14 days of survival in the taiga

[forestwalker]

This summer I spent 14 days on an applied survival course in Sweden. The basic premise was simple: only basic clothes, no other kit. Duration 14 days (optional was to leave after one week). I did a proper write-up on my blog
http://www.hunter-gatherer.org/en/2...-or-14-days-of-survival-in-the-boreal-forest/

 

[Bushcraft Yukon]

Great read! Thank you for sharing!!!

 

[John Fenna]

That sounds excellent!

 

[Philster]

Fantastic, what a great experience!

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Impressive stuff.

Would having a simple knife have changed what you did or how you did it?

Did knowing you had a finite time for the exercise effect your decisions "it only has to last 14 days"?

The weight loss is interesting, if you lost half a kg per day, this suggests something like 3000 calories difference between input and expenditure.

Great stuff.

J

 

[forestwalker]

Impressive stuff.

Thanks! But if I should tell you a secret: it was easy.

Would having a simple knife have changed what you did or how you did it?

I think the equipment that would have made things much easier would have been a simple fishing kit (some lures and line or a small net, etc). A knife would have allowed us to do more things, but not many things that was actually essential to survival or would have improved our life significantly. I think some would have loved a wool blanket, but I was comfortable enought with what I had. My thought on survival equipment is that you need to fix normal problems in the normal order:

1. Stay warm (i.e. decent clothes)
2. Sleep (here a wool blanket, sleeping bag, or some spare garments could come in handy)
3. Hydration (not a problem in Sweden, just find a lake or creek)
4. Food (eventually)

Actually point 2 is more important than people think, if you can get a decent nights sleep you are a useful, rational human being rather than an antisocial zombie. Then all else is surprisingly often solveable. I must redraw the Maslow hierachy to match this...

Did knowing you had a finite time for the exercise effect your decisions "it only has to last 14 days"?

Not really. In an indefinite situation the "no fish" situation would have been more severe. If i had not had a job (and wife) to get back to I would have been happy to stay another week (even if I would have been much weaker at the end, most likely). In these kind of situation I get into the "flow" of the situation, living in the moment and enjoying myself.

The weight loss is interesting, if you lost half a kg per day, this suggests something like 3000 calories difference between input and expenditure.

I checked the research data: on the average we lost 2% the first 24 h, and 0.6%/24 h after that (so about a pound/day for me), The initial loss was probably mostly things like glycogen and GI contents., after that it was fat & protein from the body. Also keep in mind that (at least initially) the utlization pathways are probably [citation needed] may not be as effective as the regular "fat/protein from food".

 

[forestwalker]

Oh, and there was many more pictures, on http://www.leijonhufvud.org/images/index.php?/category/13

 

[Baelfore]

What a fantastic experience and trip report.

Thanks for sharing and well done!

had it been a real survial situation, what additional steps do you think you would have taken in terms of resources, tools, etc?

atb
Ste

 

[Baelfore]

double post

 

[Bushcraft Yukon]

Reading through your article it seems your group had a fire going pretty much after the first night. Did you have any fire making tools or was it friction fire from scratch? In your "priority list" you didn't have fire listed or is that basically incorporated as a tool in "sleep" and "stay warm"?

 

[forestwalker]

No tools for making fire..

As to the priority list I would say it falls under "keeping warm"; whatever it takes

 

[ammo]

Fantastic, well done, and thanks for posting it.

 

[forestwalker]

What a fantastic experience and trip report.

Thanks for sharing and well done!

Thank you! It was a great experience.

had it been a real survial situation, what additional steps do you think you would have taken in terms of resources, tools, etc?

Some. Trying all the illegal but effective versions of fishing, snares and dead-fall traps for mammals and birds. There were beaver, roe deer, moose, hares and bears (those are the ones we saw tracks of, add various rodents, foxes and lynx as "probably in the area"), and birds from capercaillie by way of black woodpecker and loon to fieldfare.

We set up signal fires (pretty much the standard platform model, three along the shoreline), but that was actually mostly as a joke for the instructors. We lit them as they came rowing across the lake the last day, since it was time to get "rescued"....

Of course, it would have taken at most a few hours to walk out to roads/houses, unless we picket the totally wrong direction (then we could have walked for several days with no roads or houses).

Ohh, and for the mappy ones among you, this was south of Stöde in Medelpad, fairly close to the geographical center of Sweden.

 

[Baelfore]

Thanks interesting to know.

I was coincidentely I was rereading Hatchet and The River just before I read your report, so was curious.

Again Thanks for sharing.

atb
Stephen

 

[mrcharly]

What a great report.

Is it illegal to hunt using spear or bow in Sweden?

Did you see many small prey animals (rabbits or smaller)?

 

[forestwalker]

What a great report.

Is it illegal to hunt using spear or bow in Sweden?

Pretty much yes. Last I heard threy were evaluating bow and arrow for some species, but severely limited, and requiriing a separate hunters licence and appreoved kit (i.e. no improvised bows). No spearhunting allowed, neither for fish nor mammal.

Did you see many small prey animals (rabbits or smaller)?

I saw roe deer and hare, as well a plenty of birds and also some frogs (probably Rana temporaria). Tracks or sign as above.

 

[DogRose]

What an adventure and a great read too, well done! It sounds as though this was a very rewarding experience, what were your favourite and least favourite parts of it?

 

[forestwalker]

What an adventure and a great read too, well done! It sounds as though this was a very rewarding experience, what were your favourite and least favourite parts of it?

Spending 14 days about as close to nature as possible.

 

[redandshane]

Best report I have seen for a while;thanks for sharing it with us. I persomally would have been mighty frustrated about a huge portion of protien swimming around right beside me and being unable to access it.Just out of interest how did you get a fire going?