Your weakest survival link??

G'day dartanyon

dartanyon said:
I'm going to be attempting more plant ID this year.
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If your interested, you can find pictures and descriptions of various types of edible Aussie plants here: http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/766213/tp/1/

As I live in NSW, you'll find the examples I've posted at the link provided relevant to you :thumbup:

BTW, for those from Europe & Nth America, there are examples of edible plants from these regions as well.

Hope this helps.



Kind regards
Mick
 
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As I read through some of the other posts here, I realize that my most important weak link is shelter building, since I haven't practiced it much. I think I'd rank that above navigation and wild foraging and knot tying etc. I think I could do decently well right now with fire and water, but protection from exposure is something I should really work on. I want to already have an idea of proper placement, what materials to use in my environment, how to rig it up, how big, how much insulation, fire placement, etc. before I actually find myself in a situation where I only have an hour of daylight left.
 
G'day Dave

dartanyon said:
After living with some Aborigine families in Arnhem land I discovered how stupid we can be. They taught me to open my eyes and respect our land.
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Sounds like we have both learnt from the people who wrote the book :D

Thanks for the links :thumbup: . At first glance, there looks like there'll be lots of useful info there.

Take care Dave.



Kind regards
Mick
 
Echo4v said:
Get some mason's line and practice every day at lunch, that's how I learned. I would pick a knot and tie it in the line then put the line in my pocket and tie that knot ( in the other end) every day until I got comfortable. Then untie the reference knot and practice a few more days. Then move on to another one. You'd actually be surprised how little time it takes to tie one knot once a day. You might also be surprised how few knots you need to know to get by.

David
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That's a great idea, thanks echo. I'll start tomorrow. Just got to decide which knot first.
 
Chinpo said:
That's a great idea, thanks echo. I'll start tomorrow. Just got to decide which knot first.
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I would suggest the square knot, bowline,fisherman's knot and taut line hitch as the best all around. I would also recommend you learn to whip, which is not really a knot but a method of wrapping. All of these are demonstrated on this site to make it easier to get started.

http://www.animatedknots.com/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

These are all very simple knots and extremely multi use. The taut line hitch is the only adjustable one, I like to use it to tie tent stake lines so if I need to I can reset my stakes without untying the line. The bowline and square knot are good for hard tying something you don't want to come undone and the fisherman's knot is good for tying cordage together in a way that won't come undone. There are several ways to tie cordage together but this is the simplest to me. Whipping is handy for so many uses that I recommend everone learn it. It also makes nice decoration for walking sticks etc once you learn to do it nicely.

Of course this is just my opinion but these are the ones I use almost everytime I go into the woods.

David
 
I really need to work on my shelter construction, its something I have only ever really done once. I also would like to get better at making fire with a bow drill.

Oh yeah, and wild edibles - I have no clue. I do know that I shouldn't eat the yellow snow though. ;)
 
I learned about 'leaves of three - let them be!' last summer. Flora & fauna are definite areas of educational need here. More importantly, and this is mostly urban-survival oriented, I never have much cash on hand. I have 6 wk+ of food, TP, cat-input/output supplies, on hand. No water storage or purification. One can't go half way... I must complete the storage. I never want that poison oak/ivy again, for sure - no doc-in-a-box in the boonies.

Stainz
 
Mick ... where are ya?

Chinpo ... my input into knots and order of learning (also order of priority) would have to be,, the half hitch (needed for rolling hitch), clove hitch, bowline (a lifesaver and can be undone after being pulled super tight), rolling hitch (able to be adjusted/tightened on guy ropes), reef knot, sheet bend (tying dis-similar sized cords, weaving and nets) ...
Prioritization may vary but these are the basics. The one handed bowline is perhaps the lifesaver.
 
Medical training. If I or anyone else is dependant on me for immediate medical need, there would be 'issues.'

I have the basics somewhat covered for my area, but move me geographically and it'd be pressing the reset button. I don't know deserts or tropics. Move the lattitude 10-12 degrees and I'm lost.

That's not to imply that I'd give up :)
 
Cooperation:

I can function very effectively on a good team. And there are instances too numerous to list where cooperation, reciprocation and the pooling of resources is a better survival strategy over the rather churlish lone wolf fantasy approach. However, whilst I strive to avoid being too judgmental, once you have struck me as a 'tard or some other kind of irritant there's seldom any going back, and I really don't care what happens to you. That tendency to being a grudger has clear handicapping aspects when you don't get to pick the group in which cooperation would be the best survival plan.
 
My weakest link is definitely edible plants.

baldtaco-II said:
Cooperation:

I can function very effectively on a good team. And there are instances too numerous to list where cooperation, reciprocation and the pooling of resources is a better survival strategy over the rather churlish lone wolf fantasy approach. However, whilst I strive to avoid being too judgmental, once you have struck me as a 'tard or some other kind of irritant there's seldom any going back, and I really don't care what happens to you.
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Ayup.

myright said:
I also would like to get better at making fire with a bow drill.
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I am very fascinated and interested with the more primitive living skills. I would like to learn how to work antler, bone, obsidian and chert, there is no doubt about that.

That having been said, they have very little to do with most survival situations. It's the Survivor's Paradox, the modern survivor anyway...if you're cold, really cold, you won't have time to make a fire bow and drill. The passionate hobbyists then remark, "I'll carry one with me." To which I respond, if you can carry that, you can carry a bunch of other things that are better.

I would bet a months pay that the old mountain men would trade in their knuckle-duster piece of iron and a piece of chert for a Swedish Fire Steel any day of the week once they were exposed to it. Likewise, people stuck with fire drills and whatnot would also do that.

There are times when older things work very, very well and one of those things is char-cloth. My brother has been making char-cloth out of flannel and denim and the stuff is awesome.

Oh yeah, and wild edibles - I have no clue. I do know that I shouldn't eat the yellow snow though. ;)
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Frank Zappa's Survival Guide! Outstanding!
 
My weakest link is practice. I have a wealth of knowledge, but not much experience. Knowledge doesn't do you much if you can't use it. I can DESCRIBE a perfect figure-4 trap, but BUILDING one is another story.
 
I saw this thread a couple of weeks ago and I posted on it, mine is wild edibles mostly. I am also horrible at tree identification, I can tell a decidious from an evergreen and I can identify a couple of kinds of trees but most of them are a mystery to me.

So last weekend I was at a barns and nobles and guess what I ran into, phanpmlets on tree Identificationa and wild edibles. These are laminated and folded like a road map so they are maybe 8 x5 and only about 1/4 inch thick. Glanced through them then decided for 6 bucks each why not.

Now, I have read several books on these two topics but the books are so expensive that I can't justify buying them ( not when I can get a knife for less) so they were library books that I didn't want to take to the woods but, these pamplets are meant to be taken with you and they are pretty decent guides ( although limited in scope). I hope that these will prove valuable in the future as I plan to take them each time I enter the woods. They do have color close up photos of the plant as well as black and white siloettes of them, so they are pretty close to what I wanted in that department. They also have breif descriptions of how to prepare the plant for ingestion.

Getting these items made me wonder, what have you guys done to eliminate your weakest survival link?

David
 
i would have to say that I not much of a hunter and food gathering would be my weakest link in long term survival. Basic survival skills can not be practice enough!!!
 
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