In my travels as a teacher, I have learned myself many things that you cannot simply be taught. There are little things that greatly help you along the way that you have to figure out for yourself. No one can really teach you these things. People like me can point you in the right direction and help you along, but the best teacher is hands on experience.

 

First and foremost, you always have to keep your head straight. Don't panic, that leads to confusion, then to fear, then to hopelessness. Once you reach that point then forever down the road to death you keep going. (I know I sound like Yoda). You also must remember that in keeping your mind healthy, your problem solving ability will increase as time goes on. Don't linger on being rescued, focus on the now. You need to establish your terrain. Observe your surroundings and learn what is in the area that you need to survive. You basic elements are food, water, fire & shelter. Plants are a great source of food and you should focus for a time on gathering food instead of hunting. You will expend much less energy gathering food than hunting it. Hunting always comes later, unless you know the terrain you are in and know that you can easily gather prey. Remember, be frugal with what you have, don't waste anything. Small animals aren't as good of a resource as larger ones are, however, if you can take them, don't pass it up. You can use the hide and bones of most animals for tools, clothing, and sometimes shelter. You can make sinew from the leg tendons of larger animals such as coyotes, deer, bobcats, etc. The hide can be used for clothing, making equipment, blankets, shelters, plus many more things. You can use the bones to make tools, weapons and implements. Don't waste anything.

 

The one thing above anything else that you should have when in the bush is a good knife. Don't think that not having one will kill you, you just have to find the materials to make one. Making a stone knife takes practice, don't be discouraged when you fail several times before creating something acceptable. The thing that you need to remember is it doesn't have to be perfect. What you need to start with is a cutting edge. You need your basic tool to be able clean your game, assist you in making your weapons and other items. I never go into the bush without two knives and a stone. You don't need to have two, but it's better than one, especially if you lose one. I carry a medium size heavier sheath knife and another of some sort, usually a high quality folding blade knife like a buck or a schrade. Stay away from knives that are made from junk metal and believe me, if you paid $10 for it brand new, then most likely that's all you will get from it. However, there are exceptions to that, though they are few.

 

When it comes to building a fire, you need to bone up on your fire making skills before hand. There is nothing in the world that will bring you to anger and then depression quicker than not being able to get a fire going. There are many ways to building fire. Something that works great is a magnesium fire starter. They are small lite and when used properly can get even damp tinder to light. Flint and steel work good but you need to have dry tinder and some practice. You can make a bow drill, just remember to use a harder wood for the drill and a softer wood for the board and don't make your notches in the board too big or your tinder will just grind up and fall out on the ground. There are several ways to make this type, I will illustrate in another post. When it comes down to it though, matches are great. I carry a water proof match case with me in my pocket and I fill it with strike on anything matches. They are hard to find now a days but if you can get them, they work the best. Match books are practically useless as are those flaming waterproof matches that you buy already made in the little green boxes. The only thing on them that is water proofed is the fuel, if the rest of the match gets wet your screwed. When I was a kid we used to take the strike anywhere matches and coat about 3/4 of the match in candle wax. Lighters are great as long as they don't get wet. If you have a disposable lighter, and it gets wet, it takes hours for it to light again. Zippo's are good but the same problem occurs if they get wet as well. Something that works great but takes time to make is a fire piston. I will describe how to make one and put a picture on here as well in another post. You can use a magnifying glass also if you might have one. You need to have good tinder though, down south you can find Spanish moss growing everywhere. When that stuff is dry, it's really flammable and you can pull it off trees in great pieces. Dry birch bark is another good tinder. Your tinder has to be dry though for primitive fire building to be shortly succesfull. Very small dead twigs, bird and rodent nests, dry bark broken up into slivers. Take a piece of pine and cut into it leaving little shavings hanging off it, it's called a fuzz stick, works great for helping catch the flame off the tender. You can't start a fire with a log, you have start small and build up. Don't put too much wood on the fire to start either, it will smother it. Something else you can use that works great is to carry several pieces of steel wool with you in a ziplock bag. Use the kind that has NO soap in it. Carry a nine volt battery with you in another pouch seperate from the wool. After you build your fire base, lay a chunk of the steel wool down and build your tinder around it. Touch the steel wool with the nine volt battery and it will burn like crazy. Don't get too close when you do it though as it can take off pretty quick.

 

When it comes down to surviving it's in your head. Focus on the situation at hand. Worry about the future after you get established in the now. You won't starve to death as fast as you will die from dehydration, or hypothermia. The body can go for over a month with no food as long as you have enough fluid to keep you from dehydrating. I don't recommend this as a form of weight loss though, haha.

 

More postings to follow on this.

 

Darth