Hi Cactus Elf,
Just clicked on a thread I had stored in my favourites and saw this one, which I've now trawled through with interest. As a bushcraft instructor I often find myself talking about this mythical 'survival situation' that, quite frankly none of us are ever likely to experience. Reading between the lines I think that you're someone who likes to cover all eventualities - like most people on here I'm sure. Always asking 'what if...?' makes perfectly good sense to me and in my opinion, wanting to learn a skill (or bunch of skills) thoroughly means tracing it back to it's bare bones. In most cases this leads us back to the aforementioned mythical survival situation where a lack of the obvious advantages of specialist gear requires you to have truly mastered the skill. I think that's where the motivation lies in stripping a technique back - challenging yourself to be able to achieve a certain task just as well without the correct kit, be it in practice or just asking yourself those questions (or others) theoretically. Nothing wrong with that at all, just shows a need to get to the nitty gritty of the technique and an interest in it's origins. Additionally, with many bushcraft techniques being re-kindled from a by-gone era we find ourselves comparing our achievments with the original practitioners of the skill. To keep pushing forward, striving for betterment we aim to move closer and closer to their standard which often means having to explore their available options regarding traditional tools, natural resources and such like. However, we modern types are at a disadvantage in some ways. Many of us have pathetically poor practical skill levels compared to the original practitioners of bushcraft/wilderness living hence the need to try and reclaim even just the tiniest amount of those ancient admirable qualities for our own self respect. In other ways we do have advantages - greater access to information being one. Even so, to set a bench mark of attempting to match the achievments of craftsmen and women from a time when we were completely reliant on raw and unrefined nature for everything, is a tall order. Testing ourselves with such 'survival scenarios' such as the one you describe is also a tall order, but doesn't mean that you shouldn't ask the question or even give it a go (with the correct training and a proper understanding of the risks). To take it literally as some on here have done and 'poo poo' the whole idea I suppose could mean that they're happy with their level of knowledge already and don't feel the need to push it onto the next level? Of course most of us are only a few hours walk from safety here in the UK but that's not really the point. You can learn the all skills you need to get through an unplanned overnight stop out or emergency situation in the mountains over a weekend with a good instructor. The question you're asking goes way beyond that.
By way of a more direct answer to your question, I have a very good example to give. Myself and a handful of others (all highly skilled folk) set ourselves a similar goal a few weeks back. Seven days in the woods with minimal kit. The original plan was to use only flint tools, no metal at all but we swapped that idea for a small knife and folding saw each...the sting in the tail being that we would be alone for the duration rather than working as a group. Other items taken were a metal billycan, cloth water filter bag, 2 metres of parachute cord and a few safety items such as a headtorch, first aid kit and emergency comms to other group members. Last issued item was a modest quantity of venison - the theory being that we all had the skills, knowledge and experience to trap and hunt wild game but the law wouldn't allow us to use home made improvised weapons. Instead the meat was to be viewed as a 'loan' which would be repaid by each member making a primitive projectile after the essentials had been taken care of. This would have to be capable of hitting the kill zone on a target within stalking range of the environment we were living in (mixed broadleaf and coniferous woodland). All improvised weapons were tested and all passed the test. The only other self imposed rule was that we would wear no goretex or synthetic/down filled clothing, only natural fibres such as wool and cotton. So, getting closer to your scenario but still not quite there.
Despite carrying these relative 'luxuries' we still needed to provide shelter and make a comfortable bed (we would be living in these for a week). Fire would need to be made by each and every individual before water could be sterilized and drunk or any of the venison could be cooked and eaten. With no sleeping bags this would also be essential for warmth at night. The venison would need to be jerkied up and preserved by a combination of drying and smoking or it would spoil. All these priority tasks had to be completed on day one. To stray over into day two would have made a difficult set of tasks even harder through lack of sleep, onset of dehydration and hunger. The following morning and for the rest of the week we had to forage all additional food from the surrounding environment (the quantity of venison provided protein but no real useable energy - it was also only probably enough meat to feed five people for one sunday dinner back in the real world). I relied on roots, rhizomes and fruits for my energy foods.
Remember, our overall aim wasn't to just survive but to live relatively comfortably with very little. After an initial flurry of survival based activity to tick all the priority boxes, we did exactly that. I lost a bit of weight but felt amazing for it. Light on my feet and full of energy actually! We all slept well (I've got a toddler so waking every few hours to build the fire back up before drifting back off to sleep was a breeze..) and even had time to indulge ourselves with various crafts in addition to making our primitive weapons. Clay bowls, bramble baskets and carved utensils were all created by the end of the week.
One thing to remember though...we may not have had much, and we were almost completely reliant on our surrounding natural resources to provide the essentials for life but we did have basic tools. We also had a full day to provide all of those essentials, were all in perfect health, we had an obvious (although small and murky) source of water nearby and we were living from the land at the most fruitful time of the year. Most importantly, we had worked up to this, some of us for years/decades and had plenty of practice in testing situations to draw on. Speaking for myself only and without a hint of machoism or big headed-ness, I found the week extremely enjoyable and relatively easy but with any of the above factors lacking, it might've been a different story.
So, how would I have fared without the metal tools, parachute cord and metal pot? I know I have the skills to improvise a solution for all of those but the week would've been very different. My honest opinion is that in the scenario you have described, my first job would be to find some kind of existing shelter from the weather, even if it were just getting on the non-windy side of a raised bank or crawling under a holly tree. My second task (or first if the weather was fine) would be to get that fire lit. The fire would keep me warm, boil my water, give me light at night, dry my clothing and so much more. Without any tools at all other than what nature provides I would honestly expect this to take all day, anything less would be a bonus. That's assuming I have all day, that I'm fully fit and have the knowledge and skill level to achieve fire in that situation. This is also still working within the realms of the aforementioned fictitious scenario - ie, you need to live wild indefinitely with no guaranteed chance of rescue. Achieving fire and finding a makeshift shelter would get me through the night and leave me able to continue improving my situation the following morning.
Reality check time though...as soon as you start comparing this to a situation someone might actually find themselves in whilst out in the mountains and forests of the UK or similar, everything changes. Reality dictates that you'd have less time to prepare for the coming night (who realises they're going to be trapped out for the night at 9am?...) and your priorities (assuming you're safe from immediate danger and not having to deal with life threatening medical emergencies) will be just to get through the night while also attempting to attract rescuers to your location. Providing shelter from the elements and minimizing heat loss are where I would spend my energy. Chances are that although cold and uncomfortable, you'll see the morning and be found the next day. No real need to worry about sterilizing water with heated rocks, making primitive weaponry or processing berries into fruit leather.
So hope that all helps and I hope you can make sense of it all.
By the way, I have drunk water distilled from wee ...but not actual wee.
Cheers
Joe O'Leary
