Survival trip with Brother

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wade

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Sep 22, 2005
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I would like to take my younger brother, who is 17yrs old, on a weekend trip into our back yard in N. Cal. He enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, and backpacking but never worries about survival situations. What I would like to do is take him out for a weekend and attempt to teach him some basic skills that would possibly stick with him and be useful. For example build a good shelter, start a fire with a bow and drill, build traps for small game, cooking food, and other such basic skills. What I would like to know is, does anyone have some ideas for me? I am planning this tirp for some time in June when the snow melts off, the fishing is good, and plenty of small game. The plan is to take plenty of supplies and our ATV's a few miles from home, but try only to use our small survival kit and knife the whole time. I have no intention of actually placing us in a survival situation, we are very familiar with the area and on a ATV its only a few min from home. With that in mind what are your thoughts? What skills should we cover? How should I go about planning this? Any comments will be helpful. Thanks
Wade
 
Personally, I think you should leave all your camping gear at home and spend the time subsistence camping/hunting. Dress for any possible weather you're likely to find, take your survival kit, make one up for your brother, take plenty of water, your weapons and lic/tags, but no food, no tent, no sleeping bag. Park your ATVs and walk in several hundred yards and just do it. You will both learn quite a bit about yourselves, each other, your abilities and your gear.
 
Instead of jumping right into "survival" skills, why not start off with more basic stuff? Examples: using a map and compass, building a campfire using tinder, a starter (i.e. sparklite or even matches), preparing food on a backpack stove vs. campfire, etc., etc.
IMHO, the basics are what build a good survival sense.
Hope you have fun, sounds like a good time.
Sometimes I wish I had an older brother growing up instead of a younger sister :)
 
I don’t think that you should concentrate on fishing/hunting/trapping/edible plants…food just isn’t a vital factor in most real world “survival” situations.

Instead I would focus on:

Preparedness/ trip planning.

Making trip plans/instructions for someone you trust to contact rescuers if you are overdue.

Maintaining communications with the outside world/rescuers.

Health/First aid.

Land navigation.

Signaling for help/getting rescued.

Fire making.

Shelter building.

Finding and purifying water.




- Frank
 
The reason that I am planning to "jump right in" is because he already has the basics. We both are avid backpackers and have grown up our whole life camping, hunting, and fishing. We are both good at navigation and signaling. We have done several minimalist weekend trips, where we would camp out on the river by our house and take fishing stuff, a .22, and a backpack of basic gear.I wanted to focus mostly on living on what nature provides us. He has the basics down pat. I want to teach him the more advanced survival stuff. So what do you think?
 
Go for it! At seventeen he can handle it. You are close to home so don't take much with and see what happens.
 
wade said:
I want to teach him the more advanced survival stuff.
Click to expand...
Howdy.
Well if you don't know what to teach him how advanced can you be? Not to sound as if i'm talking down to you I think what your looking for isn't survival skills but primitive living skills. Check out these two web sites.

http://www.hollowtop.com/pls.htm#articles

http://www.survival.com/

The first one, hollowtop, has good articles and one of the best books on primitive living skills: Participating in Nature by Thomas J. Elpel. Even though books are not as good as a Guide or teacher. This book is a wealth of knowledge.You'll keep coming back and reading it again and again.

The second one is Ron Hood's site. There is some good stuff there but the one thing I want to point out is Ron's DVD: Survival Basics 1 & 2. Ron has a series of DVDs but this one is the best buy for the money. It gives you a taste of whats on all the other DVDs. It's packed with useful information. At 12.95 +3.00 sh. You can't beat it.The segment on trapping is worth the 15 bucks alone. Take notes then got out and practice.Hope this helps. Have fun on your trip.

phxbigdog
 
One skill that everyone thinks they have, but often have never tried, is staring a fire without Zippos, firestarters etc.

Practice doing that, and hone and modify your skills. Try different methods of making tinder, selecting "starter" wood, and so on.
Once you have lit a fire the primitive way, file it away. You will KNOW you can do it when you have to.

Also take time to observe and track animals by footprints, dung patterns, waterhole markings. Stop and discuss "what print is that? what pushed those leaves backward?" etc.

At 17 years old, the wilderness is a new and often 'unseen' environment. Take time to look and teach what is beyond the obvious.

Above all, enjoy yourselves. :D
 
Sounds like a blast. In addition to the fire making skills, maybe make a solar still for collecting water? One thing I've never been able to master is making fishing tackle from items found in the wild. How are you at that?
 
How about a "simulated" survival situation, only don't tell him it's simulated. Tell him it is a normal camping trip and to pack what he would normally take. Be sure to let him know that you will handle the navigation and cooking and not to worry about it. Then when you get into the bush and set up camp, let him know hta you "lost" the compass, matches, lighter, etc. And you left the food bag back at the truck. If you are a good actor, you can make it convincing. You will then get to see how he reacts, if he panics, keeps a cool head, etc. You of course will have all the essentials close by in case of emergency, but he won't know that. I did it with a couple of coworkers and we learned alot and made some great memories. I think it turned out to be a pretty realistic survival scenario....at least now my coworkers are thinking "preparedness" when they leave the house each day.
 
Howdy.
Wade. I been thinking about your post. Besides my post above, one thing you might do to make your trip fun is D.B. Cooper camping. Take one bag of gear in case of emergency, but in stead of using it, live off whats in your pockets. The only thing you can carry is a canteen and cup,a 12 by 12 tarp and 100 ft of paracord (simulated parachute). In your pockets you can only carry a pocket knife, keyring sparker, two fishing hooks in a peice of masking tape, a band-aid, a foot of tin foil and mabe two hard candys.You can see where I'm going with this. Then when your out work through some boy scout drills.

Three ways to make fire. Then make fire each way. Take two sticks about three feet high and three feet apart, and some string.Tie the string across the two sticks. Then give each other two mins. to build a fire high enough to burn through the two strings.

Work on the types of fire. Log, star,tepee, etc....

Building shelter, changed it up a bit, D.B. Cooper it. Make concealed shelters. Both of you go off and build your own shelter. One hour time limit. And then see which one can be found with only general directions.

Take five things, Rifle (bow), ammo can, canteen, knife, boot, whatever...Find a hill. One of you turns away.Then the other goes down and places the items in the line of site and see if the other can spot where you place them. Give a time limt ten mins. or so then switch off.

Work on Knot tying. See who can buil an A-frame fastest, with the right lashings.

Play Ninja if there are houses or farms close by. You both go out and recon a house or farm. You have to draw a map of the locations. And return.

If you really want a challenge, make your own gear. Packs, knives, fire starters, canteens, pots, spoons, clothing....The lists goes on and on. Check out the tire sandals on http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm

Hope this helps. Have fun.

phxbigdog
 
Just do it. Take a cell phone, leave detials to your location take some modest gear. Go out make mistakes and learn from them just dont burn the forest down haha.

At 17 I was taking multiday solo trips trapping and generally having fun.

Good for you! getting active and learning something that doesn't need a game consol or keyboard.

Skam
 
Longbow50,

:thumbup: Sounds awsome! I'm in N. Utah and the Uintas would be great for that. Good idea!!!

Jeff
 
Buy your brother a copy of John Wiseman's SAS Survival Guide. The majority of the procedures detailed in that book are correct, and it is a useful guide for a beginner. Try to convince him to read the entire book. He may not need to read the whole thing, but it is an invaluable source of basic information regarding survival. Think of it as studying for the real thing.

In my opinion, survival training is not something that can be taught sufficiently in a short period of time. There are many factors that cannot be anticipated, or learned from a book; they must be learned through experience. I would begin with the basics. Make sure your brother learns each concept well before moving on to another concept.

I would go in this order:

1 - Firemaking Skills: The ability to make a fire in any sort of weather conditions is key for survival. Remember that in a winter climate can go weeks without food, days without water, but only a few hours without warmth. Try to teach him to build a fire in the snow, preferably in a storm. If snow is not available, rain will do. Practice splitting wood, gathering different sorts of tinder, and setting up multiple types of fires. Practice using lighters, matches, flints, and other fire starters. There are few things more challenging than lighting a fire in the rain with wet tinder using only flint and steel.

2 - Shelter: Failing a fire, a shelter is the next most important part of survival. Know the different types of shelters. There are many different configurations of even the simplest forms of shelter (tipis, yurts, lean-to's, a-frame's, brush huts, snow caves, hillside shelters, dugouts, natural overhangs, tents, etc). Know how to construct them using tools, and without tools. Know the different kinds of bedding and insulation to use. Teach how to make cordage.

3 - Know how to find water; indicators, good sources, and bad sources. Teach him how to purify water with chemicals, "store-bought" filters, natural filtering devices, and by boiling.

4 - Know how to find food. Teach the methods of hunting without weapons (snares, deadfalls, pitfalls, nets, and poisons) and how to construct them with and without tools. Teach the many methods of fishing without a pole. Make sure he knows edible plants like the back of his hand; a single mistake could prove deadly.

5 - First aid: Teach the concepts of first aid in the field. Demonstrate bandages, splints, sutures, and topical ointments. Make sure your brother knows how to perform surgery on himself, as it may be necessary in the field (I always pack a hemostat or two).

6 - Land/Sea Navigation: Make sure he knows how to read a compass properly, and how to use it in conjunction with a map. Teach map reading. Demonstrate the methods of finding direction in the wilderness (there are many, many methods). Teach astro-navigation.

These are the fundamental concepts of survival. At least an entire day should be devoted to each of these (6) topics. Bring a cell phone and as much equipment as you need, but don't use high-tech gear; try to use only the basics. Do not try to fit everything in at once if you are pressed for time. Go slowly, and make sure your brother knows the skill before moving on. Survival skills must be learned and re-learned until they become part of a person, so don't worry if something doesn't sink in the first time around.

And bring a good knife.

Have fun.


The Survivalist
 
Survivalist: nice post. A great syllabus, and I'm in agreement with your recommendations as to what to teach, what to leave out at this point, and that you need to spend a whole *day* doing each.

Very realistic assessment of priorities and a person's ability to learn a lot of information in a short time. Good essay.
 
I am jealous! The foothills of boone county, NC are the place where I first used a bow and drill and learned to make a debris hut- was a bit younger than your bro.

Other than that I've got nothing to add, everyone else, particularly thesurvivalist, summed it up better than I could anyways.
 
Teach him how to get rescued not be rambo. Small skills that you might need during that time would be fire and water, not hunting.
 
Jeff M. said:
Longbow50,

:thumbup: Sounds awsome! I'm in N. Utah and the Uintas would be great for that. Good idea!!!

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff, don't go it alone, unless you know your skills and experience are up to the challenge. Let someone know where you will be and when you will be back and don't vary from that. Have fun!:)
 
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