what is your specialty?

any skills you've been honing?
there's quite a few about myself that cross my mind.
also quite a few i should be working on, like my accuracy with my .308.

the 2 that i'm actually relatively proud of are my ability to track, anything
and my built in sense of direction. i can't get lost. spin me around on a pitch black night
and i can point north.
i hit magnetic north within a few degrees every time.

Originally posted by rubbertramp
the 2 that i'm actually relatively proud of are my ability to track, anything
and my built in sense of direction. i can't get lost. spin me around on a pitch black night
and i can point north.
i hit magnetic north within a few degrees every time.

How did you build up your sense of direction? Or was it just something you have always innately possessed? I usually don't peak into this forum but your post seems kinda cool. Even if it isn't to protect against doom and gloom, having good pathfinding is a very good skill. If it is something that can be taught would you mind sharing it with the community?

reply to post by rubbertramp


I don't have one yet, but I am working on learning how to make moonshine. When TSHTF that stuff is going to be worth its weight in gold!

I Fix Things.
Clients present their problems, and for a price I provide a solution.

Often Multiple Solutions Simultaneously.

Regards...........

Unbelievable amount of optimism, so much so that I even survived my ex.

I am semi-serious about that. I am a huge optimist, though, and I do think that's a very necessary survival "equipment". In terms of something more...physical, I guess, my scavenging abilities are better than average, as are my dietary habits. Meaning, I can eat almost everything, anything.

I know how to filter water naturally...

charcoal, sand, charcoal,sand, boil drink..

i have a similar feel for direction except i always know west rather than north for some reason. i wonder why that is though? i think maybe its because i've grown up and live near the pacific ocean and i might have some sort of biological connection to it. so from always knowing where west is i get around pretty easily even if i don't know my setting.

I can grow anything. I have a green thumb and practically everything I stick in the ground does better than well. I usually have enough produce for me and half my neighbors. I supply the neighborhood with tomatoes, green peppers and zucchini every year. In trade I get zucchini bread back.

reply to post by rubbertramp


Tracking is a skill I would love to aquire. For me, I have a positive mental attitude. I can weigh up a situation and act accordingly. I spend a lot of time in the wilderness and regularly practice my fieldcraft skills. I am also ex-military and take some of that training with me when I am out.

Saying all that, I cannot effectively track, a skill I sorely miss.

I'm assuming your question of skills is referring to a situation where the modern world is non existent. One where we are set back to basics with no electricity.

Carpentry
Bowmaking
Arrowmaking
Blacksmithing
Horseback Riding
Shooting (.308 M1A Socom16, 12ga Mossberg 500 & 9mm FNP9)
Martial Arts

Innovation

I consider it a skill in the aftermath of modern civilization collapsing to not be afraid to get dirty. I mean that in every sense of the sentence. Should anything happen where I need to fight or work very long hours I can do it. I also learn skills very quickly and easily.

We've actually gone thru our skill list within the family, just in case.
My sister and I would handle medical, she is a nurse and I am a former EMT.
My Brother in law can build anything.
My Son in law is good with guns and all things technical.
My other sister knows how to garden and can.
The rest that don't have specific strengths will be able to the heavy lifting, the grunt work.
Obviously we hope to never have to do this, but it's always good to evaluate the strengths before you are in a situation where emotions will be running high.

Hey Tramp, I enjoy tracking too, Where did you learn it?
I spent years working with Nature and vision school along with GSAR mantracking for VA emergency services.
I was also fortunate enough to study natural medicines and edible wild plants with Darryl Patton.
Skills I've been working on lately are;
Shooting; pistol, rifle,bow
Friction fire making: bow drill, hand drill
Shelter building from natural materials
home made camo clothing
Story telling ( gotta have somehting to do around the campfire besides knap rocks and roll cordage)

I have been honing the skill of living with my own uncleanliness,dealing with the funk....

It keeps others at safe distance too.

I smell so bad that the hooligans would be afraid to get close enough to take my gear from me.

Seriously,I have been experimenting with this,since I won't be able to clean myself without running water,and soap just attracts bugs and other critters anyway,and soap is just one more thing to lug around.

The most basic of potential circumstances must be explored.

Dealing with dirt,and the inability to clean one's self as often as one may be accustomed to,would fit right in with being able to deal with surviving in a complete collapse of society,or whatever.

Oh yeah,I got my survival training in the service.

You'll smell me comin,but it won't help you much.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


I can grow meat or egg chickens, breed, hatch and care for a large flock. Kill pluck and clean my own meat! Learning to grow my own feed too. Also learning goat care, grow our own beef.

I have a few that I use everyday. I am an electrician. I am quite capable of carpentry work and pretty good mechanic (If I have to) I think if we dig deep we all have something to bring to a post apocalyptic world.

That's easy...
I grew up on a hundred and fifty thousand acre ranch...
Later I joined the Marines and stayed there until I retired...

There are a lot of skills I have other's would gladly give their right nut to learn...
but the biggest and best off all those is...drum roll please...

I know my own limitations and when I'm getting in over my head...

there's a few questions i want to answer when i get back in a few.
one thing i know for sure, there's a whole bunch of you i'd like to move into my area.
i always talk about finding a non-religious militia and also organizing our neighborhoods.
too many don't even know who lives around them.
i bet that big handful of us could take on a whole lotta' the shtf.

I grew up in the military so Ive lived in a few diffrent places, but mos tof my life has been spent in Alaska, moved here in "78" when I was young. My dad made sure I was in the backwoods at a young age so I got lucky there, I received week long survival trecks as birthday and X-mass gifts, something I didnt care for at that age, but cant thank my father enough for prepping me for whats about to happen.

I started shooting handguns and rifles when I was 8, so that gave me great ground work for the tactical skills I have today. Spent some time @ GunSite Academy in the early 90's and moved on to the C.A.R. shooting system.
Ive always practiced martial arts and found Kung Fu to be very practical depending on the system you study, I spent a few years working with Emin Boztepe.. www.ebmas.net...

Ive always done tracking practice around my local trails system, find a track and start following it, add that with what Ive learned from hunting & trapping and I think Im ahead of the curve, but by all means no Man Tracker ...lol
Working on my green thumb has been very good for me, nice garden this last year as well as spices and herbs of all sorts
Ive been doing home brewing, wine making, and shine, all will be nice barter items in the future as well as weed, nothing like a home brew and Home Bud
Since 98 Ive been prepping a retreat for off the grid living with a small close group of friends wich include a few old Spec Op guys, a heart surgen, electrician,vet tech, a awsome Traditional female Alaskan Native who grew up hunting whales on the pack ice as well as surviving above the arctic circle.
Working on learning more about medical herbs, oils, & healing right now as well as putting my Blacksmith section together. Learning about gun & smoke powder, thermite, home made fuses and EMP protection.

Over all I think Im well rounded but can always learn more.

O

Good at living the self sufficient life-style.... making things from trees and scrap lumber like barns, fencing, furniture, hog pens, and such. Give me an axe and some rope and I can build a small pioneer style cabin... give me a froe, a draw knife, and a wood hand auger, and I can build a nice cabin.

Also good at gardening and small scale livestock, dowsing and finding water, building spring houses, planting andreading signs by the moon/nature, field rock construction, animal husbandry, orchard planting, slaughtering and prepping meat, ... make my own latches, hinges, drip irrigation, smoke house, split fence posts... can and dry foods, home remedies, know that lime or wood ashes sprinkled in a Johnny House when finished your business will keep the odors down, stuff like that...

Basically, I was born about 100 years too late... I am a dinosaur. Long live Jurassic Park....lol.

I am working on just being me, and staying alive with all the stuff done to me, and not let it get me down.

Just staying alive in a world where peopel like the police and gov have done this evil stuff to me, is enough.