the longest you could

[rg598]

Many people stay in the woods for extended periods of time, so from a gear stand point I don't think there is an issue. With the gear that the average backpacker carries in his pack, anyone with basic experience in the woods can theoretically stay out until that gear falls apart. The main issue (IMO) is food. Being able to gather or hunt enough food is not a matter of positive mental attitude. In the northern forests, relying on being able to gather food is just not realistic. A cup of blueberries (a fairly high calorie food) has 80 cal. To get 3000 cal per day on blue berries, you would need 38 cups or more than 9 quarts of blueberries per day. Most edible plants have even less calories. People who survive in such conditions usually do it in communities and they gather certain seasonal resources that then get used during the rest of the year. This may include gathering acorns or other nuts and grains, or hunting during a particular migration season. It is very optimistic to think that one can just go into the woods alone and hunt and gather enough food in the northern forests to live, no matter how skilled (ammunition supply problems aside). Most of the examples we have of people doing this involve resupply mechanisms that do not come from the forest.

 

[Q'eyh]

Many people stay in the woods for extended periods of time, so from a gear stand point I don't think there is an issue. With the gear that the average backpacker carries in his pack, anyone with basic experience in the woods can theoretically stay out until that gear falls apart. The main issue (IMO) is food. Being able to gather or hunt enough food is not a matter of positive mental attitude. In the northern forests, relying on being able to gather food is just not realistic. A cup of blueberries (a fairly high calorie food) has 80 cal. To get 3000 cal per day on blue berries, you would need 38 cups or more than 9 quarts of blueberries per day. Most edible plants have even less calories. People who survive in such conditions usually do it in communities and they gather certain seasonal resources that then get used during the rest of the year. This may include gathering acorns or other nuts and grains, or hunting during a particular migration season. It is very optimistic to think that one can just go into the woods alone and hunt and gather enough food in the northern forests to live, no matter how skilled (ammunition supply problems aside). Most of the examples we have of people doing this involve resupply mechanisms that do not come from the forest.

The taiga is another animal altogether, so we're lucky this is the bushcraft UK forum, then.

 

[rg598]

The taiga is another animal altogether, so we're lucky this is the bushcraft UK forum, then.

By norther forest, I am including continental Europe and the UK. I am excluding tropical forests. If we are actually going to shtick to the UK, or any other specific country, on top of everything you have actual laws to deal with. Hunting year round is just not a possibility, and trapping is usually altogether illegal. And by foraging I mean getting it from the forest itself, not someone's back yard.

 

[Q'eyh]

By norther forest, I am including continental Europe and the UK. I am excluding tropical forests. If we are actually going to shtick to the UK, or any other specific country, on top of everything you have actual laws to deal with. Hunting year round is just not a possibility, and trapping is usually altogether illegal. And by foraging I mean getting it from the forest itself, not someone's back yard.

Oh I see, I didn't understand. Because you had chosen not to discuss plant food beyond berries, I had assumed you were referring to a far northern setting.

But of course, this is all irrelephant. I think we can all agree that leaving home one day and make a living out in the woods is not realistic at all. I will say however the manner in which you cast aspersions on the experiences and achievements of others is really very unbecoming and I find you to be an unpleasant character.

 

[rg598]

Oh I see, I didn't understand. Because you had chosen not to discuss plant food beyond berries, I had assumed you were referring to a far northern setting.

But of course, this is all irrelephant. I think we can all agree that leaving home one day and make a living out in the woods is not realistic at all. I will say however the manner in which you cast aspersions on the experiences and achievements of others is really very unbecoming and I find you to be an unpleasant character.

WOW! I can't say I have any idea to what you are referring, but WOW!

 

[Ivan...]

He is not unpleasant he just has a different view (being a septic ) and from where he has his backyard , which is vastly removed from ours . On a similar thread i talked about helping yourself to allotments , pinching milk from doorsteps and foraging from supermarket bins etc and got well and truly slated , the great thing about a scenario posted on a forum , are the diverse answers and reactions from near and far .

It is a shame that this question has been posed on other threads , several times before , and i find if it is something ,that makes me go oh! no not again i just ignore it .

Still it wouldn't do for us all to be the same , or get on ,hey ho !

Also maybe something to do with where the two posters are from ?

 

[rg598]

Thanks Ivan. I get the feeling that more so than where we are from, this has to do with how we are each interpreting the OP. I assumed he was talking about being in the woods for all activities. If someone interprets it to mean staying in the woods part of the time, but then going to town to buy food, then the answers as to whether it is possible would be very different. I am not sure why it got personal so quickly, but I assume I pushed one of his buttons somehow. Nothing wrong with disagreeing, but when it gets to the level of personal insults, seems like there is more going on. Just my opinion. Not exactly a topic I care enough about to fight over.

 

[Bushwhacker]

How far back shall we reverse the evolutionary process in order to truly live wild?

 

[rik_uk3]

You could just fly out to Australia, strip off your clothes and go walkabout in the wilderness, you'd be dead before your tourist visa ran out so no legal problems.

 

[rik_uk3]

Oh I see, I didn't understand. Because you had chosen not to discuss plant food beyond berries, I had assumed you were referring to a far northern setting.

But of course, this is all irrelephant. I think we can all agree that leaving home one day and make a living out in the woods is not realistic at all. I will say however the manner in which you cast aspersions on the experiences and achievements of others is really very unbecoming and I find you to be an unpleasant character.

Uncalled for chap and I'm amazed the post has not been removed as personal attacks on the open forum are strictly against the rules, I suppose the mods are off enjoying the bank holiday weekend or perhaps starving to death in the British countryside trying to prove living off the land here is possible (which its realistically not).

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I will say however the manner in which you cast aspersions on the experiences and achievements of others is really very unbecoming and I find you to be an unpleasant character.

Can't agree with you there dude, I've always found rg958's posts interesting & relevant.......as you're a new member I'll put your comment down to beginer's nerves....Some of us do tend to get carried away before we get the hang of this forum lark

 

[Ivan...]

Very nicely put Mr Wolf, i was considering delving a little deeper in to the posters psyche , even the most elequant of us make grammar, punctuation , spelling mistakes , or slip ' if ' the typing finger . I am more guilty than most !

So i won't bother asking where you get an irrelephant , from ... only i have never seen one .

 

[bb07]

To stick my nose in here, I'll say that I completely agree with Mr. Wolf's comment below:

Can't agree with you there dude, I've always found rg958's posts interesting & relevant.......as you're a new member I'll put your comment down to beginer's nerves....Some of us do tend to get carried away before we get the hang of this forum lark

So i won't bother asking where you get an irrelephant , from ... only i have never seen one .

Is it edible?

 

[blacktimberwolf]

On a lighter note there was a TV show (back in 2010 I believe ) where a group of 9 people of different backgrounds, were dumped in Alaska with minimal kit & had to follow an itinary to take them back to civilisation....
The funny thing is, which has a lot of bearing on many comments on this thread, that the folk who claimed they were 'outdoors' people, hunters, campers, etc. & believed they had the neccessary skills to survive, were not only the first to whimper when things didn't go the way they expected them to but were also among the first to leave the adventure.& the few who made it to the end were just city folk with little or no outdoor experience........food for thought there...

Anyway if anyone has a few hours to spare & wishes to watch the show.(or see it again) here it is.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy-xriSJwTI...well worth a look if only to list all they things they did wrong ...

I Haven't checked lately but I think all the episodes are there...

 

[Retired Member southey]

Turned out most of the 9 had over egged their experience to get on the show

 

[rg598]

Thanks guys. I realize I can be abrasive at times, as my opinions often don't fall within the accepted views, and I tend to stick to them. That being said, it is never my intention to offend anyone. Me disagreeing with someone does not mean I have any less respect for them.

I did love the Alaska show. I also liked the excuses that the more experienced woodsmen had for leaving so early. I remember for one of the first guys it supposedly wasn't challenging enough.

 

[chutes]

Only those who've experienced long sojourns into the bush without resupply know how long they could do it for. My best so far is 8 days, walking from Point A to Point B via Point Z in the NSW High Country in Springtime.

Some of you who say "till dinner time" would most likely surprise yourselves For us modern folk such things are an endurance exercise/survival situation. For our ancestors in the not so distant past it was par for the course. An 11 or 12 year old boy would be sent out into the wilds with no food to survive for 5 days as his rite of passage into manhood. It's programmed into us still.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

How far back shall we reverse the evolutionary process in order to truly live wild?

Anytime up to to the late 1970's I reckon, before affordable deodorants were commercially available to the masses.

 

[cbr6fs]

camp/live for out in the wild is what?

if you took all the skills you have now and all the kit you have now how long do you think you could live and thrive for out in the wild

drew

0 days here.

I have absolutely no interest in living alone and on hunted and/or foraged food.

 

[rik_uk3]

Turned out most of the 9 had over egged their experience to get on the show

Having listened to the drawl on Penny Jo I'm afraid I'd be tempted to load the survival rifle and shoot her and put her in the pot with some wild greens. I'm sure she is a wonderful human being and her mom loved her but her voice is like finger nails clawing a blackboard.

Not a great show IMHO, 3/10