I recently had the good fortune to listen to another excellent podcast from I Love Muzzleloading on The Shirttail Mess and an immersive event they hosted in back in May called , “Dark and Bloody Ground.”

Jake Book hosted the event on family land and had a good showing of like-minded individuals who portrayed a hunting party and natives clashing with each other on the late-1700s frontier.

The group requires a pretty high level of authenticity, as you can see on their recommended gear list, as posted for a future event.   Some would push back on such requirements, but a clear understanding and agreement to the parameters and requirements of an event is essential for a high-quality immersive event.   Immersive meaning that all participants are acting as if they are in that particular moment in time,  with no allowances for non-period equipment or the like, as well as agreeing to what exactly they will be doing at the event – patrols and skirmishing, a mapping expedition, hunting or trapping party, etc.

For example, since the participants of this event would be engaging in simulated frontier combat, there has to be specific agreed-to rules for how conduct this safely and within the limitations of this time in history.

One of the many things I really liked about the event is how they structured the activities with folks arriving on Thursday for a group camp near the site of the event, with the actual event running Friday to Saturday, overnight on Saturday, and then closing the event Sunday with a group meal before the departure and return to “real life.”

Jake also mentioned his dad came out to the event for a bit, which I thought was really neat considering my dad also got me into muzzleloading, back in the day, and like Jake’s father isn’t attending events like he did in his younger years.

Here is a link to the details on the event hosted at The Shirttail Mess,
Dark and Bloody Ground : Immersion Recap

Here is the podcast, Trekking in Cresswell’s footsteps | Jake Book:

See you on down the trail!