Wliderness and Survival Skills

Mike, you want to adopt another kid who is interested in learning more about this stuff? I used to have a better handle on the basics back when I spent a lot of time on my grandmother's farm, but she died about 20 years ago, family sold the farm, and I have strayed.
 
I taught my now adult kids the skills I thought that they would most need in life.

Knife,gun,tools, carpentry, auto mech,fishing, killing,cleaning,cooking,wilderness Skills, how to get up early and how to stay up late, to be goal oriented and to keep their own council, to have their own opinions as opposed to just using the opinions of others.

They are all city boys for now, that seems to be the place to find women with good jobs.

There is plenty more, but I am just to lazy to type it all up.

Anytime, I complain to them, about them, They have a tendency to just say: "Daddy, we are just the way you Raised us to be, Deal with it, it is your own Fault.

A little tough to argue with that, LOL
 
My Grandpa (born 1900) once said to me in the late 1970s how disappointed he was that nowadays hardly anyone knows how to hitch up a horse to a wagon. He grew up on the family farm and farmed there himself till retirement, when he sold it to my uncle.

There are a lot of lost skills, gone from our modern world.

MF
 
Folks, this is an awesome thread. Great posts and thoughts. With your permission, I'd like to post a link for the Wildenress and Survival Forum folks to see?
 
It occurs to me that a lot of college-bound kids never get the opportunity to learn a "practical skill."

I went to a small rural school. Graduating class had 48. There were no foreign languages, no calculus, no computer classes. As part of the college-prep class, I did take chemistry, physics, and trig.

But I also took 4 years of vocational agriculture, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I learned fundamental skills that the average college-prep kid todays would never dream about. We took field trips galore. We castrated pigs. We built wood projects in shop. We welded.

There's something to be said for that kind of grounding experience.
 
Wow! You Hogs are bringing tears to my old, old eyes ... :o

I grew up in old, and I do mean OLD, rural central California ... in the old farming and ranching belt near the San Joaquin River. I came from Southern stock and literally grew up with mud between my toes.

I didn't really know what a city looked like until it was time to go to college. Los Angeles -- man, that was an eye opener!! :eek::eek: I didn't fit in, but concentration and hard work fixed that little problem.

I still laugh when I think of myself at age 18, arriving in Los Angeles. I had so little in common with almost everyone there. I thought everyone knew how to use tools, how to fish, etc. I certainly didn't think of them as separate and unusual skills. I thought everyone could use a knife, a pistol, a rifle ... of course, I was dead wrong. :o

Now, many many decades later, I have learned at least one thing: you can't take the country out of the boy. :D
 
papathud said:
I taught my now adult kids the skills I thought that they would most need in life.

Knife,gun,tools, carpentry, auto mech,fishing, killing,cleaning,cooking,wilderness Skills, how to get up early and how to stay up late, to be goal oriented and to keep their own council, to have their own opinions as opposed to just using the opinions of others.

They are all city boys for now, that seems to be the place to find women with good jobs.

There is plenty more, but I am just to lazy to type it all up.

Anytime, I complain to them, about them, They have a tendency to just say: "Daddy, we are just the way you Raised us to be, Deal with it, it is your own Fault.

A little tough to argue with that, LOL
Click to expand...

I resemble this post.;)
I do have to remind myself that I failed my way to success, so my kids may do the same (and they do).
 
Thanks for this thread Mike. I have lived in Georgia all of my life from the country to small towns to cities. I was lucky enough to summer at my grandparents and help my grandfather who was a small housing contractor. Also in that town my first cousins family were farmers of crops and livestock and I spent countless hours learning from them. From the years from 6 to 10 yrs old we lived in the country. I probably am lucky to still be here. My friend David and I learned too ice skate in our keds on frozen "hog ponds". We learned that picking cotton is harder than anyone cam imagine. The day the field next to our house was picked he and I signed up,were given our cotton sacks and maybe,maybe lasted an hour. Later that summer we learned that cotton bales stored in a barn wont burn as much as smolder. Later that same day we learned that when that smoldering reaches the fatlighter wood of that barn that it will indeed burn!! One of the things I remember most though is the taste of the wild blackberries and plums that grew on the lane between our houses. Do they even have lanes anymore? Keep this thread alive guys,I love it.;)
Chickenplucker
 
Thanks Brian for posting this over at W&SS, and thanks Mike H and all for sharing.

I have always liked fishing and the outdoors since I was a boy, but being raised by only my mother(who did a fine job) I didn't get to experiance it till I was about 12. I got to go to the Pocono Mountains in PA with a friend's family. It was the first time I saw a forrest, Deer, chipmunks, etc in the wild. I was blown away. I would spend every day just walking around in its beauty. Unfortunately these camping trips only lasted a few days, and two years later they moved away. I never got the chance to learn any skills as I was too focussed on walking through the woods.
Growing up in the Bronx, NY a knife was a weapon and not a tool. It wasn't till I joined the Airforce and befriended some great people that I learned what kind of tool a knife could be and the importance of wilderness skills. I learned some basics and that kept me going as my priorities at the time were more in the lines of girls, boose, fishing. Mostly in that order.

Fast forward to now. I have a great woman and a wonderful daughter. But I still haven't learned all the skills I wish to have. I have come a long way do to the people of these forums. I now live in a small town in CT. There is alot great trails pretty close by and I take my daughter along as much as I can. She is only 3, but she loves coming out with me. I am yet to take her camping, but we did do some back yard camping a few weeks ago and she had a ball.

I look at all my neighbors and none of them have a clue. They think I am nuts having a stockpile of water, food, etc. They don't understand why I have a knife on me at all times, and you should see their faces when they see me practicing skills in my back yard.

A few of the their kids come by, and really get into it. I have been trying my hand at a bowdrill fire and it amazes them when I get smoke. (no coal yet) I made a couple of figure four traps for them, and I see them setting up dead falls with their toys outside. So there is still hope for our youth.

Ofcourse I want my daughter go to college and be successful in her life, but I also want her to appreciate the simple things and learn to work with nature as well. As far as me I have alot to learn and am taking some outdoor skills courses as well as getting out there as much as I can.

Thanks for listening and thanks all for the hundreds of posts and advice I have recieved during my short time here.:thumbup:
 
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the roof has to be checked each year. its a high 2 story house and to hang on the edge to put new screws in the gutter is a task. i am 51 and not as agile as i was before.

i told my son to go up there and check the roof and look for places that could need repair. my mother said you can not let him go up there he will fall. i said mom i was doing more when i was 15 than he does now at 21. she but you knew more than him. i said well he has to learn and sitting in front of a tv video game does him no use.

she said he will fall. i said well i am 51 what if i fall?

she would not let me sent him up there.

at 15 i was driving all the trucks dad had and i could do anything out and about the house or store we had. he only knows games and such.

i tried to get him interested in bb guns when he was younger to let him learn the ways to handle guns. all need to know the right ways to handle guns we never know when we will need to do it.

he did not take any interest in it.

he does not like to fish but fishing could save his or our life in time

what can we do with kids these days?
 
thank Hank Williams Jr.

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
 
norcalblacktail said:
There are still some of us young bucks that care about all that stuff. In fact Im off to mill some wood right now in order to build some raised beds. Pics later.
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Norcal is right. I am another young buck. Y'all have all seen what this east Texas farmboy wants to do for a career in another post: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=561740

I love the outdoors. Grew up helping the family run their 500ac farm. I was the one always cutting cedar posts and digging post holes. Always quick with a .22 if I felt like fried rabbit. Never got to learn how to trap. Even in BSA we didn't do that. I thought BSA was the lamest experience of my life because we did 1 or 2 days of camping every few months and went out and shot bb guns once in a blue moon. At the young age of a Cub Scout, I felt as though I had already forgotten much about the outdoors and survival than my Den Leaders knew. Thankfully, my dad saw that and decided to use the monthly Scout dues to invest in outdoor adventures for us.

My middle brother is a Marine, but certainly not the outdoor type. He used to spend days in front of the PC. My youngest, at age 10, is an outdoor nut. My mom makes him change in the laundry room or hose off outside nearly every day. He just loves to be outdoors and run and bike and is actually going to go hiking with me probably around Labor Day when I see him again.

I feel sorry for the lil twits my age, I am 24, that can't imagine a day without TV. I don't even own one. I own the laptop for work and to pick y'all's brains, but I have certainly ducked the technology as best I can...
 
papathud said:
Knife,gun,tools, carpentry, auto mech,fishing, killing,cleaning,cooking,wilderness Skills, how to get up early and how to stay up late, to be goal oriented and to keep their own council, to have their own opinions as opposed to just using the opinions of others.
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add metal fabricatoin and gardening and you've hit pretty much everything I want to learn as a 24 year old. (and maybe a little music theory :) )

my step dad has been a general maintenance man/plumber for the past 35 years at our local school district, and before that he was a carpenter, plumber, mechanic, lumber yard manager, and a few other things. while I didn't learn any of the skills (I was stubborn and never asked), he instilled in me what I wanted to be.

hopefully, even if I fail to teach my kids the skills themselves, I'll be able to instill in them a desire to learn them and be proficient in them. and hope that one of them has a bit more drive then I do :)
 
Last Visible Canary said:
add metal fabricatoin and gardening and you've hit pretty much everything I want to learn as a 24 year old. (and maybe a little music theory :) )

my step dad has been a general maintenance man/plumber for the past 35 years at our local school district, and before that he was a carpenter, plumber, mechanic, lumber yard manager, and a few other things. while I didn't learn any of the skills (I was stubborn and never asked), he instilled in me what I wanted to be.

hopefully, even if I fail to teach my kids the skills themselves, I'll be able to instill in them a desire to learn them and be proficient in them. and hope that one of them has a bit more drive then I do :)
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I guess I am well-off then. I am 24 now and have held jobs in the fields listed as well as spent much of my free time doing everything outdoors I could find. I was blessed by parents who didn't try and force me into college right out of high school. Those three years gave me alot of hard, hard work experience.
 
Gardening is a Wilderness Skill.

You got to know where what grows and what time of year you can find it. you get to thinking "Just what does it take to grow this", and when you find what you like, you just want more of it available.

Agriculture is just an off shoot of foraging for Lazy People, LOL
 
3_hard_boiled_eggs said:
thank Hank Williams Jr.

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Click to expand...

I mainly like rock but that's one of the best songs ever right there now :thumbup: Man, when he sang that at a local concert years ago all us country boys set into whoopin and hollerin our country bumpkin heads off
 
This is really an excellent topic. I have always been a "city boy" but my father comes from WACKO, TX :p and made it a point to pass on the skills he learned and maintained to my two sisters and myself. Now, in turn, I am doing the same to my wife and children. Even while living in the urban setting there are plenty of chances to chop wood, practice fire starting, learn how to use knives and other survival type tools, take the family camping, etc... Every little bit helps. And you know what? They love it.

And regarding the issue of how much of our society has given up even the most basic skills... My neighbors and wife's family were surprised when they learned that I change the oil and perform basic maintenance on my vehicles, mow my own lawn, installed pre-hung doors, wood floors, kitchen cabinets, etc... in my house. People are so used to having things done for them. But my kids love to help out and have developed a fascination for the tools in my garage. Which explains why things go missing from time to time. :eek:

Even my wife, who has transformed herself into an awesome cook feels like an outsider as most of the women she knows want nothing to do with cooking. (not that we men folk can't pitch in too. ;)) But it is a skill that my wife willingly and excitedly developed.

Our society may be moving ever further away from these simple skills but I take comfort, and pride, that my kids will be able to change their own flat tires, and much more, when the time comes. :p

Again, excellent thread and input from everyone. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
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