Wilderness Survival MB help --Natural Shelter vs Leave No Trace

[blw2]

In most "survival" situations, one doesn't necessarily have all the proper equipment. And the point I was making if the boys need to learn how to cut down a 2" sapling they can get the same training cutting a 2" log from training equipment. It doesn't have to be in the pickup, but when it is all said and done, the sapling is still standing and the boys learned their lesson.

 

Stosh

ok, so instead of cutting the standing tree, cut the one "in the truck". Now I'm tracking with you.....

[Basementdweller]

In a SURVIVAL situation you WANT TO LEAVE A TRACE! You want to be safe, attract rescuers attention,...make shelter, fire, smoke, noise, fly a blaze orange brassiere...

 

I am DEAD serious about this. In a survival situation, burn LNT in a signal fire! I had an autistic scout who got lost and fixated on LNT, Damn was he hard to find and we almost had a tragic ending.

Never thought about a lad and conflicting rules or ethics.

 

Yep survival trumps all.

[Basementdweller]

How about some feedback on the survival campouts your guys had the most fun or most memorable event?

 

How much or type of gear permitted? I have heard of limits from two matches to everything but a tent.

 

Food? Heard of nothing to normal meals.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

One we had a dad who flies helicopters for the Marine Reserve teach how to extract a downed pilot. Used a pickup truck for the rescue chopper. That was cool. Our guys mostly like building and staying in the shelters. We often cook by the troop providing the food with the scouts having to improvise cooking gear. We usually give them small sirloin steaks, potatoes, carrots -- things similar to what they could find in the wild.

[Tampa Turtle]

The local ranger may let us clear an area and we can use the cuttings--could work. As for food we usually give them a raw egg or two, some fruits and nuts, and some wild game (meat on a stick). Maybe a little fishing.

[Stosh]

In most "survival" situations, one doesn't necessarily have all the proper equipment. And the point I was making if the boys need to learn how to cut down a 2" sapling they can get the same training cutting a 2" log from training equipment. It doesn't have to be in the pickup, but when it is all said and done, the sapling is still standing and the boys learned their lesson.

 

Stosh

Yep, but be sure you take it out of your dad's new pickup truck bed before you start hacking at it with a machete!

[Stosh]

One we had a dad who flies helicopters for the Marine Reserve teach how to extract a downed pilot. Used a pickup truck for the rescue chopper. That was cool. Our guys mostly like building and staying in the shelters. We often cook by the troop providing the food with the scouts having to improvise cooking gear. We usually give them small sirloin steaks, potatoes, carrots -- things similar to what they could find in the wild.

OMG, where in the wild do you find sirloin steaks, potatoes and carrots. I want to camp there!

 

Stosh

[Stosh]

If you talk to survivalists, the first thing they always tell you is, conserve your energy for the important things. You need water and shelter first. Then within the next 30 days, you can think about food if you have enough energy left over.

 

Big John got lost in the woods and survived for 2 weeks on bugs and berries. No, he survived 2 weeks on body fat. Anyone that can down 28,000 calories of bugs and berries ought to get some kind of award.

 

 

Stosh

[packsaddle]

Depending on the location, climate, and weather at the time, I'd agree with the statement about water and shelter. If you can find a stream, water is solved and possibly food as well. Shelter might be necessary to avoid the elements. But if it's cool, I'd add that fire is another need. It will make the shelter feel more like home as well as providing warmth and a potential signal. It could be the key to survival. The ability to make a fire from nothing is a skill I'll wager is absent from most of the skillsets of the boys, probably the leaders too.

[Horizon]

My favorite memory of wilderness survival was dinner. We built our shelters (not a problem in scrub oak Oklahoma - TONS of stuff on the ground). Cleared fire rings and got fire started. Then we heard an engine.

 

Up drove a pickup, from the back the unmistakable sounds of chickens. Live chickens.

 

Each team of 3 Scouts was handed a live bird, with the direction to kill, clean, and cook a bird for dinner. Final sign-off came after you ate dinner.

[Twocubdad]

One we had a dad who flies helicopters for the Marine Reserve teach how to extract a downed pilot. Used a pickup truck for the rescue chopper. That was cool. Our guys mostly like building and staying in the shelters. We often cook by the troop providing the food with the scouts having to improvise cooking gear. We usually give them small sirloin steaks, potatoes, carrots -- things similar to what they could find in the wild.

SIMILAR to what the could find.... Yes, there are lean meat, tubers and wild carrots where we camp. Just have to know what to look for. But as a survival exercise, the area isn't enough to support wild food for 25 boys and heaven only knows the paperwork we'd be hit with for offing a bunny.

[Twocubdad]

If you talk to survivalists, the first thing they always tell you is, conserve your energy for the important things. You need water and shelter first. Then within the next 30 days, you can think about food if you have enough energy left over.

 

Big John got lost in the woods and survived for 2 weeks on bugs and berries. No, he survived 2 weeks on body fat. Anyone that can down 28,000 calories of bugs and berries ought to get some kind of award.

 

 

Stosh

Point taken. But cooking over an open fire without pots or utensils is one for the cooler aspects of wilderness survival and one which the boys enjoy. To your point, boiling water in a found plastic bottle is a pretty cool and more practical survival skill. And truth be told, unless you're doing some really remote back country trips, the most practical skill is to make yourself visible to the SAR folks who will be on scene tomorrow morning. But signaling isn't nearly as much fun as building stuff and cooking a burger on a hot rock.

[DuctTape]

An natural shelter which is completely LNT would be in winter and making a snow cave, quinzee, or igloo.

[King Ding Dong]

One we had a dad who flies helicopters for the Marine Reserve teach how to extract a downed pilot. Used a pickup truck for the rescue chopper. That was cool. Our guys mostly like building and staying in the shelters. We often cook by the troop providing the food with the scouts having to improvise cooking gear. We usually give them small sirloin steaks, potatoes, carrots -- things similar to what they could find in the wild.

Just be wery, wery quite.

[DeanRx]

In most "survival" situations, one doesn't necessarily have all the proper equipment. And the point I was making if the boys need to learn how to cut down a 2" sapling they can get the same training cutting a 2" log from training equipment. It doesn't have to be in the pickup, but when it is all said and done, the sapling is still standing and the boys learned their lesson.

 

Stosh

Or if you don't take it out of the back of dad's new pickup truck bed, you better be ready to spend more than 1 night in your "shelter" !