where can I practice surviving?

**hunter63** · 06-28-2015, 09:42 PM

The "secret"....the secret.....we didn't tell him the secret.......and he only got to the 3 date....?

**kyratshooter** · 06-28-2015, 09:57 PM

I don't think he qualifies for the secret.

He has less than 10 posts and has not mentioned anything about owning a gun with "magnum" n the title.

We don't even know if he owns a proper jalopy or beat up SUV yet!

**hunter63** · 06-28-2015, 10:16 PM

Probably calls a magazine a "clip"..........

**TXyakr** · 06-28-2015, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Kjack42088

**** folks.. To those that gave responses and helpful info thank you it's much appreciated. To the others that offered no helpful advice and didn't even get close to the topic thanks for your two cents as well... What good is a forum without the mindless crap some people have to offer. i don't understand what draws people to comment when they have no intention of actually answering the question and just want to argue about words and how they percieve them.

I hope you have fun learning new outdoor skills. My father and others taught me how to survive when the best laid plans failed, but decades ago we never called it "survival" just pioneering, exploring, primitive skills, camping, making it back to civilization alive. Then the general public jumped all over SERE training or something like that... not sure how exactly it went so mainstream and pop. ("reality" T.V.???)

Keys to very hot and humid (I lived for many years in the Amazon Jungle) are drink lots of water 1-2 gallons per day, and do most of your activities in the very early morning and late afternoon as sun is setting (Bath & Nap mid-day). Same with high desert. Northern New Mexico, Rainy Season (monsoons) are typically late July and August so set up camp mid to late afternoon enjoy the rain and drop in temp catch some water because river has much silt requires Alum to filter. When winter comes it requires a totally new set of skills and gear. Hammock requires under quilt not fan or pitching high for wind flow. Then you may want to camp down in everglades, perhaps. Some of my friends prefer to camp (not survive which implies failure) up north in the winter and down south in summer to avoid the crowds. It works and if you have the basic skills and basic (not a lot) of gear to adapt to climate/weather, you can as well because you are an intelligent human. Heck the deer and raccoon do it 365 days a year why the heck can't humans. Rhetoric because most humans have easier options and are soft and some are not grumpy old men like me who have a low tolerance of being around other humans. Heck last few weeks I have been spending 2 days/week teaching kids to kayak (mostly babysitting and listening to their issues), I have a high tolerance for kid's nonsense, not much for adults who should know better. For a few hours I paddled around a girl (in tandem kayak) with hair dyed blue who had not drunk enough water and was dehydrated, OMG you can give them chilled bottles of water and sports drink put not force them to drink it (other kids yelling at her to vomit over side of kayak not in it, thanks, now shut up!) Foolish humans. Survival can be as simple as purify and drink lots of water! Don't sit there with massive headache, under a tree vomiting all your food, because you were to stupid to hydrate. OMG palm to face!

When on land where it is allowed set up a debris hut (or more elaborate wiki hut) and then your tarp or tent near by in case of a major thunderstorm. Sleep in the debris hut for night or two. If a snake or scorpion crawls across your face or neck during the night don't move fast just stay calm and let it move on by. It just saw your body and breath as a warm place to hunt or sleep, no worries. Flick it on out and go back to sleep, or get up, cook and eat it, fresh is best. Cheers.

So just get out there, as others said, bad unexpected things will happen, gear will fail, critters will steal your food, you will get injured, and you will figure it out and survive because you are a relatively intelligent human. I am slightly smarter than a box of rocks and have "survived" many challenging situations over that last 50 years. NOT with the help of "trail magic" on that silly A.T., while "Yellow Blazing" past all the steep parts from festival to festival... OMG palm to face... I should not say what I really think about that... Adult nonsense.

Do it incrementally like "Wise Rick" suggested or jump in the deep end and tempt "Survival of the Fittest", but either way just do it. Ask a friend to let us know if you win a Darwin Award please... Only Joking... Some folks here hope I have every time I go months without a comment. ha ha ha Grumpy old men...

**Sarge47** · 06-28-2015, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by hunter63

Probably calls a magazine a "clip"..........

It's not?...

**hunter63** · 06-28-2015, 10:46 PM

Hey Sarge....not bad for an old guy........

**sjj** · 06-30-2015, 11:03 AM

...................

**Wise Old Owl** · 07-02-2015, 01:32 AM

Ahh he is gone... Note to self I need a proper jalopy or bug out wagon, ...with a *****.

Here she is... 6 months & working on that training... she has fetch down good.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

**MrFixIt** · 07-02-2015, 10:25 AM

Good looking pup Wise Old Owl!

**hunter63** · 07-02-2015, 10:31 AM

Awwww, I love puppy pic's..........Nice looking baby.

**TXyakr** · 07-02-2015, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by Kjack42088

Ok I live in Florida and have most of my life. Surviving hot weather and island living is second nature to me, now it's time to lower the temp a little bit and get more inland. A buddy and I would like to plunge ourselves into the wilderness somewhere with minimal gear just enough to hunt, cook, and sleep and try to make it a week on our own. I was hoping maybe someone here would have some suggestions on places that that we could do this with a very low chance of crossing paths with other humans. We're trying to stay around Georgia or the Carolinas so temps aren't too low and we don't have to travel too far. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks folks!

-Kevin

My guess why this forum and many other similar ones get many "drive bys" is that someone like this asks a fairly specific question, i.e. where are there wilderness areas that allow primitive camping where some "survival" skills may be practiced. He clearly stated that he has experience with warm weather and coastal survival/camping (my definition of survival is what to do when you are camping in the wilderness and everything goes terribly wrong, one of several definitions anyway).

So when a person like this posts a question on multiple forums and gets responses that are WAY WAY off topic and some very rude he/she just responds to those from forums that are not full of nonsense and ignores (or should) the grumpy old men/women who are full of themselves and probably don't actually practice SHTF survival techniques much anyway. Just my personal opinion. I like to sit around the campfire and talk foolishness on occasion, but when I want solid advice with accurate technical information I know where to go... forums in general are NOT my first source of that info.

Among other sources I call the wilderness area managers, local law enforcement and ask what the regulations are, then get detailed maps and read online trip reports etc, talk to area guides or hire one for first time in a new area, to avoid people see the best remote sites. IMO absolutely worth it if you have 7-10 days to spend hiking or canoeing in BWCA. Knowledge is priceless.

**hunter63** · 07-02-2015, 01:38 PM

Well, after 35 posts with out many "Off the subject, helpful posts" and get huffy?........

Questions have many answers....pick what you want.

**finallyME** · 07-02-2015, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by TXyakr

Among other sources I call the wilderness area managers, local law enforcement and ask what the regulations are, then get detailed maps and read online trip reports etc, talk to area guides or hire one for first time in a new area, to avoid people see the best remote sites. IMO absolutely worth it if you have 7-10 days to spend hiking or canoeing in BWCA. Knowledge is priceless.

Here is the thing though...... you are absolutely correct. But, this requires more effort than just asking a question on a forum. This is generally my approach, and I have given similar answers to these broad questions before. So have all the grumpy old men (given similar responses that is). But, that answer isn't what the poster wants. He wants us to do the work for him. After you give the same answer to the myriad of similar questions..... you get tired of the silence from the poster (or the blatant ignoring of your advice) and eventually you start giving the "off topic" responses from grumpy old men that you are referring to. Don't worry, you will be doing it soon enough.

**TXyakr** · 07-02-2015, 07:01 PM

I don't spend much time in SE but was wondering were some good primitive camping locations are in the North Georgia and Carolinas Inland highlands myself. Unfortunately when I am in that area most of my free time is spent visiting friends I knew back in grade school - H.S. and they have not stayed in good physical condition (overweight, diabetes, arthritis etc.) so we just stay at their homes and don't go into wilderness or I run some WW rivers with friends (younger or older than me but in shape) from TX/OK, then we head back home. So I was hoping someone from there (SE) would know some National Forest or Wildlife Refuge areas that would be OK with a small debris shelter/hut as long as you removed it when done, and possibly some rabbit/squirrel/varmint hunting (state hunting license required, I like porcupine etc.). But apparently no one from that region on this forum has any specific suggestions/recommendations.

I like the Green River, NC and Asheville area but this is mostly car camping NOT primitive camping and I was mostly white water kayaking NOT practicing "survival" skills, only keep head in high oxygen zone, visit fish briefly not for rest of life or I will be face to face with J.C. So some National Forest/ Wildlife refuge areas further down Eastern slopes may be better, but I have never had the extra time to explore these.

One of best public areas I can come up with is North Central New Mexico this time of year very close to or along upper Rio Grande and tributaries, where there are plenty of trees, cool night time temp and some but not many animals and fish. But BLM has many regulations. Private land is most of Texas (very little public), so offer to fix fences, cut cedar (juniper), and/or shoot feral hogs, some only allow you to shoot exotics like axis deer during whitetail season and you must pay big $$$ for each especially bucks, aoudad or native pronghorn very big $$$ so don't even think about shooting them without prior permission, rancher will find out and FAST!!!, build a relationship with land owner(s) if you don't have relatives or own land yourself. Private land owners have many regulations as well like don't shoot my livestock or I shoot you, only cut trash vegetation (juniper/mesquite etc.) not oak/ash, only shoot what you are going to eat or all feral hogs you see, keep fires small put out completely, don't litter with trash and shell casings, keep vehicles on trails and many many more. High elevations in far west Texas gets cool at night. Many peaks in TX are higher than any peak east of Mississippi River i.e. cooler and less humid than Eastern States in the Summer. (This region had a wet spring so tanks have water now.)

I did not count how many comments above were IMO NOT about where to go wilderness camping and where to practice "survival" skills but more than half. Whatever, free forum y'all can gibber jabber at will.

IMO most important keys to survival are psychology, physical health and fitness, knowledge/skills, where you are and what gear you have is secondary at best. The more "Time in the Bush" new name is "wilderness" (covers coastal, desert, arctic but that is "bush" to me as well, I'm old school) the more you learn to improvise, the less stuff you NEED to carry. Blade, pot, fire starter also saves time when a thunderstorm is on top of you, tarp and/or poncho are close in forth place, then insulation because ground litter, leaves are full of insects and stuff that itches and bites you (copperhead and recluse spider) when collecting and all night long, PITA!

**hunter63** · 07-02-2015, 07:57 PM

Feel free to not read any or all of the preceding posts..........

**crashdive123** · 07-02-2015, 08:43 PM

As usual TLDR.

**Rick** · 07-02-2015, 09:54 PM

In the course of human misery this is really not one of the things that one needs to get their knickers twisted over. If you are unhappy with the responses then don't read the thread. If you are unhappy with a particular poster then put them on ignore. There are many answers to the unasked question, weed hopper.