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Thread: there's very little wilderness left in the lower 48 states

  1. #1

    Default there's very little wilderness left in the lower 48 states

    almost everywhere, there's fences, culverts, roads, electrical or phone wire, buildings, vehicles, etc. If you are ever 'out there in it " for real, you'll find it much more efficient to walk half a day to "modern" shelter than to make one bushcraft style. :-) Cause there will be all sorts of stuff in that shelter (or vehicle) that you can put to great use. Containers, pipe, insulation, wire. When it's truly life or death, the wilderness is not where you want to be. Especially not swamp or desert areas during summer, or cold country in wintertime. Those areas just make it REALLY hard on you and you dont have to stay there! The indians WERE restrained to their tribal areas, cause there would be such high risk from enemies and they had so little in the way of fighting gear and they knew so little about other area's fauna and flora. Their gear was very heavy and bulky, so they had to use horses to lug it around, and horses make it much harder to be stealthy.


  2. #2
    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    That is assuming you know where the modern shelter is and it is actually within walking distance prior to sundown. Under ideal circumstances, a healthy person can only cover about 20mi a day. If a shelter is farther than 10 mi, don't know where it is, there is illness/injury, or any combination thereof then the chances of reaching it are slim. Cover as much as you can one day, set up temp shelter and then continue on the next.
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    Alaska, The Madness! 1stimestar's Avatar
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    Yep, next bridge is 500 miles...

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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    I don't think you have been out west.
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    I guess that depends on your definition of lot or little.

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    Wilderness is where you find it....and what your definition is, I guess.

    Used to hunt on an 80 acre woods....was connected to the north west corner of the Bermuda Triangle....walk around for hours,... lost.
    Then a 4:30 closing time, you could see the trucks go by, everyone going home....so you knew where the road was....
    Scary

    Or

    Family lost in Halloween corn maze:

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    But........But.......But......what about .22's and .223's?

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    .....and sat phones....
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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Hey, I can type "wilderness" into my GPS and it pops up a half dozen places in four states, all east of the Mississippi river!

    Also shows me how to get there and get back without incident or having to eat bugs, roots and berries.
    Last edited by kyratshooter; 03-04-2016 at 02:43 PM.
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    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    Hey, I can type "wilderness" into my GPS and it pops up a half dozen places in four states, all east of the Mississippi river!

    Also shows me how to get there and get back without incident or having to eat bugs, roots and berries.
    Where's the fun in that!!!!!
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  11. #11

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    Wilderness is everywhere. Our temporary overlay of pavement and structures is mere static to the prevailing winds, flow of water, and forces of nature. In fact, many sub-rural and even urban areas have increased edge and support lots of wild life. While I don't recommend eating too many, "rock doves" or city pigeons have a lot of breast meat for their size and are east to take out with a stick. Deer move between houses in sub-rural housing to eat rose hips and ornamental shrubs. In a pinch a locking snare would bring in all kinds of venison. While roads don't make sense in relationship to the landscape, a quick look at google earth will have you mapping out the nearest and most likely sources for fresh water, seasonal deer patterns, and favorite berry harvesting areas. Making these connections, and adding to that the time and sequence of harvesting events (like cattail pollen, snapping turtle egg gathering, road kill raccoon season-for the useful fat), can be added to your google calendar through out the years. Add to that dumpster diving, emergency entry skills, and guerrilla gardening and, if you've spent time sharing the skills, a community of folks increasing bounty in the marginalized areas and you have a resilient network of folks tapping into and tending wilderness resources within the "matrix". I ain't running no more. My little thirty acre plot has bobcat, weasel coyote, deer, groundhog, and too many snow shoe hare to count. They may have mowed my Pine Barrens down in the 80's, but there will always be wilderness as long as there are hunters and outdoors folks who know how important it is to cultivate it and protect it.

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    Hey, I can type "wilderness" into my GPS and it pops up a half dozen places in four states, all east of the Mississippi river!

    Also shows me how to get there and get back without incident or having to eat bugs, roots and berries.
    Careful, you could get lost for 50 days or more. Like that guy in the eastern mountains of Kentucky!
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    Taint, if you don't think there is much wilderness left, you might come out to Idaho and do some back packing in this location. I've been back in some of this country and it is as wild as it gets.



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  14. #14
    Senior Member Old GI's Avatar
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    Might be shrinking, but plenty of wilderness in Colorado.
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    the word wilderness wont exist anymore if the government is allowed to microchip us.

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    Okay. I'm gonna back slowly away now. Ya'll have a great day. Take care.

  17. #17
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Okay. I'm gonna back slowly away now. Ya'll have a great day. Take care.
    I'm with you.....
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    Quote Originally Posted by DoubleChinRooster View Post
    the word wilderness wont exist anymore if the government is allowed to microchip us.
    Oh my goodness, give it a rest! You either believe this forum is something it isn't, or you are trolling. Either way KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!
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  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by taint View Post
    almost everywhere, there's fences, culverts, roads, electrical or phone wire, buildings, vehicles, etc. If you are ever 'out there in it " for real, you'll find it much more efficient to walk half a day to "modern" shelter than to make one bushcraft style. :-) Cause there will be all sorts of stuff in that shelter (or vehicle) that you can put to great use. Containers, pipe, insulation, wire. When it's truly life or death, the wilderness is not where you want to be. Especially not swamp or desert areas during summer, or cold country in wintertime. Those areas just make it REALLY hard on you and you dont have to stay there! The indians WERE restrained to their tribal areas, cause there would be such high risk from enemies and they had so little in the way of fighting gear and they knew so little about other area's fauna and flora. Their gear was very heavy and bulky, so they had to use horses to lug it around, and horses make it much harder to be stealthy.
    You have made some serious over generalizations here. First walking to a "modern shelter" in times of civil unrest can shorten your life. You don't know who you are going to run into, their state of mind or their arsenal. The First People or Native Americans were highly adaptable people. Those who lived in the far Eastern US had a very different life from those living in the Mid West, which differed from those living in the South, which differed from those living in the Far West and that differed from the Southwest considerably. Not all Natives had to move, nor did all have "heavy or bulky gear" and many tries did not have horses, which were brought to the Americas by the Spaniards. So the Natives lived for centuries without horses. Although many tribes are nomadic, mainly those living in the Mid West (due to the migration patterns of the larger prey animals they hunted) however many tribes stayed put and did not venture too far from their places in the world unless to trade or marry.

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by finallyME View Post
    I don't think you have been out west.
    I don't think he has either. The Sierras, the Rockies, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada has some of the most remote and lonesome wilderness going.

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