How did you get here?

[Sarge47]

Every so often somebody asks the question: "How did you get started in getting involved with Wilderness Survival?" Since it's January 1st of the new year, 2013; and we have a lot more new members, I figure I'd ask it again and start it off.

I was interested in hiking and fishing at about the age of 7. I'd gotten a Palco 2-quart canteen for my birthday and was receiving 50 cents a week allowance. Back then you could buy a really cool single blade pocket knife that even had a locking blade for that amount. It was sharp as could be and I proved it by constantly cutting the crap out of my hands, there-by causing my mother no end of concern! Later we'd gotten one of those canvas "umbrella" tents with the single pole in the middle and I liked the idea of spending the night sleeping out in it during the summer months. When I was 19 years old I was at the McCoy Job Corps center, (the old WWII Camp McCoy) near Sparta and LaCrosse Wisconsin. A Vista worker by the name of Bob decided he was going to start an unofficial Explorer group and take some of us Corpsman out camping into the beautiful Wisconsin wilds. It was great! I was now a "happy camper," literally, and spent a lot of time either under tent canvas or under the stars, sleeping outside with just a cot and a sleeping bag. It wan't until I was about 48 years of age that I realized that "Survival" was a "stand-alone" concept. It was driven home by the Stephan King novel: "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon." In this book, a 9-year old girl gets separated and totally lost from her mother and older brother while on a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian trail. All she has is a wee bit of knowledge and a day pack containing only her lunch and her Walkman.

That started me thinking about looking into "organized survival." At this time the Discovery survival guys weren't yet around, and the only show I could find on it was "The Marine Corps Survival School," which I found extremely helpful. Then, one day at a K's Merchandise, while looking through a sale bin of VCR tapes, I found Ron Hoods "Survival Basics 1 & 2!" I followed all of his teaching faithfully and put together both a mini and maxi survival kit according to what he taught, then re-built them to my needs. Then "Survivorman" appeared on the scene and I was hooked all over again. When "Man vs. Wild" came out I was also an avid fan until the beans were spilled about his bogus stunts and BG demonstrated the drinking of his own urine straight from his bladder. However, I still stayed with the real teachers, ignoring the bogus one! The rest is history. That started me on the road to "survival training" and I haven't looked back. Anybody else care to share?

[kyratshooter]

I started in October 1962.

We were about to loose 80-90% of our population due to lack of prepardness.

Some of us grew up in a time when the appocolipse was not just a fiction fantacy.

The outdoor living part was simply a recreation. What we call "survival skills" grandad just called going fishing. I already knew 90% of this stuff before I found out it was "survival". I was well into my third military survival school before I saw anything I didn't already know.

I wound up on this forum because this is where all the cool people hang out.

[LowKey]

I'm a product of the late 60s too, parents raised us kids to be self-sufficient pretty early on. Part of it was the cold war. The other part of it was having a major gas-line distribution center built within 5 miles of the house. Dad always stressed having at least 1/2 tank of gas in the cars and kept supplies stashed in the old chevy van we had. He had important papers in a grab and go binder before it was fashionable to do so. We also went through the recession of the 70s where money was tight. Bulk food purchasing and going in with the neighbors on butchered animals was the normal way of doing things. We had chickens, we had a garden, and mom did a lot of canning. We went camping a lot. Thinking back on it, I'm fairly certain now it was Dad's way of doing a dry run. Much like the times he'd turn the power out to make sure the non-electric backups were in place (we didn't have money for a generator and this was the beginning of the raise in gas costs). Dad was self-reliant and if he didn't know how to do something, he'd think it through and take a stab at it anyway.

Both parents are gone now. I just surfed in here one night looking for newer methods of food storage. After looking at several other so-called survival sites, this one had the larger percentage of people who take preps for possible everyday local disasters far more seriously than running off to the wilderness or discussing what shotgun kills zombies the best.

[h3nchm3n81]

I started in the 80's. My Grandfather bought me a Swiss Army Knife when I was seven and a hatchet when I was 11. I lived in a (sort of) remote location with 100+ acres of land that we owned and 100's of acres around us that were pretty much empty (except during hunting season). When I was 9 or 10 I would play in the woods behind my grandparents house and I would work at building shelters (lean to's mostly). My grandfather would come out once and while and would give me pointers on how to make it more durable.

Often my grandfather would take my brothers and I for walks in the woods and along the way he would tell us the names of trees and some various local plants as well as which were edible and which ones weren't. It's amazing how much I learned in such a casual way. I wish he was still alive so I could use him for a resource now that I have a full blown interest in survival.

By the time I was 12 I was deemed mature enough to go ranging out of site of the house and would grab my knife, my hatchet, my Boy Scout cook kit (Also a present from my grandfather) and a package of Ramen noodles and I would spend dawn to dusk ranging the woods and exploring. Along my travels I would gather a few things to add to my lunch, usually just leeks but once in a while a few wild violets. I always hoped to nab a squirrel with my spear (a sapling with a point whittled on it) but that never happened.

Anyway, this started me loving the outdoors, loving camping and started a lifelong path to learning camping skills and survival skills. Most of which was sparked by my grandfather taking the time to teach me and provide me with tools.

[hunter63]

The people that grew up in the 1950-60's had parents that came thru a depression, a World War, tough job market, and the threat of being wiped off the face of the earth......Duck and cover....and carry a weeks worth of stuff in the trunk of "The old clunk", MF's hunting fishing car......so Hummmm wonder where I got all this from.

Father worked for the DNR, and had spent a lot of time in the CCC camps, logging building projects, and generally hanging out with out door people.
Number one son had a father, plus uncles, and a Grandfather that owned a resort on a lake in northern Wisconsin....with boats....To tag along with.

Add in Davey Crockett, a big woods 1/2 a block from the house, filled with new growth jack pine (8" dia), that no one cared if we cut them, and a big imagination, couldn't help but get into the outdoor life.

Was in the Boy Scouts, but I have to tell ya that my friends and I were so far ahead of the "pack", was kinda boring, so never really went too far formally....summer camps were fun though.

Sometimes had to bicycle back to town to cover my early morning paper route, started at about 11 years old, before heading back for the days "project".

We never went "surviving", but did like testing our-self and gear, but mostly were were hunting, fishing planting trees, (easier to just stay out there, no car yet).

Interesting ya all brought this up.......as for some reason a 'close call came to mind yesterday as a friend and I were kinda on the subject of kids.

We had a lot of big corporate potato farms out side of town closes one about 7 miles away......
Buddy come over and says we can have all the "cull's" we wanted, by just picking them up........free.

Off we went, picked and loaded as many potatoes as we could fit on bags baskets on our bikes, as started back on a hot summer afternoon....no water.

We just about died of dehydration (well maybe not, be seems so at the time)......Got about a mile from town, and there was a old country saloon, closed........guy was working in the yard, and kind saw our discomfort......invited us in for sodas and candy bars, all the while telling us what a good thing we were doing for the poor people.....Life saved, lesson learned.

Go my treasure home to find that some one had stopped by and dumped a 1/2 pick up load of potatoes in the driveway...so I had to bag and haul to the basement.......So much for my "big deal".

I truly had a great time as a kid.....(kinda still am...LOL)....as feel bad for all those that want to run away to the wilderness....seems thay have issues.....and no paper route.

[Geek]

I'd say the 1960s again and Boy Scouts, but that ignores some of the wake up calls as an adult, hurricanes (most recently Sandy), being in the World Trade Center on 9/11, etc. Each time there is a close call I ask myself what I could have done better to avoid the problem or at least cope better.

[WolfVanZandt]

Well, my earliest memory - I was around 3 years old when I climbed on top of a stand-up chest of drawers and got stuck. From my earliest memories, I've enjoyed adventure and that's all survival is to me. If I survive, it's adventure; if I don't, I'm dead. I like adventure more so I like to improve my chances of surviving.

[Stiffy]

I did Cub Scouts in the early 60s. My dad was a hunter-angler-camper and took the family every summer, many weekends. I continued on my own as an adult for about ten years, then got away from it. My recent interest started last summer when a few major forest fires forced some evacuations in Colorado and my wife suggested we be prepared. About that time AARP came out with an emergency supplies list that "everyone" should keep on hand, just in case.

With enthusiam renewed, I ordered the 'Perfect Bug Out Bag' book from Amazon and I've been going BOB crazy ever since.

[doug1980]

Guess it was just a natural progression for me. I've always enjoyed being outside, playing in the woods, hunting, fishing etc. I was in Boy Scouts then the Military and really enjoyed the "Survival" training. As I get older I find I need more and more equiptment to be comfortable. Then living in Alaska helped kick it in high gear. I have found that since moving to Florida I am less into it though. Not sure if it's the change in location or my lack of time now.

[Wildthang]

My parents were dirt poor farmers, and their life was more or less a continuous survival situation. They had a garden and livestock and most of our food came from the farm except for basic staples. My dad had me shooting and hunting at an early age, and was always showing me plant the were edible and would tell me the name of the plants. We use to stay out all day hunting wild musqidines, persimmons, wild onions, polk salad, and anything esle he thought we could eat.
I really never knew this was all called survival, it was just the way we lived! I never saw a store bought gallon of milk until I was around 10 years old, and going to town was to me, a traumatic adventure because I liked it out in the woods way better. I could never figure out why anybody would want to live in a town. When my parents got old, they sold the farm and we moved to town, and It took me 2 years to get used to living there, and I still hate towns to this very day. I have always felt more at home in the woods or at least out in the country because I feel like a caged animal when I live in town. My parent gave me the nick name Wildthang because after we moved to town, I would follow the tracks out to the country and stay out there all day until supper time, all by myself most of the time. After I made a few friends in the neighborhood, they started going to the woods with me but they never understood why I went out there so much. Sometimes they wouldn't want to go and I would say OK, see ya later and take off.
I have always loved nature for as long as I can remember, that is all that I know!

[your_comforting_company]

All my grandad ever did, so I'm told, is roofing. When he wasn't working, he was fishing and hunting, gardening, shelling peas, putting by for long stints of not much work. I was lucky to have time as a child, for him to teach me to learn to do as much as I could for myself. For a while, as a teen, I was interested in all the world had to offer, with it's bells and whistles and flashing lights, but they never held any real value for me. I found satisfaction in doing things that were productive, and the more I was able, the more I wanted to learn. So for me it's not as much as "survival skills" as much as it is learning to do as much as possible, with as little material investment, as much knowledge, and as much production as possible. I began asking myself where these things come from, and exploring.
I don't know. As kids, we'd just go tromping off through the woods and come back whenever. We didn't think much about water or fire or getting lost. As I got older, we'd take treks down the creek for days at a time, with nothing but fishing poles and shorts and very basic supplies. I guess, looking back on it now, I'd say we survived (or, "I don't really know how we survived!"). I guess that's how I got here. I just wanted more knowledge of how to do things without being dependent on others. Some folks call it survival, but I don't know much about that. Pawpaw called it living.
Do what you can with what you've got. Learn to do what you can without it too.

[BornthatWay]

I guess I am like most of the rest of you that I just thought it was the way you lived. I was taught so much without even knowing it was happening. My parents and my grandmother on my dad's side just made it seem like it normal stuff. I will never be able to thank them enough for teaching me all these things and making love the outdoors so much. Just to give an example of how spry my grandmother was at 70 she would still get on my pony and ride her. She was a character born in 1900 and she lived through the depression and having to do alot because my grandfather was mustard gassed in WWI and so was not able to do alot. She had a garden that was in three parts and she canned food and that is what we ate in the winter. My mom did the same thing. We raised out own animals for food and also cattle for selling at the market. Being here is like still being able to talk to them since they are all gone.

[wareagle69]

I got lost wound up here. Kind of like quick sand seem to be stuck now.....

[Highhawk1948]

My Father grew up shooting rabbits with an old Marlin .22 leveraction. He would tell my brother and I stories of living off the land. He liked to sleep outside and I can remember heading to the woods after dark and rolling up in a wool blanket going to sleep to my fathers stories. My brother and I hunted with throwing sticks, throwing hawks, bows, and then rifles. Hunted, fished, slept outside up through my teen years. Even hiked some of the Appalachain trail a few times with my brother as a teenager during the summers, (without an adult supervision!) Joined the forest service so I could stay in the woods. Although it wasn't all in the woods, who wouldn't jump at the chance to be a Forest Ranger. Have always read books on survival/outdoor living, both new and old. Love the 1937 Boy Scout Handbook I found. I have also put into practice most of those skills on many wilderness trips. My wife would drop me off on one side of a State or National Forest with minimum equipment, appox. 21 pound old haversac and a fly rod, and pick me up 2 to 4 days later at a designated road crossing. Longest wilderness trip, outside of firefighting was a 14 day canoe trip in the Minnisota Boundary Waters. Just been blessed that I have been able to live the life I have. Now I get to live out on the prairies of Florida with my horses, dog, and lovely wife, still living the life of a man of the wilderness keeping a light pack in my truck, and good hat, a good gun and a good knife with me at all times.

[finallyME]

When I was in middle school, I read "Hatchet" and "My side of the Mountain". I also read childrens books while in elementary school about Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, etc. Plus the Disney series on Davy Crockett. That pretty much sealed it for me. I always wanted to run off into the woods with just a knife. Although I never got a chance to do that, I did get to go camping and backpacking a lot with the boy scouts, and my dad. I found this site looking for survival kit ideas for my boy scouts.

[jfeatherjohn]

Like many here, it was a way of life.
Perhaps it was being the son of tenant farmers who lived through the depression.
When Dad and I went out, we always carried more than we needed.
During my short stint in Boy Scouts, our fearless leader tried to camp us in a wash,in the Spring. I wouldn't do it; I don't know why I knew that wasn't smart, I I just did.
I joined County SAR at 15. At 16, my Dad said I could equip and use his Land Cruiser for searches. I acquired the "big list" and spent everything I earned to equip it. The next winter (deep snow), I was in the hinterlands when the front end seized, and didn't even work when I unlocked the hubs. I radioed my status, and they said they were coming to me.
I told them not to interrupt the search. We had a young fellow out there (10), and temps we dropping below the teens. I told them I'd be fine, and I was. Its cold when you're elk hunting, as well.
When they found the kid the next morning, he was OK, too. He was dressed properly, found a tight spot between two large boulders and kept a fire going all night.
I stuck it out in a snow shelter, with a fire at the mouth of it.
How did either one of us know how to pull this off? The adults around us, and a way of life.

[PineMartyn]

My own fascination with it was sparked as a boy from reading adventure books such as The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, watching TV shows such as The Swiss Family Robinson (about a family shipwrecked on a lush island), and Disney movies such as My Side of the Mountain (about a boy who runs away to live in the woods for a year).

Growing up in rural Quebec, I made forts in the woods, practiced fire-making, slept in quinzhees in winter (I still winter camp in snow shelters), but it was only in my adulthood, when I became a dedicated canoe-tripper, that I cultivated an interest in primitive survival techniques as a kind of preparation in case something went disastrously wrong while my wife were out canoeing in the middle of nowhere. And certainly watching Les Stroud's Survivorman series inspired me to take a more serious look at how prepared we were if something happened to us while in the bush. We canoe-trip and backpack almost exclusively on Crown lands, not in parks, so the likelihood of encountering others who could help us if we were lost or injured or separated from our gear is quite slim, and so I became more dedicated in my reading of survival stories, thinking through survival scenarios in the wilderness, tinkering with our ditch kits, and practicing more traditional means of making shelters, fire-making, etc. With respect to primitive bushcraft techniques, I'm still in the beginning stages though.

- Martin

[randyt]

I started out on the trapline as a wee lad, it was a natural progression from there. It really came down to wilderness living rather than wilderness survival.

[Solar Geek]

City girl my whole life, but was raised going to cottages and fishing. Hated the outdoors but loved to fish.
Fast forward to 1987 and I became an environmental attorney. Nothing makes you open your eyes wider than seeing what mercury and PCBs does to streams/rivers and FISH. Similarly TCE in groundwater-all of a sudden it was an eye opener how fragile our world can be and how fast natural area can be and are destroyed. Worked on over 50 Superfund sites-lots of river systems.
We then had a child who we discovered after many severe illnesses and hospitalizations was what is called "chemically sensitive". Her constant sickness (slept in the same room as her sister, same friends, food, schools and sister was almost NEVER sick) made us finally build a totally green solar house. And that was when I got heavily into organic gardening to grow her/our food. And that led to outdoor skills, self sufficiency and finding Survival Topics forum. When that disappeared, Crash invited us here. And I love the group and all the stuff I am learning here.

[Winter]

I've answered this somewhere.