A few months ago I read an article on The Art of Manliness about how every man should be able to save his own life (http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/09/15/every-man-should-be-able-to-save-his-own-life-5-fitness-benchmarks-a-man-must-master/).
Since Tradgang is a bunch of adventure seekers, I was wondering what ya'll thought would be the benchmarks for a self-sufficient woodsman to save his own life or at least get himself out of a jam in the wilds?
I'll get us started with a few:
1. Land Navigation with a compass. (GPSs break and batteries die.)
2. Start a fire by at least three different methods.
3. Sharpen a knife. (Never know when you might have to resort to hand-to-hand combat with the wildlife!)
4. Construct a survival shelter to fight off hypothermia and the elements.
5. How to treat a venomous snakebite.
You think waay to much like a marine lol ...to me traditional archery and the pursuit of game with such equipment is an art, suitable to many expressions.
Good stuff though! Thank you for your service!
BTW I have survived hyperthermia mostly from my own stupidity and I can light a fire with three methods, gasoline, a lighter, and matches :campfire: :laughing:
Once a Marine, always a Marine!
I thought it would be a good post to get people talking. We've got some salty guys on this forum with a wealth of knowledge from all corners of the globe, so I thought it would be good to pick their brains. I want to canoe into a remote public land and do some deer and hog hunting. Never done it, and I honestly don't know what the dangers would be. If I were hunting my own land, I'd just yell for my dad until he found me!
And I use "salty" in the Marine sense, meaning experienced, and not how the kids these days use it, meaning bitter.
I like the post. You can never be too prepared. I would add to your list:
How to obtain and make safe water;
A knowledge of local plant life for medicinal and sustenance uses. (Something that I am horrible at, btw.);
General first aid knowledge.
Thanks, Fattony77. Let's keep it going! Guys don't start hunting with traditional gear because they want or expect things to be easy in the woods!
Knowing how to tie a variety of different knots for different applications.
Being able to use whatever resources are available to obtain something to eat. If you only had a knife what would you do?
Primitive trapping
gear repair afield
various distress signaling methods
winter survival skills ( I grew up in Alaska)
5 "C" of survival
Combustion
Cutting instrument
Container
Cordage
Cover
Everyone has additions to these, but these are a logical start.
Finding and making it drinkable, water is key-even in the arctic. Everyone should know at least two local to them ways of getting or finding water.
People talk about survival kits a lot and there are many opinions on what to carry. One thing I have added is a tourniquet. A life saving piece of gear that can be used on yourself or somebody else. Hunt safe >>->
I like this idea. One thing I'd never go into a survival situation without is a hatchet.
Very multifaceted low energy expenditure tool can be used to cut down trees for lumber or shelter, can do pretty much anything a knife can do, can use it to make make shift weapons (cut down a tree limb with the hatchet and shave sharpen the bottom edges of it to make a spear).
It has a hammer head on the back so can do hammer related tasks (like hammering in make shift wooden posts as navigation markers or any other posts).
Hell you can even make a bow out of green wood bow in a survival situation using nothing but a hatchet.
Can use it to make navigation posts, and it's a very good weapon as well which is why the vikings were renown for their hatchets and axes in general.
Plus it just looks badass.
Absolutely the best thing a person can do is just slow down and not lose your head. Don't make a situation worse than it is , knowledge and being able to put that knowledge to use. Just plain being prepared for anything that might come your way on any given day. My kit will vary on any given hunt or trip and always put together for what's at hand..
,,,Sam,,,
I look at it this way: Your top 5 survival things aren't necessarily tangible items. They are the skills and knowledge brought to bear when needed the most. Tools and things without knowledge and skills are one step above useless.
Secondly, there are so many potential survival situations an outdoorsman can experience. Paring it down some still leaves a very large core of scenarios where life (or death) could hang in the balance.
First up is first-aid which is definitely a combination of knowledge and acquired skills. People with illnesses or injuries do die...but could be saved with timely and correct first-aid treatment.
Navigation on land or water without any tools is a critical skill. The best map is the one your mind can see. A compass is obviously a very good instrument, but a man should still constantly practice navigating in strange terrain without it or other in-hand aids.
Shelter/Protection are so obvious. You won't survive long in cold/wet (or extremely hot) conditions if you can't create, find or maintain some type of protective shelter from the elements.
Physical condition isn't a skill or a talent. Staying in some form of good shape/condition can mean survival if things go bad. Your body is the best tool you take everywhere, and keeping it in good condition is important.
Water and Nutrition shouldn't need any explanation. If your situation stretches beyond 12 hours it is essential to replace lost fluids. Caloric intake isn't initially critical but your body can't eat itself indefinitely without degradation of strength and energy. I try to keep a porterhouse steak in my pack...ok the equivalent which would be a couple thousand calories worth of energy foods.
Extended hunts in the Alaska backcountry...alone or with a partner...will give you plenty of reasons to think about survival and what you would do if something happened.
I still use a compass in the woods. Batteries die. I learned to use a compass in the Corp and it's got me out of a few jams. And ahab78 doesn't think to much like a Marine. He is one and so am I. We're wired a little differently. Especially us that we're 03s. Constantly thinking about what could go wrong or what's behind the next corner. We're a weird bunch that's for sure. Good info here about survival. It may help guys to not over think basic survival skills.
I like to have my teddy and blanky. They keep me warm and safe. :biglaugh:
Sorry this topic has already been nailed I had nothing better to add except....
To reiterate, a person's mind and body ate his best tools. Sam is correct, slowing down and being safe is your best bet. An ounce of prevention.....
I understand where Kevin is coming from when he talks about remote hunting in places like Alaska.. things happen, usually weather related and you have to survive but I'd say the majority of hunting in the lower 48 is walking in to a hunting area in less than 30 minutes. Unless you have a heart attack or get injured not much survival needed.
#1...Have a strong back for all the stupid stuff you want to carry to survive. #2...have patience and be able to keep a clear mind (cool heads always prevail). #3 is for those who don't have the ability to attain #1 or #2...never get out of cell phone service.
Growing up in western Wyoming and hunting and fishing all the time never had a compass. Can you save your self without one. Better be able to.
We learned those thing in Boy Scouts.
Good thread.
I like Kevin's list.
I'd start any list with self-confidence and determination. Of course confidence is a result of being prepared and experienced.
Sometimes, being prepared to survive might depend upon having a way to reach out for help. Much easier to accomplish these days than it used to be.
One thing I learned about survival classes at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center is that reading how to do things does not guarantee you can do some of these survival things. Most folks have to practice these various things: tie knots, make traps and snares, build temp shelters, find/purify water, use watch to determine direction, identify food sources and general first aid. You would be amazed to see how many people have never built a fire...can't do it easily with an iPod (can be done). Serious topic, serious consequence and most on this site are better prepared than the average guy.
Fire starting? teach my daughter these skills and always have a fire kit? it is small but has it all. Now when I want a fire bic lighter comes out!? you HAVE to practice those skills; I might do it for fun but when it comes down to brass tacks? it isnt as easy as it looks.
Rest of it you can do with some really simple basic gear???? you dont need alot. I do it for fun and to teach my daughter the fun of it.
I do carry a good solid knife to, fixed blade something with a 4" blade and for sharpening I usually have a small stone and a hunk of leather w/polish worked into it, Dad gave me that 30 yrs ago still carry it. evening if I am out I will strop the knife, it is amazing how much that alone will sharpen a knife.
Navigation? yeah Dad was a Marine and beat nav into my head from an early age. It can be as simple as using a compass to just keep you in a straight line if you dont know how to actually navigate though??? or dont have a paper map. I have gotten spoiled with UTM though. UTM map, protractor and a compass?? to me that is easiest. I am sued to featurless terrain too? cant see 20 yards in eastern NC jungles you get turned around quickly. Always imagine if you can see for miles or have actual terrain features to play off of would be super simple nav.
Always have a basic first aid kit, nothing special, not carrying a stitch kit or ET tubes, IVs, just a basic bandage, super glue, tylenol or aspirin. I think the older we et keeping some baby aspirin around is important! chest pains come those aspirin might buy you a little extra time. at 43 I am in really good shape but with my families history of heart issues, from what I have witnessed working in Fire/EMS?? be ready.
Good post.
The posts by Bowwild and Roadkill contain vital points for survival skills: get out there and do it! Reading, posting, and thinking are not substitutes for doing. If you are interested in survival skills, plan trips of increasing duration to practice them. During these trips, your weaknesses will be identified and you will have a stronger foundation for the next trip, or an unexpected survival situation if one should occur.
My wife and I like to go on extended backpacking trips off trails in remote areas, like the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. Our longest has been about 30 days away from the trailhead. These are not survival trips; we commonly come back to the trailhead munching our last trail bar, worn out clothes, sometimes boots falling apart, fishing lures mostly lost or broken. A survival trip would start the day after our planned last day away, if for some reason we couldn't make it back, and neither of us have any desire to experience what that would be like.
It's way easier to avoid problems than to get yourself out of them. The best survival is knowing your limits and staying well below them when you're on your own. Some risks I'll gladly take with a buddy I won't even consider when on my own. I carry matches, 1 or 2 lighters and a ferro-rod but have dealt with enough sopping wet conditions to know that it's best to avoid having to rely on a fire in the first place. So my solo trips aren't usually in freezing weather. I can't use a GPS except for the one on my phone. I know how to use a map/compass just fine but it's much easier to just always know where I am at all times. Going off-trail is a slow-affair in unfamiliar territory and all the more so if I can't see landmarks.
I've been lost a few times. I've been separated from my group overnight. I've run low on supplies. I've had members of my party injured with many miles back to the car. None of it is fun. Staying well below our limits ensures that even if things turn for the worse, we can probably get ourselves out of trouble without risking our lives.
I once joked with my wife that if my mind ever started slipping in my old age, she should just load me up with a week's-worth of supplies and drop me off somewhere deep in the mountains and let nature take its course. Her response: "Nah. I know you. You'd manage to find your way back somehow."
I am desperately hoping that I can get stable enough to go on another Canada trip. It is going have to be an easy one, but stuff happens fast sometimes. Knowing what you can and cannot do is the first step, when there you only have yourself or selves. With any wilderness situation or adventure, leave people home that think there is nothing to learn and prepare for in advance.
I used to tell my Boy Scouts to never drink more than 1/2 of your water. When 1/2 is gone it's time to replenish. Don't wait until your empty.
My wife and I like to go on extended backpacking trips off trails in remote areas, like the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. Our longest has been about 30 days away from the trailhead. These are not survival trips; we commonly come back to the trailhead munching our last trail bar, worn out clothes, sometimes boots falling apart, fishing lures mostly lost or broken. A survival trip would start the day after our planned last day away, if for some reason we couldn't make it back, and neither of us have any desire to experience what that would be like. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Think I have a new Hero on Tradgang!!
I like Kevin's thought regarding skill and knowledge. How calm one remains and handles himself in the woods makes the most difference in any survival situation. Use your brain and practice your woodsmanship. Practice being in survival situations, it will help.
I was 28 before starting to big game hunt, late compared to many. For a weekend hunts I would take my bow, an MRE in each of my BDU's cargo pockets, a knife, compass (which I never had to use until I hunted Texas twenty years later), matches (in the MRE) & a cigarette lighter, wool shirt, fleece jacket and lightweight poncho. I would head into the Frank Church on Friday afternoon and come out after dark on Sunday evening. Regardless of the weather conditions nothing else was needed. A .44 was added due to the grizzly's when I moved to Montana.
Now days I take a whole lot of crap in the mountains, most of which is not needed, but I think it just might be needed, so I haul it around the mountains.
Skill, knowledge, and a clear-calm mindset are the most important thing one takes into the field.
A boot shinning kit ! Can't have your boots looking but Crack nasty :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Better shine them up like mirrors! Use them to reflect sunlight and start your fire!
Actually, wax boot polish may also make a good fire starter......
Actually, wax boot polish may also make a good fire starter......
Sure thing. Also, helps to light it on fire and melt it to get that mirror finish on your cadillacs.
OORAH
QuoteOriginally posted by YosemiteSam:
[QB] It's way easier to avoid problems than to get yourself out of them. The best survival is knowing your limits and staying well below them when you're on your own.
Say it again, Sam! I agree completely.
Let's keep it going if anyone else has anything else to offer. I'll compile all of this into a guide this weekend.
Maybe a little outside of this. But, when we go on canoe trips to Quetico, every time we run into people suffering from dehydration. Two things about Quetico water, 1. It is high in mineral content that helps with inflammation as well or better than any medical gunk available. I have arthritis, I am amazed every time. 2. It is the most drinkable water in the world. So here we have people suffering from dehydration floating around on the perfect cure, clean enough to drink straight from the lake and they are afraid too because of PC rules that do not apply there.
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
Maybe a little outside of this. But, when we go on canoe trips to Quetico, every time we run into people suffering from dehydration. Two things about Quetico water, 1. It is high in mineral content that helps with inflammation as well or better than any medical gunk available. I have arthritis, I am amazed every time. 2. It is the most drinkable water in the world. So here we have people suffering from dehydration floating around on the perfect cure, clean enough to drink straight from the lake and they are afraid too because of PC rules that do not apply there.
Pavan, that sounds very nice! Here in CA, where I hunt, there are cattle mucking everything up throughout the summer and fall. It may look clean sometimes, but it isn't.
There are some places/times where I can still dunk my head in to drink like an animal. But none of those are where I can hunt (National Parks).
Are folks just too scared and unprepared (no filter)? Why are they getting dehydrated in the first place?
I think it may just be the stress at hand. Many people go on canoe trips and think that there is nothing to learn. Then they see that first big lake and feel the waves kicking them around and still do not realize that they do not know how to make a canoe do what they want and the struggle begins. One time on Basswood , my wife and myself hit the wall at the brink of the main lake, Green Island and pulled to shore. the white caps were ripping 15 to 20 feet wide and 6 to 8 foot high. Warm southwest winds come over the big lake and descend and accelrate. A group of three canoes came by. One guy yelling in the wind, "If we all paddle three times on the right, then two times on the left, then four times on the right we will go straight." He looked at us on shore and said, "We have system, we are way better than those old farts." They headed straight into it and out of sight, two and half hours later, the bottom of a kevlar canoe appeared along Sunday Island about 400 yards away, then later the red canoe. both were ruthlessly drug across the rocks to dry land. Then one of them went along shore with a big stick, snagging their packs. Where was the white canoe? Later I noticed one of their packs about a hundred yards up shore from us. When it got to shore I went and got it. When the wind died a bit, we put our canoe in and brought them their pack. They were in rough shape, they didn't have their food pack, they did not know where the other canoe ended up, but saw them flip. I had drank no water in eight hours. They didn't know the lake was cleaner than any tap water in the lower 48 and were afraid to drink it without a filter. What did they have the nerve to ask us for? They wanted to know if we had a spare bottle of whiskey. I did have a collapsible non glass container filled with 18 year Glenmorangie, that I paid a lot of money for, they were not going to get a drop of it. I offered them energy bars and gorp, they declined. Canoe tripping in Quetico, anyone can do it, it's easy. We in the path of the big blow down as well years before, how no one died is a mystery to me. We were on the Canadian side. The blast had subsided, trees were down everywhere. we kept hearing three shots fired. A signal for help. In the thunder storm, my son and myself headed out to help. Guns are not allowed in Quetico, they claimed that they needed it for when bears attacked. You have a better chance of getting killed by a camp robbing Canadian Jay than a bear in Quetico. We found the shooters,perfectly healthy and safe on a portage trail. The head guy of four wanted us to go all the way back to the ranger office and have an outfitter come and get them with a power boat or helicopter. We headed back to our camp, he yelled, "You can't just leave us here, it's the law."
You folks have pretty much nailed it, I can only emphasize one thing that was mentioned: Knowledge. The more you know, the less you need.
This is what I have at hand everyday, all the time, in the woods or on the job.
More water than I think I'll need and a Sawyer water filter rated for 100,000 gallons. I also carry plenty of purification tabs in case I have to stay on the move.
A stainless steel military canteen kit with the stove and a single wall stainless bottle, so I can use it for boiling.
Enough food for a couple days, usually Jerky and Oatmeal.
A survival bivy and a Mylar blanket.
A 44" by 44" shemagh, and a Bandanna.
Leather gloves.
A first aid kit.
A small hand fishing kit.
100 feet of Paracord.
A fire kit which contains several bic lighters, several Ferro Rods with strikers, some Vaseline soaked cotton balls and some Phatwood.
A compass and folding maps of the area.
A Tomahawk, a Becker Bk2 survival knife, Mora Bushcraft Black knife, and a little Sog Skinner that is what I use all the time. I also carry a Bahco Laplander folding saw and a multi tool.
A P51 can opener and my old Dog Tags.
That's the main gear I always have with me. I drive for a living so it's no big deal to toss it in the vehicle. I carry it in a USMC digital woodland assault pack. I estimate it weighs 12 pounds or so, not including water. I never know where I'll end up day to day. I'm often in New York, including the city. I remember 911, and living on a sailboat in a Hurricane zone, and in the rings of a Bullseye of one the prime targets for bad guys has turned me into something of a Prepper. You should see the gear and food stocks I have at home and in the area!
My woods kit always includes those items, and since I'm ground hunting these days and don't have to lug tree stand gear it's easy. My work kit will also include pens, paper and such I need for the job.
This year I'm going to have fun improving my weaker areas such as Edible and Medicinal plants and Primitive traps. I have Conibears and a few Duke traps in my gear here, plus Snares.
I've also picked up a Survival Medicine handbook to study, but as soon as I can I'd like to take some classes in First Aid.
There are at least three enduring truths so far: being prepared for a number of eventualities is important.
As in most any situations your brain is a key asset.
Water is so very important to your survival. Once you get dehydrated, you lose your ability to think clearly.
I make altoid e-kits for scouts. It has a variety of things for emergencies. There are many possibilities for them on the net
I did Quetico in the 1960's and parts of it were virgin territority and we ate lots of rice and fish. Beautiful place
At the right time of year, depending on the lake, some of the western Bdub lakes have more wild rice, but to get a meal's worth does not take very long. Don't get me started on the benefits of lugging that fine light gold Michigan syrup along to mix with the blueberry pancakes. All survival has minimum requirements.
QuoteOriginally posted by Warden609:
People talk about survival kits a lot and there are many opinions on what to carry. One thing I have added is a tourniquet. A life saving piece of gear that can be used on yourself or somebody else. Hunt safe >>->
I would agree with this a bad cut or deep puncture can take you out fast.
this is what I teach new people to hunting.
Land Nav- competent use of compass
blade honing- keeping knife sharp
first aid- knowledge of first aid goes a long way
Hypothermia- knowledge and how to protect against.
tracking- this is an art and precious skill
fire- ability to make fire
purify water.
My career has been made on folks who should know better than to get themselves into bad situations, but somehow ended up in situations they weren't expecting!
You dont need a ton of gear to get through a bad situation really just some basics? shove then in a kit bag that will fit into your cargo pocket.
Some places I go all I need is a lighter cause I am gonna start a fire big enough that forestry will come to check it out.
Tourniquets are back really, for yearss they were last resort taboo. While still last resort they are not the guarantee amputee folks think they are. Unless it is gonna be a really extended period if time pt will be fine. If it is gonna be extended period of time then go by the rule "life over limb".
J
J
I carry a spot locating beacon flip the switch anywhere and help is coming via GPS satellite navigation.
Good peace of mind because I usually hunt alone.
It's less than 200 bucks and you have to keep registration up with the feds but can do it online