Best locations / Survival stories

[Sarge47]

To Dave F.: I don't think a "lurking period" is the answer as many of these "goof-balls" lurk quite a bit before they get up the nerve to become a member.

VOSS: Remy/VolWest has done a ton of stuff on the psychological side of Survival.

Ralbert: This is the last warning you're going to get from me; watch your step! Don't "diss" my Homies, act more mature, & listen up. Here it is again for the thickheaded among us: "SURVIVAL IS NOT THE LATEST EXTREME SPORT! IT IS LIFE & DEATH!" Sorry I don't speak Dutch, but that's how it's said in English-American. One bit of advice I will give you though...make sure you got those Organ Doner Cards filled out; also both of you need to have those "Last Wills & Testaments" in order.

[ArmySurvivalist]

Sarge, You cant translate into Dutch!! I thought you were a super MOD!!!

J/K

Dont diss his homie's, check.


-FACT- I did not lurk, I just joined. So did I escape the " Goof ball stage "??

[Rick]

His internet provider is HQd in Amersterdam. But he's somewhere in Nederland.

AS, you were given a special dispensation to allow you past the "Goof Ball Stage". It's a rarity so don't blow it. By the way, we don't talk about privilege on here. It's very hush hush so the riff raff don't start yacking. You know how they are. Conspiracies stop be conspiracies when everyone knows about them.

[ArmySurvivalist]

Sorry for the hijack,

but you know something, I joined because I was thinking there is no way these guys no anything about survival on a wilderness survival forum with there heads so far up their.....

well..

I like it here.

All I know is, when can I upgrade to the wolf avatar pic..

[crashdive123]

Sorry for the hijack,

but you know something, I joined because I was thinking there is no way these guys no anything about survival on a wilderness survival forum with there heads so far up their.....

well..

I like it here.

All I know is, when can I upgrade to the wolf avatar pic..

Hijacking???? It's what we do around here. Change your avatar anytime you like - some do it often. You joined - you're a member of the wolfpack.

[nell67]

Psssstt AS,it's Numptyland,not Nymptyland

[trax]

Psssstt AS,it's Numptyland,not Nymptyland

How do you know where he lives?

[crashdive123]

Not to be confused with Nympholand.

[Rick]

(Busy checking world map for Nympholand).

[ArmySurvivalist]

Caught him in my internet snare. See guys that how you do it. Lure him in with a mis-spelled word and then the noose wraps right around his neck and
!!! BOOM !!!

Caught me a we little bit of English teacher for dinner.

HAHA

Ill change it. thats funny though, I messed up a idiot saying. Does that make it true?

[trax]

(Busy checking world map for Nympholand).

Obviously not the cherry capital that was referred to in a previous thread.

[backtobasics]

Hello,

Me and my girlfriend are really into wilderness survival and are planning to experience it ourselves next summer vacation.
At the moment we are reading books, gathering information and increasing our knowledge of bushcraft overall.

Obviously we’ve got a lot of questions and would like to receive advice from the pro’s. That’s where you guys come in.

1) First things first; what’s the best place to go to?
What we want is quite simple: a forest environment, river/lake close by, plenty of fish/fruit, not too extreme cold/hot etc. We're want to live of the land for the most part and only take some rice with us.

I believe I’ve read something that the only place where it’s still legal to practice survival in the wild is Scandinavia, or are there other regions that fit our criteria well?

2) Secondly, we would love to hear travel stories/diaries of wilderness survival. Our internet searches for blogs with detailed information about the journey and pictures have so far been in vain. We would appreciate it if you guys could link us some good websites.

Thanks a lot,
Ralbert.

I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if i repeat what has already been said. First off your plan is very dangerous. Second you can gain some experience in your own home, even if you live in a big city. Try to live in your home without heat or electricity for 3 days. It's really not that easy if your used to having all the comforts of home. How are you going to cook? how are you going to stay warm? How will you stop your food from going bad? I forgot to mention no water or entertainment.

[crashdive123]

Good advice Backtobasics, but he's long gone (maybe he's lurking, who knows).

[PipeBundle]

I've got some skill in the wilderness, but I wouldn't want to get caught in a survival situation. In the wilderness, you learn not to take unnecessary risks and to expect the unexpected. Those are the things that will kill you.

The worst situation I've ever been in happened in Quetico Provincial Park, just north of Voyager's Nat'l Park - Boundry Waters Canoe Area.

We were on our way out after a nice trip (we even had the rare fortune of witnessing a black bear kill a moose calf and pilfered one of the hind quarters for a nice treat!) except for the last nite which it poured down rain into the morning. We broke camp just as the rain let up not knowing if it would pick up again. It was cold, cloudy and windy, but not enough for whitecaps to form on the open lake.

Being experienced canoeists, we knew what we were getting into, planned the safest route possible, tested the waters and headed out. It was rough going but we weren't taking any water, much of the paddle was actually decent as we planned our route to take advantage of natural wind breaks. The LONG way home if you catch my drift

At the last portage we took a break because the launch point was a beautiful shallow well protected sandy beach, the clouds were breaking and the sun had warmed the water to a perfect bath temperature. If you've ever taken baths in a lake a week after ice-out for two weeks straight, you can appreciate what I'm saying We had shore lunch and a couple of small parties on their way in made portage, so we figured conditions were shaping up for better travel. We confirmed this with them and everything looked good, except for one relatively short stretch across open water that was a bit rough, but passable as was confirmed by the parties heading in.

So we secured all our gear to the canoe and headed out. The wind had died some, and the wave action wasn't quite as bad. The going was slow and then when we were damn near across the stretch and home free into a wind blocked shoreline for the final leg of the trip, the wind suddenly switched direction, got us sideways into the wave action started gusting and wham, both canoes dumped over.

Ok, now we were in a really really bad position, the sheltered shore was close, but against the wind. Water temp, 36-40 deg, maybe, who knows, a week after ice-out with a good deal of sunshine. Very frikking cold.

Our first instinct was to abandon the everything and swim to the sheltered shore...maybe 35 yds, but that was impossible with the wind and waves, we were losing ground. The further shore was the only possible choice about 75 yds. Between the 4 of us, we were able to right one of the canoes, taking advantage of the wave action and wind to flip it somewhat high and dry. Enough so that two guys were able to climb in and paddle. We quickly tied the other dead canoe and the guys paddling drug us to shore.

By the time we sloshed onto shore hypothermia was setting in and here we are in cotton everything, including flannels. Cold wind, brain dead, frozen stiff and vaguely aware that life wasn't getting better out of the water. Literally. I don't know whether it was instinct or what, but it became apparent that sitting there soaking wet in the cold wind was not the thing to do and we began stripping.

It didn't take long to dry off in the wind once we were naked and our lips began to lose their shade of deep blue to something more human. We could at least begin to assess our situation. We realized needed a wind block and there were no natural formations within visible distance, so we stacked the canoes on their sides against some trees, dug the tent fly out of the pack and draped it across the backs in kind of a lean-to. This allowed us to get a fire going, which took some time as the rain has soaked pretty much everything and we went through a considerable amount of brush trying to dry out small sticks to burn and work our way up, but we finally did manage to get enough of a fire to give at least some heat. So, we hung our wet clothes in the trees and the wind took care of the rest.

3-4 hours later, we were able to get dressed again, repacked the canoes, drug them down the shoreline a few hundred yards out of the wind and headed out for the last leg of the journey. By the time we got to the the pick up point at the US/Canada border, the wind had quit, the sky was blue, the water was glass and we had to strip down again to keep cool. LOL

We hit shore and I considered myself lucky the only thing I lost was my wallet.

[nell67]

Thanks for sharing your story pipebundle! When you get a chance,how about heading over to the introduction thread and telling us a little about yourself!
Sounds like you have lots to share with the pack

[dbldrew]

I know I’m in the minority here but I really have no problem with this guys plan. I also really think you guys should lighten up on the insults as well. There is nothing wrong with going out and practicing your survival skills, and that is basically what this guy is doing. Now the safe way to go about it would be having a safety net to make sure when things don’t go your way you have plan B to fall back on.

But it seems to me that he had a pretty good back up plan and calling him a "Numpty"(idiot) is a bit on the extreme side. (Not a good way to gain new members). Lets cut through the garbage here.

He is bringing a tent with him
He is bringing rice with him
He is bringing pots and pans for cooking
He is bringing a Magnesium fire striker for fire (also bow drill)
He is going to have back up food, phone, matches/lighter, etc in the car
He has a year to practice before he goes

So basically he is going backpacking without a lighter but a magnesium fire striker, for this he gets called an idiot? Lighting a fire with a bow drill is a skill that is not easily mastered, but any idiot can light a fire with a magnesium fire striker even in the wet. Not that I think it’s a bad idea to bring more then 1 way to light a fire, but he is, he has a backup lighter/matches in his car. How long of a walk was it to get his backup supplies? 5min, 10min, 1 hour? Maybe we should of asked him before resorting to name calling, and then strongly suggest if the car is very far away to bring those back up supplies with, but I guess we will never know.

He made a comment that accused this site of being “angry survival elitist cult” unfortunately that is how you guys are coming across. I understand that you had good intentions and are actually worried about people jumping into the woods unprepared, like someone going into the woods for a year with only a knife and no emergency supplies, but that’s not what happened here. He has food, shelter, fire making, and more supplies as backup, I wouldn’t exactly say that’s unprepared…

[crashdive123]

You may want to go back and re-read the posts. Look at the information that he offered before getting any feedback. After he provided that information, he asked for opinions - and he got them. Some good, some bad. Some gentle, some harsh. It's kind of like going to the buffet. Take what you want, leave what you do not want. Not everybody here agrees. In fact sometimes a few can be downright disagreeable.

It's important to remember - if you don't like the answer, don't ask the question!

[dbldrew]

I did read the posts, he stated his intentions and got some feedback and warnings he then posted this..

“Alright, the warnings are well understood.
It’s not like we are going into the wilderness without preparation. We are well aware of the need to practice and learn about the subject.”

And this

“We will take everything essential and then some with us, keeping it close is logical”

Seems like he is listening to some of the feedback, unfortunately then he gets called an idiot and other names, then big surprise it spirals out of control and he leaves. (but then why would he want to stick around with such a warm welcome?)

So answer me this, knowing he is bringing a tent, food, fire starting means, and now he admits to having his backup supplies close, whats the problem? Does that really warrant driving him off and name calling?

[crashdive123]

I agree that the name calling may not be the best way to make friends and influence people.

You say that he is bringing a tent (good), food (just rice according to him), fire starting needs, and backup supplies that may or may not be close. Here's what I mean.

As for our actual field experience; little to none.

He shared that he has no experience, yet wants advice from those that he considers experienced. To encourage him to do anything but gain that experience prior to his trip would have been irresponsible IMO.

We will of course have some emergency items in the car parked quite some distance away, like a phone, lighter, flashlight, food, etc... but the goal of the trip is to not use it or we've 'failed our mission'.

Here he indicates he will have supplies, but not within reach. A broken leg or getting lost (remember, he has no experience) would make those supplies useless. The "failed" statement leads me to believe that this is some sort of game or rush that he is trying to have play out. On top of that, he is taking somebody with him that would presumably be relying on him. Not a good idea in my book.

We know following a survival/bushcraft training before our trip is the smart thing to do. However, it's also less exciting to go somewhere when you know it will be a cakewalk once you get there... We believe (/hope) detailed knowledge of all the theory (with some practice @home) should be enough to prepare us for the trip.

Reinforces my previous statement by saying it's also less exciting to be prepared.

The reason why our posts probably seem too optimistic is that we factor in that the trip won’t happen till like a year from now so we’ve got quite some time to prepare.

Would have been useful info for those trying to offer advice from the start. Not sure of his committment to prepare based on his other statements.

We will take everything essential and then some with us, keeping it close is logical.

Conflicting statement with previous one.


Many of the questions that were asked were not answered. Maybe it is better to say until you answer the following, I will not give you any advice. Probably be accused of being some sort of survival elite....

So, with the information he provided, I for one am not sure that he was really looking for advice. Maybe he wanted to hear "go for it", I don't know. There are many that posted that would still be willing to offer advice.

[Sarge47]

Listen up guys & no offense meant here; this guy is/was a troll, probably from a Forum owned by one Ryan Gillespie, otherwise known as "TheFreakinBear". Ryan came on here while both the Mods were away & posted 50 spam-posts just to anger everybody. Then, after he was banned, came back on to hi-jack all the info posted here for his own forum. This goes on quite frequently. With all due respect, you're welcome to post, but please don't criticize how we try to protect the forums, fair enough? Also remember that "flaming on our members" is NOT allowed! The guy in question came from a place where we'd had problems in the past. There is a right way & a wrong way to enter any forum. If you want to see some real stuff, visit the thread on "The Bare
Wilderness Numptys." Oh, & please remember that here we're known as "The Wolf Pack", not the "itty bitty puppy dogs." We do get a bit rough at times, but if you can survive it then your doin' good.