Your Most Critical Survival Resource

[Pict]

Every time I go into the bush I use a combination of both wilderness survival preparations and bushcraft techniques. My goal is to go into the bush in order to expand my knowledge and skill set and come out with more kit and resources than I took in. Every trip tends to take on the same schedule…

Day One – Get Stable, Work like a dog, get through the night, a good solution right now is better than the perfect solution too late.

Day Two – Get Comfortable, Evaluate/Correct, fix whatever’s broken, find all sorts of neat stuff in the area, turn shelter into the Hilton, sleep well.

Day Three – Camping/Hunting/Trapping/Fishing, expand my borders, locate what’s for dinner, start collecting enough to stay the week or walk out. Most often I just have to cut things short as they’re getting good because I have to get back to real life.

The most critical resource when using bushcraft techniques to solve these problems is TIME. The most advantageous aspect of using wilderness survival preparations to solve these problems is TIME. I would love to see a discussion of how much TIME it takes to do the various bushcraft techniques we practice. If the time factor is not clearly understood this lack of understanding could potentially create conditions in which the day one priorities of SHELTER-FIRE-WATER are not solved in time. A solid understanding of these techniques will allow a person to better evaluate how to spend their most critical survival resource, TIME.

I would like to see photos, if possible, of bushcraft techniques in action and hear how much time it took you to resolve the problem. To keep the focus let's stick to the three main categories of primitive fire lighting, natural shelter, and purifying water by boiling or creating a filter from natural means. Mac

[Rick]

I can tell you from experience it takes me about 2 hours to build a debris hut, about an hour to build a fire. That includes gathering my wood for the night.

[trax]

If the weather's not too bad, half an hour for shelter, enough wood to get the meal started... and fire and get the meal started. Then I'll go gathering extra wood, usually. Everyone's answers are going to be based on the environment they're accustomed to again, Mac, but those are dang good questions.

[crashdive123]

Assuming decent conditions:

Building a workable shelter - about an hour, but would probably tinker with it for three.

Starting a fire - With what I normally carry - gathering enoug tinder and fuel to sustain it for at least an hour - probably about fifteen minutes. Using friction????? maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

Collecting and boiling water - all depends on if I get the fire going. Once it is .... collect more fuel while water is heating.

[doug1980]

Time.

Most of us understand time as a continuous flow...but it is not however how we experience it. I wouldn't want to bore anyone with quantum physics here...but a clue to your questions can also be found in the fact that time, is not continuous, even though it appears that way.

Time, and more precisely how we experience it, is most often like bumps. We bump from one realm to the next, from one consciousness to the next.
It is funny that you used bold letters to highlight the word TIME in your post...because it actually suggests this happening.

One can actually "compress" time, by eliminating the superfluous activities (in your post illustrated by the non-bold words linking one "bump" to the next) giving us the feeling that time is a continuous entity.

How much time it takes to do various tasks is greatly linked to our relation with the superfluous, and our lack of attention.

Sleep depravation can be used as a support to experience time in a different way for example.
Our brain is also capable to "slow down time" in the event of an emergency, by greatly augmenting the ratio of frame per seconds, or information we perceive at any given moment. This can also be controlled through many practices.

Time.

[jeff_c]

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Time.

Time.

Most of us understand time as a continuous flow...but it is not however how we experience it. I wouldn't want to bore anyone with quantum physics here...but a clue to your questions can also be found in the fact that time, is not continuous, even though it appears that way.

Time, and more precisely how we experience it, is most often like bumps. We bump from one realm to the next, from one consciousness to the next.
It is funny that you used bold letters to highlight the word TIME in your post...because it actually suggests this happening.

One can actually "compress" time, by eliminating the superfluous activities (in your post illustrated by the non-bold words linking one "bump" to the next) giving us the feeling that time is a continuous entity.

How much time it takes to do various tasks is greatly linked to our relation with the superfluous, and our lack of attention.

Sleep depravation can be used as a support to experience time in a different way for example.
Our brain is also capable to "slow down time" in the event of an emergency, by greatly augmenting the ratio of frame per seconds, or information we perceive at any given moment. This can also be controlled through many practices.

Time.

[Pict]

Time.

Most of us understand time as a continuous flow...but it is not however how we experience it. I wouldn't want to bore anyone with quantum physics here...but a clue to your questions can also be found in the fact that time, is not continuous, even though it appears that way.

Time, and more precisely how we experience it, is most often like bumps. We bump from one realm to the next, from one consciousness to the next.
It is funny that you used bold letters to highlight the word TIME in your post...because it actually suggests this happening.

One can actually "compress" time, by eliminating the superfluous activities (in your post illustrated by the non-bold words linking one "bump" to the next) giving us the feeling that time is a continuous entity.

How much time it takes to do various tasks is greatly linked to our relation with the superfluous, and our lack of attention.

Sleep depravation can be used as a support to experience time in a different way for example.
Our brain is also capable to "slow down time" in the event of an emergency, by greatly augmenting the ratio of frame per seconds, or information we perceive at any given moment. This can also be controlled through many practices.

Time.

So... everything not in bold is superfluous?

Mac

(If she...weighs... the same as a duck... she's made of wood?)

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

one person doing everything in a survival situation would have problems getting jobs done fast enough to get the maximum benefits. honing procedures to shorten the work time is a goal.

[Schleprok]

That background is superfluous in the fact that it, by itself, does not give us information relative to what we seek by the sheer intention of coming here to read.



survival zen?

[oneraindog]

im dying to see pictures of shelters people here have built and how long it would take for said shelter.
or how long it took to make given meal and pictures of.
photo essays covering where you went, what you did and what the process was.

are there threads covering such things?
yes, forum search here i come.

hopefully im not hijacking picts thread here but....
another forum i frequent has a section specifically for trip documentation whether just in story telling or with accompanying photos.
this is where i went and this is what i did
this was the shelter i built
this was the new fire starting tech i tried and this is how it went
this was a new water gathering process i tried and how it went
etc
kind of like a communal journal. it seems to see a lot of input.

would there be a place for that here? or much interest from other members?
or i guess thats what the blogs are supposed to be? but it would be nice to see a common area where everyone can post in the same spot and everyone can see it in one spot rather than wading through blogs.

well, nice for me anyway

[crashdive123]

Oneraindog - they're kind of scattered throughout the forum. The making stuff section has quite a bit.

[wareagle69]

great thread pict
ok folks look at picts last paragraph fire shelter and water by NATURAL methods evryone so far has said a few minutes for fire and an hour for shelter using natural means? no saw or striker? i call BS or i am a terrible bushman(maybe i am) then u are also procuring water by filter or boiling by natural methods that quick also? let me see phots and pics cuz i gotta go back to the drawing board and figure out how you are doing it
pict, said not to say "gee i can do it in five minutes" but how are you doing it in five minutes

[crashdive123]

Actually WE not everybody said a few minutes. I said without what I normally carry, under ideal conditions - maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

[Rick]

Okay, Mr. Picky. I said an hour for fire including gathering wood. Generally, I use a flint steel and tinder. Depending on conditions, it will be natural tinder or VS/Cotton balls if it is damp or wet. The rest of the time is gather the night's wood.

I use a water filter for my water. That takes about ten minutes to pump, which saves me time for gathering fire wood.

You know what a debris hut is and how to build one.

[wareagle69]

rick you are missing the point pict asked for natural methods , no flint, no firesteel no vaseline, no cotton balls, no filter no cup no blade to cut the branches to make the hut, NATURAL or am i misssing something

[oneraindog]

Oneraindog - they're kind of scattered throughout the forum. The making stuff section has quite a bit.

i hope this doesnt sound pompous but im thinking bigger than that

these are the words i have in mind when im thinking about this:

"I would like to see photos, if possible, of bushcraft techniques in action and hear how much time it took you to resolve the problem. To keep the focus let's stick to the three main categories of primitive fire lighting, natural shelter, and purifying water by boiling or creating a filter from natural means." - Mac

this is a great request. one that i think deserves its own section in the forum. a place where everyone can go to describe and discuss their experiments IN THE FEILD.

the making stuff section is great and serves its purpose but its focused on specific items, gadgets, gizmos and little projects done in the garage or at home. i dont want to take away from it, its an invaluable resource. but why wouldnt it be just as important to see documentation of real world application in a wilderness/camp setting with discussion and breakdown of what the process was? what did you do in your camp first? what were the priorities, conditions, challenges and lessons learned?
***what where some things that you used or tried from the making stuff section?***

it would be great to see a place where picts idea is communally discussed and continually evolving. not hiding in some thread we have to search for or direct a newbie to (i include myself in said newbie status)

[Rick]

That's as bushcraft as you're going to get from me. That's how I do it. (shrug)

[Rick]

Onerainddog, I hear what you're saying but you also have to understand there have been a good 25 or 30 suggestions over the last year or so on forum sections that need to be added. If all of them had been incorporated you'd be hard pressed to figure out where stuff was supposed to go.

You can set up a network section yourself.

EDIT: I meant social group. Sorry.

[crashdive123]

i hope this doesnt sound pompous but im thinking bigger than that

these are the words i have in mind when im thinking about this:

"I would like to see photos, if possible, of bushcraft techniques in action and hear how much time it took you to resolve the problem. To keep the focus let's stick to the three main categories of primitive fire lighting, natural shelter, and purifying water by boiling or creating a filter from natural means." - Mac

this is a great request. one that i think deserves its own section in the forum. a place where everyone can go to describe and discuss their experiments IN THE FEILD.

the making stuff section is great and serves its purpose but its focused on specific items, gadgets, gizmos and little projects done in the garage or at home. i dont want to take away from it, its an invaluable resource. but why wouldnt it be just as important to see documentation of real world application in a wilderness/camp setting with discussion and breakdown of what the process was? what did you do in your camp first? what were the priorities, conditions, challenges and lessons learned?
***what where some things that you used or tried from the making stuff section?***

it would be great to see a place where picts idea is communally discussed and continually evolving. not hiding in some thread we have to search for or direct a newbie to (i include myself in said newbie status)

Gotcha. Have you checked out Pict's and Erunk's videos?

[wareagle69]

i agree with oneraindog this is an awesome thread, i get so frusterted and yes i am going to pick on you crash and rick, sems people post"well i would just gather some wood start a fire boil my water build a shelter and have a nice day" it is not that simple, especially using natural and i stress natural methods.
for example lets go with water pruification, i have a couple of different methods one is using a large aster leaf that i fold into a cup the dip it into a hole near a body of water that i dug to naturally filter the water, this method sucks but will keep you hydrated
next is using birch bark that is still intacked, i pull out all the decayed wood and fill with lots of grasses then dip into water and either drink out of one end or filter into the aster leaf, i am still working on making a passable cup for longer storage or boiling water.both of these are very time consuming and not something i like to do after dark
ok kids see what i am doing i think this is what mac was looking for natural methods