Why do you use primitive skills?

[hunter63]

I started learning primitive skills after I lost my backpack on a four day hiking adventure. Someone found it and returned it to me on day three, but I learned that life is hard if you lose your backpack, and have no primitive skills.

.......so you have a Personnel Survival Kit? (PSK)

[Adventure Wolf]

.......so you have a Personnel Survival Kit? (PSK)

I had one before I knew what one was, yes. My hunting expedition gear looks like a BOB.

[finallyME]

I teach boy scouts....
The other day, I had two new scouts. Saturday morning I told them to light a fire. They watched me do it Friday night. There was a good amount of wind...but I did it in the wind the night before. It took a little bit of time before they came and asked for matches or a lighter. (Rule number 1: also carry something to start a fire with). Eventually I gave up my firesteel. 10 or 15 minutes later, they came back and said they couldn't get it to work. So, I showed them how to spark it. (Rule #2: know how to use your equipment). Not too long later they came back and asked for a match. They assured me that they could get a fire going for sure..with a match. I then gave them a small box of matches. 10 minutes later, they came back defeated after using up the whole box. At that time, I had finished breakfast and so they ate, and then we played some games, packed up, and went home. What they learned was that fire isn't easy, it takes skill, and a match isn't guaranteed fire without skill. I will get to teach them at the next campout how to set up a proper firelay and all the stuff they need to get a fire going. Hopefully they were humbled enough to want to pay attention when I do show them.

My point... fire isn't a given. I have seen people fail to get a fire going with gasoline and a lighter. I have seen many people fail with a match (or a whole box). I have seen people fail to light a lighter. For me, a lighter is the easiest method to start a fire (well, maybe a road flare). I have seen people fail with a road flare as well. And, although I have seen scouts all fail at these, I have seen adults fail as well. But, if you can do it with a bow drill, or a magnifying glass, or even a fero rod.... Then the other methods are much easier, and your chances of success are much improved.

[letslearntogether47]

So I can brag about it on the very BIG bragging social media site, Facebook.
Why else would I self teach myself fire by friction?

[Wildthang]

One is none, and two is one! Always have a plan B, and the primitive skills are the best of the plan B's, because they mostly use natural materials found in the wild. If your backpack gets wet or lost, it doesn't matter how many matches or Bic lighters you have in your backpack because you no longer have it, or it's wet and needs to be dried out! That is why I carry as much as possible in my pockets, and even those can fail or get wet.
The primitive skills are the plan B's that can really save your life!

[Rick]

Honestly, I've never made friction fire and with these shoulders I never will. If I can't do it with matches or a lighter or a fero rod it ain't gettin' done. Unless I'm near the car then plan B is road flares. But they are primitive road flares. They don't a piezoelectric starter on them. You still have to strike them.

[Sarge47]

We don' need no stinking primitive fire skills!

Seriously though, one of the main rules in any survival situations is to conserve energy. I never could figure out how that rule worked with somebody sawing away on a fire saw for a couple of hours when a simple bar-be-que long-barreled lighter does the job just as well. I carry strike-anywhere matches and ferro rods stashed in various places on my person...there is even one in/on every fixed blade knife I own. I'm too old to backpack so I drive to where I'm going. I agree with FinallyMe: learn to make a fire with two matches, the way the Boy Scouts of old had to. You'll spend a lot less energy that you can apply else where....

[Wildthang]

We don' need no stinking primitive fire skills!

Seriously though, one of the main rules in any survival situations is to conserve energy. I never could figure out how that rule worked with somebody sawing away on a fire saw for a couple of hours when a simple bar-be-que long-barreled lighter does the job just as well. I carry strike-anywhere matches and ferro rods stashed in various places on my person...there is even one in/on every fixed blade knife I own. I'm too old to backpack so I drive to where I'm going. I agree with FinallyMe: learn to make a fire with two matches, the way the Boy Scouts of old had to. You'll spend a lot less energy that you can apply else where....

I disagree

[hunter63]

I disagree

That was sarcasm....LOL

[Wildthang]

That was sarcasm....LOL

So was my reply

[7whitewolf7]

To see if we can, to gain self-confidence
to 'work out' in an enjoyable way
to devote some hours to
spend in the forest
all kinds of reasons!

[hunter63]

To see if we can, to gain self-confidence
to 'work out' in an enjoyable way
to devote some hours to
spend in the forest
all kinds of reasons!

That's a good answer....When I head out,.. it is generally for some specific reason, hunting gathering, trying out new skills....

[Atehequa]

Heritage or perhaps it's only natural.

[ninjasurvivor]

When you practice primitive skills you learn more about whatever you are doing than you would otherwise. Like with a bow drill, you really start to understand the value of heat and dry material. If you flick a bic and it all goes up in flames you never need to bother learning about that.

I learned a lot when primitive trapping. It helped me to understand animal behavior and how all of the animals in the wilderness interact. It's a little more up close and personal. Just like when you hunt with slingshots as opposed guns. You need to be better at stalking and accuracy than you would when using a shotgun for example. While primitive skills seem rudimentary, they actually IMPROVE your overall skills, even when going back to modern implements.

[Mason]

I learn how to make bows, spears, knives, etc just for the fun of it. The same goes with shelter. But when it comes to fire, every modern object runs out so it is important for you to be able to make a fire the primitive way.

[Graf]

Simply put the more you know, the less you carry. Another point is we live in a "instant gratification"society, and wants things easy and already done. An example is look at the new cars and all they do for you,I phones,aps for everything, no need to think. Learning primative skills makes you learn to improvise,adapt,and overcome your situation, actually make you think and accept responsibility for your outcome.

[Awanita]

learning the primitive skills are important for two reasons I think, I am sure that has been covered so this is no great break through. 1st, it was the was it was done by our ancestors before us, it was passed down until we became used to modern way of survival. I practice them, learn them, pass them down. I use modern tools but I also keep my mind and wit sharp with the ways that my ancestors kept to survival when all else failed. 2nd. Yes the matches, lighters, and other modern day things are easy but sooner or later you will be caught where you have to figure out this one thing....."Crap don't have them any more, If I was living back hundreds of years ago how would I survive like my ancestor"........Learning is never ending trail...I may not always use them when I am out but I know how and what to do if I need the most of primitive.

[Rick]

Modern conveniences were developed because our ancestors got tired of doing it that way. You could either rub sticks together or strike a lucifer. Walk 20 miles in a day, ride a horse 20 miles in half a day or drive a car 20 miles in 20 minutes. Doesn't take a lot of thinking to figure out the times savings and all the other things you could be doing besides rubbing sticks together or walking.

[hunter63]

Now we have a lot more time to text and talk on our cell phones.........(this was a joke)

[Rick]

Seriously? The clock on my VCR still blinks. I'll figure it out some day but it will probably be obsolete by then.