Survival School

[vikingknight]

Hello all

I am new to the forum and to wilderness survival. I have a gut feeling that I need to quickly learn how to survive in the wilderness. For that last month I have been trying to research which survival school would be the best to attend but I still feel reluctant in selecting one. My hopes are that someone can direct me to a school. I would love to go to Tom Brown’s Tracker School, it looks like they offer the best education, however I can’t afford the tuition and the airfare to NJ. I would like to find a survival school like Tom’s in or around Indiana, were I live.

I have noticed Owl Creek Programs in IN. The head instructor is a graduate of Tom’s but he only offers a 3-day class. Can a person learn the basics of survival in 3 days? Has anyone attended a class at Owl Creek?
http://www.owlcreekprograms.com/schedule.html

I have also looked at Midwest Native Skills Institute in OH. This appears to be more in-depth then Owl Creek. I have also read in the forum that Midwest Native Skills Institute is good at what they do.
http://www.survivalschool.com/

Can someone inform me as to which school they think offers the best curriculum, outside of Tom’s? Also, are there any other schools in or around Indiana that I should know about?

Thanks for all your help
vikingknight

[Rick]

Let's start with some basic information first. Why do you feel the need to quickly learn survival skills? What geographic part of Indiana do you live in? North, Central, South, East, West? Give us some idea of your age and what you are wanting to use your skills for. The more you can tell us the more we can help you attain what it is you want to attain.

[wareagle69]

well if you could make it to ontario we have a course in april from the 20- thru the 26 for 600 canadian with alan bow beauchamp also gino ferri survival in the bush is a good school there are also a few in ohio but i don't know anything about them.

slow down son relax you'll learn alot here(other than how to be a wise acre) first off what are your priorities what are your needs family? single? mobile? what are your reasons for learning? disaster readiness? sh*t hits the fan (shtf) scenario would you stay put or leave(bug in or bug out)

take a deep breath and answer these questions the best you can right now you can re evaluate later after you learn some more. I would say your first priority is to start a 72 hour kit for home and your vehicle which you can modify according to the seasons.

welcome to the site and enjoy your stay here no matter how long or short

always be prepared..

[vikingknight]

Hi Rick

As a financial analysis for a govt. contractor, I am seeing the economy starting to slip by analyzing economic indicators such as precious metals, oil, increased food prices at the stores, and so on. My findings, as well as others who I know, show that we may have to rely on some primitive skills quicker than we thought.

Currently, I am located in Northeastern Indiana around Fort Wayne. I am also around 30 years of age. I have very little knowledge of wilderness survival from the Military Explorers (part branch of the BSA with a military focus, similar to CAP). My ultimate goal is to be able to survive with what I am wearing (given the current climate I am in), the knife in my pocket, and food that I have in storage and cached. As of right now I am content with learning the basics, fire making, navigation with and without maps and compass, night navigation, edible and medicinal plants, trapping, tracking, tanning, finding water, camp building, and so on. I just want to learn, and I know that I know very little.

Thanks
vikingknight

[trax]

Hi Rick
As of right now I am content with learning the basics, fire making, navigation with and without maps and compass, night navigation, edible and medicinal plants, trapping, tracking, tanning, finding water, camp building, and so on. I just want to learn, and I know that I know very little.
Thanks
vikingknight

Dude, just so ya know, that's a lot to learn. You better narrow down what basics you want to pack into a 72 hour span into a little smaller package. No reason why you can't learn all that stuff, but like WarEagle said...slow down.

Just a quick sidenote here, I keep hearing all this wonderful stuff about Tom Brown Jr and how great his information is and he learned all this stuff from this Indian elder and learned to live the Indian way. Well, according to pretty much every Indian nation or tribe or whatever term you choose that I've been in contact with,(and there have been a few and some that I'm related to.. and I grant that their traditional ways are not all the same, still....) you share your wisdom...you don't sell it. And yet I keep hearing about how expensive his courses are, guess a little bit of the good ol' American way stuck when Tom was learning how to be an Indian huh?

[vikingknight]

Thanks Wareagle and Trax you are right I need to slow down.

I think my proprieties would include making sure I have food and shelter for my spouse and being ready for disasters. We are more likely to bug out into the wood when it hits the fan, I think that is why I feel compelled to take on so much at once.

Wareagle thanks for the suggestions I will look into it ASAP.

[crashdive123]

vikingknight: There are lot's of good threads on the forum that will help get you started. Take a look. Some may generate questions as well as answers. Maybe this is a good place to start. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1497 or maybe not. Lot's of good info on the site.

[Rick]

You didn't become an analyst overnight and you won't learn survival that way either. You have another option to bugging out and that's staying put. You can read through this thread:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1538&highlight=staying+home

You are a bit limited in the Northeastern part of the state in terms of hiking/camping areas but here is a link:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/outdoor/hike/

The Salamonie Trail is 22 miles and the Huntington Mountain Bike trail can be hiked. It's 12 miles to start with. You don't have do the whole thing but it does give you an area to practice your skills. Both have primitive camping available. The point is you have some place you can go on week-ends that's close to home and test some skills. If you get into trouble, it's generally just a short hike back to the car.

There are other, shorter trails at both properties.

Take some time and read through the posts. When using the search engine, you are restricted to words that are > 3 letters.

[dilligaf2u2]

If your looking to run to the wilds when the world collapse! Good luck to you and the 400,000 other people trying to live off the wilds in your area.

I have never been a big fan of the BOB and run philosophy. One thing is that you can only carry so much. This is never enough to sustain you for as long as you might want. The car and run has the same problems.

I have a pantry. I have water filters. I have a porta potty. I will wait till all the yahoos have starved themselves(or killed each-other off) and thinned out a bit before I will consider that option. Running out to the wilds, I consider a short term solution to a long term situation. I keep the pickup filled with gas. I have a 3 month supply of food in the camper. If I decide to leave it would not be hard. But again; I would wait here till I know all the Ranger Rambo's have weeded themselves out.

The camper also has seeds stored in it and tools for starting a garden. If I am going to be out there for a time I want to be able to grow my own foods. I would hate to have to go without my corn meal and pinto beans.

Don

[NY MtnMan72]

Here's a thought for those of you who chose "home"... especially if you live in a populated area... I certainly hope your armed, because in my area i would have to worry about people/groups of people looting for food and or posessions.

This is a tough question- but for me because i live so close to a major metropolitan area (im an hours drive north of NYC)- i chose BUG OUT...

I keep my backpack with all "survival" type gear, my carbine and ammo bag in one spot ready to grab, toss in the jeep and head for upstate NY... where ill take my chances with the country folk....

[Rick]

NY - There are advantages to staying put in a Metropolitan area. See:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1353&highlight=katrina&page=2

beginning with post 36 is a very good discussion on some advantages. At post 45 I talk about what did and did not happen during Katrina. I think New Orleans serves as a very good example of what can be expected. That was a SHTF scenario. Not to say you are wrong, just offering some additional thoughts.

[wareagle69]

i think that if you live in a large urban area and choose to stay you could/must learn how to play possum, do not fire up the wood stove and generator and announce to the world that here i am, to those of you who do own your own homes i suggest building a "cold cellar" hidden behind a false set of shelves then hide a safe room behind that cold cellar if by chance anyone figures out the hidden door to the cellar chances of them figuring on the second hidden door are remote in my opinion

if one of my tech friends here can find my thread "an absolute must read" i think it would be a great time to re post it since there are so many new members that post essentially changed my thoughts and plans of bugging out.

best of luck

always be prepared

[crashdive123]

wareagle: is this the thread you were talking about?

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=355&highlight=absolute+must+read

[ditchmedic]

You didn't become an analyst overnight and you won't learn survival that way either. You have another option to bugging out and that's staying put. You can read through this thread:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1538&highlight=staying+home

You are a bit limited in the Northeastern part of the state in terms of hiking/camping areas but here is a link:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/outdoor/hike/

The Salamonie Trail is 22 miles and the Huntington Mountain Bike trail can be hiked. It's 12 miles to start with. You don't have do the whole thing but it does give you an area to practice your skills. Both have primitive camping available. The point is you have some place you can go on week-ends that's close to home and test some skills. If you get into trouble, it's generally just a short hike back to the car.

There are other, shorter trails at both properties.

Take some time and read through the posts. When using the search engine, you are restricted to words that are > 3 letters.


The problem with salamonie "primitive" camping is there are no trees and about 50 other sites you can see through the "bushes." The trails are nice, but the camping is not. The electric is acutally more wooded than the primitive.

[Rick]

Playing possum sort of makes the assumption that you are the only cat in town and don't want to draw attention to yourself. There will be tons of folks in every environment that will stay put either because they don't know what else to do, don't have the means to leave, are too stubborn to leave (Remember Harry Truman and Mt. St. Helens?) or like, me, think it's the best option in most circumstances.

I will continue to heat my home and live my life but will take the necessary precautions should someone else intrude. My two sons and my son-in-law will be here as will some of my neighbors and we will be armed, if that's appropriate.

[Rick]

Ditch - That would still give them some place to practice things like fire building and to test their gear. Like many of us with sedentary jobs or life styles it's a little presumptuous to think we can hit the trail and have the stamina and endurance to do anything but have blisters and pulled muscles. You have to get out there and do it if you want to be able to do it when the time comes (if it comes).

[ditchmedic]

Ditch - That would still give them some place to practice things like fire building and to test their gear. Like many of us with sedentary jobs or life styles it's a little presumptuous to think we can hit the trail and have the stamina and endurance to do anything but have blisters and pulled muscles. You have to get out there and do it if you want to be able to do it when the time comes (if it comes).

I agree, i was just complaining about Salamonie. Last time i was there someone untied my boat and it drifted out across the cove and beached itself. I dislike Salamonie. That being said, anywhere you can get out and practice is a good place. Just as long as your practicing.

[Rick]

Northeastern Indiana is just not a good area to practice trekking and associated skills. I may have posted this before but for the hoosiers, here's a map of state parks and preserves:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/parkres.html

[Beo]

VikingKnight, the Midwest Native Skills Institute is a good one that may work for you, the instructors are real nice and patient and its a good starting point. This forum has a lot of good info on it, reading here is also a great start but as said it won't happen over night and your gonna have to practice the skills you learn no matter what you do.
You can always try on your own from what is mentioned here just do it closer to home or near or near shelter or houses. There is a ton of reading you can do and since you like Tom Brown Jr. (he's a good choice in my opinion) his books are in most libraries or fairly cheap at most bookstores or on line. Read up and try the skills at home in the backyard first, once profecient try it while camping. Just don't read up on it and head off into the wilderness to see if it works. Practice makes perfect.
Only problem with Midwest Native Skills Institute is some classes are done in various places and not all in one location.

[vikingknight]

Thank you all for the great information. You have made me question the practicality of bugging out. I understand that when you bug out you only have what you can carry and that you have diminishing supplies such as food, water, and medication and so on. I almost feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard spot. Given that I don’t live in the safest part of town, I realize that if I try to bug out that it may be like walking out of hell.

What I am hearing it that is best to prepare too bug in, and too prepare to bug out (for situations that called for it), in which I have started to make the necessary changes. I do believe that I should start learning survival skills, I think we all can agree on that. I have just one more question. I was referred to Kevin B. Reeve from onPoint Tactical Tracking School in NJ from the Hoosier Tracking club. Does anyone know of Kevin B. Reeve and his program other that what he has on his site (http://www.onpointtactical.com/)? I think that I have narrowed it down to Midwest Native Institute and possibly onPoint Tactical Tracking School.

Again thank you all for the information.

[Rick]

I can't help you on either school.

In reference to Bugging In or Bugging Out, you'll have to decide what is right for you given your location, resources, destination and comfort level. Only you can know that. There are folks on here that believe either way and they present good arguments for either one. Learn as much as you can about your location as well as survival skills and then make a determination of what you want to do. Be prepared for either one, however. The Ft. Wayne area has had its share of snow and weather related power outages so Bugging In might be your only option under specific conditions. On the other hand, Interstate 69 and State Routes 30 and 24 see a lot of chemical transportation as do the railroads and there are hazardous plants in and around the Ft. Wayne area. An accident at any one could force a Bug Out situation.

[vikingknight]

Rick

That brings something new to my attention. I am not to far away from 24 or 69. I will have to do some reasearch into hazardous plants in my area.

Thanks for the tip.

[Rick]

Here is a list of categories registered through the Chamber of Commerce in Ft. Wayne. Chemicals and Chemical Transportation are on the list. Don't forget seemingly innocuous companies like the auto factory on the southside (Chrysler?). Think about all the welding supplies, paints, oils and other lubricants, gasoline and other chemicals that would be stored on site. Similar concerns for the plastics industry. Burning plastics can be highly toxic.

http://www.fwchamber.org/directory_buscat.asp

[lifesongwild]

Kevin Reeve of 'On point tactical', is a friend of mine. He does lots with urban military type survival, have to recommend his courses. For great primitive survival skills on the east coast, I highly recommend Richard Cleveland's 'Earth School', www.earthschool.com also a friend of mine.

You can learn a lot from either of these instructors in three days. But to really learn and make it stick, you have to put in your dirt time, and I believe learn the old ways. So when your caught without your modern gear, you'll have a good chance of making it back home or where ever you're heading to. Richards school focuses on balance with nature, not fighting against it, and respect for whats bigger than you.