Outdoor Survival Equipment

My last Q about this was horribly written.
What I am asking is why do some folks think that they are born to survive in a wilderness?
Even Native Americans aren’t born with the skills of their ancestors. Yet I have met quite a few people of all races who think they just know it all, about how nature works and how to survive in it.
This has scared me for them many times, like a young man who wants to “live off the land” in a remote area, who will not listen to experienced advice, nor seek such advice.

How do you get it across to them that having a gun and knife doesn’t make you an instant wilderness survivalist?
Here is an example of what I am asking about;
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id =3680748&page=1
People are getting killed in remote places, from the deserts of the south west, the woods and swamps in the Deep South, through the Rockies and the rest of North America, from inexperience, lack of outdoor skills and lack of proper equipment.
How can we get across to such people to save their lives?
Our Government spends millions warning us about everything from cigarettes to cosmetics, but not that the outdoors can kill you. Don’t you think this should be taught in every classroom in America?
Do you have any idea how to save some of these lives?
Another example; http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&am p;cpsidt=1600388
METRO.. you have an excellent point. However I live where these kinds of people visit; remote Alaska, and every year we have people die here. I used to help search and rescue some years ago look for such people. And I have helped recover what was left of them IF we found them. I found a family of 5 and a big dog, in a small inflatable raft 8 miles from shore, with no life jackets. It took me a ½ hour to convince the moron dad that their lives were in peril. He had no clue, but the Coast Guard gave him a few after I called them! Stupid people or not that was lives saved.
shimmitail1 to answer your Q’s in your answer; yes I can. The wife and I have homesteaded while we raised many kids. Today we grow our own food, catch our own fish, hunt for our meat and are 80% self sufficient. I have about a half century of farming, hunting, fishing and food preservation experience. At the moment I am training a 26 year old man and his wife wilderness survival skills, here in Alaska.
Folks I appreciate your answers. But despite the morons out there, I believe many are just uninformed. In the city there are signs that warn you; “watch your step”, “wait for light”, “sharp turn ahead” etc, there are none in nature. So unless people are taught; they just don’t know. Therefore I think we as hunters should make an effort to teach. Donate some time to speak at schools and teach kids the basics. Lets share our knowledge, maybe it will save a life.

Some people are just idiots, straight up. I am Native American and I lived in Alaska for about 7 years, but there's no way in hell I would go and try to survive out in the wilderness unless I knew EXACTLY what I was doing. Many people just do stuff like this to prove something to themselves or others. That Alexander Supertramp (Chris) guy was just a dumb rich kid who should have thought things through. My sister lives in Fairbanks and she thinks he's a huge dumbass for what he did. To the locals out there, he is a joke. You can't stop people from being stupid, but you CAN inform them and try to help them see the light.

2008-05-18 03:05:35 by Bear Crap

This survival kit is a basic kit designed to be carried whenever you venture into the wild. It is lightweight and will help you start a fire build ...

Running away (survivalists and adventurers in paticular read)?
(BEFORE YOU BEGIN READING, LET ME TELL YOU THAT THIS ISN'T A HURRIED, FRANTIC, ANGUISHED POST AND I'M IN MY RIGHT MIND. THIS IS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT AND PREPARING FOR NEARLY A YEAR)


For about 8 months, I've been silently plotting and planning to run away. I can't explain why, you wouldn't understand... Well, let's just say I'm a loser even by loser standards. I have no friends at school, I'm almost completely inept at most things, and I'm just... A freak. I can't explain it... But I keep having to make exceptions when options are given to the year/group as a whole, IE "Oh, that doesn't apply to me then" "Oh, I'd better not get in the achiever's way". Believe me I've tried to be friendly to people, but people just find me scary or creepy. I'm sick of being told to smile when I look like a ******* pedophile when I do.

I'm in year 11 at school. I know that things aren't going to improve or get better when I go into sixth form, well perhaps for "shy, quiet and slightly wierd" people that are commonly found in schools. But not for one-of-a-kind monsters like me. I've had an urge to run away for some time, but I've had a few things holding me back;

1.) Survival
I'm pretty confident I can survive if I prepare beforehand with equipment and supplies, but I still need a few tips from experienced outdoor adventurers.

2.) Reason

What am I going to do each day? How will I pass the time? What will happen if I'm caught by authorities? Is everyone at school going to know and make fun of me for it (Which will happen if it's leaked out, which it most likely will). In fact, because of that, I know that my little adventure isn't going to be permanent.

3.) Worry

I feel sick when I imagine my mum worrying about me. My plan is to escape at 4am and hide away in a cranny until morning (there's loads of countryside South of our drive), but before I escape, I'm going to leave her a long, detailed note, taking care to make it seem as though I'm not in distress and I'll come back if I'm having trouble. Give her a bit of reassurance.


I'm doing this as an alternative to suicide, because I don't want to go to Hell. I don't know if it exists or not, but eternal suffering doesn't sound very nice.

Is something going on at home that makes you want to run away or something at school you can't face? If you don't want to talk about it on here please feel free to email me. It just doesn't make sense that you want to run away this bad, but are saying your mom will worry about you, so it kind of seems like you and your mom are okay on some level. You may actually be surprised that some people on here may understand what you are going though.

It is winter and cold were you live right? So you'd need to make sure you bring the proper clothes with you. (gloves, hat, scarf, boots, jacket) for when it gets colder at night. You'd need to look out for wild animals especially if you are in open places. You'd probably have to bring a weapon with you for self-protectioon against creepy people. You'd need to look for areas that are sheltered and safe to sleep and just hang out inside different places during the day. You could bring a notebook with to write down what you experience.

I know you don't want to hear this, but I strongly advise you to try and face whatever is bothering you because running away does nothing. Please try to trust me on this. You could end up being raped, kidnapped or killed even if you don't think it can't happen you'll be surprised at what can actually happen to you out there. Please try to talk to someone about this.

2008-12-01 15:20:04 by Abomination