Real life survival tips


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  • 2 months later...

Hi, new here as i just found about this incredible project on Rock Paper Shotgun.

I'm a bit of a survivalist, been around the world, often in remote places so i have picked up an appreciation for that kind of thing. I have a couple of people that you can check up on, probably the two best sources in the public domain for survival knowledge, one a British guy, the other an Australian.

Ray Mears:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Mears

He has a youtube channel with many of his and other peoples survival/nature stories you can watch:

https://www.youtube.com/user/RayMearsBushcraft

Les Hiddins (also known as the 'Bushtuckerman'):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Hiddins

Ray has some of his Australian Bushtuckerman series on his youtube channel.

Good luck with the project, it looks fantastic and as soon as i am able i will most likely back you guys, it is great to see some AAA guys doing such an unusual and interesting project.

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  • 6 months later...
Real Life Survival Tips ~ TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET !!!

From personal experience, trudging through the rain forests for 48hrs and no reprieve from swampy, marshy, wet ground, after 48 hrs, we finally got to stop, (got out of the rat infested low ground ~ Rats the size of cats mind you) and i took my boots off and they were White, and wrinkly and soooo sore. I was out of commission for the next 12hrs trying my best to sooth them back to walking condition. But even after that, my feet never completely recovered, so i after that, i always carry plastic bags and elastic bands . . .

48hrs! that's nuts! where you hunting or being hunted? when I used to play soccer and my feet were in water for 90 minutes (on a rainy winter match day) they looked like cottage cheese, and they would hurt! I cant event think what it looked like if they were in for 48hrs... all i can picture is new England clam chowder soup =)

Sounds like my time in boundary waters Canada. You start every day walking your canoe off the shore because jumping in is too great a risk of capsize. Your feet usually get wet a few more times during the day and stay wet till the end of the day. Most of us had jungle rot by the end of the 2 weeks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tinder. The ideal fire starter until the middle ages. Must be dried. It was also used to be put on wounds, to stop the bleeding. Grows for example on birch and beech trees.

300px-Fomes_fomentarius_2010_G2.jpg

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A soft mushroom (feels like rubber) that grows on beech trees. Is supposed to cure diseases and invigorate, even to be a miracle medicine. Was also used as a sheeth to keep knifes sharp.

BirkenporlingGoe.jpg

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Another tip. Humans can eat everything from birch trees. Leafs, fruit etc. You could even chew the twigs if you need some vitamins.

You can also heat up the bark to a high temperature and the resulting concentrated sap is a great insect repellent (mosquitoes especially).

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...
48hrs! that's nuts! where you hunting or being hunted? when I used to play soccer and my feet were in water for 90 minutes (on a rainy winter match day) they looked like cottage cheese, and they would hurt! I cant event think what it looked like if they were in for 48hrs... all i can picture is new England clam chowder soup =)

We did a little exercise with the Gurka's and they had us on the run for that long. And I tell you now, you don't stop and sleep with the Gurka on your tail, so we kept in the low wet marshes as it is harder to track us in that environment, and went for hell and leather to our RV.

You are correct, Clam Chowder sounds correct, but what got me was the smell . . . Ohhhh it was terrible, and there is nothing i can compare it with. :((

There are many thoughts on this, my own experience tells me to disregard boots entirely and only take with you a socalled Fivefinger Shoe made out of leather, it is the outdoor variant and you can get a knock off cheaply through Ebay. Mine i have walked in the boreal woods with barefeet through mud, rock and bushes. It dosn't look pretty but its as close to natural conditions you can get i tell you! You can even swim with that thing on and it is a loooot better with hygiene than isolating shoes and boots.

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Hi, new here as i just found about this incredible project on Rock Paper Shotgun.

I'm a bit of a survivalist, been around the world, often in remote places so i have picked up an appreciation for that kind of thing. I have a couple of people that you can check up on, probably the two best sources in the public domain for survival knowledge, one a British guy, the other an Australian.

Les Hiddins (also known as the 'Bushtuckerman'):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Hiddins

Les has some of his Australian Bushtuckerman series on his youtube channel.

Corrected that for you ;)

I actually know Les personally, and have done survival courses with him. As a survivalist, he is top notch, knows his stuff, and is one of the best, but as a man, he is one of the most arrogant men I know. He is a good bloke, don't get me wrong, but if you don't know him, he can come across as a real prick !!

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  • 1 month later...

Hi folks!

One form of tinder I keep in my box is charcloth. It is easy to make and gives you a nice excuse to make a small fire. What I do is cut up small squares of denim (natural fibers work best) and place them in a small tin (Altoids or Sucrets work fine). No need to make vents holes as the hinges provide them ready made. Once the denim (or what ever you use) is in the tin, close the lid and place the tin in the fire. Don't wander off too far, watch the hinges. You should begin to see smoke seeping out after a few minutes. The charcloth is done once there is no more smoke escaping through the tin's hinges. The charcloth should be black or nearly so. It catches a spark very easy and the tin you made it in makes a handy (but not waterproof) tinderbox.

See y'all around.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hi folks!

One form of tinder I keep in my box is charcloth. It is easy to make and gives you a nice excuse to make a small fire. What I do is cut up small squares of denim (natural fibers work best) and place them in a small tin (Altoids or Sucrets work fine). No need to make vents holes as the hinges provide them ready made. Once the denim (or what ever you use) is in the tin, close the lid and place the tin in the fire. Don't wander off too far, watch the hinges. You should begin to see smoke seeping out after a few minutes. The charcloth is done once there is no more smoke escaping through the tin's hinges. The charcloth should be black or nearly so. It catches a spark very easy and the tin you made it in makes a handy (but not waterproof) tinderbox.

See y'all around.

Gday from down under DedStalker and welcome to the best forum on the net !!!

I really love this little tip. I have to admit, I have heard of it, but never gave it much thought, as when I did survival training, we could never pre-plan :(

One thing that you should have in a first aid kit for travels that will start a fire is Condy's Crystals (potassium permanganate) and sugar. IF you grind the 2 together in a spoon, you will produce enough heat to start a fire.

I have just learnt that there has been some crap going on in Australia, with the government looking a banning it, because of its 'explosive nature' . . . anyhow its what I always carry, if I'm short a match or two . . . .

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  • 2 months later...

More for humor than anything, but:

Don't go to buy water the weekend before a hurricane is coming.

There won't be any.

Ask me how I know.

Of all the stuff I have, and all the gear, and preparation and skills I have, and readiness my family espouses, WATER is the one thing we probably don't have enough of.

DUMB mistake.

So with Karla coming for possible landfall this Monday AM, I went to the store to get 10+ gallons of water, and there's not that much water in my entire city.

Apparently everyone in FL forgot what storms are like in this 10 year lull and lost their minds.

Thanks - T

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More for humor than anything, but:

Don't go to buy water the weekend before a hurricane is coming.

There won't be any.

Ask me how I know.

Of all the stuff I have, and all the gear, and preparation and skills I have, and readiness my family espouses, WATER is the one thing we probably don't have enough of.

DUMB mistake.

So with Karla coming for possible landfall this Monday AM, I went to the store to get 10+ gallons of water, and there's not that much water in my entire city.

Apparently everyone in FL forgot what storms are like in this 10 year lull and lost their minds.

Thanks - T

This is actually a good tip. I used to live on the southeastern coast of NC, and hurricane preparation in that area (and certainly all along the southern east coast) is no joke. We always kept a stash of water and batteries, and stocked up on non-perishables when hurricane season started. Good to fill up the tank in your car before a hurricane too -- We went about two weeks without being able to get to a gas station after one bad hurricane...Maybe Bertha or Fran. Came in handy having that gas in the tank when we ran out of supplies; recovery time in the area was supposed to be ~ 2 weeks but took longer.

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More for humor than anything, but:

Don't go to buy water the weekend before a hurricane is coming.

There won't be any.

Ask me how I know.

Of all the stuff I have, and all the gear, and preparation and skills I have, and readiness my family espouses, WATER is the one thing we probably don't have enough of.

DUMB mistake.

So with Karla coming for possible landfall this Monday AM, I went to the store to get 10+ gallons of water, and there's not that much water in my entire city.

Apparently everyone in FL forgot what storms are like in this 10 year lull and lost their minds.

Thanks - T

This is actually a good tip. I used to live on the southeastern coast of NC, and hurricane preparation in that area (and certainly all along the southern east coast) is no joke. We always kept a stash of water and batteries, and stocked up on non-perishables when hurricane season started. Good to fill up the tank in your car before a hurricane too -- We went about two weeks without being able to get to a gas station after one bad hurricane...Maybe Bertha or Fran. Came in handy having that gas in the tank when we ran out of supplies; recovery time in the area was supposed to be ~ 2 weeks but took longer.

Yeah, it's totally an overlooked thing some days.

Mom and I spent a lot of time in NC back in the day, and one winter on the OBX, and man was it miserable... I can only imagine less cold but no accessible food, gas, water, etc, and still windy and rainy, and with questionable shelter.

Turns out Karla is a flub and is just going to drown our plants, but still, now we have water.

Thanks - T

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  • 3 years later...

Old thread, but still relevant, so I'll add my 2 cents.

Make stormproof matches by taking regular wood matches and coating the end in wax.

Crayons are quite flammable and make great candles in a pinch, and great for starting fires.

Doritos are also flammable.  If you have a bag of them, light one on fire and use it as tinder.

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I will add in my 2 cents as well. Since the start of the game is what we all know. 2 rules to follow that will give the greatest chance of survival and reascue. If there is a lot of stuff around Do the 5 C check. Container for water storage, Cordage for ropes and such, Carrying for well carrying, Cutting so anything that can cut and combustion for fire and warmth.

 

2nd rule of thumb. Do not just pick up and carry everything. Try to come up with at least 3 uses per item that isnt part of the 5 c items. See an orange piece of thick plastic well here is 3 uses atleast for it. Signal device, something to sit on to prevent convection of heat from sitting on ground,  could be used as a floatation device. so 3 uses. This will prevent you from getting injuried carrying stuff you dont need.

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Wear a leather belt, even if you don't need it to hold your pants up.  A leather belt has numerous uses.  It can be used to bind firewood together for easy carrying, an emergency tourniquet, as a strop to keep a knife edge keen, a lifeline, wrap it around your hand if you need to handle hot/burning objects, a makeshift sling for an injured arm, etc.  In an active shooter situation, if you're behind a door with one of those hydraulics door closers, you can wrap your belt around the arm joint, effectively locking the door by preventing that arm from actuating.

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Had another one, on the topic of clothing and accessories.  Keep a shemagh/keffiyeh handy or in your bag whenever you can.  Not only can they be a fashion piece, but they are larger than bandanas and potentially have more uses.  I personally keep 4 or 5 in different colors, and I've used them as dust masks, head camouflage, face heaters, arm slings (sucks getting busted up while hunting), basic water filter, towel, rope material, a small bag, and more.  They're lightweight, great for keeping the sun, dust, or cold off your face, and are a great replacement for bandanas.  Any survival bag/bug-out bag/get home bag I build automatically gets at least one of these things in it, preferably in a camo or natural color.

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