How young were you when you started learning wilderness survival?

**Dux** · 06-15-2013, 05:54 PM

Stomping in the woods as far back as I can remember. Growing up we had an extensive garden (grew and froze or canned almost everything we ate) and tent camped. Always putzing with shelters, tracking, traps, fires, etc. Read a thick book that was "1001 Camping Tips" or something like that in jr high until it fell apart. Got into Tom Brown, Bradford Angier, et al from the late 80s on. Mostly did things good enough, been putting in the effort to perfect the skills the last several years. Hitting that "walking in the woods is like walking the aisles of a Walmart" feeling the last few years. Everything is there, fairly easily found and I know how to craft it, having done so several times. Primitive stuff is fun as a lark. Still love my modern gear though!

Edited to add: Always done it for the love of being outdoors, learning and the good feeling self reliance yields.

**thethirstymonkeys** · 06-15-2013, 09:10 PM

Since I was about 12 or 13. I'm not the most educated in the area, but from camping at an early age and throughout my life, I've learn a few things here and there.

**TNshooter** · 06-15-2013, 09:22 PM

Wilderness survival started in the scouts when I was about 11 or 12. It wasn't a chore, I enjoyed it very much and learned everything I could. General survival probably started in first grade, when a kid a few years older than me and who I thought was my friend beat the crap outa me for no apparent reason and without warning. So I knew I had to start learning some things to keep that from happening again. Survival isn't just in the woods, its at home too, at work or anywhere you might be. And there's no end to the skills that you can and need to learn. My number one rule: keep it simple : )

**Gille** · 06-15-2013, 10:18 PM

I hit age 6 I ran all over the hills in a very small town in Newfoundland. My Dad took me up to watch the sun rise over the ocean, warned me about the moose behaviour come fall rutt and when my Mom complained about my being out all over he simply told her, "he's a boy, let him run". So I did, off u over the first three ridges and down to the fishing shack where my Grandad an Uncles worked cleaning fish an drying them. Fresh fish jerky.. not that Japanese stuff.. at least wait till it dries sheesh. I sat on the seashore with my Grandad who taught me build a fire and how to cook salmon in a can. My Dad bought me a bamboo fishing pole but it was so long I could not see the big rocks the trout hid under so I made my own fishing pole and with sting from the bamboo one and a diaper pin and I caught some sweet brook trout! After the first few my Mom told me to throw them back as cooking one a day was not enough. I learned what a stringer was from an old guy who lived near the river and brought home several..lol. My parents moved us to a farm in Ontario where building shelters, making bows and arrows, was all just play but through hindsight they turned out to be acquired skills. A few years later we moved to the city where I found the long sprawling parks and spent my time as far from concrete as I could. In my teens I headed north and camped the weekends away eventually I met a gal up there an moved up. Our first home was a truck camper I bought. Running water came from the spring. I hunted with my inlaws raised dogs an taught them to track. I spent every Saturday walking in the bush spring to fall. Leave at sun up return at sun down. Having kids meant a real house, allot less bush time. But once they were 6 off to the bush we went teaching them to track, pay attention to their surroundings. My 1st wife left. I raised our two sons myself. Now I'm 51 remarried with 3 more kids, one son 14 and two girls 13, 11, and we're waiting for the bug season to end so we can hit the bush again. Never really thought about it till now just how much time I've spent out there. I learned as I went what I needed. Still doing that, still allot to learn. So far my experience has been for the most part for enjoyment I hope the bottom does not fall out of the economy or the world turn against those of us who are Christian's cause of a evil global leader (anti-christ) but should it come to pass I'd like to be more prepared and be able to teach others to be as well.

**rope.ranger** · 07-02-2013, 10:27 PM

I'd say about 11 or 12, for survival. Hunting and camping several years before that. Always ready to learn more.

**MaveRick** · 07-03-2013, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

While I was never actually in the Boy Scouts I always wanted to be, so at the age of 9, at a local "resale" shop I picked up cast-off Boy Scout Uniforms and old manuals. Thanks to the manual I learned a lot. Survival starts with learning outdoor skills and lore and that's what I did. I acquired a two-quart canteen, mess kit, pocket knife, and such. I learned how to start a fire with a limit of two matches. While I know that's not a primitive method I could give a rat's hind parts! Fire is fire and there is very minimal energy expenditure involved. You'd be surprised how many people today can go through a whole box of matches and not get the job done. Now I can start fires without matches, but I save those methods for back-up. My favorite tool is the butane device used to start charcoal fires. I know, not what you expected to hear, right? My philosophy is simple, get the job done properly as quick and as safely as possible without wasting a lot of energy!

That's interesting because it's very similar to how I got started. I found a copy of the Herters Guide Manual in our local library and bought my own copy so I could take it to our local state forest to use on weekends. I wasn't into uniforms but I bought some of the gear from the boy scouts. My parents wouldn't allow me to join the scouts but I had several friends that were scouts. I couldn't afford a tent so I learned a lot about making primative shelters that can even keep me warm in the winter. I would go out rain or shine so sometimes the only fire I had was from a a few heat tabs when everything else was soaked. Many times we were foraging for food that didn't need cooking.

**DSJohnson** · 07-12-2013, 07:43 PM

Interesting question. I was born in rural Oklahoma in the 50's. My father hunted and fished to add meat to our table. We had a garden and used a smoke house and "root" cellar to store food in year round. My father butchered his own hogs in the fall(really it was kind of a family deal he and two of his first cousins and all the families actually had a work weekend) I do not know when my father started taking me with him into the woods to hunt or down to the river to set limb lines and throw lines. There is a picture of me standing with my dad holding a dead jack rabbit and a rifle and it looks like the jack rabbit maybe be bigger than I am. My older sister says that I was 4 in the picture. I learned how to build a fire very young and burned my initials in the side of our house with a magnifying glass before I started school. Got to learn how to use a scraper, wire brush and sand paper along with learning how to prime and paint the next evening. Dad never used a tent if we were out over night.. We would use a tarp as a ground cloth and then if it rained or was wet we would pull the tarp over us. Joined the Boy scouts when I was twelve. I was very fortunate in that my troop was very active and we went camping 10 or 11 time a year. My scoutmaster was great. He ha been a B-17 Pilot and made 38 sorties over Germany in 44-45. An amazing man. My father always let me spend as much time as I wanted in the woods and on the creeks around our home as I wanted, as long as all my chores were done he was good. I started to get extremely conscious about Wilderness Survival after I got to go to the Rocky Mountains with two older cousins when I was 14 years old. We went camping in northern New Mexico for 10 days and I wanted to just stay there and live. My family were all readers and sometime when I was 10 or 11 I read about Robinson Crusoe and also somewhere right around there I read about Col. Rickenbacker's survival at sea. 24 days adrift in an open raft in the Pacific. Between those stories and the "Duck and Cover" drills at school I got very interested in survival. Practiced it in the wood all the time. Still do. So, in answer to your question sir, I think I started learning around 55 or so years ago when I was around 3 or 4 and I have all the scars and stories to prove it...LOL