Your weakest survival link??

Echo ... nice one, doing something about it. A thinker and a do'er.

I've been trying to collect more information for my database of information. The best way to employ my research would have to be doing it although I'm a bit reluctent to eat things untill I see someone else who knows what they're doing, before I do. There are courses although quite expensive.
I need to be more positive with my identification.
 
dartanyon said:
Sometimes we dont find out what is sooo hard to do untill we have to actually do it. We are encouraged to learn and test ourselves so if ever required we can survive with the basics, maybe just our blade, PSK or nothing at all. My weak link is probably eatable plants ... what is yours?
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Mine is cleaning game. I can do it... but I'm not good at it. The main reason is because I try not to kill anything unless I have to. I don't go hunting every year or even fishing. I'm not a PETA freak or anything... I just don't like to hurt or kill animals myself unless I have to to survive. I eat meat all the time... I just don't like pulling the trigger myself LOL. So though I was taught how... and have before successfully... It's usually more time consuming that it needs to be... and I never do a nice neat professional job.

Plants, and wild foods... I got that covered. I've read as much as I can find on the subject and put it in practice on my hiking camping trips.
 
Age, lol. Seriously though, edible plants for me as well. I know what is what around my neck of the woods, but in foreign places, I wouldn't know what would be safe to eat without a guide of some sort. :grumpy:
 
Don Rearic said:
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.
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One of the good things about taking a degree in Archeology was working one the experimental side of neolithic societies and I got pretty good with creating stone tools, making fires, shelters, even a bit of cloth making, cooking and medicine that all really help and I done quite a bit of wilderness camping and hiking, trained by the St. John's Ambulance medical training that they do and a bit of other stuff here and there. I am fairly good at reading the land and orientation.

Still my trapping sucks and I find it does for the vast majority of people. I also need to get back into shape. Too much time behind a computer and not enough time out in the field has made me rusty. Learning a multiple of plants is very difficult and can take years to get good at this task and I am so so at it, but it is difficult especially in a new area to learn what is available.

.
 
Besides my outdoor activity, maybe the most serious danger to me and my family's life is earthquake.
The risk of earthquake is quite dependent on where to live and in this spring I'll change my job and
have to move to Tokyo, maybe the worst place to live considering the case of earthquake.
 
fugita yuji ... I'm glad I don't have to fear earthquake and my heart / prayers go to those who lost in Kyoto.
I know that Kyoto is one of the places that I must see in my lifetime. Best wishes in your travels.
 
Thanks, Dartanyon. I really appreciate your post.
Not all things are that bad. Though I live in Kyoto now, I lived Tokyo quite a long time and
most of my climbing and bike-riding buddies live Tokyo area.

Actually, maybe the most serious danger to my life is alpine climbing.
But I dare say if I could choose the way how I die, I'd love to die in the mountains,
not in the city because of earthquake or traffic accident or things like that.

And yes, Kyoto and Nara are really great places.
 
I'd have to say plant identification is my weakest link. There is more to plants than making a salad!! They have lots of uses such as medicinal, flavoring other foods, making things such as cordage and clothing, tinder, etc. Being able to identify the right plant for something as simple as a hot flavored cup of wild tea could do more for the mind than one could imagine in a stressful survival situation for some people!!
 
The question is weakest SURVIVAL link. Why all the focus on edible plants?

When I think survival, I think short term scenario. You all know the rules of 3 ~ 3 minutes without air, 3 hours shelter, 3 days water, 3 weeks food. It is obviously me as so many are concerned with it. What am I missing?
 
Perhaps we are looking at this in the wrong light. 3 days of survival are really pretty easy, unless you're injured. As long as you got some way to get out of the weather and a source of water you'll be ok for 3 days. Yes, I know this from experience. I spent 3 days alone in the jungle of Okinawa and the hardest part was not jumping out of my skin at night. If you've never been there, there are some no crap scary things in that jungle.

I guess, since I've been through some survival schools I'm not really worried about the 3 day thing so I just jumped to what's my weakest long term survival link. I will say it would have been nice to be able to identify a plant that I could have made a tea from in Japan. I'm sure they are there I just didn't know which ones I could use and which I couldn't.

If the real question is what's your weakest link for survival of the first three days I'd have to say that when I go into the woods I don't usually carry warm enough clothes. It can get real uncomfortable on a hill at night when you don't have a pair of long pants, even in the summer.

David
 
Quiet Bear,

Did you read my post above yours or Echo4v's above this one!?! We both answered your question! :)
 
Plainsman said:
Quiet Bear,

Did you read my post above yours or Echo4v's above this one!?! We both answered your question! :)
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My comment wasn't directed to you. In fact I brought this up early on in this thread as a majority of the responses mentioned edible plants.

There is such a high volume of information and ideas in this forum of which could impact one's well being, it would be nice if we would have some conscensus on terminology. Perhaps I will ping the MOD. Peace, Chris
 
There is a distinction that must be made between edible, medicinal, poisonous and no known use plants. Some plants are used primarily for food and are excellent to know for long term survival. Others have immediate uses that do not fall into the "3 week" rule of thumb/average. For examle, jewel weed's fluids can be used as a temporary relief to poison ivy. This plant is known more for medicinal use than anything else. This thread has been hijacked by a misunderstanding of terminology. Hopefully this clears it up a bit.
 
Length of time spent trying to stay alive has a big impact on our weakest tasks, location also.
I'm now thinking exposure, hydration and shock (blood loss).
Transport and signalling are components that we all have to acheive although due to so many variables I guess they depend a lot on location.
Food ... how long was it we can survive without food? Plant medicine v's infection,, I guess that depends largly on time spent trying to survive.
So we have water procurement (includes plants?), exposure (shelter and insulation ) and the worst - shock (prevention of blood loss)
Has me looking at this thread from a different angle ...
 
Quiet Bear said:
When I think survival, I think short term scenario.
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Quiet Bear, forgive me for being forward, but your thinking is unwise. The entire point of being prepared in a survival situation is to not expect a finish line. You should mentally be able to accept the possibility of no rescue. With this in mind, arming yourself with the mindset of "short term" can be very dangerous, and may, in some cases, be lethal. "Short term" is not survival, my friend, that is called CAMPING. Should you find yourself stranded, you'd best accept the fact that it may be a very long time before you are able to return to civilization. With this in mind, edible plants become not a luxury, but a necessity. I hope this helps to educate you as to what you "are missing". Of course, I sense you already knew this and were merely fishing for responses.
 
My problem is plant identification. There is no book on wild edible plants in Brazil. The best I could come up with are a few papers from universities that studied the commercial potential of wild plants. I once asked the owner of a bookstore for a field guide to wild edibles in Brazil. He flat out told me, "That book doesn't exist". I was taken back a bit, it was very un-brazilian to be so blunt. He said, "I've been in this business for forty years and I have been looking for such a book for 40 years and it does not exist."

This is actually the problem with the whole topic of bush craft in Brazil. Nobody has written a book on it. Everything I know about bush craft in Brazil I had to either discover on my own by doing, or asking rural people to explain it or show me. There's a paradox in that the information is out there but the people who know it aren't inclined to write anything down. Brazilians aren't big readers in general, but most think that such old ways are "ultrapassado" obsolete, so why bother. Mac
 
I think plant id-ing is important to survival even short term because it is empowering to know which plants can help you. I know when I walk in the woods I always check out what is edible, what is medicinal which are better for fire etc.

If something did happen I would be rest assured that those were around even if I didn't NEED them to survive. But besides the psychological importance, edible plants can give you some extra calories which can improve decision making. We often don't mention here that when the brain is low on glucose it can adversely effect one's survival.

I think an excellent example of this is that guy from SF who drove up the coast with his family and got lost on an Oregon logging road in winter. His wife and daughter were in the car and she was nursing the baby but they were low on food. He eventually struck off on his own and died the family was rescued. Perhaps, if he knew some local edible plants he might not of gone away from the vehicle. I know alot of other measures would have worked equally as well but plant ID shouldn't be discounted.
 
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