Outdoor Survival
There is so much written about outdoor survival that I normally do not do much with it. Here I would like to do a few words to the people who may find themselves in the woods and not really know what they are doing. I am talking about a scenario where things get so bad where you are living that you just need to leave. You may wind up in a state or national forest or some other more or less wild area. This could happen due to rioting, martial law, terrorist attacks, etc. The thing to remember is that you may get away from the danger you face where you reside, but unless you know how to take care of yourself in the woods, you may be no better off.
I personally have no plans to head for the woods, but at the same time I am always ready. I live in the country in an area where I think the main rioting and other bedlam will not be as apparent. However, there is always the possibility the someone would come after me and I would need to move on. Here are some of the plans that I have and some of the preperations I have made.
First of all, I have a pop-up camper that sits ready to go at all times. If I were able to take that I would have no problems at all. That camper has two weeks food, a medical kit and most other things we need to live. The food and some camping equipment that is stored in the camper is stored in two backpacks. These are my bug-out packs, one for me and one for my wife. As my wife has back problems, most of the gear is in my pack. Some of the things I have in the packs are: two weeks food, a two person tent, sleeping bags, cooking and eating utinsels, medica kit, extra socks and underwear, extra jacket, waterproof matches, Zippo lighter and fluid, hatchet, fixed blade hunting knife, compass, survival fishing equipment, a roll of snare wire, 1,000 rounds .22 ammo and a long barreled, take-down .22 pistol. With all of these items and what I could get from the wild, I feel that I could livefor an indefinite amount of time in the woods.
Even in the middle of winter here in central WI there is a lot of food in the woods. While it is not as easy to find, it is there. With the hatchet a hole could be chopped in the ice and ice fishing done. Cattail roots are good at anytime of the year and can be dug out. I believe the hardest thing about surviving in the winter in the north is keeping warm in below zero weather. This is where you need to decide at bug-out time what type of clothes to wear and whether to throw a couple of more items into the packs. Things like long johns and heavy shirts might be well worth the extra weight if you feel that you will be out in the woods in the winter. I have winter camped many times and have had no trouble for a couple of nights. The problem will come after a couple weeks of the cold weather. One thing to do is to use the pistol to shoot animals like porcupines or beaver and eat the meat, including the fat. These are a couple of the most fat bearing animals in the woods and can be taken with a .22 pistol. This is not something you can practice bacause it is highly illegal at this time, However, in a survival situation all the rules change.
In the spring, summer and fall food abounds in the woods. By supplementing your two week supply that you should carry with wild food, you should be able to survive a long time. Fishing and wild plants along with some meat and you might not have to dig into your supply of food that you packed in. For those of you who have never collected wild food, a good field guide on it should be in your pack. While there are not many poisonous plants out there, there are definitely some. There are also some that it is just as well not to eat because while they will not poison you, they may make you sick. The best way is to start now to get out in the woods and learn as much as you can. There are some things that are very hard to practice right now as they are illegal. The trapping and snaring of small animals and birds is one of those things. All you can do is to read as much as possible about it and learn the habits of small animals. That will give you the best chance when the time comes.
This has just been a short note about survival in the woods. In some future column I may get deeper into the subject. Our problem is that we do not know exactly which scenario is going to come to pass, so we have to prepare for many contingencies. However if we are prepared, we will SURVIVE.
I personally have no plans to head for the woods, but at the same time I am always ready. I live in the country in an area where I think the main rioting and other bedlam will not be as apparent. However, there is always the possibility the someone would come after me and I would need to move on. Here are some of the plans that I have and some of the preperations I have made.
First of all, I have a pop-up camper that sits ready to go at all times. If I were able to take that I would have no problems at all. That camper has two weeks food, a medical kit and most other things we need to live. The food and some camping equipment that is stored in the camper is stored in two backpacks. These are my bug-out packs, one for me and one for my wife. As my wife has back problems, most of the gear is in my pack. Some of the things I have in the packs are: two weeks food, a two person tent, sleeping bags, cooking and eating utinsels, medica kit, extra socks and underwear, extra jacket, waterproof matches, Zippo lighter and fluid, hatchet, fixed blade hunting knife, compass, survival fishing equipment, a roll of snare wire, 1,000 rounds .22 ammo and a long barreled, take-down .22 pistol. With all of these items and what I could get from the wild, I feel that I could livefor an indefinite amount of time in the woods.
Even in the middle of winter here in central WI there is a lot of food in the woods. While it is not as easy to find, it is there. With the hatchet a hole could be chopped in the ice and ice fishing done. Cattail roots are good at anytime of the year and can be dug out. I believe the hardest thing about surviving in the winter in the north is keeping warm in below zero weather. This is where you need to decide at bug-out time what type of clothes to wear and whether to throw a couple of more items into the packs. Things like long johns and heavy shirts might be well worth the extra weight if you feel that you will be out in the woods in the winter. I have winter camped many times and have had no trouble for a couple of nights. The problem will come after a couple weeks of the cold weather. One thing to do is to use the pistol to shoot animals like porcupines or beaver and eat the meat, including the fat. These are a couple of the most fat bearing animals in the woods and can be taken with a .22 pistol. This is not something you can practice bacause it is highly illegal at this time, However, in a survival situation all the rules change.
In the spring, summer and fall food abounds in the woods. By supplementing your two week supply that you should carry with wild food, you should be able to survive a long time. Fishing and wild plants along with some meat and you might not have to dig into your supply of food that you packed in. For those of you who have never collected wild food, a good field guide on it should be in your pack. While there are not many poisonous plants out there, there are definitely some. There are also some that it is just as well not to eat because while they will not poison you, they may make you sick. The best way is to start now to get out in the woods and learn as much as you can. There are some things that are very hard to practice right now as they are illegal. The trapping and snaring of small animals and birds is one of those things. All you can do is to read as much as possible about it and learn the habits of small animals. That will give you the best chance when the time comes.
This has just been a short note about survival in the woods. In some future column I may get deeper into the subject. Our problem is that we do not know exactly which scenario is going to come to pass, so we have to prepare for many contingencies. However if we are prepared, we will SURVIVE.
posted by Knifeman | 7:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home