Wilderness Survival Skills?

OhioBobcatFan06

OhioBobcatFan06

Well-known member
Have recently been rewatching some random Man vs Wild and Survivorman episodes as they are free on the Pluto app. Got me thinking... What wilderness skills do you have?

I'm definitely not a guru on this subject. The only skill I'm proud of is my ability to build a fire. I successfully built a fire ONCE by rubbing two sticks together. Wouldn't bother doing it again (unless forced) as it was a pain. I do regularly refuse to use gasoline to light fires as I enjoy doing it with just some small twigs, but that still involves matches or a lighter. Beyond that, I'm not confident in my wilderness abilities as I am not a hunter. I have fished before but without a modern rod I'm not sure I'd have much luck and I have never gutted a fish. I'd probably be stuck eating bugs until I withered away.
 
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I left out water which is probably most important... assuming I could find it, I do know some basic methods to filter and make sure it's clean
 
Apparently the way to motivate under-performing urban rats is to send them to Outward Bound in the boundary waters of Minn. We were being dropped off for our three day solo. We had basic gear, even a bag of essentially dog food because someone decided not giving campers food was dangerous. Still the goal was to return with your food bag unopened. As they were about to beach, one counselor looking into the water blurted "oh, clams."

lol. I ate pretty well. Got pretty competitive between me and some rabbits over berries. Returned with my food bag unopened.

Another remote experience, hiking an island jungle in the Halmahera Sea, hoping to see a Birdwing Butterfly and not get bitten, eaten or lost on the narrow trails. I know (knew) enough to handle that and it's an easy pack for 4-5 days I was expecting to be in there. 2 days in, I heard the cargo ship I'd come on, blowing its horn. It was leaving early. I used my well developed jungle skills to hitch a ride on one of those giant logging trucks with wheels bigger than people. Couldn't string three words together of Behasa but they laughed. I laughed. Got to the ship on time. People should bucket list riding on one of those things.
 
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OhioBobcatFan06 said:
The only skill I'm proud of is my ability to build a fire. I successfully built a fire ONCE by rubbing two sticks together.
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Aaah, I've built lots of fires at our campsite rubbing two sticks together. Pro tip: always keep plenty of sticks around!

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eastisbest said:
and the ones you don't use, you can turn into rockets using a little aluminum foil. I'd forgotten doing that as a kid until I saw your photo. Remembering the things that used to fascinate us as a kid...
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I think we were all firebugs at some point in our youth. :cool:

Rockets - almost forgot, I saw some Russian guy on a Saturday morning kids show demonstrating how to build a small cooking stove by punching holes in a coffee can. He called it a rocket stove. Pretty neat.

Was never a Scout, probably wouldn't do well on my own. But I enjoy YT vids of people way up north who do things like stay warm at night without a tent by building a bed of warm coals. Or they build a fire that will last 8 hours by splitting a large log, carving a tunnel down the middle, then wire the sections together and light the tunnel.

I do think I could find my way out of a forest. IIRC, moss grows on the north side of trees, so I'd just head south until I reached a Starbucks.
 
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Never been anywhere no one's ever been. Almost always someone to greet you. Arranged tours into wilderness using companies are cool as are those arranged from hostels at bigger cities, often just college kids looking for a little cash but if more remote already, a local "guide" is well worth what little they may cost. They can take a lot of the "survival" out of the trip whether it be into jungle, desert,.. and don't underestimate the dangers of what you're used to, forest and woods.

Local guides can help you not overpack, must haves to pack, find forest food, give you safe place to store stuff, point out things tour guides wouldn't know. Not going to have the same creature comforts a tour operation can provide but much more likely to meet all the cousins, adjust the pace to your abilities, not be on a time schedule,.... You can get reliable advice on guides from local missions, charities or western style shops. Be wary those that will greet busses or taxies looking for non-locals to "guide." References are important.

If that's too much, don't feel less an adventure taking a more organized tour. Inca trail had a good mix. You can't free camp. All camping is at particular sites. Those having large tents and gourmet dinners set up before they arrived to the camp site had no less fun than those of use sitting around camp-fires getting local history from college kid guides. BTWL Inca Trail has gotten booked out and expensive andit's not the "real" trail. It goes up and down and upper and downer. We could see a nearly level trail, next range over, covered in jungle. If you were ancient Incan, which type of trail would you make to transport goods? The college kids said that's the real trail, recently found and being developed. It should be by now. Look for other trail options, Inca Trail isn't the only cool one now.
 
Zunardo said:
I do think I could find my way out of a forest. IIRC, moss grows on the north side of trees, so I'd just head south until I reached a Starbucks.
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They put those right in the jungle now. Bamboo cups add a little something. For me, I figure down hill is the way to go. Water ends somewhere.

For cold weather survival, my go-to is to gut a ton-ton and sleep inside it. Fresh snack as you sleep.
 
eastisbest said:
Apparently the way to motivate under-performing urban rats is to send them to Outward Bound in the boundary waters of Minn. We were being dropped off for our three day solo. We had basic gear, even a bag of essentially dog food because someone decided not giving campers food was dangerous. Still the goal was to return with your food bag unopened. As they were about to beach, one counselor looking into the water blurted "oh, clams."

lol. I ate pretty well. Got pretty competitive between me and some rabbits over berries. Returned with my food bag unopened.

Another remote experience, hiking an island jungle in the Halmahera Sea, hoping to see a Birdwing Butterfly and not get bitten, eaten or lost on the narrow trails. I know (knew) enough to handle that and it's an easy pack for 4-5 days I was expecting to be in there. 2 days in, I heard the cargo ship I'd come on, blowing its horn. It was leaving early. I used my well developed jungle skills to hitch a ride on one of those giant logging trucks with wheels bigger than people. Couldn't string three words together of Behasa but they laughed. I laughed. Got to the ship on time. People should bucket list riding on one of those
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Wow. We have similar experiences. About a month prior to my freshman year at OU I got dropped off with 15 other freshman in the boundary waters. Two weeks canoeing around. Got REC 300 credit for knowing how to fish, buod a fire, tie a bear bag, not die, etc... made some lifelong friends that way...

The big reason I say I'm not a guru is because on that trip I felt like an amateur compared to those hard-core hippies. I'm a finance guy who likes the wilderness... most of my friends on that trip were true rec majors/outdoorsman.

Ive been to a lot of national parks, tbh the boundary waters is kinda boring. It all looks the same? No wildlife either because our ancestors in the fur trade killed all the wildlife
 
As a kid my parents took the family to Yellowstone. We did it correct. Not just drive up campsites, we actually backpacked out into the unknown. Had to go visit the park ranger to learn about the bears before doing some actual backpacking.

Our first 4 day campsite when well. Yellowstone river. Really cool

2nd campsite did not go well. My parents made the executive decision to turn around on our hike when it was pouring rain and we all looked up and realized we were in the middle of a herd of Buffalo. (Fun fact: buffalo are more deadly than bears, Buffalo have an impressive 40 time)
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Wow. We have similar experiences. About a month prior to my freshman year at OU I got dropped off with 15 other freshman in the boundary waters. Two weeks canoeing around. Got REC 300 credit for knowing how to fish, buod a fire, tie a bear bag, not die, etc... made some lifelong friends that way...

The big reason I say I'm not a guru is because on that trip I felt like an amateur compared to those hard-core hippies. I'm a finance guy who likes the wilderness... most of my friends on that trip were true rec majors/outdoorsman.

Ive been to a lot of national parks, tbh the boundary waters is kinda boring. It all looks the same? No wildlife either because our ancestors in the fur trade killed all the wildlife
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I think if I won the lottery, making Outward Bound accessible to city kids would be something I'd vest in. It's where I learned from the Detroit kids, they didn't know what a mosquito was. We saw plenty of wildlife. A lot of times, the counselors had to point it out because our eyes weren't trained to see through the camouflage.


Mine was nearly a month long. We had a week of training in Eli, three weeks in the boundary waters with counselors or whatever they were called. Our solo, then had to find our way back as a group without the counselors. We really f-ed that up. I still have the map and the spoon we were to carve. A stupid dog got into my dresser and ate the bag of food I kept.

I haven't looked what's available in decades but I always thought I'd like the one on the tall ship. No five mile portages with 90 lbs of food on my 130lb back.
 
eastisbest said:
I think if I won the lottery, making Outward Bound accessible to city kids would be something I'd vest in. It's where I learned from the Detroit kids, they didn't know what a mosquito was. We saw plenty of wildlife. A lot of times, the counselors had to point it out because our eyes weren't trained to see through the camouflage.


Mine was nearly a month long. We had a week of training in Eli, three weeks in the boundary waters with counselors or whatever they were called. Our solo, then had to find our way back as a group without the counselors. We really f-ed that up. I still have the map and the spoon we were to carve. A stupid dog got into my dresser and ate the bag of food I kept.

I haven't looked what's available in decades but I always thought I'd like the one on the tall ship. No five mile portages with 90 lbs of food on my 130lb back.
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I also went out of Eli. Some of those Portages were really rough. I've since hit the weight room but at the time I was a mid-distance track guy. Bad for carrying canoes but wow my low weight helped me fly over the water!

Recalling these memories, now I would like to go back
 
Wilderness tip for hot hiking in which feet are going to get wet. Given to me by a missionary who'd come out of a villiage in deep jungle that didn't have access by air He showed me what was a mosquito bite, three days before that was now a big ol hole. He gave me a pair of his wool socks. I'd have thought them too hot. Life-savers those have been. Many years later, I still have them. I think. But always pack mole-skin anyhow. More than one use that stuff.

Hiking pants. Best non-high tech I've found for jungle environments are scrubs. They're light, dry quickly and have a very tight weave, which is resistent to nettle. And easy to lower for those quick squats and pee breaks. Tuck them into those wools socks, not over. Nasty things can crawl up.
 
On one of the survivor programs on tv: fur from the inside of a jacket/coat makes a good fire starter. From Life Below Zero last night: dried moss, also.

Sleeping on top of evergreen branches is warmer than the ground, another LBZ tip. Now, about those hot tents.....
 
EagleGuy said:
On one of the survivor programs on tv: fur from the inside of a jacket/coat makes a good fire starter. From Life Below Zero last night: dried moss, also.

Sleeping on top of evergreen branches is warmer than the ground, another LBZ tip. Now, about those hot tents.....
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There is no better fire starter than Doritos.

Seriously.
 
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