time for me to rant

[wareagle69]

i don't know maybe i'm having an off week, i've chewed on this over and over and tell myself not to post this, but i just can't let it go, if i offend some with this, then get over it.
maybe i've been reading hopeaks posts to much or maybe i am turning out to think like him but
WTF is with all the posts about going into the bush for a year, why a year what is the magical number with a year, be realistic try two weeks or 30 days first, i mean you have folks here that spend what a week at the most with 40 lb rucksacks on and they all of a sudden want to do it for a year, seems like maybe you should first be able to handle the cold or humidity or rain or the discomforts that acompany an extended stay in the bush, i just shake my head because maybe 1percent here have spent any amount of real time in the bush and understand it, but when i read about forlks wanting to spend a year i ask why cuz then i read that folks can't spend the night out cuz its too hot or cold or wet or humid do you think that a bug out or a year in the bush with be all fluffy clouds, get over yourself people get realistic and spend as pops say "boots in the feild time"
maybe after two years i snapped but it is what it is
peace out, time for me to back to the bush

[Rick]

See? Now you feel all better. I'm kinda like you, though.

It's sort of like, "I could be a plumber. - Have you ever done plumbing? - No, but how tough can it be? - It ain't tough but there are a lot of things you have to know.

I could do a year in the wild with just a knife - Have you ever done a year in the wild with just a knife? No, but........

[crashdive123]

I understand what you're saying, and I think you know that I agree with you on it - but really - we haven't had a lot of people coming here saying they were going to do that lately. Maybe they will with summer around the corner, but there really have not been a lot of requests for the how to primer on surviving for a year in the bush lately.

[Ken]

A valid rant, Wareagle.

My longest stretch living out of a backpack was about 3 weeks. In the summer. About 1 week in the winter. The older you get, the more comfortable your own little crib gets. Do I have the skills to make it for a year? I believe I do. Do I have the desire or inclination to try it? Nope. That's why I think of it as "survival" (as recently defined so well by Mac/Pict) http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=7385 and not something I want as a lifestyle. Doing something for a year IS a lifestyle.

[Pal334]

Well said WE, my adventures in the "wilds" for any extended time were not voluntary. And I can assure you that I have no intentions of doing it voluntarily for any extended period again. Can I do a full year? Mmmm maybe, but to be honest probably not. To Paraphrase Ken a bit. I like my "crib" and being able to go to the store whenever I can get a kitchen pass from the Mrs. It takes a different critter like you and Hope (and several others here) to do it, hats off to you guys and gals, you keep it real for those that seem to think it is a lark to "just go wild" for a year. Thank but no thanks for me.

[oly]

I just go for the fun of it and to leave all the BS home, if an emergency situation occurs I'll be alright but hopefully not more than a couple of months let alone a year

[Texas Rebel]

I just got back last month from a 3 week camping trip up @ Cottonwood,Colorado.
We where 25 Miles from Buena Vista,Co. and 8 Miles from main road.
Me and friend went up there to just to go camping for few weeks(trip got cut short due to his Mom falling and breaking her Wrist and Ankle! 79 years old)
We took a few MRE's with us and few other food items,Tents,Sleeping Bags,and Cooking ware.Was fun.
25-32 in mornings
60-70 in afternoon.
Will I due it again for the hell of it?
HELL YEAH!
For a year?Well that depends.
I guess it would really have to depend on my situation at the time when was asked to go?

[Rick]

Not me. Could I make a summer? Maybe. Let the snow start falling and the food sources dwindle to nothing and I'm a goner. If I lasted that long.

[Sarge47]

I play pretty strong chess & every so often someone comes up to me & wants me to bring them up to my level in a matter of minutes. I explain that it took me many years & games to learn what I know now & that there's no way I can do that. They get angry & stomp off! BTW, I like the woods, but I'm also a 21st Century boy! Give me the best of both worlds!

[Schleprok]

Great post WE, and like Ken I don't want to spend a year in the bush if I don't have to. I would like to be as self sufficient as possible, and live farther from "town" than I do. Boots in the field time is what it's all about. If you don't have the experience, don't try to gain it all at once. Moderation is the key.

[red lake]

living in the bush is a way of life not some sort of vacation

[kx250kev]

I've been really warming up to the logic of "bugging in", and my BOB is morphing into a GHB (get home bag). Hope I never have to "bug out" because it would be hell if it was long term.

[Yakov]

At least I know he's not talking about me. I'm Rambo

[vthompson]

Wareagle, I know what you are talking about, and I agree with you. My wife and I just came back from a 10 day campout here in the mountains of West Virginia and although we had a good time, believe me we had all that we wanted. I was ready for a little home life and she was too. We are getting ready to go back for another week at the Spruce Knob area over the 4th of July. It is primitive camping with only a outhouse for accomodations.
Most folks who talk this living for a year or so in the bush usually haven't spent any time at all in the outdoors to amount to anything, or they have stayed in some campground with electric, running water and a bath house on site. They have never really roughed it.
So I understand your frustration with all of this and I think that you got your point across.

[Rick]

WE - I wish I were as tough as you or Hopeak. I wish as I was as tough as my dad or grandfather. But I don't see myself in that role. Not that I'm a weeny. I'm just realistic. I haven't had to live that kind of life so I haven't been "tested". I no longer have the body for it either. To many problems along the way. The two things in my favor are my mental attitude and my knowledge. My brain is tough as nails. But a year? I seriously doubt it. And the season would dictate just how short a life it would be.

[doren]

I have stayed out several times for two weeks at a time, (mostly because of work.) Doing a year? I don't know. I would give myself a 70% chance of making it a year.

There's too many factors that will be constantly against you. wildlife being the first 20% failure. Between harvesting enough food to accidentally coming across the wrong snake or bear. The last 10% being terrain and dumb luck. Most months it only takes one night of exposure to rain and cold to lay the foundation of your death. Or stepping the wrong way to fracture a bone from falling. While most of us can survive breaking an ankle, we still rely on making it back to civilization to finish the medical process.

Could I make it a year... I like to think I can...

[Sourdough]

Hopeak is a was'it and OK with that. There was a time that Hopeak was bad to the bone, but those days are over. My current lifestyle has what others would call hardships, but I now live indoors. I still haul the water, sleep in a sleeping bag, and bath in a 1 qt. sauce pan, the outhouse is a total none issue for a healthy male. My longest non-stop living in a tent in the Alaska Peninsula Wildlife Refuge was 77 days, and that was about nine years ago. So, I am a was'it.

I can afford to live softer lifestyle, but I choose to live what Henry David Thoreau said, "I went to the woods to live deliberately". I no longer see it as romantic, or every adventuress. There is a intimacy with the essence of existence that is nurturing, when one lives simply, splitting firewood & hauling water.

I have a neighbor about 1/2 mile away she is getting so she she has trouble with this lifestyle, she is about 91, but she still get's out and hikes her miles, even if she does stay on the road. She is one of the last of the Alaska Pioneers.

[jeff_c]

35 days was my longest. But it was not in "survival mode". We had packs and resupply. It was a NOLS mountaineering course.

My thought its that in 90% of "survival" situations you would be out for a week at the most. Honestly (FOR ME) the most likely situation is that I was on a mountain bike or a trail and got lost. If I have done my job then my wife would know roughly where I was. co-workers, friends, family etc... I would be missed by someone (WOULDN'T I?). So it would come down to this... Can I get a fire going, can I make shelter, can I collect water, can I ration my food, or gather more. I wouldn't be building a fortress or anything.

If you are forced from your home for a year, something has gone very VERY wrong... and most likley 75% of the people out there are not going to make it.

(Im thinking disaster, martial law, etc etc...)

Wait... I guess my main question is, WOULD my wife start the search?? Hmm... I need to check my life insurance numbers again... LOL

For me, this is all more a desire to return to self reliance. Id love to say Its a lifestyle. And it would be if I lived in the boonies.. But come on, although my home is remote, there is a Starbucks and a Publix 15 minutes car drive away. LOL.

[Rick]

I concur....

[doug1980]

I wanna do 364 days in the bush..... well it ain't a year at least. But seriously I have no desire to do that. My wife and I just got back from a 4 day, 3 night camping trip up near Hatchers Pass and that was long enough for me. Tent camping with my wife and dog is not all that comfortable or pleasant to say the least. So all those "rambo" guys can have it I have nothing to proove.