Have you ever heard the term jack of all trades, master of none? That pretty well describes me when it comes to survival skills.
Ive been learning these skills for a very long time since I was a child, actually. My Dad got me started in a very good way: he made a game out of it, and its been a hobby and serious interest for my entire life. Ive gone through a lot of schools and read a lot of books and now I know... almost nothing.
Well, thats not quite true. Actually, I know quite a bit, but not nearly as much as I would like to know, and I always fear that its that one thing I dont know that will kill me if I live long enough to get into a situation like that.
I dont worry much about short term survival situations. If were only talking three or four days even a week thats easy (assuming I dont have massive injuries). Heck, I can do a week standing on your head nothing to it. I know more than necessary for the short term, but what if, for some reason, it turns into a long term survival situation? How would one cope with that?
That is where many of our primitive living skills would come into play. The indigenous people of an area (local indians, in my case) practiced these skills on a daily basis. To them, these werent called primitive living skills, just living. All the stuff we practice now was state of the art to them, and kept them alive for centuries.
Im fascinated by those skills, because theyre still as useful today as they were then.
Here are some of the things that Ive studied over the years:
Fire.
Wow I must know at least thirty or forty ways to make a fire. Okay, maybe only eight or ten when we take Bic lighters, flame throwers, napalm, and things like that out of the equation. I know how to make and use bow drills, hand drills, flint and steel all that stuff. Thats the easy part when youre doing it for practice: its doing it under adverse conditions when youre cold, wet, dehydrated, disoriented, etc. thats where it gets tricky. Thats not to mention finding really good dry tinder in your survival location. Ive yet to see a PJCB tree in any location Ive ever visited, but maybe I havent looked hard enough.
Tool making.
None of us would ever be caught dead in a survival situation without our primary survival tool: our knife. But wait; what if we were? What if we lost our knife (knives) for some reason? Could we cope? How would we cut our meat and veggies, make trap and shelter components, cut wood or hide? Well, I guess were back to the stone age again literally. I learned to knap flint (chip rocks) a long time ago. I even took a course in it. I was never all that good its an art that requires practice but I could turn out serviceable items if I had to. But thats assuming that I could find suitable rocks to work with: not all rocks are created equal, you know. One really should become familiar with some basic rocks in their area, just in case. Me? Im still not sure that I could identify good rock materials just by glancing at the dirty outside of them. When I go out wandering Im reluctant to actually call it hiking, because that implies more dedicated movement than Im sometimes am willing to exert I spend a pretty fair amount of time just bashing two rocks together to see how they split, and if theyll spark. Sound silly? Well, you might want to try it sometime; you could learn a lot.
Wild edible plants.
Ive studied wild edible plants for a long, long time, and I still dont know squat. I probably know only twenty or thirty plants that are indigenous to my area that I know are safe to eat. I know this because Ive eaten them, and Im still here to type this. Some of these like nettle are plants that I used to consume on a regular basis when I lived in a rural area. Only twenty or thirty plants? Yep. Out of the thousands and thousands of plants that are out there, I really only know about that many for sure. Thats not a bad thing though, because I really do know those plants, and thats probably a lot more than I would need to know to survive, even long term. I would suggest that people learn really learn twenty plants in their area. More is better, of course, but learn that twenty.
Useful plants.
Useful plants are not necessarily the same as edible plants. Some, like the nettle, are certainly useful for food, but have other uses, too. There are other plants though, that may be useful for some purposes, but are poisonous when eaten. There are many plants that have medicinal properties, and it would be a good idea to know as many of those as possible, too. Im actually pretty weak on medicinal plants, and I need to learn more. When it comes to plants, Id say learn twenty that you can eat, twenty that you can use for other purposes (cordage, etc.), and twenty that are useful for basic medicine (plantago, for wounds, for instance).
Traps.
Ive read books, and gone to schools, and Im still weak in this area. Sure, Ive gone out and made some traps caught a few things, too. A few things; not enough to keep me going in a long term situation, though. Maybe if I set more of them Id get better production, but Im betting that learning more about trapping would be a good thing, too. As I said, Im weak in this area.
Medicine.
Im weaker in this area than Id like to be, too. Odd I took the basic course and the trauma course, so I know a bit... but only a bit. The courses I took were over forty years ago, and I seem to have forgotten most of it. Like most of us, I really should study more, but I hope I dont have to actually practice it in a real life situation. Yep, I am definitely weak in this area, so dont come to me with your ouchies if you can help it.
Shelter.
Ah, Ive got this one covered (excuse the pun). Ill repeat myself, at the risk of being crude, there must be fifty ways to use your cover (I hear groans). Seriously, I can build anything from an expedient debris hut, to a wikiup, to a log cabin or an adobe cabin, for that matter. Yep, Ive got that covered... assuming I can find the materials. And thats the problem: materials. In some places you can easily find more materials than you can possibly use without even working at it. On the other hand, try getting stuck in the desert where theres almost nothing available. Oh, the materials are there, but they wont be close at hand, and youll have to search for them. I know from experience that its not easy.
Knots.
Ive got knots well in hand, too. Been learning and practicing since I was a kid. Unfortunately, Ive forgotten most of them. I can still remember about twenty of them though, and thats more than enough for a survival situation.
Signaling.
I know quite a bit about this. I could know more of course, but I know enough to signal for help.
As I said, Jack of all trades, master of none. I know a lot of things that would be highly useful in a survival situation, but feel that Im still weaker than Id like to be in almost all of them.
Where Im weakest though, in an area that I cant control, and no amount of study will ever change: Im old, and have some health problems. Being old doesnt stop me from getting out when I can, but it sure as heck slows me down. It doesnt stop me from trying to learn more about this stuff, either. I keep learning more because I like it... and you just never know when youll need it. I have to say that the things Ive learned from the people here on this board have been great. I love this place.
