Survival with a family, how would you fair?

A

Agent Iron

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Feb 5, 2005
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I know when I think about potential survival situations it is easy to think about it on my own. I would likely not survive if I needed to do so for a long period of time, especially in the winter. I would like to believe different, but obtaining sufficient food would likely overcome me.

The problem is, I pray that if it came to it, I would be toting a family of four girls with me...one being the wife. This makes things much more complex, and much more daughting. Seeing how this is a wilderness survival forum, and if things got ugly the city may not be the place to be, how would you fair trying to survive in the wild with a family? Could you do it in the winter as well as the summer?

Would taking a family radically change your survival prep plans, and what would you do differently preparing whether it be learning skill sets, or buying tools in case it came to it.

Thanks fellas
AI
 
First off, my survival plans would differ DRASTICALLY with my family as opposed to solo.

That being said, I don't live in a city. I am pretty rural. Some farms around but definitely not the country.

I could survive quite well in my current home if TSHTF. Well water, septic system. Lake about 3 miles away, small farm field in back of my property.

I have a small plot with plenty of squirrel, some rabbit and lots of turkeys.

Now, if you are talking heading out to the big woods for an extended period of time......I could do it. 2 girls and my wife, but we work well together. We could build a shelter until our cabin was done, hunt, trap, fish and farm a plot to hold us over. Wouldn't be fun or even comfortable for a while, but we could survive. We have all the tools we need. Probably need to bone up on curing/smoking meat and putting up preserves, but other than that, I'm good with it.
 
Where I live, if given the right items, I could survive year round. If I had the items on my person and my kit, I could do it fairly comfortably after the first week or two of getting a decent shelter.

With the family is differen't though. I would have to worry about them, and I would have to take care of my little brother as well as my mom. Or my dad could do that, but..
 
My kids are both college age, male and female. Neither of them have any interest in a rural life. It would be up to them if they came to us in case of a societal breakdown.

If they came, they'd be welcome. But they'd have to adjust.

Andy
 
PrimitiveMan said:
First off, my survival plans would differ DRASTICALLY with my family as opposed to solo.

That being said, I don't live in a city. I am pretty rural. Some farms around but definitely not the country.

I could survive quite well in my current home if TSHTF. Well water, septic system. Lake about 3 miles away, small farm field in back of my property.

I have a small plot with plenty of squirrel, some rabbit and lots of turkeys.

Now, if you are talking heading out to the big woods for an extended period of time......I could do it. 2 girls and my wife, but we work well together. We could build a shelter until our cabin was done, hunt, trap, fish and farm a plot to hold us over. Wouldn't be fun or even comfortable for a while, but we could survive. We have all the tools we need. Probably need to bone up on curing/smoking meat and putting up preserves, but other than that, I'm good with it.
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right on carl... sounds like we live in similar areas...:)

i think we would definately do pretty well if the SHTF... we're pretty set in terms of provisions and supplies.. as for resources, we have just about everything we need around us, or fairly close by...

my wife is pretty darn hardcore and our 2 boys are pretty woods savy... we're all tradiitonal archers and fisherman.. we would probably be enjoying ourselves..:) eventually..
 
In the circumstances you give, most people would die of exposure in a few days in the wilderness - summer or winter - just a difference of a few days either way.
 
PrimitiveMan said:
Dexter,

Most people, or most people on this forum?
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Primitive Man,
Most people - definitely - Let's keep it to the USA

This forum - I can't say - but I would guess they would fare better than most because they are at least thinking about it. It does depend upon the situation and length of time as to how long they could survive.

I would say that with the information the OP gave and the question he asked - he and his family would be among those that die of exposure in a relatively short period of time in the wilderness.

I'm a realist and have been looking into survivalism since the early 80s and the threat of nuclear war. I know that I could not survive in the wilderness for very long with just the things I could carry. Also, in a SHTF scenario the woods would be crowded with many of those who thought they could. Making it a dangerous place and void of most game after awhile. Being realistic and planning would make surviving possible - I'm talking a bug out house here.and a lot of preperation.

The chances that in a SHTF scenario where the average family would walk away from their home into the wilderness and survive until it is safe to return home or indefinitely are zero in my opinion.
 
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nope, anyone tagging along is dead weight to me and would require more energy expenditure on my part to look out for them or keep them busy. . I prefer solo. sorry if it sounds like i;m selfish but.......
 
Dexter, I would tend to agree, with one caveat:

MOST would not be able to get back into the wilderness that some of us could. They would die before they made it there. Obviously SOME would survive.

MOST of us would die, but SOME would survive.

I'm gonna die trying if it happens.
 
dextersp1

That is how I see it as well. I am setup at home so that basically all I would have to do is ward off the unprepared unsavories... I know I sound macho and say I would easily repel all adversaries, but if a group came with a plan, it would be hard to fend them off.

My question did focus on if one had to leave because of societal unrest....and occupying an abanden house was not an option, could we survive with a family. I think if you could find a place where you had a stocked lake that was not frozen....you might have a shot to survive...might. With no lake....I think to provide for a family by hunting and trapping alone would likely spell death, and that is without dealing with maraders.

I have a nice complement of tools, education, and some skills, but anything long term in the wilderness will not end well. I know folks did it years ago, but I have to figure game was more prevelent then now.

I think it is great some of you guys feel confident you could do it....I just am not that optimistic. I would still like to see more thoughts.
Thanks
AI
 
I could do it.

It would REALLY suck, but I could do it.

The biggest problem would be other humans.

As mentioned, a lot would have the same idea, but no skills.

In a true scenario, you would have to take care of that situation.

It would not be pretty.

Plenty of people have survived with little in the American Wilderness.
 
With my meagre skills, an "indoorsy" wife, and a toddler daughter, we'd be dead in a week going it alone. . . :grumpy:

But why go it alone? Humans are made to work in groups/communities; the best shot is to band together with like-minded folks for mutal support.
 
I don't fear that situation. I have a plan. While it would most certainly be a change for me and my family and not something I would relish, we would adapt. We already live in a very rural area, and have all of the tools to be self-sufficient. Our diets would change radically, but we live on a farm. Medical needs, if any, would pose the most life-threatening situation I can think of.
 
Agent Iron,
Primative Man has some good info.
I don't thing you could survive along a lake for very long - a week? - sorry.

Even during the summer hypothermia begins, affecting your thinking etc.

Live expectancy before the industrial revolution was 35 years - for thousands of years. There was a reason for that - a lot of things we can not even think about killed people.

Hypothermia, dysentery, starvation, infection are some of them. You wouldn't even want to start a fire for fear of attracting others who don't have anything to eat.
 
Im with Foilist. Yea many people would die but more then you think would survive. Some would survive cause they are having a crush course in wilderness living. There are plenty of people out there that wilderness dont intrest them but it dont make them stupid. Then there would be some that would survive cause they are willing to kill for the food and shelter. More then likely you would find them in large groups. Depands where you are and what time of the year it happens. That would play a big role in how many and how fast people would die. If its up to me i would try and band with other people. No matter how tough we think we are, At some point we have to sleep or get sick. There is a reason why we always lived in tribes and to be banished meant death. Im setting both my sister with water and some basics to survive by staying in. If anything happens we all can stay at any house my or at each of my sisters. Im in the opinion that in real life Rambo dies at the start of each movie.

Sasha
 
dextersp1 said:
Agent Iron,
Primative Man has some good info.
I don't thing you could survive along a lake for very long - a week? - sorry.

Even during the summer hypothermia begins, affecting your thinking etc.

Live expectancy before the industrial revolution was 35 years - for thousands of years. There was a reason for that - a lot of things we can not even think about killed people.

Hypothermia, dysentery, starvation, infection are some of them. You wouldn't even want to start a fire for fear of attracting others who don't have anything to eat.
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I suppose if you go out there thinking you aren't going to survive....you won't. I think you have a pretty unrealistic view on people staying alive in the woods, but that's just my opinion. People did live off the land for thousands of years....or we wouldn't be here today discussing it.
 
sasha said:
Im with Foilist. Yea many people would die but more then you think would survive. Some would survive cause they are having a crush course in wilderness living. There are plenty of people out there that wilderness dont intrest them but it dont make them stupid. Then there would be some that would survive cause they are willing to kill for the food and shelter. More then likely you would find them in large groups. Depands where you are and what time of the year it happens. That would play a big role in how many and how fast people would die. If its up to me i would try and band with other people. No matter how tough we think we are, At some point we have to sleep or get sick. There is a reason why we always lived in tribes and to be banished meant death. Im setting both my sister with water and some basics to survive by staying in. If anything happens we all can stay at any house my or at each of my sisters. Im in the opinion that in real life Rambo dies at the start of each movie.

Sasha
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In a crash course in wilderness survival you die.

It isn't that people are stupid, it is because they don't have the physical ability and knowlege to survive.

I am not saying all people would die.
 
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BlackHills said:
I suppose if you go out there thinking you aren't going to survive....you won't. I think you have a pretty unrealistic view on people staying alive in the woods, but that's just my opinion. People did live off the land for thousands of years....or we wouldn't be here today discussing it.
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No one thinks they are the one that will not survive. If they did, why would they go into the wilderness?

People were able to live off the land for thousands of years because they lived in groups that taught the members how to survive in the wilderness. That is why we are here. Thousands of years of learning. We don't have that time frame in what we are discussing now.

What is your scenario for survival in the wilderness using the OP information?
 
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