Ever been in a survival situation?

Ive got my truck get stuck in the middle of nowhere a couple times. Not really a survival situation though, considering I always carry a full camping kit with food, water and bourbon. :D
 
Got lost hunting when I was a teenager. .22 , knife , and bic lighter only. No compass.
You do travel in circles when lost ; at least I did. Started marking trees... came right back to them and hour later. Nightfall was coming. My pals knew I was lost and fired shots every 10 minutes. I finally found the river and by that , the hunting camp. Serious deep bush that was , but I was under-prepared. Didn't panic though ; that's the main thing.
 
G'day OCW

I have numerous times been inconvenienced when in the bush, but not what is popularily considered on the internet as "a surival situation".



Kind regards
Mick
 
My wife and I suffered from hypothermia after a being pummeled by a thunder/lightning storm followed by hail on a high ridge. We were soaked and then the temperature dropped to justabove freezing. We kept warm by continuing to move until we found a good place to camp. We set up the tent, then made a fire that we started with white gas, and then ate hot food. I have been backpacking for more than 30 years. My wife was a backcountry ranger for the Forest Service for 10 years. This was the worst survival situation that either of us have experienced.
 
Mid 80s, one of the biggest snow storms to hit the North East, the forecast was "2" of snow to be washed away by by rain in the morning."

Hah...

It turned out to be nearly 3' of snow, I left my sister in laws apartment in Edison NJ with my wife about 2 pm as it just started to snow, by the time I had got my flat I had only gone about 4 miles and that had taken about an hour.

In that time the snow had already accumulated to about 2" by the time I changed the flat another 2' had fallen and now my battery was dead because of leavin' my headlights and flashers on so people could see me in the blinding snow.(At this point you'd think I would've went back to my sister in laws but she made it clear that she had plans with her boyfriend that night and we could not stay.)

Anyway, I got someone to let me hook my jumpers up and get my car started, it took another 2 hours to get onto 287 so I could get on Rt.9 to get back to Cheesequake where I had a farm off Rt. 34.

Eventually we made it onto the exit ramp for Rt. 9 and there we sat, apparently a tractor trailer had slid around the exit ramp and the cars behind him couldn't get past so the cars backed up and the snow got deeper.

Now we were about 10 miles from where I lived at the time and a mile as the crow flies through the woods to where my mother in law lived.

It got later and the snow got deeper and I wanted to strike out through the woods to the in laws, hell I grew up playin' and partyin' in them woods, I knew I could make it home but my wife wasn't so sure. I knew where all the fire pits we had were, all the prestacked wood we had, damn it would be like the old days trampin' through the weeds, (hell it was only 5 years earlier that that section of woods was a local hangout).

Eventually we hooked up with a guy in a station wagon who had a big thermos of hot coffee and some cookies, plus he had something crucial in severe weather ya need when ya go out in the car, something I didn't have....Gas, my tank was nearly empty when I left, (always fill your tank durin' storm seasons).

He also had another survival item I neglected to keep in the car, he had blankets.

We sat and talked while we waited for the plows to come and dig us out, (the police assured us we'd be on our way in about an hour....Hah.) we watched several cars try to turn around and go the wrong way down the exit ramp, some people tried the off road option, none had made it it was gettin' near midnight and we were still in the same place, if we'd left when I wanted to we'd be warm in her mothers apartment by then.

( I gotta go to a doctors appointment so I'll finish this tale later.)
 
In March, 1993 (hurricane season ends in October) the "no name storm" hit the west coast of Florida in the early morning hours with hurricane force winds and 12' storm surge.... a friend living in Hudson Beach was awakened by his dog on his bed, and when shooed him off .... was greeted with a "splash"

my neighbor was a staff member at our emergency operations center, and related that one of the sheriff's deputies parked his full sized Ford Bronco in an intersection to mark some downed power lines with the top beacons on, he then progressed on foot to check on the welfare of some elderly citizens... when he returned 45minutes later, water was over the top of his light bar
 
machine26 said:
Ive got my truck get stuck in the middle of nowhere a couple times. Not really a survival situation though, considering I always carry a full camping kit with food, water and bourbon. :D
Click to expand...

You are not nearly prepared well enough!

Instead of bourbon, it should be scotch.

;)
 
Maybe not what you were after but certainly an unpleasant situation:

Skin diving in Hawaii. Swimming 6-7 feet under a coral head when all forward motion stops. Thrash around/turn around to find myself caught in what feels like 130lb test monofilament. Pull out dive knife and cut line, no problem, continue dive. Wasn't until that night when I thought about what someone does when they *don't* have a knife and they are stuck in ulua country.
 
I guess once when I was about 9.
It was winter in Calgary, and for some reason I got the time all wrong.
I went to the dayhome at around noon...but the dayhome mom wasn't expecting me till about 4pm, hence she wasn't there.
It was around -20 degrees or so, and I had to stay warmish in the snow filled backyard. Little did I know that the school had called my parents saying I was missing...no one knew where I was, and they started thinking of abductors.
I just pulled my arms into the coat, found a spot where the house acted as a windbreak, and moved my feet to avoid freezing up.
Everyone seemed shocked to find me there...and I didn't know anything had gone wrong even!:)
 
The only true ''survival situations'' that I've been through involved people and cities and I'm not pissing up a rope here. I was an addict living on the streets of Toronto\Vancouver in the late 70's\ early 80's. I've been temporarily lost in the Boreal forest and had the bejeezuz scared out of me a few times, but no, it never gotten to that point. I've always said that I would prefer to take my chances with the wild animals of the bush....than the city..... any day.
 
Spent a cool night on the side of a creek bank, in the mountains. good thing it was not winter. it taught me to always carry a good flashlight, & good fire making kit & emergency blanket. all will fit in a pocket & can be worth their weight in gold.
 
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