im considering trying it sometime in the near future, sort of an extended camping trip but, with little supplies and more natural forage/hunt mentality. im just curious to hear others experiences of a 6 months to a year + of living out in the wilderness as we are meant to be. was it humbling? was its scary? was it peaceful and tranquil? please give me details on your experiences, how you made it, your highs and lows, your mental fortitude and your physical body's outcome.
"as we were meant to be." ? Anyway, I don't have any stories. But I do recommend, if you haven't, you check out Survivorman. It's an awesome show.
Ive never had the opportunity to spend that kind of time out there....but i have spent a cupple weeks at a time out in the forest on many occasions. and even now spend a few hrs a day on several days of the the week wondering around out there. I know this isnt what your looking for but...fuck it here it is anyway.... just the feeling of being out there away from the rest of the world.....there really is nothing like it! where are you thinking of doing it? so i can get a picture in my head about the landscape... my favorite places to go are all in the mountians...but you can find good spots anywhere if you know where to look.... spent 2 weeks on Admirlty island once in Alaska "Fortress of the Bears" Admiralty Island Travel Information and Travel Guide - USA - Lonely Planet Pack Creek Travel Information and Travel Guide - USA - Lonely Planet me and this old guy he was 76 years old ...the tours only go for for a cupple months of the year 3 i think...so me and the old guy go out to this island in a little boat....the state has cabbins there two of the on different sides of the island (i think) but residents can use them for free anytime....just go down and put your name on the list to reserve it for the dates you want it....so it was about a 6 hr hike from the boat to the cabin. fucking beatiful! up and over the mountian the cabin was just a room with a wood sotve and a gas stove (you had to bring your own gas) and 4 bunks there was a creek ringht in front of it.....and every am there was a huge fuckin bear fishing in the creek 20 ft from the door of the cabin....fucking beautiful! spent 2 weeks there watched him chatch his breakfast every day hiked all over that entire island did not want to ever have to leave!
I don't know man. It's nice to be able to do that but I compare our tarzan ancestors to modern day dogs and their wolf decendents. We modern day humans, imo are no longer meant to live off of the land. We have evolved. Throw a dog out in the wildnerness and they're dead meat. Albeit we're alot smarter than dogs but I'm just saying i bet it's alot harder than it sounds like. It's like a full time job surviiving.
Yah that sounds like a cool idea go out in the deep forests in a territory(that you obviously study first) . Me and my friend go on adventures all the time this weekend were gona do a all day canoe trip and trip either acid or mushrooms should be good times.
ok so i totally got off topic.... i have hiked long distances in lots of places....not exactly what you are taking about but it will be a part of it... what kind of shape you need to be in....you need to be in good enough shape to handle the terrain and climate where you are.... if you arnt in good enough shape going in...and you dont quit.... you will be in good enough shape in no time
IMO its attitudes like this that our killing our species. the attitude that we have "moved on and evolved" is a little silly at best. why have we abandoned our mother nature? we came from the forests and with our supreme intelligence we thrived and moved out. now we are hellbent (it seems) on taking over our home and destroying all the green. with our vast intelligence and reasoning abilities we should learn to live in harmony with nature again. i guess after seeing avatar it made me thirst for a natural world. that movie played such a close resemblance to the native american ways that it moved me. they had a connection the to forests, one that went past dependence on its resources. native americans had the same thing, they survived and thrived on what nature gave them. im sick of walking down the road and stopping in the middle of it and looking down to see hard, cold concrete. my body wasnt built to walk on this shit, my body was built to be among the natural world. i feel as though we are losing our touch with our mother and it sickens me. im just so close to leaving and starting a new.
OP, you're my kind of person for sure. I've never tried it, but it's something I plan to do, also in the near future. I still haven't decided where, or for how long though. Definitely check out some survivalist forums though, lots of interesting stuff, guides for how to make tools, use the world and animals around you, etc. I'll be checking back on this thread as I too am interested in the same thing. We had a symbiotic relationship with nature, and we have pushed it aside, digging ourselves an ever growing hole. We're making things worse for nature, but also for ourselves.
I did it for a little over four months. Make sure you do your research first if you have no survival training.
We have not evolved, we had everything we needed before and now the majority of us cant even use those things.
Yep. There has not been nearly enough time for us to lose the tools we need to survive. The most important ones being our brains and nimble fingers. One of the reasons I went to live in the woods was to practice stone age toolmaking and survival techniques.
I have some limited experience living off the land and it's not all it's cracked up to be. The highs are amazing but the lows are pretty bad. It sounds all romantic and adventurous and in some ways it is but it's also extremely difficult and often times less than rewarding. It's probably the hardest thing you'll ever do both mentally and physically. I've done a helluva lot of long distance backpacking though and while it's not at all the same, it's much easier and more manageable. Check this link: http://forum.grasscity.com/general/507504-whats-coolest-thing-youve-ever-done.html You might want to try something like that first and see how it goes. I don't think people have lost the capacity to learn the skills necessary to survive as much as as they've lost the ability to exercize and rely on their instincts. In this age of information at our fingertips, over thinking things, analyzing and discussing everything to death, our natural instincts have become dull. Actions and decisions based on instinct are every bit as valid, useful, and important as those based on intellectual processes, sometimes even more so. It's our genetic programming that's lacking. We're losing the ability to react without thought and instead relying solely on our learned experiences. Both are or should be equally important in our ability to successfully survive, whether it's in the natural world or our day to day civilized lives. Birds instinctively know how to build nests but take them out of their element and provide them with fabricated nesting sites over the course of generations and guess what happens?
the only thing thats stopping me from doing that or what i want is lack of survival training. honestly in my heart if i could go out and make it in a relaxed environment and hunt well enough to eat i wouldnt ever come back to this "world". osg, what kind of climate and shelter did you have? also did you hunt, and with what? im really interested in getting a basic concept of living in the wilderness and learning the specifics before setting out. for some reason there are gaps in my thought process about things like shelter, hunting prey and how to actually get close enough to spear it, how to gather water, how to stay warm with out a fire and things like that. i know most of these could be picked up through a book but, sometimes it depends on the land on what kind of shelter you build. just interested to hear others experiences so i can better piece mine together.
I started in the dead of Winter in New England and ended around the end of May, so much of the time it was Winter and very cold. I took with me a tent, a pot to cook with, a couple of knives, and a small amount of food (lentils, rice, salt, some garlic, maybe some other spices, it's been decades). I had a comforter and warm clothes, no sleeping bag. Most of my food I hunted and fished for. I ate bass, trout, turkey, random birds, squirrel, rabbits, a groundhog, insects (grubs and ants), and what greens I could find once Spring sprung. I also harvested wild grains from the last season and used them to make porridge. Tried making panbread with them but it was nasty. Don't do it without training, seriously. I almost died more than once due to weather and mishap. EDIT: Oh I had a skillet too to go with the pot.
A couple quick tips: -Shelters aren't hard but are too involved to post here. A lot depends on where you are and what's available. Caves and big rock overhangs are your friends. -Learn how to trap and snare small game. It's easier and more productive than hunting plus they work their magic while you're off doing other things. Check regularly so another critter doesn't make off with your bounty. You can make primitive weapons like bows and spears but it's time consuming and honestly, I've had zero success with them. Might just be me. Of course a small .22 is your best bet if you're so inclined. -Same goes for fishing. You can try it the old fashioned way but it's so much easier to take line and hooks. The line will last but you'll lose the hooks eventually so learn how to make what's called a "gorge". Easy to do but make them small. -Don't learn how to stay warm without a fire. Learn how to make a fire. It could save your life and it will make living infinitely easier. -As OSG said, learn how to forage for edibles. You can find books and info on foraging and survival techniques that are specific to whatever region you'll be in. Berries are excellent, nutritious, and easy to gather in large amounts when you can find them. The general rule is never eat white berries, blue or purple berries are almost always safe, and red berries are a 50/50 proposition. Don't eat them unless you're starving. -All this stuff is easy to source and learn about but there's a huge gap between learning and execution. Practice makes perfect so learn it and do it before you head out.
All great advice Tyke. Being able to make fire is probably the #1 thing IMO. Shelter is pretty easy. It doesn't have to be pretty.