what got you interested in outdoor survival?

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wade

Joined
Sep 22, 2005
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I grew up out in the mountains of N. Cal and as a kid spent my days playing in the forests fishing, hunting and camping. Building our "forts" which, looking back, were some damn good survival shelters. Hand fishing in creeks for trout, building traps for squirls, hunting with slingshots, and all that fun stuff. But my turning point was when I read the book Hatchet, it was actually a required reading at my school. Ever since then I have been hooked.

So lets hear your stories!
 
My parents camped since I was old enough to walk, scouts, and I grew up next to hundreds of acres of woods. As kids we spent all of our time in the woods.
Hiked the appalachain trail.

My parents heated with a woodstove, so, needless to say been cutting trees, and splitting wood forever.

Finally grew up (a little), now my family camps. My son and I ride ATVs and play paintball, all in the woods. I bought some woods, so now we have our own little patch of woods.

I was actually repacking my camping and survival gear, sharpening knives and such, when I did a google search and stumbled in here.
Nice place, great knowledgeable people. Have learned a lot in short time.
 
scouts and the book Hatchet and the sequeals/prequeals to it are what really got me interestedin the subject. i dove in a little deeper (thanks to the internet) and got hooked
 
I have been camping and hiking since I was a little boy, but the real interest in the "survival" and being prepared part starting in scouting when I put together my first survivial kit.

Will
 
Scouts for skills and grandpa (Crazy Old Jack, R.I.P.) for a love of the outdoors.
 
I started in Indian Guides, then on to Scouts......I have always been a backpacker and camper....I started getting into survival mode when my friend and I were about 16.....we went backpacking a few times and started thinking about minimal survival type stuff..... taking less and less gear.....mostly, now, I read alot of stuff and just hone my skills when i take the jeep off into the Sierra Nevada Mts to go camping with the wife. John
 
I grew up in Washington State right along the Idaho border, so I had plenty of opportunities to go out with my Dad and Grandad fishing and hunting. That started it. Then I joined the Scouts, and that sealed the deal. Been learning/enjoying the outdoors ever since, and hope to continue to do so.
 
a couple of guys tried to kill me so I figured I had better be prepared for anything.:eek: :eek:
 
I grew up in the mountains of north georgia,my kinfolks are hillbillys! I lived, played & camped in the wilderness ,killing game for food ,gathering wild plants for food & medicin, the simple life in those days! times have changed alot,not always for the better!my ancesters were pioneers,survival was just day to day living!
 
a family friend of mine was responsible for both getting me involved in hikeing and knives. on a camping trip he led our entire group on a grueling 20 mile hike and his vast knowledge and preparadness were probably the only reason we made it all the way, thoughout the whole trip he regailed us with stories from his life, never boasting but simply imparting us with much needed knowledge. at the age of 60 he still outpaces anyone in our group and is the go to guy for anything involving the outdoors. but his pasion and understanding of knives got me interestead, particularly because he gave my my first real knife. i think i was so impressed by him that i grew to understand how important bieng knowledgable and prepared is.
 
I grew up in a semi-rural area (small town, my folks' house was on the outskirts), and I had hunting/fishing experiences with family, but I confess I only got hard core into survival and preparedness because of adventure stories like Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky and other such stories.

I've learned a lot from people far wiser than me, so I'm confident I could eke out a life if disaster fell, but I admit my own outdoor adventures these days are confined to 'car camping' and some out-and-back-in-one day fishing trips. :o
 
Scouts, spent a lot of time wandering the woods. But an article in Popular Mechanics, about how to build a survival kit in a band aid box, got me interested.
 
Can't remember a time that I wasn't, guess I was born this way. My mom said that when I was three I showed her a picture with three triangles on it and she said "those are nice triangles" and I said "no they're not, they're tipis.:)
 
After hearing all the fantastic hunting stories from my grand father when I was young, I figured I was gonna make my own stories :rolleyes:
 
Although I'm a city rat, I've been into camping and the outdoors since forever. My dad use to take me and my brother to hunting trips to a Federal Preserve island near the west coast of Puerto Rico (during hunting season, of course :D ) in primitive camping fashion, then it was the Scouts, and after that, camping trips. But what really got me, not only interested, but involved and committed to learn and develop survival skills, was 911.

Maybe my case sounds like Post-traumatic stress disorder (no, I was not in New York when it happened), and sometimes I think it is a combination of PTSD and middle age crisis, but after 911 I realized how unprepared I was to provide and protect my family in case of natural (or not so natural) disaster. I started to spend more time with a survivalist friend who pointed me in the right direction, and the rest is history. (By the way, I am not a survivalist, not that there is anything wrong with that mind set. I am what some call survival minded.)

Sorry for the long post, but for me getting involved in preparedness and survival is not just a hobby. I see it as one of the mayor turning points in my life.

Now, if there is a psychiatrist in the house... ;)
 
I grew up in a typical suburban subdivision. Right behind my house there was a huge farm and a railroad right of way. About half the farm property was fallow or forest and another large portion was covered by a huge swamp that the rail line cut across. Another two farms owned by the same family connected to the one behind the house so we had a huge area to play in.

My home situation was difficult and encouraged me to spend alot of time away from the house. The "woods" was just a natural place for me to wind up. My brothers and I each had our "forts" as well. My younger brothers was a dugout covered with logs. Mine was a bark wigwam. We lived in these places, hanging out and poaching, and I don't mean eggs.

(If you want to see my childhood watch the movie "Stand by Me")

My parents also had a house up in the Blue Mts of PA. Same bad home situation, different house, bigger woods. For my formative years the forest was the only place where I felt totally safe and totally free.

The wilderness survival aspect came about as a result of suffering experienced. Spend enough time in the forest and eventually you will make just about all the mistakes possible. Mac
 
I've lived surrounded by wilderness my whole life so I decided i should learn to survive in it should the need arise.
 
I grew up in Detroit, the riots in the late 60's made me realize how fragile civilization really is.
Went to college in the UP (upper peninsula) Loved the area, graduated from college, married local gal, and we both wanted to live simply and sanely.
We have 120 acres that we live on and live as self sufficiently as we can.

-Yooperman
 
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