Help with survival trip

[kent34]

Hello

New to the forum. I did 4 years in the marines and have seen Afghanistan and whatnot. I still have this adventure bug eating away at me. I find the American life today is a boring empty life. It is pointless. I have two buddies who were close friends in my unit and they also feel the same way. We want to have an adventure.
What we would like to do is live off of the land for an entire year. We are not survival experts. So I am going into this whole thing knowing that I am ignorant. We are also not planning on leaving directly after I get a response to the information I am looking for in this post. What I need to know is...

-what would be an idle location where we could do this?

-what legal BS and fees do we need to take care of before we do this?

I am thinking the rocky mountains region. I feel that the Rockies is a place that is remote enough to where there is no evidence of civilization anywhere while still being an environment that has abundant wildlife for 3 people to hunt, fish, and trap in order to sustain themselves.
Because we have no clue what the hell we are doing we will bring at least 100 pounds of dried rice and beans in order to sustain ourselves until we get efficient at survival. With maybe the exception of a ATV to initially carry our gear and food that we will have to bring, we will not rely on any gas or electricity. We want to find a spot near a good fresh water source, preferably with enough fish to allow it to be a reliable source of food, and for drinking water obviously. We would go out in the spring/summer in order to build our shelter and begin to learn how to survive and hopefully create a large enough food supply to always have a small stock built up for the winter, along with enough knowledge and experience to not die. This will have to be done in a cold enough environment to allow for underground meat preservation. Making the Rockies ideal. I am from NC, one guy is from AL and the other is from CT and we are all 24 years old.
I have been trying to get ahold of someone from the park service and all of those types of people but the government shutdown is making that a little difficult. What I got from talking to one lady was national parks are out of the question. Parks don’t allow for hunting and camping is a very controlled thing, so national parks are out of the question. National Forest allow for hunting but I have no clue where to start. I have never been to the states that I will need to go. So I do not yet know what national forest or state parks are in whatever said area that would allow for this sort of thing. We want to be left alone for a year and live off of the land. I know that this is extremely dangerous, it is kinda the point.
So now I am going around to some forums trying to get some questions answered. I cant begin to create a more in depth plan until we know where we will be attempting to do this at. I have created a basic gear list for this whole indever. Let me know if you have good changes/additions. Any response and help would be appreciated...

NONE OF THIS IS FINAL. BUT HERE IS A LIST I MADE UP OF STUFF WE MIGHT NEED:

Individual:

-Pack
-Plenty of Underwear/socks
-Clothes for both extreme cold weather and mild spring/summer
-Water Containers
-Good Knife
-Pistol
-Good cold weather Sleeping Bag

Team Gear:

-Whatever we decide is the best option for water purification
-Fire starting tools(maybe magnesium blocks)
-Woodcutting tools:
-Two man crosscut saw,
-Small tree saw
-Double edged axe,
-Wood splitting axe
-Hatchet
-Firearms:
-A rifle for small-med game
-A rifle for large game/defense against bears
-Couple hundred rounds of ammunition total
-A Shovel will be incredibly useful, at least for long term shelter building
-Small Traps for catching game
-Fishing gear
-Files and whetstones for sharpening tools
-Bunch of Rope from 550 cord to rock climbing type along with whatever carabiner/rope accessories
-Snowshoes might be something to look into
-Large bag of Rice & Dried Beans (for initial shelter building/learning period)
-Enough salt to lightly preserve meat & and replace whatever we sweat/piss out
-Some basic spices such as black pepper for taste
-Cookware, probably a big cast iron skillet
-Medical bag with emergency first aid gear
-Tarps and solar blankets for waterproofing/insulating shelter
-All-in-one book for knowledge reference on wilderness survival
-Deck of cards and a harmonica for relaxation
-Emergency flare gun with extra flares along with some sort of emergency GPS beacon that would be used in a life threatening situation were we decide to call off trip due to someone needs hospital care etc


So my plan in a nutshell:
-find cold remote climate near rocky mountains.
-Discover good base camp near water source that allows for fishing and allows us to access surrounding territory easily
-Build Shelter
-Begin hunting and trapping and improving camp
-Reach self-sustainment

Thanks for any advice...

[Ken]

Welcome to the Forums and thank you for your service!

Now....... lemme' look at that list of yours.

[Ken]

First of all, I'm not aware of ANY public lands in the United States where you can do this legally.

[Ken]

Next thought..... plan on eating lots of rice and beans. If you do find a place to "live off the land," hunting and fishing seasons still apply. You have no provision for bringing in meats, veggies, fruits, coffee, etc., and you say that you guys aren't survival experts, so I'm assuming that you won't be relying on wild edibles during the limited season they'll be available.

Each one of you will also need your own personal survival kit.

You realize that there are LOTS of things missing from that list, right?

[hunter63]

Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.
Thank you for your service.

You will need to find private land that allows you to camp there for any length of time.

As far as hunting, fishing, foraging goes, remember that most plants are seasonable, if you even know what they are.......you will need to find out what and where any plants are, and storage/preservation methods.
Not only do all hunting and fishing laws apply....you will need a hunters safety certificate.....out of state licenses are expensive.

Here is a thread on supplies for one man for a year.....
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...rs-supply-list

Good luck

[crashdive123]

Welcome to the forum. Thank you to you and your friends for your service. Take a good look at the list in the link that Hunter63 gave you. There will be some differences because of location, but it is much, much closer to what you will need than your list.

Good advice too on private land. Everything in the US is owned by somebody or the government. You may want to think about and get training with pack animals.

[jack p]

Nevada is nothing but BLM land, pretty much just stake a claim and have at it, but if the Gov wants that land you're occupying you'll have to forfiet it, but the odds of that hapening are slim. Water is the big concern out there, anywhere near a water source will not be BLM so you'll have to truck it in and store it. Also game will be less abundant, not void of just less abundant.

[crashdive123]

Most all BLM and NF land has a 14 day stay limit and then you have to move. Of course, if you don't get caught....... Here is a guy that did 365 days, but not quite how you are planning.

[Rick]

Welcome home and thanks to all of you for your service.

Every square inch of this country is owned by someone be it individual, corporate, tribal or government and unless you have permission from someone, as Hunter said, you will be trespassing. If you choose the BLM route then Crash steered you straight on that. In addition, you will need hunting and fishing licenses wherever you choose to attempt this and that probably means out of state licenses so you'll face limitations and pay a premium price for the paper.

The fact is you can not live off the land for a year without relatively frequent resupply in town. You might make it a month but that's if you're lucky.

I didn't see any first aid gear.

Take a look at this thread for starters.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ve-in-the-Wild

[postman]

Welcome to the forum. I think you guy's need to take at least a year, maybe two and learn and practice the skills you are going to need in order to do this. You didn't go to war without training, well this no different. You're only 24, you have all the time in the world to go live your dream, learn how to do it first.

[Seniorman]

Welcome home.

As others said, there isn't anyplace in the U.S. where you and your buddies can legally do what you stated in your first post.

I suggest if you and your buddies are serious, you might pool your money and buy a small piece of land right next to a National Forest, or next to designated BLM land in one of the Rocky Mountain States. Make your "home" there, then go out into the Forest/BLM and practice your skills.

Of course, all State and Federal hunting, trapping, and fishing regulations will apply to you and your buddies.

You should study carefully the two links to "year long survival" lists posted by Hunter63 and Rich. They are very, very realistically informative and useful.

Best of luck.

S.M.

[Rick]

You also have the option of the Appalachian Trail (2178 miles), Coast to Coast (6800 miles) , PCT (2654), Allegheny & Appalachian (2500) , California Coastal Trail (1200), Great Eastern Trail (1600), Great Western Loop (6800), North Country Trail (4600) or the Pacific Northwest Trail (1200 miles). Any would offer you the challenges you are looking for and take several months to complete. That would test your metal and give you the experience you need to even attempt what you want to do.