Leaving this week for 4 or 5 weeks in AK gonna sharpen my skills

reply to post by Gazrok


Kings Landing...just taking a guess are you around St Augustine Fl? If you are then I know all about those dang bugs down there.

We use the dryer sheet thing here too when we are out around the sloughs fishing, it does work pretty good. I went this morning and shipped my gun to an FFL dealer in Anchorage so it will be there by the time I get there Wednesday evening. I'm getting pretty psyched about heading out now....wish I could have gotten shipped with the gun.

I'm really looking forward to getting out there and putting in some time to hone my skills some, although we usually do a good primitive camping trip at least once a month here its not the same as what this will be. I've been really thinking about starting a 501(c) organization and doing a summer camp for kids based on basic primitive camping and survival skills and this will be a great chance for me to get back into the swing of things. Here in ND there is a huge influx of families with kids moving in and many of the families come from more urban areas and there's not a lot for them to do that they are used to. I have brought up the subject with quite a few people at the sporting goods store and some of the Fish and Game officials and they thought it would be a great idea, so I may go with it next spring.

I'm very sorry about your illness. It is amazing what a few good weeks in the woods can do to your outlook on things. Congratulations on getting some free time up North here, it has been a beautiful summer, once it decided to start.

The mosquito comments caught my eye. I thought it would only be fair to warn you that this is the worst year I have ever seen them, and I have lived here for 20 years. Something about the late snows and the fast warm up seemed to over populate them. I have long used skin-so-soft, and other more friendly bug repellants, but this year I have even put 100% deet on my boys a couple of times in the deep woods so they weren't carried off! We seem to be running out of our local repellent supplies. You may want to purchase it at home before you travel.

I also agree with the poster about having back up. Feel free to u2u me if you need an Alaska contact. I am quite a distance from your location, but Alaska is the biggest small town I have ever been in. You may be able to find some friendly locals as well, if you haven't already on previous trips. Stay safe, and have fun!

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Awesome idea...

The Kings Landing was a leftover from my previous avatar pic (Tywin Lannister). So, changed that. I'm actually in the Tampa Bay area, but FL is FL when it comes to mosquitoes. I've been to St. Augustine a few times though.

I used to live in Kodiak, AK, (long, long time ago) so I'm pretty envious man.....

reply to post by woodsmom


Same here with the bug problem this year. With the late snow and early warm up we have tons of mosquitos and buffalo gnats, enough to carry off a small child. I have an extra bottle of SSS here at the house and it will now officially be added to my pack, 2 is better than 1.

Is it still record heat up there? Maybe Ill work on my tan while I'm there.

reply to post by Gazrok


Oh how I miss Tampa Bay, that area and the keys are the only places in FL I ever really liked. We used to fish Tampa a lot, off the boat and the Skyway pier, some of the best fish I've ever caught cam e off of the north side pier. There were some giant Jew Fish that used to hang out off the end of the pier under the new bridge, and some nice sharks on occasion. It's too bad the state wouldn't spend the money to repair the pier and tore the north lanes out. That was actually one of my last diving jobs before I moved up here, worked for a while inspecting and preparing for the demolition.

As I understand the entire pier will be shut down in 5-6 years as well, due to it being dilapidated and the state not wanting to spend the cash to repair it. It's going to be a sad day in my heart when that happens, many a good memory on that pier with my brothers when we were young and my kids growing up.

Trying to live as primitive as possible I saw that list of fancy toys and a Satellite phone that you listed

While you're up there find a couple of good rocks and try to make yourself a knife out of it. Experiment with rubbing a little fuzz between two pieces of Quartzite, the fine red sparks can start it smoldering. Try making a flake of rock for an arrow tip and find a straight piece of hazelnut to make an arrow and see it you can get some meat with it. If you get a headache, a couple of poplar leaves steeped in hot water can help to relieve some headaches. It's about the same as aspirin.

Keep your eyes open, identify the nuts and fruit bushes out there, look for areas where there are wild strawberries growing. If you get cut, know that the chemicals in Yarrow are good for cuts if applied to wounds as are the chemicals in greater Plantain. Plantain is a good food also, if boiled. Know your plants well before going out though, you'd hate to put the wrong plant on your cut. The flower of the clovers, and sometimes the leaves, can releve central nervous system pain. Beware, they can also give you constipation because of this and they are only a treatment, they stop pain recognition, they don't heal anything. ..Does the cabin have an old wood cookstove in it?

Have fun.. Keep us updated as to how it is going on your adventure...or have your wife do it if internet access is too hard..

WD40 on the hands is better than bug dope on the hands when fishing.

reply to post by rickymouse


No, no woodstove in the cabin anymore, it was taken out before I bought the place. The only reason I have the Sat Phone with me is because of needing to stay in touch with my kids because their mom has terminal cancer and if something happens I'll need to know so I can come back home.

I will not be using everything I take unless its an emergency situation and I am forced to, however AK is a very unforgiving place and its better to have what you may need and not have to use it than to need it and not have it. I did my cold weather survival training in AK at Black Rapids when I was in the service and I learned then to be more than prepared, we had more than half of our class of SOF guys that didn't complete the class.

I will definitely be making some tools out of stone and using them when I can, I did a thread on Knapping here:
Flint Knapping: The ultimate SHTF survival tool

It will be hard for me to provide status updates while Im up there since there will be no internet around for miles and miles. However if I do fly back into Anchorage to get any supplies for work on the cabin I will post some an update if I have the time to get to a computer. However I will definitely update when I get back home and let everyone know how it went. Hopefully I will get there and find that the cabin is still in good shape and I can concentrate more on my reasons for going which is mainly to practice my skills and get some things in order around the property.

Everyone mentioning Mosquitos is right on. They're especially bad this summer!! Good luck! With proper preparation it should be great.

But ya, you gotta battle the skeeters, they completely ran us of the beach the other day, it was the worst mosquito experience I've had. It would have been hell If we were stranded out there.

I can understand why that poor dude opted to jump in the frigid waters to avoid them.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Take pictures!

Does the Anchorage airport still have all of those stuffed wildlife examples? (granted, it was SO long ago, but I really remember that as a kid)....

Originally posted by Nucleardiver
I have taken some time off of work due to some health issues I am having and have 6 weeks until I go back to my Dr and we decide what course of action to take. After much discussion with my wife over the last couple of weeks, we've decided that this is a good time to for me to go to AK and check on and do some work at our property.

She can hold down the farm here and take care of the animals and daily responsibilities here so I'm going to be leaving Tuesday or Wednesday for AK to spend 4 or 5 weeks on some land we have up there and sharpen my survival skills while I'm there.

So being that my children will be gone for 6 weeks to Fl to be with their mom for the summer and we have some property about 70 miles NW of Anchorage on the Yentna River I'll be taking this time to get some things done there. There are no utilities on the land and the only shelter is an old hunting cabin of about 400sf so to me it's going to be a well needed break and time to sharpen my survival skills.

There's an abundance of wildlife and as well as fish in the river so I wouldn't really call it a survival situation but as anyone knows who is experienced in the outdoors it can turn into a survival situation in the blink of an eye, especially in the wilderness of AK. I haven't been to the property in 2 years now so for all I know the cabin could be dilapidated or damaged from bears and storms so it's going to be interesting when I get there.

I will be doing some work on the cabin but my main goal is to test my skills and see how rusty I've become in the last couple of years and hopefully come up with some new ideas and techniques. I am still on the fence as to what weaponry I will take and am really considering just taking one of my bows, though my wife is leery about that and is insisting on me taking a firearm for bears but to me that is going to really add an edge that I don't want to add.

So needless to say after sometime this week I will be absent from ATS for a while but hopefully I'll have some good pics and some new survival ideas when I return in August.

The supplies I will be taking are my MOLLE BoB pack with all my standard survival items including, US ARMY Field Medic Trauma Kit, OKC Kukri, K-Bar knife, Mirror, Magnifying Glass for fire starting, Torch Striker for fire starting, Magnesium Firestarter, Dryer lint and petroleum jelly tender, Rat Traps, Azimuth Compass, pack of 24 chemlights, Wind Up LED flashlight, 2 Poncho Liners, 200' of para chord and 150 yrds of 20# test Berkley Fireline braided fishing line,, Sewing Kit, 5 MRE's (for emergency), and Mess Kit.

Of course I am taking 2 fly rods and tackle, my Hoyt Carbon Element bow, and possibly my Remington MDL 700 in .300 WinMag as well as change of clothes and the necessary camping supplies such as ECWS Military sleeping bag system and a tent in case the cabin is destroyed.

While I will have a bow and maybe a gun I will be making myself live as primitive as possible while there and trying to push my bare basics survival skills as far as I can. I am going to be focusing as much as possible on trapping and open fire cooking as well as fishing.

I will also have a Sat Phone that we purchased about 6 months ago, it's an Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro an I will be doing a review thread on it as well as the solar charger I have when I return. So far I am impressed with it but as with all Sat Phones or any satellite technology, the closer to the poles you get the more chance of not loosing signal. However according to all the technical info I read it should get signal where our property is located.

So if all goes well I will be back in touch with the ATS community with some new great ideas and some good stories to share.

edit on 1-7-2013 by Nucleardiver because: (no reason given)

Sounds like Bear Grylls. I'm gonna sharpen my survival skills with a Sat phone, a gun, a bow and arrow, fishing rods, a plethora of badass gear and camping supplies...yeah....this should really test my instinct to survive in luxury....better drink my own piss!

reply to post by Kody27


Sounds like he's going for fun, not to die in the Alaskan Wilderness. What's wrong with being prepared. Sounds like he's also going to be making some stone tools, hunting, fishing, etc. Each meal will be over a fire, etc. For 4-5 weeks alone! (not for an episode of a show, with staff, etc.)

Some rule you have to survive with nothing?

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Kody27

 

Sounds like he's going for fun, not to die in the Alaskan Wilderness. What's wrong with being prepared. Sounds like he's also going to be making some stone tools, hunting, fishing, etc. Each meal will be over a fire, etc. For 4-5 weeks alone! (not for an episode of a show, with staff, etc.)

Some rule you have to survive with nothing?

I was just kidding mostly. I would definitely go camping with all of that stuff, but I wouldn't call it surviving.

This will probably be my last until I get back in 4 or 5 weeks, I was able to get a flight out tomorrow and have all my gear in order and ready to go. I'll be getting up in the morning and getting things taken care of here around the house, making sure the power system checks out okay and finishing up some preventative maintenance here around the homestead then will be heading out.

If I get a chance to update my status I will, but otherwise I will be back on when I get back and hopefully have some good experiences and pics to share. I'm off to bed here in a few, have a busy day tomorrow so Ill see everyone when I get back.

reply to post by Gazrok


They do!

I was checking them out last time I was there.

reply to post by Darkblade71


Cool. I'll never forget looking at them for a long time. We always waited there in the airport for a USCG C-130 to take us back over to Kodiak island.


Have a good trip NuclearDiver!

reply to post by Nucleardiver


It has been beautiful! It finally decided to start raining the day before yesterday though. We needed it bad with all of the wildfires so far this year, but it is Alaska. The weather could return to the real summer we were having or stay like this the rest of the summer. I must say though, this is one of the first times I have seen it rain good and hard overnight and mostly stop for the day. So there is hope for the tan, I know my whole family is already a good 20 shades darker than normal. Ghost white is easy to improve on though, lol.


In reply to the folks surprised at the gear:
A sat phone is considered important survival gear, especially with any health issues. Healthy people die in the wilderness because of the unpredictability of nature. Anything can happen, and tends to, when you are alone in the wild. Other gear is important as well. As previously mentioned, Alaska is unforgiving to mistakes, being prepared is the only way to attempt it. I only live 10 minutes from the edge of town, and I don't leave my house without my survival kit. I am always ready to spend the 2 or 3 days hiking home with kids.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Are you bringing a camera of some kind so when you get back you can show us all pictures?

Would love to see your camping set up and property in some pics!

oh, I see he left already...dang...hope he brought a camera.

reply to post by Kody27


You want someone to go out in the wilderness and die?

Or perhaps you just do not understand where the OP is headed.

Originally posted by Darkblade71
reply to post by Kody27

 

You want someone to go out in the wilderness and die?

Or perhaps you just do not understand where the OP is headed.

Yes. Because implying that one needs to survive on basic needs means I want them to die. Somehow you've extracted something completely non-existent and irrelevant out of something I've said, that sounds like a personal problem.

reply to post by Kody27

Sounds like Bear Grylls. I'm gonna sharpen my survival skills with a Sat phone, a gun, a bow and arrow, fishing rods, a plethora of badass gear and camping supplies...yeah....this should really test my instinct to survive in luxury....better drink my own piss!

Perhaps I read that wrong.



Guess I did.