WOW! I never tried fishing with a fish hook made from melted lead shot! Ummm, doesn’t it, like BEND real easy?
Having grown lazier as years have gone on, if I get lost, I just dial Domino’s Pizza on the ol’ cell phone and have pizza delivered. I read My Side of the Mountain also and thought it was great, though the kid LIKED acorn pancakes made from acorn flour. From what I understand, the damn stuff is barely digestible. I did discover how to make oil lamps from old tins, like sardine cans and left over cooking grease or meat drippings and twine.
You gotta kind of be careful and watch them but it does work. The aroma can be kind of interesting in a closed space but light is provided. I used to be able to get the old military C rations as a kid – those cool little olive green boxes with the cool little olive green cans in them. I liked those better than the new MRE, especially the scrambled eggs and the tinned meats. Some small tins held jelly and some held little packets of salt, pepper and sugar. I still carry one of those cool little 2 piece GI can openers on my key chain and, after 20 years, it still works great!
Back in the 70s, one could buy up C rations and war surplus really cheaply, but since everyone turned YK2 nuts, the stuff is either hard to find or very expensive. AFTER the turn of the new year, when civilization does not collapse, I figure people are going to be dumping the stuff on the market again and I’ll clean up by buying it cheaply.
Don’t forget your whistle. Coupla months ago, a toddler got lost up by Poudre Canyon. Haven’t found him yet. The local sherrifs are giving out whistles to all the schoolkids in the area. You can use one a lot longer than you can yell. And remember to HUG A TREE.
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. That’s my name too.
Wait, no it isn’t.
Was it just me, or did Orangecakes’ post resemble a demented haiku?
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
Come on guys! You’re doing it ALL WRONG! All you need to do is go down to the local 7-11 or equivalent, store and buy some of those snacks they sell. They laughingly call it food, but it all has a shelf life of about 50 years, so carting it around in your pocket until you get lost in the woods will not hurt it in the least.
The whistle thing the previous poster, somewhere up above, mentioned is a vital thing. He’s right because a whistle’s noise can reach further than someone standing around and shouting.
By the way, in cold weather, handfuls of grass and things like that stuffed into your coat and up your pants can give you some additional insulation. You can eat bugs, like grasshoppers, earthworms and some grubs but I don’t know for sure which might be poisonous. Everyone I know who has eaten bugs has cooked them first.
Of course, I’ve eaten Rattlesnake, which isn’t bad and 'gator tail, which is not on my list of snacks, but palatable. Then again, living in Florida, where the bleeding hearts have managed to get the nasty, deadly, sneaky and very predatory alligator on the protected list so it is now in almost every river, lake, pond and puddle in the State, I encourage everyone to eat 'gator tail. That means one less gator per tail. I can live with that.
Hmmm 7-11 snacks as survival rations… Nope sorry I may pay double for propane there at the last minite, but as a supply source, I would have to give thumbs down.
On the gator thing, look into my animals as minorities thread. I too am amazed at our trend as a society of elevating animals to equal status.
Mountain lions in the Sierra Nevadas (once endangered) can now hunt humans with impunity… and from your report, it seems alligators now share that priveledge.
Yep. I could survive. I used to go on these survival camp outs as a kid, where you carry a canteen of water, matches, a compass, a few pieces of food {like beef jerky, soda crackers, hard candy, trail mix and stuff} and a small tarp or survival blanket, sheath knife and or ax. Then you get to ramble around for 3 days, living off of the land.
I make a damn good lean-to, found grasshoppers after roasting need salt, it takes a whole lot of sweetgrass stems to even take the edge off of your hunger but the center of Palmettos provide a bit more and if you accidentally catch small game, like a rabbit or snake, you have to be mighty hungry to kill, clean and eat it. {It’s easier with a snake.}
I usually sleep in trees, and will never want for food, as there are something like 6 billion humans blundering around the planet.
And they are REALLY easy to trap. Often, all I need to do is yell, “Help! Help!” and at least one sucker will run right up to me - ripe for the picking!
I prefer the taste of the female of the species and they’re even easier to catch! I’ve got their mating rituals down and everything. My unmarked 1973 Ford cargo van with built-in rubber straps helps, too.
Seriously, though - I think if civilization falls I’d be a “creature of the wheel” like Heston in “The Omega Man” - that film kicks ass!