada,outdoors,outdoorsman,alone,survivor,canon 80d,tent

Video Transcription

[Music]

morning Sean James here and I'm standing in the woods with the gym faster Joel robinette mr. Robinette himself and we're Joe spent the night here winter camping it's December 23rd today so just before Christmas we had some good bit of snow in the last couple weeks up here up in central Ontario but we'll get some warm temperatures the snow is starting to pack down really damp right now and these kind of conditions for winter camping are actually more challenging than - you know 20 or minus 30 because the dampness in the air really sucks the the heat out of your body so you can get hypothermic pretty quick so I'd like to winter camp to sit under the stars or under a tarp or something myself preferably especially when I'm on my own but realizing that not everybody wants to do that and my family members in particular and friends would rather stay in a hot tent so really looking for a good hot tent this year and want to maybe change my camping winter camping style to make it a little bit more comfortable for other people so a lot of tents on the market winter camping is a hot thing right now and there's a lot of options out there it's a little bit confusing not just for for people that are just getting new into winter camping even for myself I've been doing it for 30 years and I'm confused so Joe's been kind enough to show me his little setup here with the top ten so Joe what do you think what one of the specs on it again what kind of tent is it and what are the dimensions well you're not the only one confused so I'm just generally confused all right we have a 9 by 9 a took kang-wook it's from Quebec Canada have a small wood stove inside it's good it's a good setup it's small though like the whole setup when I'm when I'm packed up the tent and in the snow but it's 18 pounds okay but I had a snow trucker tent last year and the stove and the tent setup was 60 pounds you know what I mean so there is it's a huge difference but it's still it's still big it's still bulky I was able to break pull it in on a pulk a small pulk everything with a duffel bag

and it was okay it didn't tip it was it felt fine I wanted to do that I wanted to test this out for a real trip you know what I mean look our big week-long wilderness trip and it worked okay pulling work okay setting up is a bit sketchy too you have to make sure that the points that the higher up timeout points are pulled out far it just takes a little bit of tweaking but I think yeah that exactly like that where I didn't even tie that one up the other ones I did but this is the first time setting up I was by myself and it was raining I think for anything other than two people it would be too small I think two people is the max and that's what it's meant forests a 2-person with me and Scout it was plenty of room so the things that are seem to be typical on the winter tents like Joe said a cotton or a canvas and this free I'll put the name of the material on this do we met you were confused the the top has this spark arrestor on it which is kind of cool you can actually turn it and have it blocking the rain or being an actual spark arrestor I didn't have it like that because it does hinder the draw just a touch it's not the biggest deal in the world but just something to note so one of the things about a spark arrestor you want to make sure that doesn't get plugged up so you can have debris Sparks and you know bigger sparks or birchbark whatever if it goes up the chimney and gets caught in that spark arrestor tends to start collecting there and if it has a lot of resin in it like bark birch bark does it can plug up that that spark arrestor so you don't wanna be careful of that if you have a wood stove a fireplace at home you might know this it might have experienced a creosote buildup typically as from running cold fire so you want to really want the first fire each time your when you get your camp set up and get your your stove set up you should get a really hot fire and try to burn all that creosote

say it seems counterintuitive but with stovepipes this top plate went inside this pipe and you think well for smoke draw wouldn't it be better if the pipe that went over top because you know he just you're thinking okay there's no edge for it to catch against but in reality what happens when you melt that creosote with a hot fire if you have this stovepipe over top of this one creosote it runs down the outside and gets all over everything and that can catch on fire very dangerous and it's already happened yeah right yeah that red pine super resin II yeah but I don't mind it like it does I don't care about the looks but yeah I definitely like you're saying if it catches on fire on the outside that's a whole different story for sure yeah so these pipes because you're you get such variable heat this is a small firebox that all the stoves which is great it's good for convenience they're small fire boxes but you can't get a big roaring flare or you have to keep feeding it right so you tend to have cooler fires that are just slowly smoldering away that builds up the creosote so you know these pipes are prone to of to building up crews so when you have the bird another but they're light and they're very convenient yeah so I would just open up the damper all the way to for that right and burn it all the way up yeah true yeah yeah so at night you turn that damper down so it's basically closed the pipes almost closed off so you get a lot more air circulation in there burns off all the gases before it goes up the chimney so it's slow burning and it's a fissure yeah yeah I got the stove up on these wooden blocks just so that it wouldn't melt down farther into the into the ground you can see here if you can see there it's it's melting down I packed all the snow down as opposed to moving it away because then the grounds all uneven it's a lot of work but yeah you can see a good idea to use to put it up on those those wooden blocks the tent actual events so you can completely warmth in there but it really does get hot in there because it's so small and you're so close to the northern huh Oh unbearably like if I see 100 degrees if you stand up oh all ridiculous I I have my my thermometer up there was 39 degrees within a minute one minute but you can vent it from the top so the zipper there's a second zipper that you can vent that's cool yeah and then there is a vent on the top on the other side as well so yeah it is all about regulating it it's like like you're saying you can have I could put two pieces of wood in there and have it just throwing it rip roarin and be hot hot pot like crazy but then the fire is gone cuz the dampers open and then everything but yeah regulating it with my some small pieces and then a nice big piece and then closing the damper seems to work good yeah good to know so here so the space like joe said about two people conveniently in there and you remember in winter you have a lot more gear to store two or inc so I'll show you what it looks like inside there's Joe in his bed and Joe behind it's a guy - Joe Joe and scout and actually scout slept in here was a great where he is now or call from the blackett yeah scout just cool lots of people have dogs I'd like to take camping and what they're camping is great for it'll actually I like prefer to bring a dog went there camping in the summer yeah they're dry and they're having fun in the snow it just it's cool he was acting like a puppy when we first got here yeah after a while his old man kicked in but yeah that's cool Joe's on the other side of the tent which is a nice spot instead of blocking the doorway and having people dog stepping on you all night trying to get it your gear yeah so you can see if it is a little tight so this is you said nine by nine nine by nine I would two people I'd be here I didn't have somebody there you know yeah and even if this is pegged out a little bit better you know I mean you could adjust it a bit better and this stove doesn't have to be here it could be true because it almost seems like it should be this way

I don't know and then maybe the other person would be here yeah just fed from yeah better there exactly yeah and you might even have to face it kind of towards the door even maybe two feet if you had two people right you could work it work it be fun yeah

and ideally spruce-bough floor yeah so that's another things you'll see Joe sitting on it he brought of a thunder sex art by 5x7 island okay so he's got an underside and then I was sleeping pad yeah the ground cheating a sleeping pad so I've only been winter camping in one winter can't era tent before and it was a boat like 0-2 and the ground thawed out and then so what happens you're creating this heat sink like a basically a big pool as you melt down all the snow inside that tent just like Jill said it gets very hot so it's sinks down you end up lower than everything around you so any heat that gets to the side melts and all that flows in on you you're actually sitting in at like a pool by the end of the weekend so you want to be careful that like Joe said spruce boughs on the underground helps big - yeah or people bring like those pads like the floor yeah playroom floor stuff pence how much you get into it right and like all do different solid winter can't be like little cold camping tomorrow it's no big deal is that I don't need to be hot tent kind of guy but it's just another option that's true I question the I'm gonna feel the warmth question a little bit the the usefulness I guess of a of a winter tent for short trips because like Joe said you can cold camp I'm quite comfortable in a warm sleeping bag but fire fire with a power pole for me if it's snowing I'm not sure I'd want to set this up unless I was out for maybe a week I think that makes sense nice to have a nice warm base camp to come back to even if like you're with a few guys and you don't have to you don't have to camp in here this could be like a yeah a dry Oh warm up hangout spot you know if there if there's too many people just to camp in it you can fit three chairs three small camp chairs and here no problem you know I really like that it's a kind of a idea it's like a man cave or a portable yeah forum we sit around and eat yeah he's right come you know and like if if you're on a week-long winter camping trip I don't care your stuff is going to get wet you know whether it's condensation sweat regardless your sleeping bag is not going to be rated the same as it was to have somewhere like this or you could obviously you can't hang your sim bag up over top of it there's not enough room but just to have it in here to dry out and warm up before your bed will be a plus two that's true it's it's a very good point you underestimate a whole condensation effects your gear over a week one night my second bag especially in a bivy it's like I'm like shaking ice crystals off in the morning it's so much moistures in it so it's a that's a great point and you imagine ice fishing or something you're sitting out on the lake -20 all day it's nice to come back to somewhere warm get out of the out of the wind especially they greet now it's calm but winter off and his high winds and you know frigid wind chill factor's so nice to have this little shelter know you could build a small little Bush chair in here too if you wanted but yeah yeah a chair would be ideal because like guys last night I'm sitting on the ground here and I'm warm but my lower back is not getting any warm at all if I was like literally up two feet not even a foot I would be just roasting and and the stove is higher up to right because the imagine that yeah being a pyramid shape but imagine the heat really concentrates higher you like I put my gloves up there to dry they're dry in a second yeah I like it I think I think this bat talks on to something I think it's a good design like Joe said down to how many pounds you say that 118 near a stove and yeah that's that's amazing it's you know it's not hard to pull no and the the bulkiness of it really is the stove like the tent I can get into I'd say a 20 liter dry bag well it's not bad yeah yeah and the thing about the stoves is collapsible stole like complete fold up 1-zip but they're pretty chintzy I don't I don't know how long they're gonna last and how convenient they're gonna be to put together like one that's already kind of a sound-alike

yeah it's it's sturdy mm-hmm definitely you can get the tables for the sides and everything

no that would this yeah okay you gotta hang off like shelf yeah cool where you gonna I like it hey guys sean james here for my self-reliance and I'm here with Jill Robinette and scout from Joe Robinette bushcraft we're just talking about around camp here but all their all the bushcraft stuff out there and I've I'm fairly new to the YouTube world and an online social media and and the term bushcraft I've been doing I guess what could be called Bush crops and says about eight years old my mother gave me a book called two little savages by Ernest Thomas Seaton who was one of the founders of the of the Scout Movement in the States and Ernest Thompson Seton is actually from Toronto and his stories that he wrote about being a boy girl going to the woods and practicing bushcraft were just north of Toronto so I really related to that so I've been doing it since then but I never I kind of got away from that and I just became an outdoorsman and never thought of the bushcraft thing as as a specific hobby or genre I think it was actually Joe's channel that I came across first it's looking for something up on hunch bushcraft or I didn't call bushcraft like something to do with the outdoors and I thought hey this is pretty cool this chill guys pretty cool and but what's this bushcraft thing I've never heard of this so so it started just paying more attention watching more jealous videos and some other guys videos and I came to the conclusion that just recently a different conclusion I'll get back to that later but swann - Joe about how he got started and in bushcraft and outdoors and well you know who his inspirations were and so on so so Joe if I could just ask you that what what got one made you get into bushcraft where did you get started in this like yourself I really didn't know that there was a term called bushcraft or a certain anything and I really still feel feel like it could be considered a whole bunch of different things but when I started off I liked being outside I liked going and playing in the woods and I did that all the time and I would follow animal tracks around and follow animals and build forts because that's what they were their forts and yeah just hung out outside as much as I could possibly be later on started watching things like um believe it or not like Little House on the Prairie Grizzly Adams you know things like no doors he kind of pioneer and I really just just loved it i I've always felt like I I wanted to live back then so when I first when I first started actually getting into bushcraft I watched guys like Ray Mears Les Stroud who obviously I was more survival but more ski Han ski I bought the book called northern bushcraft but more ski Hanson even before they revised it made it called just bushcraft and I really just studied that thing and I could quote that thing that was the Bible to me right okay cool so go out and I practice things and now my Forte's started becoming to shelters and I taught myself the bow drill I took me about a year to do it with practice and repetitive trying trying trying before YouTube videos even before the internet was it was flooded with that stuff so yeah that was really my basic start to a kick off when I first got that boat drill call after after a year of trying you know I mean I was like I felt like I could do anything and that's just some some kind small little part of it but it like created this spark in me no pun intended

ah and ya know I just been doing ever since so I've flown out to Missouri and Iowa a few times to camp and learn from Iowa woodsmen okay his real name's Terry Barney he's a serum sere instructor you know she has a YouTube channel Iowa woodsman very very knowledgeable guy trained under people who have trained with Ray Mears and and more ski and ski and things like that Tom Lucian's yeah I went there three four times I started I did a guest instructor spot for him a couple times as well how long ago would this event that was five or six years ago now at least yeah at least six years ago now yeah and then so the the YouTube thing started off with me making videos for for a forum called bushcraft USA that I was a member of okay where Terry Barney Iowa wasn't was a part of and he would do these these classes called bush class and he was an online free learning thing and you would just submit your Ease video yeah what exactly okay how are you doing one of the things one of this chores one of the tasks exactly cool yeah it just bought so long from there people started to like it and and it just kept going going going going you know I'm not on that forum at all then you see you two has just taken over everything for me YouTube is moving mm-hmm yes something so something joe says yes laughing his intern remember what point I came up cuz he rambled off for so I do that I do that it's funny because as an outdoorsman you lots of guys do this stuff naturally you go out under the guise of hunting like I was a hunter if you were asked me ten years ago what I am when I'm not working of basically a hunter well what a hunter meant to me it was maybe different than what it means for other hunters I would go out like for a week or two out into the backwoods and basically live out there with a ball when had made arrows and stuff and I'm shooted big-game animal process and bring it home for me that was hunting I never really thought that I used a whole bunch of skills while I was doing that that would be considered bushcraft now so when I hear that term bushcraft and Joe kind of snickered there when he used the term as well because even though it's a significant hobby I think the I think what I'm discovering as I follow this along further and talk to more people like Joe is that bushcraft the term and the genre itself really is more of a hobby and hobbies are great and there are fantastic things that occupy our time I think I see controversy in the in the social media about what's survival what's bushcraft what's just camping what's hunting what's fishing really they're all the same it's just not many guys ever get into a survival situation so that's great to learn some of those skills but it held practically practical really are they where bushcraft is actually fun like we're like we're doing stuff and spending money on gear and for tents and snowshoes and great clothing and everything else which is which is really hobby related it's not really survival it's it does teach you a fantastic survival skills and makes you self-reliant and you feel confident your ability to do anything as joe said if you've got so you could do that fire drill I gave them the confidence that they can't believe you could do anything I think that's important I think the confidence it builds is great but it really is a it's a it is a hobby and curious to see where Joe's headed with his channel and with everything he's doing now beyond bushcraft or within the bush Grove I I would love to see that word just get thrown right out honestly I it makes no sense to me it's if you and maybe maybe I'm just completely wrong you know maybe maybe bushcraft is a certain thing and I'm just not doing it but I don't care I just want to be outside you know I want to go camping camping is my thing I want to go camping I want to be able to be comfortable enough where I don't have to bring a ton of gear I can use some natural materials with me I can use some materials I brought doesn't have to be all the way one or the other I just want to have fun you know I mean if I'm not having fun

there's no point well this year my channel is gonna go in a little bit of a different direction I'm gonna be taking a little bit more time in between videos I'm not going to be pumping out three videos a week maybe I'll do one video a week my goal is to do like a trip you know I mean a big trip even if it's two nights a week whatever and then make a quality hour-long 45 minute long video of that trip mm-hmm you know I mean and then that will be once a week maybe maybe three times a month at the very least and then supplement that maybe with a video every week of gear or stuff around my house or family related things I like I love doing those family related videos it's something for me to look back on with the kiddo later on in life but I'm just gonna keep growing you know I'm keep going keep pushing forward keep growing keep just doing doing the whole jewel robinette bushcraft thing you know what I mean yeah it's not gonna stop it's it's gonna keep growing it's getting bigger that's good good to hear every big fan of Joe I'm fan of Joe like I said he's one of the first guys I started following and we've been having a few trips together and some of these questions I haven't asked him so this is not staged yeah really connected we had a connection we like I said we did a few trips together and I'm sure do some more in the future and you know some genuine guys out there Joe is one of them there's

that aren't so genuine and I think I think the skill thing is maybe getting overdone as joe said when he stirred and there's nobody doing the fire drills now you can watch a thousand fire drill videos so I'd like Jose what he's saying about doing more experiences is I think what I'm seeing as well is that one of the luxuries we have not only of living where we live but having more free time than the average guys that we get to go out and do things and I you know I'm glad that other people can live vicariously through us and enjoy our trips and pictures themselves and those doing those same things and hopefully getting out to do it yourself one day well we inspire you to do that definitely I get comments every day that people are starting to do this stuff and they're they're crediting some credit towards my videos which is fantastic I don't care that I'm getting credited for I just want it be great for more people to go outside yeah more people are getting into this stuff it's getting it's getting mainstream you know what I mean and it's good it's good to have people connect with the outdoors then connect with their tablets connect with their computers and stuff meanwhile I'm going to go home and edit this video I'm a computer but it is what it is again it's a balance right you getting out there you going back it's yeah it's a it is it's it's becoming big and it's good you know one of the things we're just talking about the alone show and you know of course was on the first season of alone you can check out his videos on that or never mind so what one of the thing that was funny I hadn't seen like I said it's December 23rd 2016 and two days ago literally I watched my very first YouTube things on the lawn I don't have TV I shut it off a while ago I just yeah it's not that I don't believe in anything media because I'm online all the time but I don't watch TV anymore so I've never seen a single episode of alone and I just two days ago started watching some of the outtakes or the the tapout videos in the the audition videos and like you know it's funny it just hit me that that bushcraft and survival and everything that we're doing is sort of the survival part is sort of a joke like Lester out and some of these guys that are actually doing more of the survival thing I'd like what les is doing I just saw a picture of them today sitting in an overturned basket of a hot-air balloon so he's trying to create situations that are legitimate like the plane going down in the northern bushes you know it is a something I could I even find myself in a situation I can find myself in but really 99.99% of us are never going to be in a survival situation so concentrating on survival skills it gives you some sense of accomplishment and and self-reliance and security but it's not all that relevant it's more about to me the hobby part of it so you see the gear that we have great gear a nice tent here it seems a little bit ironic or maybe yeah we're not living the bushcraft or the survival thing but you know what we don't most of us don't have to the end of the day I've discovered on my channel based on feedback I get and all my social media accounts that in my websites in particular I get more questions about financial self-reliance how do I make enough money or how do I make the right kind of money doing the right kind of thing so I can spend more time doing what you're doing and I started thinking about that question where I'm looking at my website looking at my responses mic feedback my communication with people I'm amazed at how true that is when I the most interest I get in something is when I'm doing something at home that's actually saving me money or earning me money so that I can get out and do things like you know I took a year and a half off and and rented a farm and grew all my own vegetables and raised my own meat and everything and I found out that at the end of the day financially made no sense had no time to get out there and enjoy myself no time to do this stuff and it was a drain on me physically and mentally and emotionally and I realized hey you know what this is a counterproductive I'd rather spend my time being more efficient financially self-reliant get out there practice these skills to make myself feel more self-reliant and and secure and have fun and get out there enjoy stuff with you you know Joe and I are doing here stay sane mmm getting out keeps you sane yeah absolutely it's been three weeks since my last trip mm-hmm and that doesn't sound like a lot but holy it was a lot no I needed to come out here no I drove five hours camp one night yeah yeah good for you for doing that that's a good point get out there and just do it I got Joe's not and we're Jill lives it's difficult for him to get out to do this stuff sometimes so appreciate what he does at the effort he has to put in now so it's not an excuse that you live in a city or you live far from the bush like joe said five hours and we're he's up by where I live right now and I'm like okay I wanted to drive five hours in fact I rarely drive five hours and there's places I want to go five hours from here that I rarely get off my ass and do Joe does it every time he goes out and does a video for you guys so good for him I bought it that's inspiration get out there and do what he does go there and do what we all do it's it's worth it yeah tis tis good enough that's good so thanks thanks for watching Joe thanks for talking to me and in the little yeah thanks for showing me your tent you did a fantastic job here thanks thanks it's a really free shout out and actually met met Joe online this year actually on YouTube and really connected so I'm really glad we met and really appreciate everything that he's taught me and hopefully I've taught him a few things nothing but it's still cool you know very good she's choking wealth of knowledge man taught me how to trout fish even though I still haven't caught any but it's worth something right no it's the thing thanks for watching and thanks to Joe for telling me what a little bit more about what he does what he's going to do and and thanks for the inspiration yeah no worries thanks for coming up buddy good times