New from Bosnia [Europe]

[Hamza]

Greetings,

I've just joined the forum, i've been coming to the website for about a week and i have benefited so much from all the information on the site, and now i finally decided to join the wilderness community. My name is Hamza and i was fascinated with the wilderness ever since i was a child in Bosnia - i alwas loved the mountains, forests, rivers etc. but never really got exposed to it until about a couple years ago when i went camping the first time, i'm new to this and honestly i don't know where to start, what do i do at this point? i want to pratcite my survival skills, but i alson don't want to kill myself hehe! how do i start, do i go into the woods by myself for a night at first or with some friedns, what do it do to get the i guess you can call it, full experience ... ? i don't know where to start, but i know what i want to do, i want to be in the wild as much as i can!!

thank you all ...

[survivalhike]

If you don't have too much experience yet I would find some local camping areas that are more maintained and start there first. These are typically closer to town and that makes it easier should the s**t hit the fan. And you can increase the primitiveness (is that a word) as you see fit. Start small. You don't have to ski a black diamond to know it's hard. You can figure that out from the bunny hill...especially if you can't ski that.

When I was starting out camping I would bring everything under the sun, just in case I needed something. Over the years I learned to take less stuff, and some things got replaced with others. Make sure you have something to do while out there, and don't make it things that you do at home. Try fishing, hiking, navigating, hunting, or anything that keeps you outside. Tent camp at first, and go with your friends.

Your first camping experience alone (even for the well experienced) can scare the daylights out of you. You start to get the feeling that after dark the food chain inverts itself, and trees start sounding like bears. You need someone with you to keep you having fun, and your common joy of being outdoors will fuel each other throughout the trip.

[Nativedude]

Welcome Hazma,

Survivalhike is right on the money here!

When I was starting out camping I would bring everything under the sun, just in case I needed something. Over the years I learned to take less stuff, and some things got replaced with others. Make sure you have something to do while out there, and don't make it things that you do at home. Try fishing, hiking, navigating, hunting, or anything that keeps you outside. Tent camp at first, and go with your friends.

Your first camping experience alone (even for the well experienced) can scare the daylights out of you. You start to get the feeling that after dark the food chain inverts itself, and trees start sounding like bears. You need someone with you to keep you having fun, and your common joy of being outdoors will fuel each other throughout the trip.

A good beginning skill, when camping locally at a campground, is to buy book about edible plants. Take it with you when you go out and study and learn all about them. It's a lot of fun!

[corndog-44]

Welcome to the Wilderness Survival Forums.

Learn the basics first. Also learn the most common edible plants there in Bosnia. Don't get yourself overpowered by to much information...master the basics then go a step further. Ask a whole lot of questions here at Wilderness Survival and discuss them until you fully understand. Woodcraft skills takes time to learn, so slow yourself down when learning. Skills as you know takes practice and practice. Once the basic skills are obtained go out on a wilderness trail and try your new found skills for about 3 days. Bring with you a 3 day survival kit just in case you run into some problems. Once back home work on your problem areas until mastered. As your skill level increases so can your time in the wilderness.

[nell67]

Welcome to the forum!

[Sarge47]

Welcome to the "Wolf-Pack!" You're getting some great advice here. The 1st rule is this: Enjoy the outdoors. Make it your friend. You do that by going out into it and learning all that you can about the area you're going into. Do they have Boy Scouts in Bosnia? If so, get a Boy Scout Handbook and study. Learn how to start a fire, 1st with matches, then with a flint rod and steel. There's lots of good recomendations on this site regarding books, survival kits, and knives; among other things. Dive in and study when you can and you're not out in the woods. You also need to know any potential hazards in your area. Go for it!

[Hamza]

Thanks alot fo the advice, Sarge, i don't know if they have Boy Scouts in Bosnia, i doubt it .... does anyone know where i can get the Boy Scout handbook online? i'm ready to pay for it !

Thank you all!!

[HOP]

Welcome HAZMA nice to hear from Bosnia my sonn is maried to a girl from there , her and my granson go back often. Sarge is right get some books starting very basic also look around for some local people who might injoy the wilderness as well.

[Sarge47]

Thanks alot fo the advice, Sarge, i don't know if they have Boy Scouts in Bosnia, i doubt it .... does anyone know where i can get the Boy Scout handbook online? i'm ready to pay for it !

Thank you all!!

Check & see what E-Bay has; I've ordered several from them. I prefer the older ones from the 1950's or even earlier as they were more into the outdoors back then than they seem to be today. We have listed many titles of books here on this site. You'll notice that Chris, our Administrator and owner of the site, has printed out the U.S. Army Survival manual on the Home Page. Someone here has recommended that you down-load into a PDF format, I think. Here's a short list of books that will also help and can be bought from Amazon.com:

"98.6 Degrees: The Art Of Keeping Your A*s Alive" by Cody Lundin. (one of the best)
"Build The Perfect Survival Kit" by John D.McCann.
"Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Complete Outdoor Book" by Paul Tawrell. (Many people say his 2nd book on the subject is the best.)
"The SAS Survival Handbook" by John "Lofty" Wiseman.
"The Complete Book Of Outdoor Survival" by J. Wayne Fears.

Also if your library carries any books on camping, backpacking, etc.. These will help you grow in outdoor knowledge. Survival merely means "staying alive" in any given situation. Your country, like ours, has a pretty violent history. Looks to me like you "Survived" it. Does this illustrate my point? You go out into the woods/wilderness to camp and enjoy. But you also learn everything you can about "THRIVING" in the outdoors. This helps you "SURVIVE" if &/or when things get nasty. Hope this helps.

[Hamza]

Thank you all for the advice, very useful indeed. Where on the website can i downlaod the pdf version of the U.S. Army Survival manual?

Thanks

[Nativedude]

Hezma,

Here are the web links for two good books to read on survival and the outdoors.

http://www.amazon.com/98-6-Degrees-K.../dp/1586852345

http://http://www.amazon.com/Officia...429192&sr=8-12

[LadyTrapper]

Welcome to the forums...you most definitely come to the right place to learn!

[Beo]

Welcome to the forum, start simple learning the bacics forst and then proceed to harder tasks, once done then go to harder terrain and so on, Tom Brown Jr. has some good books for primitive beginers try checking these out also or the SH-27 Ranger Handbook, skip to the survival sections.