Living in the woods/The Bare Wilderness Numptys!

[Jay]

Last I heard they had to give up after 13 days and came home very wet & hungry. Somebody said they haven't been doing any updating on their web-site. I'm just glad they made it home alive!

I went through that post carefully Sarge, and I got cold chills. Nothing anyone could have said would have stopped them. Had I been in your place I'd have taken the same stand. wilderness survival is not for little children. I spend more time in the jungles than I do in the city some months. I try to prepare for every eventuality, carry lots of personal gear. (large packet of medcines, snare wire, several types fire making stuff, 2 or 3 knives, 2 flaslights, spare batteries etc etc....the list goes on.....and yet my fervernt prayer everyday is that i wont need to use most of this stuff.
Hope they learned something....and glad they made it out alive.

[Sarge47]

The thing that really got me riled was that they came on here asking for input, then didn't like the input they got. My take on that was that our advice didn't help "Pump up" the image they had of themselves. Later on one of their "groupies" showed up briefly banging the "Bare Wilderness" drum but disappeared after only a few posts. This is why, today, I have very little patience with people who won't listen to advice given here after they ask for it. it's also why I like the "school" idea. If someone comes on here asking for advice we just direct them to the school and not cover the same ground over & over again!

[wareagle69]

what colour shirt should i wear tommorrow

[RobertRogers]

Certainly do-able by someone with enough experience

[Bladesypher]

Anyone who thinks they can make it in the wilderness with only cloths and a knife then actually attempts too should make sure they actually CAN. I think the knife is the most important piece of kit. You can cut bark from willow trees or hemp from nettles to make string for snares. You can sharpen stakes to build a shelter, you can use the string for fishing too with a bramble thorn. And you can even make fire with it if you know how to construct a hand-drill, bow drill or plough. Before you go into the wilderness with such little equipment you should at least be ABLE and not just know in theory HOW to make snares to catch food to satisfy your stomach and construct and use a bow drill to warm you. Just knowing how isn't enough. You need to practice these things relentlessly until you can do them all perfectly before attempting such things. I heard they had only a few months of training? Even many men with a year of training couldn't last long in the wild with only a knife. 13 days isn't that bad for how little experience they had... but I think it was a foolish attempt.

[explodingearth]

my heavy duty kabar
stainless steel knife
stainless lightweight axe
poncho/tarp
jacket
poly unders
few rolls of 550
alice pack
4 or so pairs of wool socks
insulated boots
another pair of poly unders
wool hat
thin fleece hat
snow pants
crampons
bow/arrows
wild food book
steel strike/flint chunk
pack of djarum black
all purpose stainless cooking pot
ax file
sharpening stone
hone
binocs
magnifying glass
my baton
antiseptic ointment
multitool
insulated gloves
scarf

[wildWoman]

I don't understand why people need to do this sort of macho "me and my knife against the wilderness" thing. It's great living out in the bush, it's also great to aquire survival skills and know what to do if, for whatever reason, you go out poorly equipped and prepared and have to rely mostly on your wits and a few tools. But these going off for x amount of time - survival projects are the equivalent of getting dropped off with ten cents in your pocket in New York City. Where's the joy? Where's the fun? What could you get out of it other than having a tough time? Why not bring a bit of gear, have fun, enjoy and hone your skills while camping.

[Sarge47]

I don't understand why people need to do this sort of macho "me and my knife against the wilderness" thing. It's great living out in the bush, it's also great to aquire survival skills and know what to do if, for whatever reason, you go out poorly equipped and prepared and have to rely mostly on your wits and a few tools. But these going off for x amount of time - survival projects are the equivalent of getting dropped off with ten cents in your pocket in New York City. Where's the joy? Where's the fun? What could you get out of it other than having a tough time? Why not bring a bit of gear, have fun, enjoy and hone your skills while camping.

What you're saying has been my view from the start, WW. The reason I lumped this whole thing together was for the following reasons:
1.) To show others that most members here are not impressed with such stunts.
2.) That "Survival" is not the latest "Extreme Sport", but a matter of life &
Death.
3.) No "nimrod" knows more than the experts.
4.) To show the whole story, from beginning to end.

[DEET]

I have a feeling we'll be reading about these numpties again on the darwin award website. Too many people don't seem to understand that nature is not to be trifled with. These idiots have not learned their lesson and I gaurantee they will end up either dead or seriously injured. All you have to do is look at their attitude on the posts and you'll realize that they don't have the mental ability to see their failure as a warning but as a challenge. Mark my words they will try this again and it will become a recovery effort when they call off the search.

[RBB]

A couple of generations ago, my mother's family were hunter gatherers. Because of this, I've gone off a couple of times with no food for a month, to see if I could feed myself. If the fish were biting, it wasn't bad. If they're not, I get awful tired of cattails, roots, blueberries, and red squirrel - and not enough of any of it. Good way to loose weight.

Still, there is something good about it. I'll probably do it again.

[Nativedude]

As many years as I have spent in the back country and bush, I WOULD NOT go it with just a knife and the clothes on my back -- unless it was an inevitable occurrence!

I take my knife, bedroll (2 wool blankets & a waterproof sleeping bag cover), my billy can, canteen, and the clothes on my back.

I do hunt and trap my food, or for greens and insects along the way.

To encourage anyone to go out "UNPREPARED" as the original poster of this thread is, is completely sadistic -- IMO!!

We should encourage the uninformed/untrained to learn the required skills needed before taking on such an endeavor.

Trying to be "macho" as he/they apparently are trying to be will get them a SAR mission and an expensive helio ride to either the hospital (if they're lucky) or the morgue!!

I have seen it happen many times!

[spiritman]

I just noticed this thread, and I like that it's a sticky. It shows the new ppl how even when someone is going out of their way to be obnoxious and vain you can still be reasonable and open minded in the face of loud opposition while trying to discuss a hot topic. There have been some crazy death matches here from time to time.

Also as a correction since I wasn't around to respond at the time (I definitely wouldn't have this go unanswered), the rule about not calling ppl names "refute their statements" was clearly not about my side of the debate. Nor was it about posting someones pvt msgs, that rule was separate. It was because of the butt that got hurt by me doing it. Which I did to put everything (that was practically quoted from my private responses to their pvt msgs) in context, which was somewhere about ten thousand miles from where it should have been. Once that was crystal clear I edited the messages so new ppl or anyone who hadn't seen it yet wouldn't think less of the other involved senior member.

I should have kept more up to date on this as it was happening but that was a few busy months ago and only noticed it tonight because it was a sticky

Native dude you have a good list there, I have similar items in my short term pack and I usually bring some food along. Instead of blankets I use a sleeping bag and a gortex bivouac. I also use a magnesium striker for a quick fire. How do you start your fires?

[Nativedude]

". . .Nativedude you have a good list there. . . .How do you start your fires?"

I mostly use a fire drill or fire plough. As a back-up, I carry a magnesium F.S. and a Spark-a-Light (which are permanently attached to my knife sheath), and I have a 3" dia. - 6x glass mag. lens that hangs around my neck in a buck skin pouch I made. Those are E.D.C. items I carry no matter where I go!

I use the fire drill and/or plough to keep my skills with each sharp.

[cyc79]

This October my friend and I are going to walk in the Northern Manitoba Wilderness with nothing but what we are wearing and a knife. We will not be bringing any lighter, food, or supplies. Neither of us know a lot about wild foods. I would love some suggestions for food seeing as 30 days is a long time to eat the same thing. By the way we will be posting video of our experiences every day so everyone can watch us while we are there. Our website is www.*************.com Thanks for any information you can give me

Call me wimpy but good luck guys,better you than me.I'd rather have gear with me and not need it than need it and not have it.I've spent most of my life in northern saskatchewan so I'm not just guessing at what it will be like.

[coldkill13]

No guns. Guns are for pussies.

!?!I'm offended!

[marberry]

iv spent alot of time in the northern manitoba wildernesses and i know from personal experience your 1 step from committing suicide . first where in north manitoba are you planning on going ? like north of Thompson wilderness or west oof church hill ? huge difference there that just might mean your life.

[Sarge47]

Jon Krakauer, author of the book: "Into Thin Air", which became a TV movie and is being redone, BTW; also wrote a book titled "Into the Wild". It's a fascinating story about how a young man, inspired by Jack London, went out into the wilds of Alaska with nothing but the clothes on his back and a bag of parched corn...his lifeless corpse was discovered at his campsite months later. However this man obviously suffered from a diminished mental capacity! Awhile back three mountain climbers tried to summit Mt. Denali, I believe it was, forsaking most of their equipment. These three guys were very experienced climbers. Rescue teams found the body of one of the men in a snow cave and no trace of the other two. The motto is: "BE PREPARED"! Even the simplest Boy Scout knows that one!

Well, the movie "Into the Wild" was released on DVD this week and I just watched it, great movie and very true to the book. Sean Penn wrote the screenplay and directed. Christopher McCandless, aka "Alexander Supertramp" died in Alaska because of a mistake in identifying wild edible plants and got the wrong one, and died. At least TBWN had each other. Two thumbs up on the film, BTW.

[GVan]

Hey Sarge,

You do realize that inside the para coer are seven thin white nylon threads that work great for snares, fishing line, sewing thread, and numerius other purposes.

PERSONALLY, I'D CARRY THE SAME CRAP IN MY PACK THAT I CARRIED FOR 30 YEARS IN THE ARMY. ABOVE ALL KEEP IT SIMPLE AND LIGHT. THE GREATEST PIECE OF EQUIPTMENT THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY TAKE WITH YOU IS KNOWLEDGE AND A KEEN WIT.

[Sarge47]

Yes, we all know about 550 cord, it's been covered extensively. Also, I agree with your assessment about "knowledge & a keen wit"; but what has all this to do with what I just posted?

[palerider]

never laughed so hard in my life, i've got to forward this thread on to the rest of my unit.


do or do not there is no try