Hi from the North

[wildWoman]

I guess I'm more interested in wilderness living rather than survival....survival to me smacks of some short-term situation that one tries to get out of, or at least not turn into a lifestyle. Having said that, we live year-round out in the bush and it's oh so easy to suddenly find yourself in a survival situation. And of course we make use of edible and medicinal plants, and my partner hunts and fishes. So I guess there's quite a bit of overlap.
Is there anyone here who also lives out in the bush (no road access)?

[Rick]

Welcome home, Wildwoman. There are a few on here and I'll let them respond. I'm in the heart of Indiana where a bad commute is getting behind a combine.:D

[nell67]

Welcome to the Wolfpack Wildwoman, I envy you on living in the bush,that would be sooo awesome in my book.

[nell67]

Welcome home, Wildwoman. There are a few on here and I'll let them respond. I'm in the heart of Indiana where a bad commute is getting behind a combine.:D

Or the Amish Rick,alot of my neighbors are Amish.

[wareagle69]

i live in northern ontario off a dirt road about 110km out of the city but look forward to your input here.

[LarryB]

Welcome to our home Wildwoman! I know you have a tale or two to share with us about long term survival, or regular just living in the bush stuff as many in here do not live that deep in the boonies. My hat's off to you for doing that. I too once lived in a pretty remote area, about five walking miles down to the road and then about another quarter mile to the little all-in-one, convenience store where prices of everything can put you in the poor house, quick. :-)

What kinds of wild plants do you harvest there? Are there like trout and salmon and maybe pike up there? Too far north for Walleyes I would think, eh?

Looking forward to your posts. :-)

[Tony uk]

Hello And Welcome To The Site :D

[wildWoman]

What kinds of wild plants do you harvest there? Are there like trout and salmon and maybe pike up there? Too far north for Walleyes I would think, eh?



Hi Larry, I don't fish much but my partner is busy all summer fishing for trout and pike; no salmon here, too bad...
As far as plants for eating goes, we are always eagerly awaiting the wild chives and first fireweed shoots in spring. We're seperated from the closest town by a couple of lakes and a river, so during freeze-up and break-up there's no way of getting stuff in.
Plants we harvest for teas and medicinal purposes are cottonwood buds, willow bark, highbush cranberry bark, lousewort, eyebright, wormwood, yarrow, wild rose, horsetail, kinnikinnick...
What about you?

[Sarge47]

Welcome to the Wolf-Pack. I envy you your life style and wish you all the best.
You're the kind of person this site is made to order for as it sounds like you already know a great deal about the outdoors.:D

[LarryB]

Hi there WW! That's a pretty impressive list of wild plants you got goin' on up there! One of the first wild plants that both my children ate and learned to recognize was your wild chives. They still love them over twenty years later.:cool: WW, I have No experience with Wormwood nor Horsetail although I have seen both often and used the horsetail for cleaning up my cooking pots. Do you simply make tea from both? Now Fireweed is not common around these parts but I do know where a small bunch of it grows and can't wait to try it out this spring, now that you've turned me onto it! :)

My faves are wild leeks, fiddle-heads, new poplar and spruce buds, willow buds,wild violet leaves, milkweed pods, Morel mushrooms, blueberries and Wintergreen berries and leaves. Wild asperagus feeds me two or three meals in the late spring and I always get some cat-tail foods into me every year as well in all seasons. There are a few others but these are the ones I make sure I harvest every year.

No real need for Salmon when you have trout my friend, that along with the whiteish/pinkish/orangeish flesh (depending which body of water you catch them in) of your Northerns, is about as balanced and nutritious and delicious as it gets! Are they Brookies? My favorite trout killer lure for any flavored trout, all in all, is an old school, Mepps #3 Aglia spinner with a silver blade and a NO squirrel tailed treble hook. That little piece of red plastic on the regular treble focuses the fishes attack point and not many fish will get off if the hook is kept sharp. If I only had one lure, that would be it. For ANY fish.:)

Thanx for the great feedback. Looking forward to more of your posts WW. Thumbs up again for your abilities and the love you have of the far places so necessary to do what you are doing friend! :cool: It looks SO good on you and your partner. As you know VERY well it only works with the right two people, so you get to know that other person real well and it just keeps growing from there...

[mbarnatl]

Welcome to the Wilderness Survival forums.

[wildWoman]

Thanks for the warm welcome, people! It's fun sitting here way out in the boonies chatting with you guys (we have internet via a satellite dish, in case you're wondering).
Just wanted to really encourage those of you who are dreaming of living out in the bush to go do it......if you have a basic knowledge of tools, bushcraft and carpentry and know you're usually able to help yourself when in trouble, and if nothing makes you as happy as simple times spent out in the bush....go for it!!! It's really not that hard, main thing is to have an idea of what you're doing and to find joy in nature because where people are scarce, that's all there is for fun and entertainment and moral sustainance. A lot of books by people who've lived in the bush tend to highlight the tough parts or animal adventures, in my opinion. Much time out here is spent doing basic chores and going for hikes or paddling and reading.
If you think you can't get land, be creative......we found a loophole, your jurisdiction may have some too. Don't take no for an answer. Consider that placer claims can easily be staked in many places and if you don't work it, generally you just pay a few hundred dollar fee. Or see if you can get a trapline. There really are still options out there, you just have to think outside the box.

[Jay]

Greetings & welcome.
I dont live in the bush but I do spend lots of time in it. I think you are very lucky to have the chance. Best wishes!

[LadyTrapper]

Another warm welcome to you wildwoman...looking forward to hearing all about your life and your input. Do you guys do any trapping?

[Jay]

Another warm welcome to you wildwoman...looking forward to hearing all about your life and your input. Do you guys do any trapping?

Hi, Lady Trapper,
I live in Sri Lanka. I dont do any serious trapping any more but I do teach it as part of a survial course to the military. I use basic figure 4 traps, snares, deadfalls etc. What is the most effecient trap that can be improvised for small to meduim game (Hare, Porcupine, Barking deer, etc)? Id like to hear of your experiences with these type of traps. (I also teach some anti-personnel traps to the troops. I hope this does not offend you.) Have you used any such traps?
rgds
Jay

[woodwose]

Thanks for the warm welcome, people! It's fun sitting here way out in the boonies chatting with you guys (we have internet via a satellite dish, in case you're wondering).
Just wanted to really encourage those of you who are dreaming of living out in the bush to go do it......if you have a basic knowledge of tools, bushcraft and carpentry and know you're usually able to help yourself when in trouble, and if nothing makes you as happy as simple times spent out in the bush....go for it!!! It's really not that hard, main thing is to have an idea of what you're doing and to find joy in nature because where people are scarce, that's all there is for fun and entertainment and moral sustainance. A lot of books by people who've lived in the bush tend to highlight the tough parts or animal adventures, in my opinion. Much time out here is spent doing basic chores and going for hikes or paddling and reading.
If you think you can't get land, be creative......we found a loophole, your jurisdiction may have some too. Don't take no for an answer. Consider that placer claims can easily be staked in many places and if you don't work it, generally you just pay a few hundred dollar fee. Or see if you can get a trapline. There really are still options out there, you just have to think outside the box.

Welcome.. WW. there is one person on here that is definitely looking to get a place up in Alaska.. I can't remember who.. He would be interested in what you have to say about getting placer claims and whatnot. You'll have to search the forums for his post on the subject though. Or, maybe I can find it.. if I can, I'll edit this. Found it!!! contact George Hayduke from the member list.

[wildWoman]

Thanks Woodwose, yeah it'd be really interesting to chat with him!

Lady Trapper, we don't do any trapping here, we're too wimpy/moist-eyed about it I guess...manage to get by financially with a patchwork of contract jobs, renting out our town place and writing for a newspaper. For how long have you been trapping? What is it you mostly trap? And do you spend the better part of winter on your trapline or do you have to keep a town job?

[Rick]

GeorgeHayduke and STB have both expressed an interest in going off the grid.

[LadyTrapper]

Naw...we both work jobs(hubby is a carpenter and I work as a service mgr in our little towns biggest store lol) as well as running a bear hunting outfitters business in the fall. ( we both take leave of our other jobs for this)Trapping is just a little icing on the cake so to speak. Hubby has trapped all his life, I walked the trapline with my dad when a wee one, but didnt take my courses and put on my coonskin hat till after marriage LOL We actively involve our children in the outdoors and I think our last little girl was with us on a trapline in a papoose when she was two weeks old. We caught a black coyote that day...never forget it.
I was just curious that's all, trapping is not for everyone. I just thought you may use the hides or trap for food....do you eat any wild meat at all? Sorry for my noseyness LOL...but your lifestyle has intrigued me Wildwoman! Everyday must be an adventure for you.

[LadyTrapper]

Hi, Lady Trapper,
I live in Sri Lanka. I dont do any serious trapping any more but I do teach it as part of a survial course to the military. I use basic figure 4 traps, snares, deadfalls etc. What is the most effecient trap that can be improvised for small to meduim game (Hare, Porcupine, Barking deer, etc)? Id like to hear of your experiences with these type of traps. (I also teach some anti-personnel traps to the troops. I hope this does not offend you.) Have you used any such traps?
rgds
Jay

Hi Jay... no offense taken here LOL
We use mostly cable snares with sliding locks for coyotes, bobcats, and fox as well as foothold traps(not as often). Many regulations are no inplace for the foot hold such as being offset and padded. We can only use the foot hold before our ground freezes...the most effective being the dirt hole set where you drill with a hand auger a hole infront of the set and drop in some lure or rotten meat. When they try to dig this our...well..:D
Water trapping is mostly for beaver, muskrat and otter and we use instant kill traps(conibears) for these. They can range in size from 110, 180 220, with 330 being the biggest and best for the blanket beaver and mature otters.
Foot snares are used for bear trapping and air craft cable is used with many swivels in place to prevent it from twisting and breaking when the bear gets peed off.

For porcupine and hare...most effective is a snare here for rabbit as they can be set on trails with great success...of course snow is a great help here for us. As far as barking deer, I wouldnt know really. It is soooo illegal to even think about taking a deer with any other means than hunting in the daylight here.

[wildWoman]

This is becoming a bit of an endless thread...
Lady Trapper, we do hunt and fish for food, but one moose is pretty much is all we require, so we don't go after more animals than needed for a year's food supply. Do you guys tan the pelts your getting yourself? Do you make moccasins or mittens or such? You guys must be pretty busy. Great that your kids get to go out in the woods with you so much!

[Cori]

I live in Northern Wisconsin, and I live in the country, although we have dirt roads to our trailer.