Leave the survival manual at home! Wise or dumb?

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Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
Messages
1,168
When I made my trip back to ND three weeks ago, I opted to leave all the survival manuals at home. I figured I had enough info in my head and I knew the terrain/climate of all the areas I was traveling over/through not to add the bulk and weight of a manual in my kit. I never thought I'd make that decision.

Was that a good decision? If a survival situation had arisen, would I recall the info necessary to succeed? Or would the stress of the situation (maybe even an injury) have caused me to REQUIRE a manual to organize myself?

I don't think I will EVER know the answer until I'm actually in that situation.

What do you think?


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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
For the guys on this forum, read the book at home and then leave it there. Practice skills before you need them. The knowledge you carry with you always. For people who have never read such a book, it's probably a good thing to have along.

Books are heavy too. One of my manuals looks like I dropped it in the bathtub. It spent 3 days with me and Billy the dog in the backcountry, with constant rain/snow mixture.
 
I would agree with Howard Wallace: practice is the best master and the mind is the best resource. All that said, I have to put myself between the field-aged expert and the unknowing soul. Yes, I need more field experience.

Still, I see 3 options here:

1) bring your favourite survival book
That is a bit heavy (good tinder though
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) and there are certain pages that are far too familier. I would rather carry more specialized books (tracking, plant/animal identification, rocks and minerals, edible plants etc).

2) bring survival cards
That sounds better to me and is still useful for the most novice. SAS has a thick and thorough one.

3) xerox the essential info and make it into a small (5 page) booklet into your kit
That is what I did with the knots and would like to do with the edible plants. I used the Wiseman SAS Survival Handbook and set the xerox machine to minimize it to a still readable size.

And if still cannot remember (as it happens to me due to lack of practice) take a water-resistant marker and write/draw the info on your poncho or rain jacket sleeves. More drastical would be tattooing it on you. Just remember to tattoo it somewhere where you can read it
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Hope I gave some idea without taken too serious.

Best to All,

HM
 
HM: You know there is a LOT of room on my thighs for that info!
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LOL

You have some excellent points to consider! I think I'll get the copier warmed up next week and then do some LAMINATING. That would be the best idea with the least expense at the moment.

I've often wondered about those cards, as well. I've never actually gotten my hands on a set. I'll make my own for now and go from there.

I ruined one book already as the Ziplock wasn't sealed when I thought it was. This would allow me to leave all the books on the bookshelf for reference!

Also, I believe practice is the best thing, but I keep wondering how a person reacts in a stressful situation where it is do or die? I don't know how I'd perform when needed.

Thanks for the input!



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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I say practice the skills befor eyou need them. But with that said, I almost always take at least one book with me, I love reading in the woods. I also think it would help in an emegency situation, dont ask me why but reading has always helped calm me and help focus my mind under stress. A survival manual might not be a bad read out there either. I have some survival cards that fit in my compass pouch that show things like edible plants and first aid tips also.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Plainsman: let us know how the lamination worked. Where do you get it done?
I have seen the SAS survival cards in our local Barnes and Noble, Borders bookstores. They are ~2.5"x7" cards bound with a stud and fold out like a fan. The cards are hard (assumingly plastic) sheets. The hole stack is ~1" thick. Seemed to be quite complete. However, I did not do serious comparison with the book. If you call any of these bookstores they order it for you without obligation to buy it if you are not happy with it.
About trying to overcome your fear and anxiety in a critical situaation:
without -relatively- cold mind nobody can make any good decision or carry out a survival plan. Taking out a book won't help. I -at least- would not be able to comprehend the written text. Calming yourself down is the key. Ten hastily made decisions worth one decision of a reasonable mind.
Besides, similar to exam and sport competition situations, once you are there let your mind, training, rational thinking and natural instincts kick in and overrule the natural psychological fear and doubts. Calm down and take the challenge.

HM
 
Plainsman,
I have the SAS survival cards/fan the HM talked about. They are sturdy and cover all the basics. The pages are waterproof so no worry about getting them wet. I also got it at Barnes and Noble.
Some things to think about. A survival situation is highly stressful. It would be easy to panic or just plain forget how to do stuff when you aren't thinking straight. Sitting down and looking at a book may be just the ticket to stop you from panicking and forging ahead blindly through the woods. What if you are with your young child or just a lesser experienced woodsman who is relying on you. You get injured and can't be moved. It is up to them to trek out and get help. Wouldn't it be nice to hand them your survival manual to go along with the matches and knife? What if you are solo and end up in a rockslide or getting swept downstream and conk your noggen a good one. You are disoriented and don't remember much. I think it would be nice to have it in any of these situations. Survival is about being prepared for the unexpected. The old saying of better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it applies in spades here.

Jim
 
There is information good to have with you, and information you can leave at home. I, personally, will never need to open a book to remember how to lash an A-frame, after teaching it for several summers, or how to start a fire. I do need a book if I decided I wanted to know which mushroom was poisonous and which was not, or to tell the difference between angelica and poison hemlock.

Personally, I need little in the field help with skills. Most of these I can do, or wouldn't be able to do anyways even if I had a book. I do need help with knowing what I can eat and what I can't. I'm fair-to-middlin' when it comes to finding edible things in the foothills and plains of Colorado, but I know next to nothing about Alaska yet, and would be hard pressed to put together a meal of plants out there.


Stryver
 
Any detailed information I keep in a "Write-In-The-Rain" notebook. I use these all the time and keep good notes of my field "experiments." Things I think will be helpful but may not always remember, I copy into my "master" waterproof notebook. BTW, use pencil. It won't bleed in the rain. And I always take a high quality edible plants book. Usually Petersen's. It has a key and this is THE BEST way to KNOW plants. Pictures can be misleading. Learn how to use the key BEFORE you find yourself in a survival situation. If you know wild edibles, you cannot starve. There is an awful lot out there to eat if you know WHAT to eat. Also helpful are books on identifying plants in the winter. If you know what the dried plant looks like, there is often a nutritious meal just under the ground.

Also for wild edibles, practice, practice, practice--and take good notes. Get the wrong root and you're dead. You don't want to be chewing on water hemlock instead of water parsnip (good stuff, btw). Water hemlock is tasty (unlike poison hemlock, another deadly species) and will quickly kill you after a mouthful (remember Socrates?). Pictures alone can fool you. Go with line drawings and a good scientific key to keep you butt alive. Those puny drawings on survival cards are likely to get you sick or worse, dead. I reiterate: get a good book with a key. Learn to use it.

BTW, poison hemlock is easily confused with wild carrot (queen anne's lace). BE CAREFUL.

Personal opinion on mushrooms: forget them. If you are not an expert, this is a quick way to buy the farm. Trust me on this one. I know too many mycologists. And there is not all that much food value in mushrooms to make it worth the risk. Don't rely on a field guide to gather wild mushrooms if you have never gathered them previously. If possible, learn from an expert. To do it right, you often need a dissecting microsope to look at the spores.

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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Jim (alias HUNTER3897): having people of less knowledge is maybe a situ in which you (rather them) need the book. It is still questionable if that is the right time for them to start reading it. Also, the additional personals can carry a bit more than you alone (ex. the survival manual).

Stryver: I agree with your approach
in this matter.

I just realized yesterday (on a short hike) that the mass of my "survival daypack" reached above the optimal even without any book. I will try to sort through but whole books will hardly stay. For me, specialized carts is the way to go (knots, signaling, edibles) unless want to read for the fun.

I do not know about you guys but I usually go through three stages when I get into a stressful situ: panic and fear (How/Who/Where the heck....?), followed by anger (Darn this/that.....!), followed by a calming slight depression and focusing my efforts (OK, let's see....). As getting older, the transition through them takes shorter and shorter (hopefully
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) and kicking tree stumps shortens the second step considerably
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.
As a last resort -you might say naivly- I strongly believe in eternal life. Still, -heck- I am not going to give up this one easily.

Just my ideas.

HM


 
Great conversation gentlemen!
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I feel very confident with my skills right now, but I'm in the comfort of my home in front of a computer. In a nonstressful situation I have been asked to perform many of the skills because of normal outdoor activities and have not failed.

BUT, it's the stressful situation which may include injury that made me ask this thought provoking question. From the responses I've seen and after much more thought myself, I'm going to make up laminated cards of my own for all my kits. These will vary in information and size due to the layered approach of my kits. I will even have some small ones that will be on my whenever I pick up my everyday pocket items.

As to the LAMINATING, I'm a teacher and we have a laminating machine at school!
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I'll use card stock to make my copies and then simply cut it to size and then laminate. Usually you can find laminating service at some office supply stores if you don't have any other means.

This has been a great thinking thread continue with the ideas guys! I'm sure many people are reading and getting a lot out of it!

Thanks!


------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I have a small copy of the SAS survival (I got it at a gun show for $9) and it is either in my bag or my car at all times. It weighs nothing and is a wealth of knowledge!
 
If you don't have access to a laminating machine, use clear contact paper. It is the stuff used to line drawers and shelves in the kitchen. It is not as sturdy as laminate, but on small cards it should do nicely and is just as waterproof.
 
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