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- May 14, 2009
- Messages
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giardia are tough bastards to beat ... had to treat my cats a few times before we got rid of them (the giardia, not the cats)
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WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!! The Official Survival Contest Thread!!
- Thread starter shotgunner11
- Start date
giardia are tough bastards to beat ... had to treat my cats a few times before we got rid of them (the giardia, not the cats)
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2009
- Messages
- 6,234
I had giardia as a kid, it sucked. ketadyn microfilter or filtered water bottle are where it's at. I can't even stand to use tabs now anymore. The result of giardia and using iodine tabs are the same on my digestive system anyway... might as well save yourself the 30 minutes and crappy tasting water.
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,295
umm... i'm going to los angeles in october. 3 days, 3 nights. no knife
. that should count for something.
. that should count for something.
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,295
lol. i wish i could go out on a 3 night survival campout... haven't done a real one since boyscouts. stupid 5 day work weeks always get in the way. one of these days.
Better add a camera to my flight bag 
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 1,121
I managed to get off work and go.
Here's the slide show from my trip.(I think some are not rotated and maybe out of order, I'm new to all this) I left Wed. and got home Friday. I'll post a narrative in a few minutes.
http://s945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/kyturkey/?albumview=slideshow
Here's the slide show from my trip.(I think some are not rotated and maybe out of order, I'm new to all this) I left Wed. and got home Friday. I'll post a narrative in a few minutes.
http://s945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/kyturkey/?albumview=slideshow
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 1,121
I did it! Three days two nights Aug 19th- 21st, just my Scrapyard S5, my Altoids tin (full, but not with everything I wanted to take), camera and pad/pencil.
In preparation for this outing I checked out three survival/outdoor books from the library. I looked at what other people had used in their kits and came up with my own. This was my first time trying out a lot of these things.
In my tin-
Jute string- for tinder
Birthday candle- help in starting fire, wax for fire drill socket
Safety pin- for repairs, improvised fish hook, etc.
Ziploc bags- for H2O, storage, carry
Green masons string- wanted extra string for a variety of uses, and it was small so it would fit
Water purification tablets
Fishing line- about 30’ of 6lb. line
Bug repellent wipes- 30% deet and supposed to last 10 hours – works pretty good
Fishing kit- hooks, swivel, sinkers, jigs, float
Nylon cord- 6’ 150lb test
Quick tinder- waxed cotton will burn 2-3 minutes
Wire- for snares
Needle
Light My Fire- just got it the week before, I sanded the handle down to fit in the tin
Matches wrapped in aluminum foil
Maratac AAA flashlight- light around camp, and frog gigging
Underside of lid- match striker glued on and Fresnel magnify lens
I wanted to also include some sports drink powder in there, but couldn’t get it to fit. Thought it would help the water taste and help from dehydrating.
I arrived at 0700 at my parents’ farm on Wednesday morning. It’s around 100 acres. Half of which is really grown up with trees planted about seven years ago, the rest is cattle pasture and hay fields. It borders a creek and has two old ponds that have almost filled in.
I walked toward the creek and saw turkeys first thing. Seeing turkeys always gets my heart pumping. As it turns out I saw turkeys all three days in different spots. I decided I’d look around for a little bit before building my shelter. My thought there was that if I needed a shelter it would probably be the result of some unseen or unplanned event happening, and not just first thing in the morning.
I did find a spot with some trash dumped back by the creek. Littering happens to be a pet peeve of mine. However, those discarded bottles came in handy. I found a couple of old plastic two liter bottles, and some glass jars. One glass bottle was the size of a two liter. It had a metal cap with Coca-Cola on it. I don’t remember those, I remember glass bottles that were 8- 20 oz. but not one that big. So there’s no telling how long that stuff had been there. That large Coke bottle sure was an improvement to carrying water than zip-lock bags. I used one of the plastic two liter bottles as a fish/ crawdad trap, and the other as a water filter. I took the pocket off my shirt and put that in, then silt/ sand, next charcoal, and last more silt/sand.
I had planned to get water out of the creek, but remembered upstream a farmer lets his cattle run in there. Then I remembered an old spring on a neighboring farm. I dammed up an area where I could get water out easily and used that as my water supply. I still treated and filtered that water just to be safe.
I caught a crawdad at the spring and saw several more. I found some wild strawberries, happened to find a lone cherry tomato plant in an old barn lot, had cattails, and fished. I tried fishing with a hook that I tied a feather to, and got a couple of bites. However, all the bluegill I caught were on a little jig I had bought right before this trip. I started out using a stick to fish with but then switched to a glass jar which worked much better. I recognized a few edible plants like clover, dandelions, thistle, alfalfa, cattails, but I need to get a book on wild edibles and study up.
I planned to build a debris hut for a shelter which worked good except for the debris. There wasn’t much leaf litter to cover my frame work with. I used several small sweet gum trees to cover it. It was mainly to keep mosquitoes out. It did sprinkle the first night and Thursday it rained for a little bit. Yes my shelter leaked, but not as much as being out in the rain. While it rained, I tried knapping some flint while sitting in my shelter. That didn’t work too good as large chunks instead of small pieces would flake off. Also your shelter needs to be tall enough to comfortably sit up in, mine was just big enough, but a little more room would have been nice. I did put grass I got by the creek inside as padding, but be sure to put more than you think you’ll need. I needed more as the ground was hard on my hips.
I used cattail heads and cedar bark along with my fire steel to get my fire started, and cooked the fish over the fire on a piece of metal I found. Thursday I did use my matches/candle to get my fire going after the rain. I tried the magnify lens on some of the cattails when the sun would cooperate, it didn’t catch but you could smell it and see the fibers curling up. My first time batoning my knife was thru some cedar for a fire board. I then assembled the rest of the pieces for my fire bow. I was surprised that rock I used for the socket got warm, and I got excited when the cedar board started smoking easier than I though it would.
I built a couple of snares. One ground set for rabbits, and a squirrel pole. I put a couple of wire snares on a stick and then propped it on to a tree. Thought is a squirrel runs up it and gets caught. I made a couple of spears/jigs. Lastly I tried to make a figure four trap, carved out of wood. I had trouble with this. Tried four or five times, got frustrated, and quit. First my rock was too heavy and broke my top piece, then I figured I had the top piece at too steep an angle, then I would cut my notches but they wouldn’t quite be right. During all this I got bit my knife, first time in a while. Finally, I decided to take a break from it and I whittled a spoon and made a fork. I tried making a set of tongs, but they kept splitting in the middle. I did use some vines I found as cordage.
Lastly, I thought I would try the Man-vs-Wild compass I saw on one show while at work. I took a piece of wire and rubbed it in my hair for static electricity, then tried floating it in water in a depression in a rock. Didn’t work, so I tried using a leaf with water, somewhat worked it gave a NW/SE direction.
For me this trip reinforces the need to practice survival skills before you really need them. Don’t get tunnel vision, and overlook resources because you’re thinking of doing or making something else. It also helps to realize that we take a lot of things for granted. It amazes me how the Native Americans lived many years ago, and figured stuff out on their own.
In preparation for this outing I checked out three survival/outdoor books from the library. I looked at what other people had used in their kits and came up with my own. This was my first time trying out a lot of these things.
In my tin-
Jute string- for tinder
Birthday candle- help in starting fire, wax for fire drill socket
Safety pin- for repairs, improvised fish hook, etc.
Ziploc bags- for H2O, storage, carry
Green masons string- wanted extra string for a variety of uses, and it was small so it would fit
Water purification tablets
Fishing line- about 30’ of 6lb. line
Bug repellent wipes- 30% deet and supposed to last 10 hours – works pretty good
Fishing kit- hooks, swivel, sinkers, jigs, float
Nylon cord- 6’ 150lb test
Quick tinder- waxed cotton will burn 2-3 minutes
Wire- for snares
Needle
Light My Fire- just got it the week before, I sanded the handle down to fit in the tin
Matches wrapped in aluminum foil
Maratac AAA flashlight- light around camp, and frog gigging
Underside of lid- match striker glued on and Fresnel magnify lens
I wanted to also include some sports drink powder in there, but couldn’t get it to fit. Thought it would help the water taste and help from dehydrating.
I arrived at 0700 at my parents’ farm on Wednesday morning. It’s around 100 acres. Half of which is really grown up with trees planted about seven years ago, the rest is cattle pasture and hay fields. It borders a creek and has two old ponds that have almost filled in.
I walked toward the creek and saw turkeys first thing. Seeing turkeys always gets my heart pumping. As it turns out I saw turkeys all three days in different spots. I decided I’d look around for a little bit before building my shelter. My thought there was that if I needed a shelter it would probably be the result of some unseen or unplanned event happening, and not just first thing in the morning.
I did find a spot with some trash dumped back by the creek. Littering happens to be a pet peeve of mine. However, those discarded bottles came in handy. I found a couple of old plastic two liter bottles, and some glass jars. One glass bottle was the size of a two liter. It had a metal cap with Coca-Cola on it. I don’t remember those, I remember glass bottles that were 8- 20 oz. but not one that big. So there’s no telling how long that stuff had been there. That large Coke bottle sure was an improvement to carrying water than zip-lock bags. I used one of the plastic two liter bottles as a fish/ crawdad trap, and the other as a water filter. I took the pocket off my shirt and put that in, then silt/ sand, next charcoal, and last more silt/sand.
I had planned to get water out of the creek, but remembered upstream a farmer lets his cattle run in there. Then I remembered an old spring on a neighboring farm. I dammed up an area where I could get water out easily and used that as my water supply. I still treated and filtered that water just to be safe.
I caught a crawdad at the spring and saw several more. I found some wild strawberries, happened to find a lone cherry tomato plant in an old barn lot, had cattails, and fished. I tried fishing with a hook that I tied a feather to, and got a couple of bites. However, all the bluegill I caught were on a little jig I had bought right before this trip. I started out using a stick to fish with but then switched to a glass jar which worked much better. I recognized a few edible plants like clover, dandelions, thistle, alfalfa, cattails, but I need to get a book on wild edibles and study up.
I planned to build a debris hut for a shelter which worked good except for the debris. There wasn’t much leaf litter to cover my frame work with. I used several small sweet gum trees to cover it. It was mainly to keep mosquitoes out. It did sprinkle the first night and Thursday it rained for a little bit. Yes my shelter leaked, but not as much as being out in the rain. While it rained, I tried knapping some flint while sitting in my shelter. That didn’t work too good as large chunks instead of small pieces would flake off. Also your shelter needs to be tall enough to comfortably sit up in, mine was just big enough, but a little more room would have been nice. I did put grass I got by the creek inside as padding, but be sure to put more than you think you’ll need. I needed more as the ground was hard on my hips.
I used cattail heads and cedar bark along with my fire steel to get my fire started, and cooked the fish over the fire on a piece of metal I found. Thursday I did use my matches/candle to get my fire going after the rain. I tried the magnify lens on some of the cattails when the sun would cooperate, it didn’t catch but you could smell it and see the fibers curling up. My first time batoning my knife was thru some cedar for a fire board. I then assembled the rest of the pieces for my fire bow. I was surprised that rock I used for the socket got warm, and I got excited when the cedar board started smoking easier than I though it would.
I built a couple of snares. One ground set for rabbits, and a squirrel pole. I put a couple of wire snares on a stick and then propped it on to a tree. Thought is a squirrel runs up it and gets caught. I made a couple of spears/jigs. Lastly I tried to make a figure four trap, carved out of wood. I had trouble with this. Tried four or five times, got frustrated, and quit. First my rock was too heavy and broke my top piece, then I figured I had the top piece at too steep an angle, then I would cut my notches but they wouldn’t quite be right. During all this I got bit my knife, first time in a while. Finally, I decided to take a break from it and I whittled a spoon and made a fork. I tried making a set of tongs, but they kept splitting in the middle. I did use some vines I found as cordage.
Lastly, I thought I would try the Man-vs-Wild compass I saw on one show while at work. I took a piece of wire and rubbed it in my hair for static electricity, then tried floating it in water in a depression in a rock. Didn’t work, so I tried using a leaf with water, somewhat worked it gave a NW/SE direction.
For me this trip reinforces the need to practice survival skills before you really need them. Don’t get tunnel vision, and overlook resources because you’re thinking of doing or making something else. It also helps to realize that we take a lot of things for granted. It amazes me how the Native Americans lived many years ago, and figured stuff out on their own.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
- Messages
- 3,504
Wow..my hats off to both of you guys ! I would like to give it a try but I just don't have the free time 
Oh well . Good luck !
Oh well . Good luck !I would like to give it a try but I just don't have the free time
Same here... Now if the contest would be 2 days, you'd probably see a lot more entries, but then again you could hardly call it "survival". I'm sure we'd still learn a bunch of stuff.
Nice job turkey.
and for those that can only go for 2, why not just have at it? no one is going to stand up and point our fingers at you calling you a cheater. rule 1, make due with what you have.
I'm still trying to find a place to go. I'm thinking about getting my hunting license, and If i do I'll just go out in crown land in a place where I can have a small fire.
and for those that can only go for 2, why not just have at it? no one is going to stand up and point our fingers at you calling you a cheater. rule 1, make due with what you have.
I'm still trying to find a place to go. I'm thinking about getting my hunting license, and If i do I'll just go out in crown land in a place where I can have a small fire.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2009
- Messages
- 2,281
If you guys want to count it, I did a 3 day/2 night with just my Izula, a PSK (not an altoids tin, it was a Pelican 1020 case), and a chopper. I posted the thread in here a while back. It wasnt really within the setout rules (I wasnt alone, Joezilla was there, I took water ((it was an island without any fresh water, and dying didnt seem like fun)), and I had a hachet with me, that didnt get used). But, it's up to the mods here!
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2009
- Messages
- 443
cool!
