Kayak Survival Trip 7/28-/7/29/2013

**RandyRhoads** · 07-30-2013, 06:10 PM

I'd appreciate a mod embedding my video, I don't know how if I even can.

Here's the video of my trip. Besides the needle experience it was a great trip. Really humbling. Nature kicked my *** this time. I got no food other than a blackberry bush I found. Snares got nothing, no fish, no rabbits shot. Glad I brought water because my solar stills didn't really work. Probably because they were so small.

I froze my balls off. I went too hardcore but it was a good lesson. Didn't even bring a lighter this time. Left in shorts and a tank top with a small thin blanket with holes. That night was one of the windiest coldest nights for this time of year and I literally couldn't sleep because of it. I thought my half shelter would be enough to funnel the wind over me, and it did that but did nothing for warmth. I almost didn't get the fire going because the cat tails were still too wet to light with the ferro rod. The tules I cut were far to few to insulate me from the ground.

It was a cold miserable night where I might get 5-10 minutes of sleep before having to wake up to keep the fire going. I'd spend about 50 minutes of the hour getting comfortable and warm to doze off right before having move to add more wood. I started added three log ends in and using a stick to advance them in once they burned with another stick to avoid having to get all the way up.

I found an owl and snagged a dropped feather and tied it to a tree hoping to attract a bigger predator. Sat in my blind overlooking the snares and feather at dusk but never saw anything. Missed a shot or two at rabbits on the run. Although it was only a day without anything more than a few berries, it let me experience a bit of the desperation for food. At wont point in the night I heard coons in the camp. Unlike last time where I got annoyed at having to scare them off, I licked my lips and drew my bow, but was too late.

Videos kind of long, so if you want a laugh skip to 7:15.

youtube;ZqDLvRWqXQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqDLvRWqXQQ

Survival trip on the Sacramento delta.

I brought

X-1 Knife w/ ferro rod
X-1 slice of bread with cheese
X-1 Bow
X-2.5 Arrows
X-1 Plastic tube
X-1 Small fishing kit
X-1 Jute twine
X-1 Canteen w/ 1 gallon of water
X-3 Snare
X-1 Small thin blanket with holes
X-2 Small plastic sheet
X-1 Pair of boots in the field

2:00 Solar stills
3:00 Shelter
3:20 Cutting tules for bed matt ground insulation
3:40 Setting snares/hunting
4:35 Gathering cat tail heads for tinder
5:05 Checking solar stills with no luck
5:50 Found some blackberrys
6:00 Starting fire
6:35 Setting last snare
6:46 Found an owl and dropped feather
6:50 Tied feather to twig to attract predator
7:18 Night time
7:28 Waking up finding a needle in my shelter
8:40 gathering snares (no luck)
8:03 Leaving

Filmed with a GoPro HD Hero 3 Black Edition

**Rick** · 07-30-2013, 06:53 PM

You can only display one video per post so I fixed one and left the link. I can't get the video to link. I think it's my PC. I've asked Crash to try to link it. @#@# computers.

**RandyRhoads** · 07-30-2013, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

You can only display one video per post so I fixed one and left the link. Then I brought the other one down here for you.

http://<font color="#488325">youtube...vRWqXQQ</font>

Thank you Rick.

**hunter63** · 07-30-2013, 06:56 PM

Outstanding......

Your voyage of discovery was a heck of a learning experience......needle stick not good, but add another dimension to the whole experience.

Everything is harder that it looks, takes more time than expected, plans don't work out, gear and ideas fail...murphy is always with you.
What you do and how you handle it says a lot.....

Thanks for the vid....your story should be required reading to anyone that wants to set out with a knife and big ideas.
Thanks, man

**crashdive123** · 07-30-2013, 07:44 PM

RR - both links are the same video.

**RandyRhoads** · 07-30-2013, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

RR - both links are the same video.

I know, one was supposed to be the one to embed it.

**Highhawk1948** · 07-31-2013, 06:41 AM

Good trip.

**crashdive123** · 07-31-2013, 07:07 AM

Some tips for your solar still......

A larger hole and piece of plastic if possible. You are obviously limited to the size of the plastic, but if you are bringing it a larger piece would help. Instead of pouring the salt water in the sand around the outside of your plastic, pour it directly into the hole and then place your container in the hole.

**finallyME** · 07-31-2013, 09:56 AM

Was that on an island? How the heck did a druggie get out there?

**hunter63** · 07-31-2013, 10:55 AM

I would guess the needle washed up....they do around here from time to time, on Lake Michigan's shore.

**RandyRhoads** · 07-31-2013, 11:37 AM

Thanks Crash, I brought the small pieces of plastic in a hurry knowing I'd have water and just wanted to practice. After some poking around on the net I didn't realize how massive they had to be for a tiny bit of water. I thought i'd get maybe a quarter water bottle with mine. Then I saw a guy on Youtube only get that much with a huge one.

finallyME- It's not an island but it's pretty much only accessible by boat and windmill maintenance. It's far from any main road with many locked gates and tiny hidden roads. I've lived out in the area my whole life and still don't know how you'd get there, but I know you can because there are wind turbines there.

Maybe it washed up but it was pretty high above the water line behind a log. My guess is either some junkys were on a boat and stopped, or a wind turbine maintenance guy stopped, sat on the log and shot up.