Manitoba survival story

DeadeyeLefty said:
A recent CBC story about a pair of Washington state canoeists who got lost but had learned some food gathering techniques that let them survive for 6 days:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/09/10/wilderness-lost.html?ref=rss
Click to expand...

Them eating a couple of water lilies and bugs didn't let them survive for 6 days. You can survive for 3 weeks without food. I'm sure it helped their moral but a map, and the knowledge to use it may have helped them even more. They maybe should have skipped the wilderness cuisine class and took a wilderness navigation class.

I am very glad they are OK.

Just my $.02.
KR
 
3 weeks without food...is that 3 weeks in a lab, or 3 weeks trying to survive subfreezing nights, improvising rescue signals, looking for food, ect.? Keeping warm uses up a lot of energy. I bet the amount of time someone can go without food in the wilderness is a lot less than in "civilized" areas.
 
kr1 said:
Them eating a couple of water lilies and bugs didn't let them survive for 6 days. You can survive for 3 weeks without food. I'm sure it helped their moral but a map, and the knowledge to use it may have helped them even more. They maybe should have skipped the wilderness cuisine class and took a wilderness navigation class.

I am very glad they are OK.

Just my $.02.
KR
Click to expand...

Three weeks out in the elements, trying to stay warm would drastically reduce the "three weeks" time frame I'm sure. However I completely agree with you.

A firm understanding of navigation using compass, and map might have averted the entire situation.

Hell a GPS may have done wonders for them.

Glad they are alright.
 
That article is as sloppily written as I've seen in awhile... although it is matched by most "journalists'" reporting today, both here in the States, Canada, and elsewhere.

I.e., did the couple intend to stay out more than a few hours, yet "took a wrong turn" and got lost on the lake?

Or were they going out in their canoe for several days, but forgot to take any food or gear with them??

Did they have any survival gear whatsoever, other than a "mosquito net?" Did they have any bedding, or warm clothes? Knives? matches, etc?

Any rain gear??

Any way to construct a shelter?

Other than eating some bugs and water lilies, what did they eat? Mushrooms? Very, very dangerous.

Did they have any clean water with them, or a way to purify water? Or are they now candidates for Girardia?

Oh well, as I said, just really pisspoor reporting.

Not unusual these days. :thumbdn:

L.W..
 
dittos on the food thing, ive gone 3 days during normal activity including lite workouts with no effects other than some discomfort the first day and a half. i could have easily gone longer but didnt want to push things at work because i have an active job. I dont think the food they found contributed to their survival. lillies might help but i doubt a water bug or and i know mushrooms dont contain much in the way of calories. having said that in the same situation if i wasnt walking out i would try to scrounge some food as i would have nothing better to do. the important thing would be to not endanger yourself further (if you are expecting rescue) to get a meager ammount of food that you dont need to survive.
joshua
 
You're body has thousands and thousands of calories stored in fat and muscle. Unless a person is starting at 5% body fat they should be able to go a minimum of 10 or 15 days without eating. Getting giardia or salmonella from eating water bugs and crapping all your fluids and electrolytes, however, would be a lot more serious.
 
That is definetly some thick bush (and muskeg!). Thank god I've never been in a survival situation up north. This time of year is arguably the worst for survival, frigid nights constantly wet, high winds and horrendous skeeters and flies. Ticks are still out in force this time of year (learned this the hard way hiking the Mantario last September). I salute those guys!
 
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