what got you interested in outdoor survival?

As a young kid, my family lived in a small mining town which lay on the slopes of an inactive volcano. We would frequently go into the mountains for firewood and recreation. Eventually, we moved into town, then into the 'burbs, but we'd still go camping and fishing in the summer.

When I got into my upper teens, particularly when I left for college, I started venturing out into the wilds with my brothers and friends. After a few years and a few backpacking trips, someone mentioned a wilderness survival school that was offered through my university. Inside me, something just clicked. I broke out the course manual for the upcoming year, looked up the classes and, right as rain, there they were! I figured that I was out in the wilderness frequently anyways, so it would be wise to be able to survive unforseen circumstances. I've been hooked ever since.

In the words of one of the people who indirectly introduced me to wilderness survival, "I can't believe that I used to go backpacking without knowing what I know now!"
 
I think it started for me when the doctor slapped me on the @ss.
I've had a fascination with survival and preparedness since I can remember.

Helle
 
My dad and uncle were S.E.R.E. instructors for the Air Force. I grew up listening to those plus all his hunting/ adventure stories. I also fall into the catagory of "grew up in WV" where wilderness skills are a part of life.
 
Been into wilderness and survival as long as I can remember. (60 years). Grew up semi rural with forts in the woods that I ran away from home to hundreds of times. Along came Davy Crockett. That was it. From then on my only goal was to be king of the wild frontier. Never grew up. I just got bigger.
 
My interest started 35 years ago when I was in Boy Scouts. It really fueled in the last 15 years and even more when I got into knifemaking. I'm an avid hunter and even though I hunt close to home, an emergency can happen anywhere. My main interest is in making hard use tools for outdoors people. With todays climate of an unstable world, preparedness is even more important then ever.
Scott
 
I have learned that it is best to rely on yourself rather than relying on the system. I live rural on 160 acres like many others do in our area. The power goes out frequently, and when we have big snows the roads become impassible too. Firewood is plentiful around here and food can be had by butchering your own or by patronizing our local farms, taking it home and butchering it there. Fall hunts can yield trophys of good protien. Further away in the rural area it is common for folks to homeschool their children.

With that said self reliance is common practice and very fulfilling. Often neighbors will help other neighbors with things that need help.

Self reliance can be described as a lifestyle. It is something that I find absent in urban environments and leaves me unfulfilled. When I come home after a trip visiting relatives in the big bad city it makes me apreciate what we have in our rural roots out here.
 
well... i guess i started the whole survival project when i was about 16. my grandfather is military, my dad, my uncles are all military. my moms from the country side so of course i learned alot from her as well. when i was growing up... my grandma is from the country side too so things like preparing game and fish have become second nature to me... i too read the novel hatchet and became intrigued with the lifestyle.

after that tv series's like ray mears and survivorman just added to the flavor. now i train 3 times a week and once a weekend mostly for hiking, and backpacking which means strength and stamina training on the weekdays with weights and doing a hike and practicing skills on the weekends. lately havent had much of a chance to hed out into the woods due to work and school but i'd love to get a chance to go back out :D

i think it should be a mandatory class in highschool for you to learn about nature and the woods and surviving.. maybe not mandatory but it would make an excellent elective. now that im in university looking back it woulda been great to have a course where u learned outside, not sitting in a desk.

cheers ^^
 
Growing up hunting in the backwoods of Tennessee - back then I called my PSK a "possibles bag" after the term used by mountain men carrying muzzleloaders. It carried everything that I might "possibly" need in the outdoors.
 
grew up in west virginia, when i started serious trophy hunting i took a lot of firearm courses, when i was in alaska i went without water for about 8 hours of hard hunting, looked at my gear and decided i needed to learn how to take care of myself and my guide if something bad happened, had a run in with a grizz, close call, started looking at survival techniques seriously after that.

alex
 
Grew up in the 'burbs in Minnesota. Had some small problems at home with a sibling that made me not want to be home, so I got into scouts. For whatever reason, I ended up in a troop that was rather serious about making sure we could handle ourselves in the woods. As a result, I learned a lot about woods-based survival skills.

Later, as a young adult, I started solo hiking in Northern Minnesota. Saw most of the North Shores area, made some mistakes that could have ended badly, learned even more about how to take care of myself in the out-of-doors.

Then job demands moved me to Silicon Valley. All was well for the first three months until the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. Suddenly I realized just how deep of trouble I was in if the infrastructure didn't come back, and fast. I bought my first gun after that (I'd grown up with them, but never actually owned one as an adult).

The years have gone by and I've grown increasingly "survival minded." (I like that term). Now I have kids and I want to take them into the woods, so I'm re-learning skills lost over the last couple of decades.

Long story, but you know, I find that survival attitudes are gained via a process, and over time.
 
50 years as a logger, timber cruiser and hunter. I never thought of it as survival just the common sense to keep the necessities on hand in case of emergencies. I have never been lost in the woods but one time I got a little confused for a couple of days and was glad to have dry matches and the ability to build a shelter. Not a very comfortable night in the woods but I was rested enough to walk out the next morning.
 
I started out, just trying to be prepared for emergencies during camping trips and outdoors excursions.

Then the monster grew and I became a survivalist. I don't know what happened, perhaps paranoina, or expectation or dealing with the worst of the worst and knowing what's out there and what those masses will do if there is anarchy.

We've already seen glimpses of it in LA. Next time, I'm gonna be ready.

Sorry for the off topic
 
For me i only been to a few camps with my school. one day people keep on bullying me until i "snap". I ingore them and pick up a book which was on survival and got interested in it. I begain to study all about survival, tracking, etc etc...
 
I picked up a book about survival at my school book shop,think it was by a man called Brian Hildreth.Spent every spare minute of my time in the woods after that.......good times........can't understand the kids nowdays !!!!
 
Hey Guys...

I guess what got me started into wilderness survival was my dad..

He travelled the craft show circuit for many years,,and was gone quite often...

The times I didn't go with him, he use to bring home gifts for me from his road trips..
These gifts were usually books...

Books of nature,, birds, animals, plants,military and military history, wild edibles, and then outdoors, camping and eventually books on survival...Many books over the years were collected..some I still have...

Travelling with him on trips he use to take me to, hunting, camping and my absolute favorite Army surplus stores.. Wasn't too often I didn't leave without picking up something cool...

This eventually led to all kinds of cool items,, including knives..
That Really got the ball rolling...

So I guess I was introduced to it at a very young age...

Now I drag my kids with me to army surplus stores,, camping/hunting stores and places like Knobb Creek...Watching my 12 year old sitting behind an M2 Browning .50BMG was one of the coolest things we've done together...

I'd Wager to say he's the only kid in his school,,,,hell our town thats fired a .50BMG and a Glock 18 Full auto 9mm pistol!!!

Get your kids out there and introduce them to these activities,, you never know what will spark the interest and life long LOve of these sorts of things...

It's these things they'll remember long after you are gone,,and stories they'll be telling their grandchildren...

I think I'm a pretty cool dad for taking my kids to these things..I hope he feels the same way!!

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
i read the book my side of the mountain when i was about 8 years old. that is where i started. after that book i pestered my parents for a couple of years for my first pocket knife (i got it at about 10 years old). i read the sequels as they came out (far side of the mountain and frightful's mountain) and just got more and more into it. then i started doing google searches and found some good websites. i started building mini survival kits that were ill equipped to assist with anything. then i got old enough to start playing with fire and i put together my first real survival kits. now i carry a small fire kit and a knife or two for my basic sak and edc. for my slightly larger kit i carry a full size med kit and a few odds and ends that are nice.

i keep working on it. i hope to someday be able to move to a few hundred acres in the middle of nowhere and take up the lifestyle that i have been dreaming of since i read that book.
 
I grew up in the middle east and from age 10 had a lot time running around the desert unsupervised. I was active in scouts and given the harshness of our environment, survival skills were stressed.

When my family came back to the states my dad fell in love with the idea of buying acreage and living self-sufficiently. I can remember getting hand-me-down copies of Mother Earth News from him and dreaming about building a log cabin. We both also read some apocolyptic novels and took steps to have the ability to survive the collapse of social infrastructure.

I've always camped and backpacked, so certain skills were nonnegotiable. Later, when I became obsessed with hunting, serious wilderness survival got some attention.

This weekend, my 86 year old dad was in town visiting and we sat down and watched hour after hour of survival DVDs. It's great that we still share this interest!
 
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