Moosehide at best is not water repellent and is good for dry trails and dry snow work because of its porosity. Oil tanned calfskin shoes and moccasins are the best. They should be kept soft and supple by the use of one of the various dressings on the market or one compounded at home. Perhaps nothing beats pure neatsfoot oil for leather dressing. It is a natural animal oil free from acids and other substances deleterious to leather life. It is the chief ingredient of many of the shoe greases and waxes of commerce and is cheap and universally procurable. It should be applied with the finger tips on the dried warm leather, rubbing it carefully into seams, stitch holes, and threads to prevent their rotting. The French Army dressing is composed of neatsfoot oil 7 parts, and mutton tallow 3 parts. These heavier dressings interfere with the evaporation of the perspiration causing the feet to sweat in warm weather.
In drying wet shoes never place near a fire for this will result in a hardening of the leather. It is better to heat oats or gravel and fill the shoes to absorb the dampness. Moccasins can be stuffed with dry browse of any kind or inverted over stakes driven in the ground not too near the camp fire.
The pack should contain a ditty bag with a simple footwear repair outfit. For leather working take along a light weight awl, sail-maker’s needles and waxed thread with perhaps a repair patch of leather or rawhide. Customarily after long use of shoes or moccasins the threads break or wear away leaving seam leaks and one must be prepared to remedy them. They will be found especially around the vamp at the toe and the “T” heel joint. Clean out the old stitch holes back to where the twine is sound and start your repair seam a couple of stitches back of this.
At night the novice wants to be housed in and the mysteries of darkness shut out, and as is becoming with precedent in outdoor living he must spread his blanket beneath cloth. This shelter can be very simple indeed and yet protect one from the elements. A tent’s sufficiency to turn water is not all that is necessary. Upon means of transportation and permanency of the camp depend the portability and lightness of the forest home. What will do in a permanent camp with plenty of transportation is a far cry from the tent just sufficing the absolute needs of the one-nighter who expects little more than mere shelter and warmth.