- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 2,259
People lived off the land for thousands of years before there were Busse knives. I don't know how, but it'd be a good idea to find out.
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What good are big bad knives if....
- Thread starter Lukers
- Start date
Great thread!
Lukers...
I understand your situation and it is common. If you check out my online book in the beginning of one of the chapters I have a guy doing just what you said... I know what to do but... where do I start?
Survival is a series of compromises. You compromise on your shelter to save energy for starting a fire. You build a small fire to save energy to find food etc. etc. It all comes down to energy and energy comes from food. As Dirk said, you can make it for 30 days if you carry enough survival muscle (fat or muscle you are willing to give up). A PMA is not enough. A person can stand in a windy, cold rainstorm shouting "I will survive", right up until the moment hypothermia takes that person down. PMA, Skills and practice make it possible to survive.
IMHO you need to set some realistic goals for your self tests. Bring a small "Backup" pack of food and shelter and then go out and learn how to trap gophers and collect insects for food. This will set you up for more advanced tests. I should reiterate the facts that others have brought out... food is not on the top of the list. If you were caught out in the environment you live in, could you live long enough to walk to help? If the answer is yes... you are good enough.
Walking out is often no more than learning how to tell directions from the sun, moon, stars and then follow a course... any course, until you arrive at help. On the way, if you encounter locked buildings and suspect that resources you need are inside... use that big expensive knife to open up. In survival situations that is legal. If it is a test... don't do that.
As you know, we recently (Last month) flew into the deep woods of Idaho where I lived "off the land" for two weeks. I had expected resources and reasonable weather. I was wrong. A huge fire had gone through there last summer and the land was sterilized, no small animals to eat. The ash from the fires changed the ph of the water and killed off all of the fish. The fires also killed most of the edible vegetation. Then a freak storm blew in and for over a week we had snow every night and rain every day. Many of our friends back home were worried as the storm was severe and several backpackers were rescued from "life threatening" situations. I was sleeping under a blanket and a tarp with only one survival bar per day for backup food. I had counted on being able to capture animals and collect edibles. I managed to eat two squirrels, a pound of Morrels and a ton of thistle. That was it.
Every day I would get up, push out through the snow and look around "where the hell will I find food in this?". I'd look down at my now drooping pants and thank God I'd eaten those 10 dozen donuts, several dozen burgers, gallons of Haagen daz ice cream and so forth. I'd put on a good pack of survival muscle just in case. It paid off. I lost about 10 lbs on the trip and I'm back to my regular weight now.
The point is... you need to trust yourself. An expensive knife only pays off if you use it. You need to practice. YOu need to set up a safe test of your skills and just go for it. If you are cold and miserable, great. So long as you can FEEL cold and miserable you are alive and surviving. In time and with experience you will be less miserable and will learn to accomodate more lower forms of food. Just trust yourself and work it. Do it with a friend. Sometimes having a pal to chat with opens up new horizons with old skills and it does give you two minds to work the problem.
You'll be OK.
Ron
Lukers...
I understand your situation and it is common. If you check out my online book in the beginning of one of the chapters I have a guy doing just what you said... I know what to do but... where do I start?
Survival is a series of compromises. You compromise on your shelter to save energy for starting a fire. You build a small fire to save energy to find food etc. etc. It all comes down to energy and energy comes from food. As Dirk said, you can make it for 30 days if you carry enough survival muscle (fat or muscle you are willing to give up). A PMA is not enough. A person can stand in a windy, cold rainstorm shouting "I will survive", right up until the moment hypothermia takes that person down. PMA, Skills and practice make it possible to survive.
IMHO you need to set some realistic goals for your self tests. Bring a small "Backup" pack of food and shelter and then go out and learn how to trap gophers and collect insects for food. This will set you up for more advanced tests. I should reiterate the facts that others have brought out... food is not on the top of the list. If you were caught out in the environment you live in, could you live long enough to walk to help? If the answer is yes... you are good enough.
Walking out is often no more than learning how to tell directions from the sun, moon, stars and then follow a course... any course, until you arrive at help. On the way, if you encounter locked buildings and suspect that resources you need are inside... use that big expensive knife to open up. In survival situations that is legal. If it is a test... don't do that.
As you know, we recently (Last month) flew into the deep woods of Idaho where I lived "off the land" for two weeks. I had expected resources and reasonable weather. I was wrong. A huge fire had gone through there last summer and the land was sterilized, no small animals to eat. The ash from the fires changed the ph of the water and killed off all of the fish. The fires also killed most of the edible vegetation. Then a freak storm blew in and for over a week we had snow every night and rain every day. Many of our friends back home were worried as the storm was severe and several backpackers were rescued from "life threatening" situations. I was sleeping under a blanket and a tarp with only one survival bar per day for backup food. I had counted on being able to capture animals and collect edibles. I managed to eat two squirrels, a pound of Morrels and a ton of thistle. That was it.
Every day I would get up, push out through the snow and look around "where the hell will I find food in this?". I'd look down at my now drooping pants and thank God I'd eaten those 10 dozen donuts, several dozen burgers, gallons of Haagen daz ice cream and so forth. I'd put on a good pack of survival muscle just in case. It paid off. I lost about 10 lbs on the trip and I'm back to my regular weight now.
The point is... you need to trust yourself. An expensive knife only pays off if you use it. You need to practice. YOu need to set up a safe test of your skills and just go for it. If you are cold and miserable, great. So long as you can FEEL cold and miserable you are alive and surviving. In time and with experience you will be less miserable and will learn to accomodate more lower forms of food. Just trust yourself and work it. Do it with a friend. Sometimes having a pal to chat with opens up new horizons with old skills and it does give you two minds to work the problem.
You'll be OK.
Ron
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2000
- Messages
- 1,363
A few points that have come up on this thread.
Survival priority "lists" are really only found in books, courses and videos. The authors have to put things down in a logical, organised order to get the information through to you in a practical useful way. Most of these reference books are very well done too, with a heap load of useful stuff in a well packaged product. A lot of effort and research has gone into them and we can all benefit. You can even condence them further and make your own reference cards from them to put in your own kit.
These books are just the start as the real benefit is putting them into practice. Practicing the skills is fun and best done in a well controled environment. Once mastered (cough,splutter)then you can test yourself further, but again in a controled environment with a good safety net built in. Its the safety net that is all too often not given enough thought and taken for granted by over confidence or over familiarisation. This is when things go badly wrong, even by those who should know better.
"Old timers", local tribesmen, etc are often given mystical powers. Often rightly so because they have the experience in their particular environment, but don't count on it. Nor ignor what would seem a casual warning. The risk assesment is up to you as its your neck on the line. Ask the questions, check the answers and get a second opinion. There is always another day.
Do educate yourself but keep open minded. Walking down the trail lost you might find your lunch first, a shelter next and a lake at the end. You might just find first a signpost to the the Outback Pub (the only one in a thousand miles)
I was tought that if your men went quiet and stopped grumbling then you really had got them into trouble.
Last thing, individuals, trained or not, react differently and do remarkably stupid things. One stage up from sheep. We all do some big bar, bars sometimes. The trick is no to do too many and not be seen doing them, its what makes you an expert
Survival priority "lists" are really only found in books, courses and videos. The authors have to put things down in a logical, organised order to get the information through to you in a practical useful way. Most of these reference books are very well done too, with a heap load of useful stuff in a well packaged product. A lot of effort and research has gone into them and we can all benefit. You can even condence them further and make your own reference cards from them to put in your own kit.
These books are just the start as the real benefit is putting them into practice. Practicing the skills is fun and best done in a well controled environment. Once mastered (cough,splutter)then you can test yourself further, but again in a controled environment with a good safety net built in. Its the safety net that is all too often not given enough thought and taken for granted by over confidence or over familiarisation. This is when things go badly wrong, even by those who should know better.
"Old timers", local tribesmen, etc are often given mystical powers. Often rightly so because they have the experience in their particular environment, but don't count on it. Nor ignor what would seem a casual warning. The risk assesment is up to you as its your neck on the line. Ask the questions, check the answers and get a second opinion. There is always another day.
Do educate yourself but keep open minded. Walking down the trail lost you might find your lunch first, a shelter next and a lake at the end. You might just find first a signpost to the the Outback Pub (the only one in a thousand miles)
I was tought that if your men went quiet and stopped grumbling then you really had got them into trouble.
Last thing, individuals, trained or not, react differently and do remarkably stupid things. One stage up from sheep. We all do some big bar, bars sometimes. The trick is no to do too many and not be seen doing them, its what makes you an expert