Survival, no kit

[sandbender]

Lost with just the clothes on your back and no gear.

Benedict Allen came a cropper on a canoe trip in the Amazon, he bumped into a some unsavoury types who he overheard discussing whether or not they should kill him. He made a run for his canoe but in the confusion he capsized and barely made it to the shore some distance down the river. I don't know if his pockets had been emptied by the folks who had talked about killing him but the story suggests that he had no gear, other than his dog, which he eventually ate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/oct/07/benedict-allen-my-greatest-mistake

 

[Toddy]

so was the first thing he worried about the fact that he had no knife to cut a notch on a bow for a cord ? or did he just think I'll use a spindle ?

FatRog they aren't daft answers; they were all quite genuine.
Lost in the woods .....what woods ? what kind of woods ? where were the woods ? what season was it in the woods ? what else was in the woods ? apart from being in summer clothing with no kit what state is the person in both physically and mentally. I'm a little middle aged housewife...........bet you're not, it all makes a difference to the way we approach things beyond the 'can you walk out, then find shelter, water, etc.,'

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Fat Rog]

I'm a little middle aged housewife...........bet you're not

No I'm a big hairy arsed fat bloke But I do make a nice Sunday lunch with all the trimmings. I even make my own Yorkshire Puddings (you can keep your aunt Bessies). Couldn't do it on a camp fire though.

 

[Joonsy]

Lost with just the clothes on your back and no gear.

Benedict Allen came a cropper on a canoe trip in the Amazon, he bumped into a some unsavoury types who he overheard discussing whether or not they should kill him. He made a run for his canoe but in the confusion he capsized and barely made it to the shore some distance down the river. I don't know if his pockets had been emptied by the folks who had talked about killing him but the story suggests that he had no gear, other than his dog, which he eventually ate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/oct/07/benedict-allen-my-greatest-mistake

thats quite a story, i remember watching him when he lost his dog team in the arctic and found them the next day after sheltering in a snow-hole for the night.

 

[CACTUS ELF]

CACTUS ELF, this is a polite heads up...........don't rail at me.
Your 'scenario' is so pathetically open ended that it's useless unless one lives in a fantasy world.
We don't.
If you want to discuss TEOTWAWKI scenarios go play with people who do.

Toddy

Really? End of the world? Not sure why you're so wound up, dude, come on, I have tried to explain this thread is about how you would get by without kit. the scenario is secondary. It could have been in a desert, on a mountain or whatever. ok different skills might have applied but i'm sure some would be carried over to each situation. This is a forum and not the real world so i thought people would use their imagination a bit on that part as some have. Sorry if this wasn't specific enough for you, but you and the other people who clearly didnt want to be involved didnt have to post on this thread in the first place if you didnt like the topic. this is the Bushcraft and Survival section of the forum btw.

 

[Toddy]

FatRog ....I could and I have It's just application of common sense and a bit of practice.

CACTUS ELF....(Incidentally the ALL CAPITALS is netiquette for `SHOUTING!' ) go and read the posts. We did answer you, we just didn't do any fantasising.

It is indeed Bushcraft and Survival.......might I ask if you read any of the multitude of threads in the forum ? did you get a flavour of the kind of threads that the site usually discusses ? or the people who might respond ?

On the whole they're a practical, capable bunch of folks; they like to know how to do stuff, what to use, and both of those are, in this country, incredibly seasonally dependant. What I might use in Spring is totally different from what might be available in Autumn. What woods.......pine ? oak ? mixed ? dwarf birch ?.....all very different habitats, all very different resources, all very different responses........i.e. dwarf birch is exposed and wind blasted scrub, the others aren't; while a dry pine forest is the last place you want to be lighting fire anyway without a lot of thought.

Does this make our seeming scorn any more understandable ? Does it make our request for information less of an attack on your fantasy and more simply us waiting for the rest of the details ? Because that's really what it is.

Toddy

 

[John Fenna]

Back to the OP...
If I found myself in a "survival" situation in the woods in inadequate clothing....
1/ I would orientate myself by the sun (it rises in the east sets in the west - ish)
2/ I would set off towards where I wanted to be on foot
3/ I would eat whatever foods I could identify
4/ I would drink water - you can have the wee if you want
5/ If I needed any tools I would look for stone (preferably flint) and make what I needed from what I could find
6/ I would fantasize about Bear Grylls being with me so he could pull daft stunts without safety back up , die and I could eat him
7/ I would wonder whos fantasy world I had woken up in....
8/ I would wish that I had better company than my own and berate the fantasist for not giving me J Lumley for company.

 

[Opal]

thats quite a story, i remember watching him when he lost his dog team in the arctic and found them the next day after sheltering in a snow-hole for the night.

What bugs me is the hate mail he received from the RSPCA, some sad people out there, if the dog had eaten him the noobs would have rejoiced, I'd be betting.

 

[GordonM]

its a survival situation,...

you fell off a boat and found a bullet in your back , but you find a bag full of cash and passports, and you get to kiss that German bird out of that other film, and drive an old Mini around Paris and smash it up and then kill all the baddies and then buy a moped shop on a nice beach somewhere....................

Cheers all! Cheers, especially to Raikey and Southey!:You_Rock_ I got a big smile from this thread. No offense intended to Cactus Elf. Forgive me, I couldn't resist from adding to the previous humor...

I'm not making this up, this is real! Who has a safety deposit box full of bushcraft and survival kit?

I can tell you the post count numbers of the last six posters in this thread.
I can tell you that Jonathan D is left handed.
I can tell you that Southey has lost weight and knows how to handle himself (with the help of his former Gurkha neighbor).
I know the best person to ask for a firearm is British Red.
I know at this altitude, I can baton firewood flat-out for a half hour before my arms start to shake.

Now, why would I know that? How can I know these and not know how I got here in a survival situation?

Gordy

 

[JonathanD]

I can tell you that Jonathan D is left handed.

Well. You got that wrong!

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hahahahha yay welcome back Gordy!

 

[GordonM]

Well. You got that wrong!

Cheers Jonathan, surely, you are not of the belief that Bourne got all of his correct? okenest: I would venture to say that he missed the weight, of the guy at the bar, by at least a couple of stone.

Thanks Southey, good to be here reading the doings of the folk at Bushcraft UK!

Gordy

 

[Corso]

u
6/ I would fantasize about Bear Grylls being with me so he could pull daft stunts without safety back up , die and I could eat him.

you owe me a new keyboard this one tastes of coke

 

[JonathanD]

Cheers Jonathan, surely, you are not of the belief that Bourne got all of his correct? okenest: I would venture to say that he missed the weight, of the guy at the bar, by at least a couple of stone.

Thanks Southey, good to be here reading the doings of the folk at Bushcraft UK!

Gordy

Well it was an excellent observation based upon a recent thread. But that was why said item was unused. And yes, Bourne was a bit of a thicky. James Bond would never have made such a glaring mistake

 

[nickliv]

In order to add some much needed realism to this scenario, I have decided that I've also lost my long term memory, as seen in the magnificently backwards film 'Memento'

As such I'd start by starving to death, then I'd painstakingly discover any required skills and knowledge bit by bit, and I'd scratch the necessary information into my leg with a pine needle.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Well. You got that wrong!

Its just the one he sleeps on.

 

[Still Waters]

Id make use of and adapt the resources that are around me that take the least effort to achieve the end goal weather they be man made or natural

 

[CACTUS ELF]

Well I think,

First orientate, climb a tree etc look for way out. Then If theres no easy way out or shortcut home
assess the weather etc If the weather man says its raining look for natural shelter or build one (no need for tools)
What time of day? Have i time to move
If cold, i would light my fire. Hand drill and the Y part of a branch or fire trough maybe, ready for a cozy night
If i decide to walk, perhaps head for water for a drink. if i could see some of course. Maybe ford a stream and follow every rainbow
If i need food and theres no available corpse, eat vegatation or fashion a sling shot from bark to use with any rolling stones that may move under foot. Wouldn't be easy ho hit anything, but the harder i try.
Or maybe get wood, a big stick to throw.
repeat the above untill found or out

If i couldnt be arsed with the above, then in the movie/fantasy style this thread has adopted..........


Tap my heals together three times while repeating " there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no.........."

 

[cbr6fs]

First orientate, climb a tree etc look for way out. Then If theres no easy way out or shortcut home

9 times out of 10 no doubt you'll be fine climbing a tree that's high enough to see the surrounding area.
1 time out of 10 you stumble and injured.
Alone in the wild + injured = screwed


To be honest the rest is just to far fetched for me, what are you going to use as elastic for the sling shot?

Do you have experience in tracking and stalking animals?
If not to be frank you don't stand a cat in hells chance.

Are you experienced with a sling shot?
Again if not you don't stand a cat in hells chance, so it's a pointless waste of time and energy sourcing, constructing and trying to use a device unless you have a vast amount of experience with it and it's uses.

Shelter is a good idea but how about this.
If it's very cold and your wearing cotton clothes and they're wet, remove them.
You'll be colder in wet cotton clothes than with nothing at all but being dry.

So it's a pretty pointless thread as there are SO many scenarios, weather, circumstances that anything you will will need to be thought up on the spot.

 

[JonathanD]

Well I think,

First orientate, climb a tree etc look for way out. Then If theres no easy way out or shortcut home
assess the weather etc If the weather man says its raining look for natural shelter or build one (no need for tools)
What time of day? Have i time to move
If cold, i would light my fire. Hand drill and the Y part of a branch or fire trough maybe, ready for a cozy night
If i decide to walk, perhaps head for water for a drink. if i could see some of course. Maybe ford a stream and follow every rainbow
If i need food and theres no available corpse, eat vegatation or fashion a sling shot from bark to use with any rolling stones that may move under foot. Wouldn't be easy ho hit anything, but the harder i try.
Or maybe get wood, a big stick to throw.
repeat the above untill found or out

If i couldnt be arsed with the above, then in the movie/fantasy style this thread has adopted..........


Tap my heals together three times while repeating " there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no.........."

And you were complaining that everyone else was having a laugh If I'd have known it was that easy and the kind of reply you were looking for I'd have done it long ago. Here's mine.

I'd walk for a day, West as that is where the locals live. If I was cold I'd stuff my clothes full of grass and then light a fire using a bowdrill and my shoelaces. I'd make an A frame and walk out again in the morning. I'd also make a spear and eat all of the deer and animals around. Plenty of water about so I'd make a bark container using sharp stones and bones from my kills and boil the water using stones heated up in my fire. Repeating all the above until I get home.

Easier than I thought that. Whoooopiiiiie!!!