Net Making --- easier than it looks.
Several years ago I wanted to make basic fishing nets, so I went online and found a good place to order everything I need with reasonable shipping rates. One of my better ideas, too. Since then, I have made all kinds of nets from cargo nets out of sisal to fishing nets with the waxed nylon thread from the company I deal with. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com Regular nylon thread from Home Depot doesn't work too well. It unknots itself within a day or two. Natural sisal, jute, or cotton cordage works great.
One thing I like about nets over bulky containers is that they fold up into a small bundle, yet can be spread out to be very effective in carrying everything from yourself in the form of a hammock to being wrapped around something to help carry it and hold it. Turtle traps are easier to carry into the wild when they are in the form of a net. In the movie Predator, Arnold tried to catch that big rascal of a space alien with one.
I've made dip nets from the thinly shredded pieces of green yucca to the dried out cordage of one. A basic width of one inch is a good width to catch any fish or frog worth keeping for food. Currently, I'm making a throw net for minnows and shad to use for bait when I fish for catfish. Mine's about six foot in diameter and strong. Can be substituted to carry anything else I want it to carry, too.
If you want to learn a really good bushcraft (after learning how to make cordage), learn how to make a basic rectangle net fifteen feet long and three feet tall. From there you can make turtletraps, dip nets, minnow or small game throw nets, to hammocks to laze around in with a fully belly. Just a suggestion.
Wickiup and Fire Making --- my first 24 hour priority
It is empowering to go 100 percent natural, thinkfree3. I am blending my skills to lean towards 100 percent natural in the event I find myself with nothing more than the clothes on my back and nothing else. Fire and water are my first two main concerns. A good shelter, if the event is to last a while, will be last, but that depends on the weather (if an ice storm, it's the 1st priority.) Even a good leaf bed beats freezing to death if I find myself dropped off in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter.
http://www.stuartking.co.uk/articles...the_indian.jpg
bow lathe
The next time I find a tree that has been burned by lightning and is charred, I'm going to try and find which pieces of the charred wood I can get to burning like charred punk wood. I have discovered I can make fairly good sparks from two hard stones banged together after I break them in pieces to create sharp edges. I am going to make a bow drill after that to carve holes into friendly sap kind of trees (walnut, maple, hickory, and others not yet discovered) as a water source if I can't find a spring or if it doesn't rain. A bow drill is a handy tool to have in a survival pack. You will be able to drill holes, make fire, and make a wood lathe to shape arrows from large tree branches.
I am seriously thinking of making a small medicine bag to go around my neck that will have a piece of man-made flint and a creek flint piece (which creates large sparks) along with a couple of ounces of charred cloth securely wrapped in a piece of plastic. If I can find a piece of high carbon steel small enough go in the bag, I'll put a piece of that in there, too. A compressed bundle of shredded tinder wrapped in plastic (in the event it's dark and I can't find a suitable tinder to get a fire going) will also be in there. The flint piece would be large enough to make a small cutting edge.
I've been in enough cold, damp, and dark camps without a fire to know that my main want in the first 24 hours is fire balanced with a dry shelter. I can easily go 24 hours without water or food because I live in Mississippi and not out in the desert, but with fire making capability, I can make torches to move at night from 3 foot long and tightly bundled dry sticks. Pounded dead river cane (to break the segments so they don't explode when on fire) can be used, too, to make a torch. I can always build a wickiup or a huge (6 foot tall) leaf pile weighed down with dead tree branches for shelter. Tree saps make for quick energy drinks because of the high sugar content. Just know the right trees to tap first. Learn how to identify them in low light conditions, too.