I hope you had a great week and I hope your weekend will be better.
Last weekend, I had a chance to speak to a couple of expert survivalists. The sort that go off into the woods for a couple of months with just a few things, no food, no water. They go out to survive on the land.
I was asking about skills. There are many skills I do have and more that I don’t have.
What skills do you think you will need if you can’t just buy it, that you would suggest learning?
Examples: Making lye. This is a precursor to soap. Brewing, filtering water, grinding wheat, preserving meat and vegetables, making cordage.
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7 responses to “Friday Feedback”
many need to re learn survival without thier electric leash….. me? Im fairly good at getting by with nothing. I need to learn more about harvesting critters to eat..
When you say, “just a few things”, how much is a few things, loaded backpack, blades, firearms, some modern technology. I have everything learned to supply myself with, potable water, natural foods–plant and animal, warmth both artificial and natural, natural shelter…or is “a few things” shelter too? And I can walk and stalk with an 80 lb. pack all day and be fine the next day.
10 items. No food. Look at The History channel’s Alone contestant gear.
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Consider that some of them decide to leave fire tools behind in order to get a different tool. Knowing they can make a fire from with a bow.
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Much more hardcore than I.
Thanks for the reply awa. I was fortunate early in my life to have the opportunity to be trained by several vets who returned from tours in Vietnam. My Grandfather provided several hundred acres of wilderness in upstate NY for vets to transition or attempt to transition into civilian life by living naturally off the land for as long as they desired. Every summer when school let out, I’d participate in the various vet’s lives, whom all were eager to train an overly aggressive adrenalin junky grandkid who wanted to be like a Jeremiah Johnson type charter–to live naturally off the land and have the ability to be lethal in self-defense.
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I spent every summer in the 1970s learning what it takes to be in tune to nature and survive. When I think of the Good Ole Days, I think of those incredible men and those days of awakening.
Food storage and preservation for sure for me. I know how to do some things and have some equipment, but rarely can or dry foods. Not having a garden or other ample supplies to last you until newly planted crops come in would be a big one too. Think how screwed you would be if you suddenly needed to survive in the middle of the winter and all you have is a few days worth of food stored.
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Unrelated been getting lots of bad requests on Firefox mobile with u block origin. Vanadium working just fine. Could be my work firewall being a pita too.
Some novels make interesting guidebooks for this question. Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island” is one; Niven & Pournelle’s “Lucifer’s Hammer” is another. And there’s some of Matthew Bracken’s work.
There’s probably a world of difference between surviving in the wild for a month, and for a decade. A month can be done with the help of things you bring with you, like tools and a tent and sleeping bag, and some clothes. For a decade, that’s a different matter because your clothes and shoes will be worn to shreds. Ditto only more so if the question is surviving for generations.
What population density do you want to assume, and what level of comfort? Hunting/gathering is one level; agriculture is quite different. What tools do you have to have and how would you obtain them?
One interesting plot element in Lucifer’s Hammer is a geek / rocket scientist who sorts through his library for the important stuff and hides it in his septic tank. Among them is his two-volume set of “The way things work” — not the cartoon version but the earlier book, I think a translation of a German original. I went out and bought a copy. Neat stuff. With that and my pre-WW2 chemistry and machine shop books I could learn do to a bunch of things. The guy in Lucifer’s Hammer finds a village of survivalists to offer his skills — among them the making of mustard gas, very useful given that they are in the middle of a war.
I’ve picked out my PCP air rifle. .457 caliber, about 450ft/lb w/400gr slug.
Can be refilled with a bicycle style hand pump, but not recommended for lots of shooting. (Unless you vant to look like Ah-nold after a few months..)
I got the 4500 psi hand pump at a pawn shop, and have added a small aluminum 4500 psi tank and air dryer to start with, plus the high pressure hoses. The air rifle is 3000 psi max, so I can use the small portable tank for a refill or two before having to start pumping again.
Tank has two pressure gauges, one for the tank itself, and the second for the feedline to the air rifle tank. I figure I can cast bullets in a pinch and have a backup of some sort if I run out of powder…