The Most Important Survival Skill

Thank you.

I hope this isn't too far off-topic:

Situational awareness is a major part of nature photography, for me. One has to understand what is going on around her/him in order to see the photographic opportunity. Improvisation, as Brian discusses in his response to me (which I also discuss in my sub-article Being Survival Minded), and problem solving, are also major components of nature photography success. Almost every good photo opportunity involves some obstacle which must be analyzed and overcome.

(In fact, I've been writing about both, just today, for my next book.)

Anyway, I mention this because I think some of you might find nature photography to be a rewarding skill to practice, for the purposes of the skills which transfer over to survival and outdoorsmanship.

Cheers.
 
Just trying to get those "gears" turning. :p That said, jump on in here folks, I see plenty of views. Surely the rest of you have something to contribute in the way of the topic at hand. :p


Gautier
 
Mike, I always have meant to ask you to post on how you get in so close and capture the shots you do, actually! Your technical skill is amazing, but just as apparent is your skill for getting in and getting the shots of animals in their natural element, undisturbed by your presence.
 
Brian Jones said:
Mike, I always have meant to ask you to post on how you get in so close and capture the shots you do, actually! Your technical skill is amazing, but just as apparent is your skill for getting in and getting the shots of animals in their natural element, undisturbed by your presence.
Click to expand...

Well... that's a pretty big topic. To give you the short version, I usually try not to approach animals unless absolutely necessary. I prefer to let them approach me. Thus, it becomes a matter of figuring out where an animal will want to be, and positioning myself there, first.

I don't tend to go much for hiding and subterfuge. Generally, trying that on wildlife, with my set up, would be a silly conceit, and would unsettle them. Instead, when I am close to animals, I try to behave in such manner that they will be comfortable with my presence.

P.S. Thank you.
 
I'm going to try here, to address Bill G's question regarding how to avoid panic in the event that you've become lost, injured, or are just plain scared.

In the comfort of a computer chair, this is easy. In the wild, not so much. First, I'd say we have to define what "fear" and "panic" are.
To my mind, the best way to sum up fear in this case(and far from the only way) is to say that it's: A feeling of discomfort and often helplessness brought on by circumstances, which may or may not have been beyond your control, that have placed you in a situation that you are either unfamiliar with or uncomfortable operating in.
Panic on the other hand is a slightly different animal. I would say that panic is more of : An involuntary reaction(usually fight or flight) when presented with a situation that you don't have a clear and discernable action to take.

Having gotten those two out of the way, we can address both problems in one shot. Most of us know that in a "survival situation", often the best course of action is to stop, and think about what you are dealing with.
This being step one.
Step two will be to gain control of the situation on your terms, usually by doing something familiar that you DO have control over. This could be as simple as stopping and making a fire to boil a cup of tea, or orientating and checking your map against visible landmarks or reliable celestial bodies. The immediate point of this exercise is to slow down, take note of the situation, and gain CONTROL of "something". The secondary point is that by putting yourself back inside of a comfort zone, and giving yourself time to think...you can then figure out how to control this other "something" that you've never dealt with, or don't know immediately how to.
Again, awareness plays into this...If it's a flooded creek, look around, is there a better passage upstream or down? Are there animal tracks that lead to an easier passage? So on and so forth.
If it's an injury, slowing down and thinking about your priorities(Airway,Breathing,Circulation,Rest Ice Compression Elevation, and all those other acronyms) will help you better assess the situation and what needs to be done, as well as lowering the heart rate(which is paramount in the case of bleeding or a cardiovascular incident.)
These are just some ways, that you could deal with these things, and I could probably list dozens more, but it will ultimately be dictated by a number of things. The situation, and your personal experiences, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, etc.


Gautier
 
You know, after typing out a long and rambling post, that for most to read would be like dragging shards of glass across their eyeballs, I decided to delete it. In effect, it said: "I agree with what you all are saying". I can't help but add 2 things, however. One, sometimes a useful bit of kit can help you out of a jam, so material preparedness should not be underestimated. Two, you'd be amazed at how your "situational awareness" goes through the roof when you're a parent (especially a relatively new one, like myself) in the woods. Kinda borders on the paranoid, if you ask me. That's all I wanted to say. Except, keep those posts coming. This is the most enjoyable thread I've come across in a while.
 
Raindog - agreed, in that once you acquire your knowledge, part of that knowledge is knowing which tools to use and when, and how to make them if you need to improvise!

In Prac-Tac, there was a thread called "What is the best Home Defense Weapon?"

I answered, "The one you spent the most time training to use. Training."
 
Brian, I admire your skills at paraphrasing. I couldn't have said it better if I tried, and I did (twice). God knows I could use some more training, but I take comfort in the fact that, if nothing else, when I'm in a bad spot, I can be a mean, stubborn SOB (according to my wife, anyway). BTW, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? I thought all the decent moderators had already passed out.
 
LOL! Well, I should probably take a page from that book and head off to bed. I look forward to checking in on this thread tomorrow AM.
 
While I was in Peru with Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin from the Randall Adventure Training team Jeff said the most important skill was your "social skills". This made sense to me and that trip proved it as we were in places where a friendly look would say alot about you. A wave to the villagers to show good intentions. Getting along with people in the work place in the street and all aspects of life is the most important survival skill!
 
bear, excellent point - and "good social skills" ties in with the principle of awareness of your environment, and ability to adapt to it. It's the same concept. Jeff knows his stuff inside and out...although I've seen his social skills several times after a few beers...:rolleyes:

:D J/K - he's even funnier when he has a few!
 
I'm going to respectfully disagree with you here on that point and simultaneously agree. Yes, social skills are a valuable assest in a "civilized" world, and even places that most people wouldn't consider civilized. Simply because you are interacting with other people, and one never knows what might offend another's sensibility's...UNLESS. You have garnered through observation and situational awareness that certain things are acceptable and certain things are not.
For instance, in my first tour in the middle east, it was quickly apparent that the :thumbup: sign, although innocuous to me, was a no-go over there.
I would class social skills as a sub-set of "awareness". Being able to read people and their motivations and to correctly convey yours in kind is just another way of being aware of those around you, and aware of their tolerances/dislikes/cultural beliefs/etc.

Edited: Because Brian is quicker than me...I'm a lush.

Gautier
 
Are you kidding? This is the only time when my inhibitions are low enough and my thoughts are slow enough for anyone else to comprehend half of them. I'm having a blast, and I'm happy with all of the participation that this thread has spawned. Even if it was started by a misanthropic, introverted, inebriate.
Yes, I use .50$ words when I drink. :D
At least we're in agreement on social skills, and where they fall in the grand scheme of things.


Gautier
 
On a related note, since things seem to have slowed down a bit. Rather than just talking about situational awareness. I think now would be a good time to go over how people can increase that awareness in everyday life and in doing so, perhaps alleviate the mundane routine of things.

Most of us commute to work, some over longer distances than others. One good way to increase your awareness is to take advantage of that lazy Monday drive to work. Once or twice a week, try to spot a sign, business, clearing, tree, type of plant or some other specific thing during your commute.

Another exercise might be to start off the day and pick a color; Red for example, and make a note of how many people you see wearing a red shirt.

Instead of flipping off that person that cuts you off in traffic, take a pause, and look at his license plate. Read it to yourself, and see if you can remember it a few hours later. A bonus is remembering it at the end of the day. Not to mention that should a wreck happen up ahead, you'll already have the most likely offender's plate number...and if you find it to be them, you can call it in as reckless driving.

I'm sure some of you could come up with various things like these to help your situational awareness throughout the day. Not only will you be preparing yourself to be a more alert and astute observer. You'll improve your defensive driving abilities, find those nice small restaurants to eat at that you never knew about, and the work day will pass by that much quicker because you are constantly doing something.


Gautier
 
Surviving doesn't just mean in the wilderness does it? Unfortunately we are in the city/country more than the wilderness so we are always survivng. Heck the woods/desert/jungle are the safe places, the city is wild.

Like Brian says "good social skills" ties in with the principle of awareness of your environment, and ability to adapt to it.
 
Ofcourse, I wasn't limiting awareness to just the "wilderness", although I was capitalizing on it, since this is the Wilderness&Survival Skills forum. I agree that social skills play a key role in survival, both city and rural. Brian and I essentially agree on that point, just different ways of iterating it. If you'll notice my last post, it's mostly geared towards those everyday occurences that happen in the city/community that most people tend to overlook that I address. By honing them there, they can translate to the wilderness and vice versa.


Gautier
 
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