Wilderness Survival

[Montegriffo]

So I have a canoe in my yard. I'm going to take it out on one of the many lakes in my area of my off day from work. I am now single so I have more free time than I've had for years before. Its been several years since I canoed, so all my j-strokes and whatnot need some work.


I am a really big fan of the Wooded Beardsman and I love watching his survival challenge stuff. During one of his challenges (which usually consist of attempting to maintain your current body weight by living off the calories from meat and plants found in nature for 5 days), he made a couple of striking observations:

1) Surviving off the land is hard as fuck.
(this is not particularly striking to me. Shit when we did the wilderness survival campout in boy scouts, we cheated our asses off (snuck food in) and still got pretty damn hungry without doing even 1/10 of what this guy does)
2) Many survivalists you see on discovery channel are really just "starvivalists." They aren't dead, but they are rapidly losing weight due to an inability to get sufficient calories to maintain. They are essentially starving at a slower rate. A real survivalist would theoretically be able to live indefinitely in the wild and store enough energy to stave off starvation.

This dude was brutally honest in the video about this. He had caught lots of fish, eaten several pounds of berries, but he actually concluded at the final weigh in that he lost more weight foraging and fishing (even taking into account the added calories he got by consuming the food) than he would have if he had simply sat underneath a tree for 5 days and ate nothing. That is fucking crazy. This dude is not at expert level in everything, but he is pretty hardcore. If he is having these issues, what does that say about how most of us would do in a situation like that?

3) The woods are not as plentiful as they used to be for this sort of thing and this is likely a result of the huge human population and industrialization of society. In the vid, Beardsman points out that in the past, natives and settlers often survived off the land, and would follow game to areas of plenty. In especially good areas near bodies of water, this often was the place where cities grew. Shit, even before cities, savages would follow game all down the western hemisphere and hunt large animals to extinction. There used to be big ass camels and sloths in N. America, but the Indians likely hunted them all. Same thing happened with Australia. The Sapiens author discuss the reason that so many Koalas live there is because the hunters used to burn the forests down to drive game out. Eucalyptus trees are fire resistant and so they spread in the burned out forests and Koalas diet consist primarily of their leaves. Before the mass extinction of large game animals, imagine how awesome being a hunter gatherer would be. Shit, there are still some in Africa that live far better than Chinese sweatshop workers or Mumbai slum children.

I'm not an environmentalist, but it is worrisome to me that there is a wide feeling of a looming disaster coming in America. Many people with diverse opinions from SF to StA are very pessimistic about the longterm viability of our civilization. I don't know what to think, but after seeing these survival videos and attempting to make simple tools like a bow drill, I realized that I would be fucked if some serious shit went down. I am going to continue to try and learn more, but right now my chance of surviving are slim.


Btw I did make a successful fire in my backyard with flint and a knife so there's that.

If you are going canoeing alone you should wear some sort of buoyancy aid.

[Speaker to Animals]

He's a professional Floridian. We do not need life vests.

What he needs is a shotgun to fend off the many Gators in lake Butler.

[heydaralon]

So I have a canoe in my yard. I'm going to take it out on one of the many lakes in my area of my off day from work. I am now single so I have more free time than I've had for years before. Its been several years since I canoed, so all my j-strokes and whatnot need some work.


I am a really big fan of the Wooded Beardsman and I love watching his survival challenge stuff. During one of his challenges (which usually consist of attempting to maintain your current body weight by living off the calories from meat and plants found in nature for 5 days), he made a couple of striking observations:

1) Surviving off the land is hard as fuck.
(this is not particularly striking to me. Shit when we did the wilderness survival campout in boy scouts, we cheated our asses off (snuck food in) and still got pretty damn hungry without doing even 1/10 of what this guy does)
2) Many survivalists you see on discovery channel are really just "starvivalists." They aren't dead, but they are rapidly losing weight due to an inability to get sufficient calories to maintain. They are essentially starving at a slower rate. A real survivalist would theoretically be able to live indefinitely in the wild and store enough energy to stave off starvation.

This dude was brutally honest in the video about this. He had caught lots of fish, eaten several pounds of berries, but he actually concluded at the final weigh in that he lost more weight foraging and fishing (even taking into account the added calories he got by consuming the food) than he would have if he had simply sat underneath a tree for 5 days and ate nothing. That is fucking crazy. This dude is not at expert level in everything, but he is pretty hardcore. If he is having these issues, what does that say about how most of us would do in a situation like that?

3) The woods are not as plentiful as they used to be for this sort of thing and this is likely a result of the huge human population and industrialization of society. In the vid, Beardsman points out that in the past, natives and settlers often survived off the land, and would follow game to areas of plenty. In especially good areas near bodies of water, this often was the place where cities grew. Shit, even before cities, savages would follow game all down the western hemisphere and hunt large animals to extinction. There used to be big ass camels and sloths in N. America, but the Indians likely hunted them all. Same thing happened with Australia. The Sapiens author discuss the reason that so many Koalas live there is because the hunters used to burn the forests down to drive game out. Eucalyptus trees are fire resistant and so they spread in the burned out forests and Koalas diet consist primarily of their leaves. Before the mass extinction of large game animals, imagine how awesome being a hunter gatherer would be. Shit, there are still some in Africa that live far better than Chinese sweatshop workers or Mumbai slum children.

I'm not an environmentalist, but it is worrisome to me that there is a wide feeling of a looming disaster coming in America. Many people with diverse opinions from SF to StA are very pessimistic about the longterm viability of our civilization. I don't know what to think, but after seeing these survival videos and attempting to make simple tools like a bow drill, I realized that I would be fucked if some serious shit went down. I am going to continue to try and learn more, but right now my chance of surviving are slim.


Btw I did make a successful fire in my backyard with flint and a knife so there's that.

If there is a collapse of some sort you won't be able to live on wildlife. That stuff is for survival LARPers. There is way too little wildlife to sustain even the small part of the population who know how to hunt or fish.
Stock up on seeds, preserved food and ammo.

I'm not pointing fingers, but this wouldn't really be an issue if unscrupulous Nordic fisherman weren't hunting whales to extinction and damaging the ecosystem, and pickling and eating random sharks and whatnot. We would be far better off without habitat destruction and deforestation due to IKEA furniture...

Did you do any serious survival training when you were in the military Hastur? I don't think I would make it in the Swedish frozen wasteland on my own tbh even with a gun...

[heydaralon]

So I have a canoe in my yard. I'm going to take it out on one of the many lakes in my area of my off day from work. I am now single so I have more free time than I've had for years before. Its been several years since I canoed, so all my j-strokes and whatnot need some work.


I am a really big fan of the Wooded Beardsman and I love watching his survival challenge stuff. During one of his challenges (which usually consist of attempting to maintain your current body weight by living off the calories from meat and plants found in nature for 5 days), he made a couple of striking observations:

1) Surviving off the land is hard as fuck.
(this is not particularly striking to me. Shit when we did the wilderness survival campout in boy scouts, we cheated our asses off (snuck food in) and still got pretty damn hungry without doing even 1/10 of what this guy does)
2) Many survivalists you see on discovery channel are really just "starvivalists." They aren't dead, but they are rapidly losing weight due to an inability to get sufficient calories to maintain. They are essentially starving at a slower rate. A real survivalist would theoretically be able to live indefinitely in the wild and store enough energy to stave off starvation.

This dude was brutally honest in the video about this. He had caught lots of fish, eaten several pounds of berries, but he actually concluded at the final weigh in that he lost more weight foraging and fishing (even taking into account the added calories he got by consuming the food) than he would have if he had simply sat underneath a tree for 5 days and ate nothing. That is fucking crazy. This dude is not at expert level in everything, but he is pretty hardcore. If he is having these issues, what does that say about how most of us would do in a situation like that?

3) The woods are not as plentiful as they used to be for this sort of thing and this is likely a result of the huge human population and industrialization of society. In the vid, Beardsman points out that in the past, natives and settlers often survived off the land, and would follow game to areas of plenty. In especially good areas near bodies of water, this often was the place where cities grew. Shit, even before cities, savages would follow game all down the western hemisphere and hunt large animals to extinction. There used to be big ass camels and sloths in N. America, but the Indians likely hunted them all. Same thing happened with Australia. The Sapiens author discuss the reason that so many Koalas live there is because the hunters used to burn the forests down to drive game out. Eucalyptus trees are fire resistant and so they spread in the burned out forests and Koalas diet consist primarily of their leaves. Before the mass extinction of large game animals, imagine how awesome being a hunter gatherer would be. Shit, there are still some in Africa that live far better than Chinese sweatshop workers or Mumbai slum children.

I'm not an environmentalist, but it is worrisome to me that there is a wide feeling of a looming disaster coming in America. Many people with diverse opinions from SF to StA are very pessimistic about the longterm viability of our civilization. I don't know what to think, but after seeing these survival videos and attempting to make simple tools like a bow drill, I realized that I would be fucked if some serious shit went down. I am going to continue to try and learn more, but right now my chance of surviving are slim.


Btw I did make a successful fire in my backyard with flint and a knife so there's that.

If you are going canoeing alone you should wear some sort of buoyancy aid.

For sure man. I can swim (as can any self respecting Floridian), but every year you hear multiple stories on the local news about someone going out on a boat without a life jacket and drowning. Even locals who have lived here their whole life don't respect the water the way they should. Add in alcohol and you have a tragedy.

[heydaralon]

I get the practicality but it really rubs me the wrong way seeing that stuff as a traditional archery enthusiast. I would rather see some primitive bow stuff than *ugh* plastic. Not going to lie.

Do you have a bow that you have hunted with? Did you make it yourself? I know you can get them at bass pro shops or wal mart. I have never used a bow, but it looks pretty damn fun. Some of those bows will like pulleys and gears on them look pretty wild.

I've shot since I was a kid, I've hunted with bows too. I grew up a traditional recurve bow guy, I've taken Elk and Deer with a bow. The new mechanical bows(compound bows) are ridiculously fast and powerful. But I still like my old recurve. Very instinctive shooting and much faster than a compound bow.

Just go to bow shops, pick up a traditional bow for cheap, and get on with having fun with it.

Does the arrow take them down instantly or do they manage to run some distance before they die? I've seen hunting videos where a guy shot a moose with a .50 caliber and it still managed to get at least 100 yards. I have never hunted so I have no idea. It seems like the wounded animal gets pumped up on adrenaline sometimes and is able to haul ass.

Also, have you ever fished with a bow? I've seen some videos on that, and those guys are metal.

[TheReal_ND]

I've never actually shot a deer but I know a moderately powered bow can bunch an arrow clean through a deer. I think it depends on where you hit them. Sometimes they just fall over, other times they bleed out. The problem is that the kill shot around the heart is of course close to the lungs. Both will kill but one can take longer than the other.

[C-Mag]

Does the arrow take them down instantly or do they manage to run some distance before they die? I've seen hunting videos where a guy shot a moose with a .50 caliber and it still managed to get at least 100 yards. I have never hunted so I have no idea. It seems like the wounded animal gets pumped up on adrenaline sometimes and is able to haul ass.

Also, have you ever fished with a bow? I've seen some videos on that, and those guys are metal.

Very rarely would an arrow take down a deer instantly, you basically would have to sever the spine. Even heart shots they will run. Standard rule is after you hit large game with an arrow, wait 30 minutes, then start to track em. A wounded animal will instinctively go lay down, rest and let its body heal. If it's a good shot, they will just bleed out. If not, they might not die at all, if you clip a gut, they will die a couple days later from septic poisoning.

...….or Maybe you end up with stuff like this




I know a lot of rifle hunters that hate bow hunters because they've seen wounded and dead animals left by bow hunters.

[TheReal_ND]

Damn. Reminds me of the duckling with a croaker hook sunk into it's back that I couldn't remove. Truly the worst feeling in the world. Trying to hold it down while you seek out the hook and finding it deeply embedded under the wing. Fml that was a hard feel that day.

[heydaralon]

When I was in high school, I killed a duck. Not purposely. Me and my buddies were throwing shit into a pond, and I had a small glass mayonaise bottle tht I wanted to skip across the water. Any way it skipped a bit, and then it hit a duck right on the side of its head. The duck kind of spazzed out and then stopped moving. We left the area quickly. I felt kind of bad about it. I've eaten duck before, but I had a pet duck when I was younger and I remembered that. We should have taken the carcass and eaten it.

[C-Mag]

When I was in high school, I killed a duck. Not purposely. Me and my buddies were throwing shit into a pond, and I had a small glass mayonaise bottle tht I wanted to skip across the water. Any way it skipped a bit, and then it hit a duck right on the side of its head. The duck kind of spazzed out and then stopped moving. We left the area quickly. I felt kind of bad about it. I've eaten duck before, but I had a pet duck when I was younger and I remembered that. We should have taken the carcass and eaten it.

Nothing to feel bad about. I had some Lord of the Flies moments when I was a youngin.

Frankly I think killing animals and being in close touch with your food is very important to the human psyche.