The ten essentials a farce?

It seems like a lot of the 'point' of the article is to not imply to 'newbies' or dayhikers that having gear will protect them. I agree with a lot of this. A big fat "however" is that this gear will keep them out of some trouble though. How many times have we read about hikers who didn't have the means to make fire or keep them dry or get pure water, and hence were lost or greatly endangered?

Obviously a lot of knowledge and some training should go along, but that's just the often unsaid pretext to 'the ten essentials'.
 
The principle of the post is okay. However, the main way I tell a wannabe poser type expert is that they spend more text trying to discredit others than they do trying to impart knowledge. The 7 essential skills highlighted are fine by my books. The comment that a map and compass are no good once you are lost are innaccurate and smack of ignorance about the very skills the other is trying to promote.

I view the link as more of a rant than information.
 
The guys sounds like an idiot. A map and compass can still help you find your way if you get lost. And packing a little bit of extra food can help alot if your lost or caught by the weather and forced to stay an extra night or two. Especially if you have children with you.

But just packing the 10 essentials dosent do squat if you dont know how to use them. what good is a compass if you dont know how to read it? A knife if its flimsy and breaks? Water purification if you cant find water?

Skills and knowledge still rates higher than gear.
 
Well said KMM- my sentiments exactly.

Honestly, this guy sounds like he's taking the saying " more knowledge, less gear" to an extreme to me.

JMO
David
 
Looking at the article, some of what he says is good advice, some of it is just regurgitating the 10 Essentials in different terms, and some of it is just wrong.

So, he comes across as a self important, self proclaimes "expert" who is not really all that proficient in the area he is trying to advise other in. :rolleyes:
 
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dd61999 said:
Interesting article, whats your opinion?

http://www.practicaloutdoors.com/blog/?p=10
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The guy who wrote this bullshit is also the author of this brilliant piece:

http://www.practicaloutdoors.com/blog/?p=14

Leave Your Dog at Home
May 31, 2008 – 7:44 pm
So you think your dog is ready for a hike in the wilderness. Think again. Despite what you think about your dog it does not belong in the woods unless you are prepared to let it go join a pack of dogs. Your dog is an animal. No matter how cute you dress it up, no matter how well behaved it is, no matter how well you know it (hopefully not in the biblical sense), it is still an animal. Every year more than 14 million people are bitten. The most common phrase heard after a dog bite is “he (or she) never did that before!”

There is a reason your dog walks on all fours instead of upright. There is a reason your dog runs from tree to tree squirting its scent. There is a reason your dog has no shame about defecating in public. The reason is YOUR DOG IS AN ANIMAL! Anyone who thinks otherwise is really abusing their pet. Dogs don’t want to be human. They want to be dogs. If you want a child either have one or adopt one. But please don’t torture your dog by trying to turn it into a human for your pleasure. It is a dog. It wants to be a dog. If you can’t treat it like one then maybe you shouldn’t own a dog. (Yes, I said “own” because dogs are personal property whether you like it or not.)

So if your dog is an animal then why shouldn’t it be in the woods with the other animals? For the opposite reason that a bear should not be a house pet. Because your dog is NOT A WILD ANIMAL AND THE BEAR IS!

When humans go into the woods they are expected to obey the rules for the benefit of the human community. Dogs don’t know those rules and even if they did they wouldn’t care about those rules BECAUSE THEY ARE ANIMALS!

And please spare me the “but my dog always listen…my dog is better behaved than most humans…my dog would never bite anyone…my dog would never leave my side if told to stay…” Every day 11 postal service employees are bitten by people who make similar claims about their dogs. It is not the dogs’ fault. Dogs bite things. It is part of their nature, part of being a dog. Owners who don’t control their dogs and who think their dogs poop ice cream are to blame.

A telling case is the November 2007 Alabama-Auburn football game during which a highly trained K-9 dog bit one of the players. The player had just made a defensive play in the end zone that carried him near the backside of the end zone. There were several police officers lining the end of the field with their highly trained K-9 dogs for crowd control. As the player turned to return to the field, one of the two dogs near him lunged out and bit his hand. The other dog did as it was trained. It sat unresponsive waiting for its trainer’s command. But the one highly trained dog, which “never did anything like that before” reacted on instinct rather than training and chomped on what it saw as threat, a meal, a toy, or whatever. The video on YouTube then shows the handler leading the dog off the field as it wags its tail in delight. Oh…how cute….

If your response is “but everyone can attest that my dog is obedient…blah..blah..blah…” then you have not been thinking about what you just read. The focus is not on what your dog hasn’t yet done. The focus is on what your dog is likely to do BECAUSE IT IS A DOG! Having ten people say “well…he never did that before” is no different than having one say it. Wait…maybe it is different. It establishes that there are ten idiots instead of just one.

So please be responsible and leave the pooch at home. If you can’t do that then stay home with it because neither of you belongs in the woods with other humans.
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Are you sure you want to listen to his advice?
 
The article about the dog doesnt even make sense... I thought it was going to somehow follow up on the "let it join a pack of dogs" thing. But, it just sort of threw that out there, and then went off on a different direction.
 
Actually, he has a point but he takes it to the extreme with dogs. I can't stand people who don't control their dogs! I mean, the guy is correct, it is a fact of life. I don't want to hear someone's accessory dog yipping and yapping in my campsite all of the time, I go in the woods to get away from people who are inconsiderate and rude and I can't stand their dog shitting in or near my campground. I don't like telling people that they should control their dogs OR their kids, I don't go out for conflict but people get a serious case of the ass when you do this, like the dog does shit ice cream and you're the asshole because you don't think it's cute or whatever. That also doesn't mean that I think dogs should be banned or anything like that or that people should leave them home, etc. That's the same mentality as gun and knife control, it's not the dog's fault, it's the asshole owner of it.

So, I understand what he is trying to say, he would have been better off just telling people to control their dogs the way they should control their children as well.

About the article posted? Generally speaking, anyone that doesn't see the value of a map and compass is not anyone I would really listen to about "survival."
 
Leave your dog at home, along with you map and compass. What a idiot :grumpy:
 
I showed beta the post and she concurs that this guy is an ass!

DSC_0027-10.jpg
 
I have never really had a problem with a dog that was being violent in a campground, hiking or fishing. Just the nuisance dogs who have crappy owners. The bear part is a consideration, just like bringing a menstruating female along can cause problems, etc.
 
Don its okay to rant about bad dog owners. One does have to keep an eye out be conscious of their dogs and that is a special responsibility that owners have especially when letting them run loose on the trail. My dogs really are great around people, but beta, being the bitch that she is, is a bit dominant with other dogs. I'm always keeping a lookout of whats in the perimeter and I leash her up when there are too many distractions.
 
I've just never had the experience of mad dogs running around. When I was a kid and we were hunting deer back in 1981, they had a lot of wild dogs in one area we were in and DNR told us, flat out, shoot them. Totally different thing though. I just think the guy that wrote that hates dogs, which is really unforuntate, to say the least. My wife and son are both allergic to them, I have been owned by dogs in the past and would love to be owned again. :D
 
While like most I still put the know how of camping above any piece of gear, have some essentials with you will help greatly.

Signaling,
Water pur,
Fire,
shelter,
first aid,

These are my big five, I allways have it on my person, I dont need the Items I carry for those sections, but having will help ALOT should the situation ever arise.
 
" The survival essentials are not a list of specific equipment. Rather they are a list of needs that have to be fulfilled to survive an unexpected night in the woods. You fill in the appropriate equipment based on the circumstances of your hike. "

makes sense to me

the rest of it .. well he does rant a bit :)
 
I think he kind of misses the point of the map and compass. . . and of the ten essentials in general. To me, the ten essentials is not a list of gear that you will use only in an emergency. Some items, like the map and compass will get used on almost every outing to keep me from getting into a bad situation. Others, like the extra food, may never get touched if I never have any trouble on the trail.

I admittedly don't always carry all of the 10 essentials, but I have a few personal essentials that take their place. For example, I almost never take sun glasses with me, but I won't venture into the wilderness without a hat, which will both shade my eyes from the sun and keep the rain off of my face, and I don't usually carry matches, but I'll have at least one mini Bic in my pocket and another in my pack, plus a fire steel and PJ cotton balls in a nylon pouch with some other fire making stuff.

I guess I see the essentials as a starting point that can and should be modified and added to to fit your specific situation and needs.
 
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