learn survival skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awUoe5pjgsQ&eurl=http://youtube.com/my_videos_edit2?ns=1&video_id=awUoe5pjgsQ&next=%2Fmy_videos2%3Fpi%3D0%26ps%3D20%26s

I’ve watched every Ray Mears there is and have gotten book’s on this. I’ve loads of ebooks email me il send them to you guitaristicvoice@hotmail.com

I had intended for this goal to mean outdoor survival skills, but it seems life had other plans. The survival skills I’m learning are how to survive life when you think you have happiness and you find out it was all a lie. I am proud that I am strong enough in myself to keep the ability to think logically through extremely intense emotions and that I can handle the everyday stress on top of this madness.

I am strong in and of myself. This life will test me, and I will thrive.

...

nuclear panic

Me and my best friend (from the military—we were also both in a Search & Rescue (SAR) squadron) went “naked into the wilderness” for a few weeks to test our survival skills. Okay, so we weren’t really naked…we allowed ourselves limited gear, and progressively disallowed ourselves the use of different technology and supplies.

We attempted all sorts of snares, traps, and did a good deal of fishing (using only line and a hook from my survival kit) and hunting (using bow, machete and homemade spear). Sadly, we were mostly unsuccessful in the killing department, but did manage a great many other feats, such as fire without flint, rendering acorn meat edible, erecting a most impressive shelter, selecting and cooking edible plant life, identifying and harvesting edible fruits (such as small berries, wild grapes) and preparing the prickly pear from prickly pear cactus for consumption.

Overall, we considered it a great success, as one of the most important steps towards attaining survivalist status is making the first move; getting yourself out in the wild and trying things out.

Still looking for more.

I’m in a Search and Rescue unit. It’s my job now :). My best advice for survival from the perspective of someone who looks for lost people?

-Know your limitations: Are you really going to be able to improvise that snare? Do snares even work? Carry three days worth of food (I carry 2 MREs, Trail Mix, and a couple power bars). How do I get three days worth of energy out of that? The best thing to do in the woods when lost is make yourself visible and stay put, unless you can hear the interstate nearby…Carry a whistle and some orange.

-Navigation Skills are your friend: GPS doesn’t always cut it in the woods. Learn to use a compass the correct way. Have an extra compass. Have a map. People get disoriented very easily.

-Water and Shelter: Carry some bottled water with you, and keeps some purifying tablets. 8×10 tarps are your friend. Try to get something bright colored for your tarp (eg. don’t buy a camo / black tarp). Get some 550 cord or a clothesline to string up your tarp. If it’s going to be cold, carry cold weather gear. Bring waterproof matches, and an alternate fire starting method. Do not rely on your improvised bow to make fire.

-It is a good idea to have basic first aid available, a flashlight, a multitool, some 550 cord, etc.

-On the subject of fire arms: Fire arms are good noise makers. If you have predators where you live they make good protection. They will get you dinner. Make sure you learn to use a weapon. It’s amazing how versatile a .22 is, and how lightweight the ammo is.

-If you are learning to survive for the end of the world: Don’t plan on living off the land. Have a cache somewhere if you are into that sort of thing. When the day may or may not come, have a place to go and get there. I am a CBRNE specialist in the Air National Guard, and so I have a somewhat different view on what to do when the stuff hits the fan.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS…Do not hesitate to ask me. This is one of the subjects where I feel I can give real good advice. Look around on the internet, find things out by all means. As a disclaimer, the above is just a quick guide. But really the most important advice I have is STAY PUT, BE VISIBLE. http://www.sarbc.org/litw3.html And finally, feel free to email me at gking86 AT gmail DOT com. Try to put Survival in the subject somewhere. I will answer, but it may be a couple days.

=D

I am working on learning knots in the evenings or during any TV time I have these days. Knots seem like an important part of survival skills. What should be next?

I went on my much gossiped about SS weekend… and it was hell… There was about 16-17 of us from what I remember and I was in a group of 6, 4 to 2 ratio… Everyone in my group was great for the most part. The girls were troopers to put it lightly there was one of the guys who kept up and two guys who were… government workers is the category that comes to mind… No one was lazy just… some took a while to get there… So we had to build a hut that would fit six people then pile 2’ of leaves on top with 1’ of leaves inside to sleep on…

It started off well, we had the skeleton of our hut done by the time that the instructor came by to check on us the first time… which turned out to also be our downfall… Turns out the log we found was rotted on the very tip… Now we did get someone to stand on the log to make sure but with no center supports, the instructor brought it down like it was butter and she was the butter knife… and it sucked…

So anyway we got that done and get the hut built, not well but it was built… Now we can go search for water and build a fire… o look at that… SNOW… there are no words to express how i felt at this point… Northerns, just start laughing… I’m a southern boy… raised in AL which only had maybe ONE snow day my entire 18 years there… Ive had two since I got to GA, this makes 3… So needless to say its kinda cold… I’m actually doing alright but my counterparts are in walmart gear and sneakers… not the best stuff for snow and 10-15 degree weather with wind…

I volunteered like the moron that I am to be near the door (before it started snowing) because I had a lot of clothing and a better sleeping bag… taking one for the team and also advantage of pee break if needed.. well it was (insert adjective) cold, cramped and windy… I’ve never been that cold in my life and it wasn’t so much that I didn’t have the right equipment… it was more of the angle that I was in that i couldn’t get out of… Because everyone in there was so cramped, I was on my left side and could not flip over on my back which also meant that I could get my sleeping bag in the right angle so I could curl up and pull all he straps… Every time the wind blew, I got some snow in the face… Did I mention the root on my arm cutting off circulation?...

Anyway we ended up surviving the night, about 4 out of the 6 had a nice conversation about how freaking cold it was at 3am before we all actually got to sleep until 8am…

The weekend was great and there is nothing like watching the snow fall at night and hearing the crunch of snow under your feet… I learned a lot about myself this weekend which is more than I thought I would get out of this class… I’m not sure I want to mark this done yet but.. I think I could survive if I needed to but I think I will take the instructors class thats 72 hours in the woods… I’ll think about it… I recommend this to anyone even more so if you have the night I had… It sucked but there are things I didnt know about myself that I know now…