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Home →
Survival
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Wilderness Survival
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Generally speaking, "survival" falls into
one of two broad categories:
- Staying alive until help arrives and you're rescued
- Living in the wilderness as a way of life
The emphasis here is mostly on the second approach, although
the two overlap, of course. The first approach would
include, for example, how to utilize your vehicle for
helping you to stay alive, advice on whether you should try
to hike out back to civilization or not, and so on. There's
very little of that kind of material here (at least so far).
The focus here is on living in the
wilderness in a primitive fashion. That means without guns,
axes, other manufactured items, log cabins, and so on.
Although, again, manufactured items are not excluded from
the material that is presented here.
Of course, all the material presented here can aid you in
both staying alive until help arrives, as well as in living in the
wilds in a primitive or semi-primitive fashion, whether it
be as a hobby or in a conscious effort to live close to the
land. |
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DISCLAIMER
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 All of the information
on this website is offered with the assumption that
you and others will exercise proper caution and care
in doing any of the things that are presented on
this site.
YOU, and ONLY YOU, are responsible for
the use to which you put this material.
Take responsibility for your own actions.
Some activities related
to wilderness survival can be dangerous if done
without proper care and attention. Please be careful
and attentive when engaging in any of these
activities.
In other words be reasonable, responsible,
take proper
precautions, and
exercise common sense.
The techniques shown on this website are meant solely for use in primitive
wilderness survival situations. Please note that in most places it is illegal to
use these methods to capture animals unless you are actually in a survival situation.
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Water
- Purification of Water
- Sources of Water
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Shelter
- Debris huts
- Wigwams
- Snow
shelters
- Thatch
shelters
- Brush
shelters
- Trees
- Caves
- Natural shelters
- Scout
pits
- Yurts
- Teepees
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Clothing
- Birch bark shoes
- Hats
- Snow goggles
- Buttons
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I once asked Stalking Wolf,
"Grandfather, how come you're not cold in the winter or hot in the
summer?"
He said, "I am, but heat and cold do not bother
me."
I asked why not, and after a long pause in which he seemed
to be weighing whether or not I was ready for his answer, he said,
"Because they're real."
-- Tom Brown Jr, from Tom Brown's Field Guide to
Nature Observation and Tracking |
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Cordage
- Cordage from various materials: Dogbane, Leatherwood,
Roots, Agave, Swamp Milkweed, Nettles, Basswood
- Pictures
of Finished Cordage
- Techniques
- Collecting & preparing materials
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Traps
- Figure
4 deadfall trigger
- "No-knife"
Figure-4 deadfall trigger
- "One-stick"
Figure-4 deadfall trigger
- "No-knife", "One-stick" Figure-4 deadfall trigger
- Paiute
Deadfall
- Paiute Spring Stick
- Bait Stick Deadfall
- Split Stick Deadfall
- Friction Point
Split StickTrigger
- John McPherson Style
Deadfall
- Spring Traps
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Snares
- Rolling Snare
- Plug Snare
- Bird Snares
- Pencil Snare
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Hunting
- Bow & arrow
- Slings
- Throwing sticks
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Blowgun
- Animal calls
- stories
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Food & Cooking
- Edible & poisonous wild
plants & fungi
- Finding and preparing wild foods
- Cooking methods
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"If you have a choice to do a vision quest or a
week long survival, do the survival. You will learn so much more"
--Tom Brown Jr. |
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Hides
- Hides being prepared, techniques, experiences
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Containers
- Making baskets, bowls, and other containers
- Birchbark, wood, hide, twining, pottery, natural found
containers
- Stone containers
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"Over the years I have come to realize the importance
of all physical skills in the philosophy of living as one with the
Earth. It was not just the skills of tracking and awareness that are
important, but also the skills of survival. In the times before the
reservations, according to Grandfather, the Native Americans held all
practice of the physical skills in the same esteem that they held the
highest spiritual ceremonies and sacred objects. As the sacred,
religious skills were for the survival of the spirit, the physical
skills were for the survival of the flesh. One could not exist without
the other, for both were considered to be sacred gifts from the
Creator."
-- Tom Brown Jr, from The Science and Art of Tracking |
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Stone
- Working with stone to make stone containers, decorations, lamps, tools
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Winter
- Snowshoes
- Snow goggles
- Shelters
- Fire
- More
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Vision
- Snow goggles
- Survival visionwear
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Health
- Personal hygiene, health
- Illness and injury
- Snakebite, rabies
- Lyme Disease
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Navigation
- Tips on how to find your way in the wilds
- Improvised compasses
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What is life? It is the flash of a firefly
in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the
little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the
sunset.
--Crowfoot,
Blackfoot warrior and orator |
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