Could you truely survive?

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Frogo

Forager
Jul 29, 2004
239
0
*********
In a situation where you only have the clothes you stand up in, no other equipment, no food then you are stuffed. There would be no point hanging around trying to survive, you would need to get yourself out of there, so depending on how fit you are then you might only just get out alive.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,996
4,648
S. Lanarkshire
This type of question was raised a while back. The conclusion was that being overweight was a good thing sometimes :D
So long as there was potable water some of us might survive quite a long time :rolleyes:

cheers,
M
 

DaveBromley

Full Member
May 17, 2010
2,502
0
40
Manchester, England
I think that ingenuity would play a massive role because as you say we would have a suitcase with "normal" Holiday stuff. for me this would include things like goggles, snorkel etc and a miriad of other things plus stuff that can be salvaged from the wreckage of the plane. As for a knife you could fashion a knife from flint or the like. I'm not saying i could survive for deffinate but i'd give a bloody good go thats for sure!!

Dave
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,433
629
Knowhere
I think it's possible, there are many examples of people surviving sometimes for years in inhospitable places with little practical experience. but modern day life I think increasingly makes this harder.
living as a pre-history "hunter gatherer" with the additional modern knowledge about chemical reactions, bacteria, health, physiology, I think it might be harder than we think!
I think there's a certain freeness that pre-history people had like:
Animal (in fact anything that moves) is food
Bacteria & germs do not exist.
Help/support will not come.

I don't think we have to go back as far as prehistoric times for that particular world, 200 years should suffice, a world before matches, modern medicine and what we would call safe water. to be honest I think any of us if we were thirsty enough would drink whatever was available and deal with the possible consequences afterwards.
 

fishfish

Full Member
Jul 29, 2007
2,352
5
52
wiltshire
i would love the challenge but allas the blood sugar problems and the athsma would finish me off before i starved.
 

Sawyer

Tenderfoot
Oct 20, 2010
86
5
somewhere
The previously mentioned alone in the wild is on 4od for those who haven't seen it.

I'd die, but would go down fighting.
 

RAPPLEBY2000

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 2, 2003
3,195
14
51
England
i would love the challenge but allas the blood sugar problems and the athsma would finish me off before i starved.
uggh, yeah I forgot about health issues...I'd be in trouble, lol

I think your life would be:
adapt, improve, move, adapt, improve, move, adapt, improve, move,

Anymore than that most of us would go do-lally like that guy that tried surviving in Canada for a year.
or Tom Hanks( in survivor)
 

featherstick

Forager
May 21, 2008
113
0
South East
We were out for a walk/forage yesterday (SWMBO and the little fella and I) and I had a look at what was in my pockets. I realised that if we were stranded, we could make a shelter (SAK), light a fire (lighter), leave a note for rescuers (pen and paper), and then find the car and drive home (car keys).

Seriously though, being in a bushy frame of mind and with the improvisation and craft skills that it opens up, I think any of us would have a slightly better chance of surviving a given situation, but possibly only slightly. I have 3 weeks' worth of survival rations around my waist, so my priorities would be shelter (fuselage of the plane), water (bottled, condensation, dig a whole in a depression, melt snow) and fire. I reckon I'd have a chance, but would I be able to watch the little fella dying in front of me for instance? Would I want to survive that? I don't know.

When one reads survival stories, the common thread that comes through is an absolute bloody-minded determination to get through, possibly allied to a slight lack of imagination. My endurance sport training might help in this (one foot in front of the other, over and over again). But I'd also like to have a BOB with me...
 
Nov 29, 2004
7,808
23
Scotland
There has been some sort of study can't quote it but it mentioned something like for a person to survive for an indefinite period and having enough space to hunt, grow crops and forage a single man would require 1 square mile (or was it more than that 10 square miles?, i don't remember) anyway technically speaking there isn't enough space in the UK for everyone to do this..."

Apparently, and this was a surprise for me, there are 660 people for every square mile of the United Kingdom and obviously there are large parts of the UK that are unsuited for the growing of crops. So yes, there isn't enough space. :(
 

iboga

Tenderfoot
Aug 26, 2010
50
0
England
Hypothetically I would knapp some stones to shape a basic cutting tool
After that I would build a basic shelter.
I would then build a basic bear trap.
Once I have caught a bear I would knock it out then skin it and stretch the fur.
I would butcher the meat and store it in the trees.
When the fur has been prepped I would wear it for warmth and camo.
 

RAPPLEBY2000

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 2, 2003
3,195
14
51
England
Hypothetically I would knapp some stones to shape a basic cutting tool
After that I would build a basic shelter.
problem is that takes energy and could take a long time with limited resources.

I would then build a basic bear trap.
Once I have caught a bear

sorry...a BEAR? where d'you find them in the UK?

I would knock it out then skin it and stretch the fur.
assuming you've found a random wild Bear wandering around the M25 could I suggest killing it first from a distance with an f'ing huge gun! you know that a Bear is very capable of killing a human?

Could I strongly suggest you start by hunting rabbits, and work your way up to things with teeth and claws?
 
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johnboy

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 2, 2003
2,258
5
Hamilton NZ
www.facebook.com
problem is that takes energy and could take a long time with limited resources.



sorry...a BEAR? where d'you find them in the UK?

assuming you've found a random wild Bear wandering around the M25 could I suggest killing it first from a distance with an f'ing huge gun! you know that a Bear is very capable of killing a human?

Could I strongly suggest you start by hunting rabbits, and work your way up to things with teeth and claws?

Rap no need to swear...:nono:

It's all hypothetical...
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,810
1,537
51
Wiltshire
Going to be in trouble if looking for a bear in GB!

Me, I dont fly (never needed to) and have no use for Canada.

Its not possible to survive without a certain level of culture, anyway.
 

iboga

Tenderfoot
Aug 26, 2010
50
0
England
hey RAPPLEBY2000
yeah I was using the scenario the original poster gave, which was crashing in Canada with nout but sun cream and my speedos.

this was my plan quickly illustrated:

beartrapv3.jpg


(Im working on v.4 which is the same but at night.)
 

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