Know Your Limits - Man Who Planned Year Long Survival Challenge Found Dead a Month Later

He probably forgot Bear's number one rule of survival....Drink your own p*ss. Then go check into a motel and soak in a nice hot jacuzzi.

Originally posted by grubblesnert
reply to post by g146541

 

8 days without electricity in Florida after one of the hurricanes in 2004 made me apprieciate modern living.

**you got read the post of my respondee to understand my point

edit on 21-1-2012 by grubblesnert because: clary fry cayshun baby!

I hear you brother!!! I live in Central Fla. and went over 2 weeks while my neighbors drove me nuts running their generators all night. Me and the wife and the 4 kids did just fine though. Looking back it wasn't that bad. The heat at night was the worse part. When it's too hot to fall asleep you have to find something else to do to pass the time...now we have 5 kids.

Definately not a very bright move.

Although Bear Grylls has pretty much a "Hollywood" type of survival show, he does offer some helpful tips from time to time that have stuck in my memory for a shtf scenario. I do watch his show, but I much more prefer Les Stroud (Survivorman). He goes out there in many different locations completely alone and carries the camera equipment himself and does all the filming himself. He shows how to make simple traps, make water drinkable, how to use whatever the environment provides you with - from tree bark to garbage laying around - to help survive in a survival situation. I think shows like these are a good source of information to have "just in case". Some of the tips I have retained from shows like these, I believe, would help me to survive if the need arose, but I am not stupid enough to risk death just to prove how big of a sack I have.

One of my heroes is Dick Proenneke. He built his own cabin in the wilderness of Alaska and lived there, alone, for over 30 years. Granted, he did have supplies and some food flown in from time to time - but he did survive in the wilderness without electricity, plumbing, gas or any of the other comforts we are all so dependent on. One of my favorite documentaries is about him and is based on his journals - Alone in the Wilderness (and recently released Alone in the Wilderness 2). If you have not seen this show, I highly recommend it.

reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms

And that's where most of the differences come from in regards to liberal/conservative ideologies.

At the risk of veering off topic for a brief moment, you are absolutely right. Now, if we could get people to understand that what works for them in their situation won't work for everyone, this would be a much nicer planet to live on.


reply to post by Frogs

It works fine for me... I have tried to live in small cities around this area a couple of times, and every time it aggravates the holy bull-bazookas outta me. I have this problem with expecting someone else to watch my place for criminals, with having someone else tell me what I can and can't do with my own property, with hearing traffic all hours of the night... but give me a place where I can pretty much do as I please, drink clean water without tasting the mustard gas additives in it, walk outside and find food growing, ready to eat, and just step behind a tree whenever nature calls, and I'm as happy as a pig in slop.

But that's me. What works for me won't work for everyone.

This fellow made the mistake of thinking that nature is a kind, gentle soul that wants to set him free from the enslavement of his existence. Well, he got the second part right anyway, even if it's not in the way he was probably expecting. Nature is a wonderful and generous provider, but the provisions it provides are not cheap. They require planning, hard work, and knowledge... three things that seem to be lacking in today's culture.

If anything good can come of this event, it will be that some people will realize the foolhardiness of jumping into a situation they are unprepared for without leaving a back door exit open. I can (and have) spent a week alone in this mountain behind me... I needed the solace at the time... but then again I grew up here. I know what i can and can't eat (some of it anyway); I know how the different animals here will react to me; I know what the weather tends to do; and I know how to build a temporary structure with a minimum of tools. I know how because I took walks in the woods at first, then eased into spending a whole day there, then a night on occasion, and so on.

And even with that ability, think for a moment where I am right now: sitting in my recliner, typing on a computer while I watch TV and talk to the wife. Why? Because it's easier, more comfortable, and safer than sleeping in the weather or building traps to catch tomorrow's dinner.

THAT's survival!

TheRedneck

Originally posted by Sparky63

Originally posted by grubblesnert
reply to post by g146541

 

8 days without electricity in Florida after one of the hurricanes in 2004 made me apprieciate modern living.

**you got read the post of my respondee to understand my point

edit on 21-1-2012 by grubblesnert because: clary fry cayshun baby!

I hear you brother!!! I live in Central Fla. and went over 2 weeks while my neighbors drove me nuts running their generators all night. Me and the wife and the 4 kids did just fine though. Looking back it wasn't that bad. The heat at night was the worse part. When it's too hot to fall asleep you have to find something else to do to pass the time...now we have 5 kids.

Central Florida? You musta got "Charlied"

Originally posted by IronDogg
He should have done a test run first by pitching a tent in his back yard. Then when things got to be "too much", he could go inside, cook up a pizza, grab a beer, and lay on the couch to watch a game to start strategizing his next attempt...

Exactly. Same as everything. You don't pick up a guitar and start playing Steve Vai or Dream Theater without years of practice. You start small, and build up to perfection. It's just common sense.

Of course, most people don't have common sense, so I guess it's not very common after all. I think I'm gonna start calling it uncommon sense, lol.

reply to post by Frogs


I guess he didn't plan very well or take time to learn and DO before he took off and headed out.
Why would you not have practical application and plenty of practice...before you embark on a trek like that?

He said: 'It would be a tall order for even the most professional person who calls himself a survivalist. Maybe centuries ago, when Scotland was covered in woodland and teeming with wildlife, but not now.'

That picture with that hut and MILES of not a single bush, tree etc. alone should freak you out..add the fact it's winter now and everything should be frozen solid...that guy could not even make a fire without probably walking miles and miles to just get a piece of wood..let alone doing some hunting or anything.

Originally posted by Frogs
reply to post by wavemaker

 

Possibly. He wouldn't have frozen to death certainly. But, the tropics have their own set of dangers - disease, infection, dangerous animals and insects, etc,

Most of the shows follow a simple scenario. The star(s) of the show is stranded somewhere with minimal gear and has to survive long enough to get out or be rescued. Usually a few days or a week at most. That is a far cry from living off the land anywhere on the globe for a year with minimal gear.

Exactly.

The tropics usually are always around 100% humidity.

That means that infections and wounds can't get dry to heal themselves and a minor cut can end up killing you over time.

reply to post by flexy123


To be fair, the one source of easy meat in the Highlands in winter is deer that have been run down by a train - and he was in a hut alongside a railway line. Whether that was his thinking I don't know. But there is no other food and where he was, nothing much to burn for fuel (just bogwood and heather).