One skill and one skill only...
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5.10leader
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But then, it could be argued, if you are adept at bushcraft you wouldn't need to be without food for several days. :mrgreen:
Maybe foraging is an essential skill.
Maybe foraging is an essential skill.
Build a shelter appropriate for the elements and environment.
Fire would be second, but fire would not work in the rain........so I would have to go with shelter first.
You can go without food for a long time........you can go without water for a couple of days, but you could be killed by the elements very quickly if you are not insulated well against it.
Fire would be second, but fire would not work in the rain........so I would have to go with shelter first.
You can go without food for a long time........you can go without water for a couple of days, but you could be killed by the elements very quickly if you are not insulated well against it.
B
Bob Hurley
Guest
How to feed themselves (to include water). If they have that figured out, they might live long enough to figure out some of the rest, but if not ...
Great Pebble wrote:
""...people...don't need the crap they think they need and they are not in trouble if thet don't have it..."
Yes Great Pebble it may border on the philosophical but everything starts from an idea in the mind, doesn't it. And being confident you can craft your way into survival when in unknown circumstances IS the right state of mind.
Unfortunately, as self-reliance has been taken away over time, these past decades and mainly the past one, the very idea that it is even possible to be self-reliant has been taken away too.
Individualism has been taken away as well (although our time self-proclaims itself the time of individualism it is the time of extreme comformism and conformity. Do very young people know that?).
Individualism makes you confident you might just find a solution just of your own creative doing, even when you lack the knowledge or previous training...
""...people...don't need the crap they think they need and they are not in trouble if thet don't have it..."
Yes Great Pebble it may border on the philosophical but everything starts from an idea in the mind, doesn't it. And being confident you can craft your way into survival when in unknown circumstances IS the right state of mind.
Unfortunately, as self-reliance has been taken away over time, these past decades and mainly the past one, the very idea that it is even possible to be self-reliant has been taken away too.
Individualism has been taken away as well (although our time self-proclaims itself the time of individualism it is the time of extreme comformism and conformity. Do very young people know that?).
Individualism makes you confident you might just find a solution just of your own creative doing, even when you lack the knowledge or previous training...
Wow, where did this one come from.............I think I would teach them to love the great outdoors................Jon
Kim said:
Well, it's impossible to teach, but if I could - it would be common sense. Every year we haul out the bodies of people without it.
Examples:
Three people dead "lost" in the woods right next to a river (didn't have the sense to follow the river).
Camper and guide drown - caught in turbulance while swimming beneath falls. Camper was wearing a life jacket - guide, who went after the camper, was wearing two (this was from the same outfit I used to guide for - 50 years - first fatalities).
Man and son struck by lightning in their tent. Tent was set up beneath tallest pine in the area. Lightning traveled through roots and into tent. Another man and his son were badly burned.
Man eaten by bear after feeding it (they are not pets).
Man dies of exposure after moving from out of state to "live off the land."
Two men die of hypothermia while cross-country skiing. Got too hot and they stopped to rest.
Man badly injured while rock climbing when drunk - two days in by canoe. Man died before rescue could reach him.
I could go on.
Don't even get me started on hunting accidents.
PG
pierre girard said:
Yeah, unfortunately if they don't have it, they'll never get it. Sometimes I think that common sense is Natures way of determining who gets to pass on their seed.
One mans commonsense is not necessarily another.
Commonsense relies heavily on past experience, when you have past experience you instinctively know not to do something but to the person that is doing it for the first time does not have that knowledge or instinct but the knowledgeable one will say don't do that its commonsense!
It is wrong to rely on commonsense.
If one i could pass on one thing i would say endurance and the will to go on. It is amazing what we can achieve when we push ourselves.
Commonsense relies heavily on past experience, when you have past experience you instinctively know not to do something but to the person that is doing it for the first time does not have that knowledge or instinct but the knowledgeable one will say don't do that its commonsense!
It is wrong to rely on commonsense.
If one i could pass on one thing i would say endurance and the will to go on. It is amazing what we can achieve when we push ourselves.
The one bushcraft skill? - To keep learning from what went right or wrong last time.
Today I was experimenting with replacing a bowdrill with a rope and a bungie - with the ultimate aim of creating a foot powered friction fire. I started out with string the day before. Found it snapped. Replaced it with rope today. Found that I had lots of instability in the setup. Changed the hearthboard for one I could sit on, changed the foot I was using. Still no proper control. Switched to arm power for now and got smoke.
So - making progress but need more reflection and experimentation.
Today I was experimenting with replacing a bowdrill with a rope and a bungie - with the ultimate aim of creating a foot powered friction fire. I started out with string the day before. Found it snapped. Replaced it with rope today. Found that I had lots of instability in the setup. Changed the hearthboard for one I could sit on, changed the foot I was using. Still no proper control. Switched to arm power for now and got smoke.
So - making progress but need more reflection and experimentation.
one skill and one only - ooh tricky one - really is an extremely slippery question though has made me think on it a bit .
well i agree most people can make a fire and a shelter and these thing will kind of be learned naturaly - ie you get cold enough and wet enough you start finding ways to make it better for yourself .
now this will be contreversal though i am not offering an idea which i think is any way rock solid - god forbid i would think i had enough knowledge and experiance to say any such thing , however i may as well throw something in the circle for thought ,as essentially this is what we are doing here .
so i would say personel hygiene in the wilderness - with knowledge on avoiding infection and illness - for any one who has had the squits will tell yu its very difficult to do any thing if yu are ill
well i agree most people can make a fire and a shelter and these thing will kind of be learned naturaly - ie you get cold enough and wet enough you start finding ways to make it better for yourself .
now this will be contreversal though i am not offering an idea which i think is any way rock solid - god forbid i would think i had enough knowledge and experiance to say any such thing , however i may as well throw something in the circle for thought ,as essentially this is what we are doing here .
so i would say personel hygiene in the wilderness - with knowledge on avoiding infection and illness - for any one who has had the squits will tell yu its very difficult to do any thing if yu are ill
william# said:
I often think there should be some kind of proficiency test for letting people loose in a wilderness area.
Last year we came on two groups of canoers who wouldn't have passed. The first was a group of orientals going down a narrow water way. They were navigating by the pool ball method. Paddle till they hit one shore, paddle further until they hit the other.
The other group was from Kentucky. Though canoe parties are limited to nine people - they had 20 people in four canoes. Their packs (luggage) had more variety than I've ever seen - including a bowling ball bag and small pieces of furniture. We assisted them in getting their belongings (must have been every thing they owned) across the portage. Still took about four trips.
Then there was the fella portaging a canoe, missed the trail and ended up on top of a cliff in a high wind - canoe acted as a huge air-scoop.
And the guy setting up a large tarp in a high wind - had several ropes running for ridgepole ropes (we were never quite able to figure out what he was doing). He came close to hanging himself. He did survive though.
Axe in the leg or foot -happens quite often. Had a man bring up a small chainsaw (illegal) and plant it in his head. Cut off fingers. Get drunk and fall in the campfire. Had two canoers fall asleep in their canoe on a river and wake up just as the canoe was going over a falls. They were stranded on a rock above the falls for three days.
We had a Chinese man and his son. Rented a snowmobile - minus 30 C - snowmobile conked out after a mile down the trail. They came through it though. Plucky crew. Instead of walking back the one mile however, they walked 17 miles in the other direction. Sure thought we would have bodies on that one.
The kid was very young. They did have frostbite, but good for them, they didn't panic. They had a trail and kept moving - when keeping moving was what would keep them alive. With the language barrier and all - I can't really fault them - that much - for not having a better grasp of where they were.
We've had quite a few snowmobile and ATV fatalities. Basic stuff. Going 90 where they should be doing 30.
When I used to guide - I would sometimes get back in a day or two and think, "These people are just not up to this." Instead of doing a circle route, or what ever was planned itinerary, I'd just plunk them down on a campsite and do day trips out from there for the rest of the week. Amazing thing is how seldom it happened. Most people, even if they've never been in the woods before, have enough common sense to keep from getting into trouble.
PG
Hmmm... I don't really think "Common sense" and "sense of humour" can be taught, so I'm gonna plunk for teaching them first aid.
Who knows, they might be my only compainion when my common sense eludes me.
Who knows, they might be my only compainion when my common sense eludes me.
D
DOC-CANADA
Guest
One skill and one skill only..................
Has to be friction fire.
To paraphrase Dan Schectman from Backwoodsman magazine, "Of all the skills a backwoodsman needs, firemaking is the most significant. Fire warms us, cooks our food, purifies our water, keeps the creatures of the night at bay, allows us to make tools, and provides not only physical comfort, but spiritual and psychological comfort as well."
And Jurgen Weiner from the Bulletin of Primitive Technology, " Fire, it goes without question, is mankinds most important technical appliance. And finding out how to actually make fire, is mans most important invention."
Has to be friction fire.
To paraphrase Dan Schectman from Backwoodsman magazine, "Of all the skills a backwoodsman needs, firemaking is the most significant. Fire warms us, cooks our food, purifies our water, keeps the creatures of the night at bay, allows us to make tools, and provides not only physical comfort, but spiritual and psychological comfort as well."
And Jurgen Weiner from the Bulletin of Primitive Technology, " Fire, it goes without question, is mankinds most important technical appliance. And finding out how to actually make fire, is mans most important invention."
Like a lot of you have mentioned already my idea is about mental bagage.
The primary value would be 'interest', I think.
One tends to remind facts better when interested in them.
The primary value would be 'interest', I think.
One tends to remind facts better when interested in them.
