[B52gundog]

I know when I go hiking/ backing I always try to get some experience in with various survival skills. Usually trying something different each time.

I don't expect anyone to do all the things I listed earlier. They're just some things I had listed for myself with the mindset of working with the small survival kit I always carry with me when I go out in the woods.

Do the skills/ concepts you're most interested. I know I'd go out saying I'm gonna do all these concepts and maybe only do 1 or 2 tough one's and a few of the easier skills. When I'm out there, I'm usually more tired than I'd expect to be so all the things I set out to do easily get shelved. But, sometimes just being out there and posing some 'what if' scenarios can at least help let the concept sink in so you've at least gotten a little better feel or understanding of what could really be at stake if in an actual survival situation.

It's good to do some of the seemingly simple tasks too (like blowing the whistle). It does give you some experience and an idea of the whistle's capabilities (if you and your buddy test being a reasonable distance apart to hear each others whistle). And, you make sure it works as expected.

One of my favorite things to do is night hikes. Me and my buddy would leave camp and wander at night a short distance (within a mile or so). Of course, we'd bring a survival kit as well as headlamps, map, compass, water, and a GPS (as backup). We'd walk the established Florida Trail (FT) which winds all over the place. We'd then stop at a clearing and each of us would guess (using only our sense of direction) which way was North (without looking at a navigation aid). Each of us would point in a different direction and each be totally wrong. We've done it several times and neither of us have guessed right yet. Just goes to show how humbled we can get out in the woods when we think we're so sure of ourselves. Of course, we'd then use stars/ moon to guess then verify with a compass (North Star is usually not hard to find).

Now we know which is North, but if we got disoriented and lost our path, could we find our way back to camp? Which is easy to do in the dark. We'd purposely, turn our headlamps off and wander in the dark to intentionally get disoriented/ lost then see if we could find our way back. The GPS was a backup in case we'd freak out or panic. It's still good practice even though we know we have the sense of comfort of the GPS just in case. The experience of knowing how easy it is to get lost still gets the emotions rumbling as we'd think we were more confident with ourselves than we probably should have been. The last few trips, We've not needed to use the GPS (other than to mark waypoints for future reference). So, we're getting more dirt-time in to solidify our confidence with ourselves. Especially bein' city slickers, ha ha.

Also, a lotta times you'll stumble across something that will inspire you to try it out as a survival skill. Like we came across a rotted fallen down tree full of termites. We never planned to eat termites on our trip, but we read/ heard that we could eat termites and we gave it a try (they have no taste, very bland).

Another time, we walked right past a decent sized black snake (4-5ft, non-venomous) sunning itself as we were getting water from a pond. We walked past it on the way back thinking nothing of it til we got 20 yards down the trail and I thought why don't we kill it and eat it as if we were in survival. We were backpacking so we had all the food we needed and since we're city slickers we naturally thought nothing of killing and eating a snake until we decided it'd be a good survival experience. So, we went back and whacked it over the head with a dead branch, stepped on it's head, and cut it off. We skinned, gutted, and cooked it over the fire. It was good, tasted like chicken (ha ha), but not nearly as much meat on it than we thought it would have (a lotta bones). So, it was a very worthwhile experience in our case.

So, improving skills, experience, knowledge, etc... will definitely help with one's confidence level and hopefully it'll help to stay mentally and emotional balanced to live through any survival situation one may encounter. I know I'm better off now than I would have been before I took any interest in survival.

[lascrigil]

I have read your topic. What's useful innformation for my job.
I do agree with you. Those are the most effective way
have a blessed day


__________________
Installing electric radiant floor heating systems - In and under floors heated flooring - Hydronic underfloor heat cost

[mweidner]

lascrigil: Thank you so much for your reply about your floor heating system, I assume that since you said this is relative information to your job, that your product burns down lots of homes and they have to rely on their survival skills to make it through the night.

Without excellent random advertising like this I wouldn't have known to avoid you! :-)

[cowgirlup]

Originally Posted by mweidner

lascrigil: Thank you so much for your reply about your floor heating system, I assume that since you said this is relative information to your job, that your product burns down lots of homes and they have to rely on their survival skills to make it through the night.

Without excellent random advertising like this I wouldn't have known to avoid you! :-)

Oh you will fit in just fine here!!! LOL!!! :)

[TacticalIntelligence]

Originally Posted by mweidner

lascrigil: Thank you so much for your reply about your floor heating system, I assume that since you said this is relative information to your job, that your product burns down lots of homes and they have to rely on their survival skills to make it through the night.

Without excellent random advertising like this I wouldn't have known to avoid you! :-)

LOL. Perhaps lascrigil is indicating the benefit of hydronic heating systems providing a decent water source (needs to be purified though) in an emergency situation. Just drain and drink! Although his electric systems will screw us all...

[sypher96792]

have fun man.....have fun and be safe.....you got it all planned out and for petes sake don't forget to check-in with your wife.....that could be a bad situation all around.......yelled at for one thing ,rescued...sorry sir we were just camping,my wife called you?,oops i forgot to chek-in .......know what i mean.......but have fun

[George]

From my experience it is better to have few too few activities rather than few too many, as it might be overwhelming that we cannot complete all the tasks and feel bad about it.

Little trip like that should not carry pressure.

Enjoy it !

[mweidner]

Well today is the day, just packing the car and waiting for my buddy to show up.

Finally broke down and bought a digital camera, so I should be able to get plenty of pics of anything noteworthy, also very glad, the trail map that I purchased about 3 weeks ago showed up in the mail yesterday, talk about last minute!

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions, I am sure I will try 1 or 2 of them :-), will report back first of next week.

[kevin]

have lots of fun. be safe.

[cowgirlup]

Yea! We love pictures!!!

Have a great time!!!