Just What You Can Carry On Your Back

[garbo]

my bit
I will take British Red and Big Swede
they seem to have the job sorted, and surviving alone is very very hard (two heads etc)

cheers Garry

 

[big_swede]

You're more than welcome! What skills do you have that could be an asset in our little village?

EDIT: We need women too, just me, garbo and BR would be a little too much brokeback for my taste..

 

[British Red]

Big Swede,

Many here have met my lass (actually my fiance now ). She shoots 0.78 MOA, skins and guts her own kills and can make an entire Chinese Banquet (from fresh ingredients) over a camp fire. She uses all my sharps up to and including a 20" bar Husqy.

Oh yeah - she's 6' tall, looks like a model and loves sleeping in the woods

Don't worry cowboy - I'll bring her along as well as my pack

Red

 

[rowen]

How about a dog, a big one and its always a ready meal

 

[big_swede]

Roger that BR, hopes she can get along with my SWMBO, although she refuses to sleep at altitudes lower than the tree limit. Might be problematic..

Although she only stands 165 cm tall (which makes us look like an odd couple with my 195)

And rowen, if you prefer a dog over a woman, that's ok too, although some might frown upon that kind of relationship..

 

[rowen]

:yelrotflm

Loyalty
Protection
Pack animal
Warmth
Companionship and Loyalty ( In the purely platonic way)

But yes i can see what you mean

 

[garbo]

You're more than welcome! What skills do you have that could be an asset in our little village?

EDIT: We need women too, just me, garbo and BR would be a little too much brokeback for my taste..

didnt mean it to sound that way, Mrs Garbo can make a good meal from very humble ingredients
what I really wanted to describe was that "no-one can know everything, and survival is at best a team activity, playing to individual strengths and supporting weaknesses"
my strengths start with imagination, that is seeing ways and means to achieve things normally overlooked (thinking outside the box)

Garry

 

[Minotaur]

I think that was one of the most interesting things in 'I am Legend'.

The impact of being alone.

 

[passengerplanetearth]

A very interesting thread from my point of view, thanks!

I don't know if I qualify, because I don't exactly live off the land, but that is because it is often both impractical and illegal. But I have spent many years travelling from town to town all over europe with no money and no backup, just a rucksack on my back. (For food aquisition I prefer a musical instrument to a rifle!) For many years I carried a tent, but now with time my body's starting to complain about the weight I've been carrying. I tried cycling for a few years, a long meandering trip that took me four years to get from Holland (where I built my bike-trailer) to the foothills of the Pyrenees, via darkest (hilly!) Cornwall. But although I enjoyed it immensely I found that I could hardly ever leave my trailer unattended, so I've gone back to a backpack, but tried to lighten the load.

I've slept rough in dozens of different towns, in a dozen different countries. I'll go into the details for anyone who's interested. For now, to answer the post, when I'm sleeping rough I carry in my pack:

bedding, in this order, from the ground upwards:
A military poncho, folded lengthways, to keep out the damp;
A rather worn-out cheapo sleeping-mat;
An inflatable thermo-rest;
A good sleeping-bag inside an ex-army bivi-bag;
A tarp.

Kitchen (when I carry one) consisting of 206 camping gaz cooker, enamel mug with a lid, cheapo non-stick frying pan, tin-opener, spoon and fork. I also carry an Opinel #7, which is all I think I can get away with if I get stopped and searched, for instance.

Clothing;
Washbag;
Plastic clip-top storage box for a few personal items, maps, documents, and stuff that has to stay dry;
Water bottle;
A cloak of invisibility!


Like many of you, I would love (oh how I would love!) to dissappear into the hills and live on bushcraft skills alone, but as we all know, open fires are (quite reasonably) heavily frowned upon and usually illegal almost anywhere you go. Trapping likewise. You might get away with a fire occasionally, but as a rule it's mostly a no-no, as one of the key points of sleeping rough, as I'm sure you'll all appreciate, is to not draw attention to yourself.

That's it. That's all you need, assuming you have some way to provide yourself with food.

Al.

 

[ilovemybed]

A towel


(And some extra words just to make up the minimum posting limit...)

 

[elevenses]

for the collapse of civilisation scenario I would have to first think about location and back up. 1 person will not survive on there own against gangs, safety is in numbers. Very quickly essentials will become commodities to fight over.

A continuous water source would be good (like a spring) then a good defensible position with good visibility near the water.

once got the location send raiding parties to gather supplies like food, building equipment, cooking equipment, clothing, blankets and weapons of any description for defence avoiding contact with other people if possible no matter how well armed you are, conflict of any sort drains resources and endangers your party.

continue to build the shelter and defences. consider small observation points outside main defence for added security.

if I was to abandon the above for more keep moving avoid all contact type option (which in my opinion is the more dangerous one) I would have to take

medium axe
knife
machete or prang
sharpening stones
folding saw
bow saw blade with a couple of nuts and bolts
multi tool

2 water bottles
water bladder
mils bank bag
lots of iodine

Billy can
crusader mug
hobo stove
plastic mug
plastic plate
spork

snare wire
gill net
fishing line hooks etc
fire steels


spare clothing 2 full sets
5 pairs of socks
light trainers
poncho
lots of soap
sleeping bag
bivi bag
roll mat

coffee / grain grinder
salt
sugar
flour
salami
condensed milk

couple rolls of bin liners
couple of rolls of self sealing liquid bags (like the snappy ones with the increments on the side there great)

First aid kit including magnifying glass, scissors, tweezers and nail clippers

2 tarps
folding spade
Wrecking Bar (for breaking in to places)
100m roll of Para cord
small holdall

I would do my hardest to get hold of some sort of firearm for protection (as a last resort) as not used for anything else limited ammo will be needed.

and if possible
wind up torch
wind up radio
paper and pencils
couple of good books (like the 1kg of knowledge one of the members here has)


For the modern day hobo sort I would have to agree with the warm coat and a bottle of scotch idea

 

[fishy1]

A tarp, hooks, line and some firemaking stuff would be all I'd need to survive for a while by the shoreline, the fish and seaweed diet would get boring though, but I could dry berries and stuff as well. A knive and axe would also help. I could also kill seals, probably by spearing. The line could also be used as snare material. On a beach, even with nothing, you can dig enough crabs and other fish to live n, and eat seaweed too.

Inland, a gill net would be good, lightweight, just put it over a salmon river, and dry the fish out and smoke them to keep them over winter. Plants and fish would be a decent diet.

 

[Sheng_ji]

OK, I can think of two scenarios here:

Firstly, Society still exists but I can't be a part of it for whatever reason, say, my face on wanted posters everywhere. I would want to stay light so I can always move, change locations - even if I got away from the wanted posters, I would still eventually be moved on from everywhere I settled, so I would lead a nomadic life. Shelter would be a tarp and hammock and 4 eason sleeping bag (i could cut wood to create shelter, but this will save time and give me more time to dedicate to collecting food). Obvoiusly I couldn't carry even a months worth of food properly without a couple of ponies (now theres an idea ) so I would like a book full of diagrams of traps and where to use them, a continent specific food for free type book, one pot, one knife and one spoon. To help me collect wood I would need to craft other thinks I would need, I'll take my beloved GB-SFA, and I'll like a crook knife too. A comfortable bag which can fit those things and a change of clothes and a set of waterproofs, with room to spare and I reckon I stand as good a chance as any!

Now the second scenario I envisage, is a no society can influence you type scenario - i.e I'm washed up on a previously uninhabited temperate continent emerging from the pacific or magically, every human and every human created artefact is lifted from earth, leaving me behind (guys.... was it somthing I said....) OK so what would I want left behind with me.

My priority would be to set up a farmstead (read croft or hobbyfarm if you like ) I would want as much metal as I could lay my hands on - metal will be somthing that I could not conceviably expend the energy on to mine, smelt and forge! Admittedly I could use other materials, but metal tools would make life much easier for me. So a knife and an axe would be necessary. My next priority would be to set aside at least an acre preferably 5. On this I would set up a vegetable plot, build a roundhouse grow grain and keep chickens, cows, sheep and pigs using a simple rotation system. I would give myself a 5 year timetable to set this up in the wilderness, or a 1 year if people disapeared on me and pastures were already set aside cleared. I would want a scythe, a sickle and a saw and a mattock too. Finally a lumphammer and a set of chisels. My priority would be finding the right site - a clean spring, a quarry, a source of clay and fertile soils. After this I would need to collect my livestock and plants for cultivation - probably a lifelong task. I think the final thing I would like is my family, to keep me positive, share the work and essentially give me reason to continue!!!