Let me first define what the Diary of a Survivalist series was intended to do. I’ve been hearing for years from preppers that it really isn’t possible to live off the land long term for survival in a SHTF situation. That has always been a preposterous idea and our goal was to prove just how wrong this idea is. Its not only possible to survive off the land but with some limited training and equipment you can make it easy and comfortable. Now it is difficult to survive completely primitive with no real modern tools, but if you are equipped with a proper bug out bag then life can be very easy. Here is a quick rundown of the minimum essential items that should be in every bag.
Shelter- I prefer to carry a lightweight tarp because of the diverse amount of uses they have. Tents will never match up to a good basha tarp, except for their ability to keep out bugs. But you can’t have a fire with a tent and a mosquito net for your head will negate all the advantages of a tent over a tarp. So get a good tarp.
Water- The one item everyone should have in their bag is a good water filter. My favorite filter is expensive but it will filter 13,000 gallons of water, which means it won’t ever go out on you. The best one on the market is Katadyn Pocket Filter and if you have the money should be something everyone buys. The next most import thing is to make sure you have a stainless steel bottle, because you can boil water in it as well as carry it. I also recommend a bladder of some type and the best one on the market is probably the dromedary bag. Iodine also comes in handy when you are feeling to lazy to filter or boil your water. But should be used in very limited quantities.
Fire-This can be a difficult task if you aren’t well trained in how to get tinder from the land. So I recommend everyone get
some training on primitive and modern fire craft. But a flint and steel and cotton balls will do the trick every time. I also love the fire piston and regard this as one of the best methods to make fire. The bic lighter should also never be forgotten because it is cheap and you can carry several of them.
Food-If you are going to carry food in you BOB, I like to carry some peanut butter and maybe some honey. This is an
Too Easy!
extremely high calorie and protein food that will give you much needed energy in a small container. It can also be used as bait for almost anything. But my main source of food is going to come from the land. That’s why I carry a trapping kit, fishing kit, and .22 rifle. With these items I can easily procure meat and you don’t need much training to be able to catch food with these items time and time again. Combine these things with wild plants knowledge and you will eat like a king. If you don’t have wild plants training then you better get some! It is the only food that won’t run away from you.
Tools- Your most important items are your tools because they enable you to live off the land easily and effectively. Anything can be done primitively but it takes substantially more time and effort. You absolutely must carry a couple of good knives. Either a large knife/small knife setup or a small knife/small axe setup. I also recommend carrying a lightweight pack saw such as the Bahco Laplander. These little saws make quick work of medium diameter limbs and small cutting chores. You have to carry cordage also. These are must have items if you want to thrive instead of survive.
Take a look at these videos and watch our progress to through this week long experiment and see what it takes to survive in the wild with a well designed bug out kit. We can teach you how to do this with only a few classes and you will be able to survive with minimal equipment for the long term in almost any environment. Please subscribe and comment.
Here is our Video Documentary of surviving off the land (The video will lay out my complete bug out kit)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOfUzNxr7fQ
Bushcraft is an unusual word to so many people out there that I thought I would take the time to explain what bushcraft and the primitive arts is all about. In the beginning when you first start to begin your journey into survival training, everything will start with necessities. But as you grow it will change into an expression of yourself in your survival training. What do I mean by that? Once your skill level grows past a certain point you will begin to see a new light, just as fledgling seed sprout pokes its stem out of the soil. Your senses will open up to things you never even knew where there before. For instance, most people have no idea how much food is around them even in the most crowded cities! I cannot walk anywhere anymore without seeing food that can be harvested that other people would see as nothing. In fact, most of the weeds people kill in their yards are the most nutritious and useful plants on their property! Many wild edibles are so much more nutritious than what you can buy in the produce department at your local grocery store.
Once you understand the basics of survival then you will begin to put your own stamp on everything. From trap modifications of your own design to making primitive art. Primitive art is all about expressing yourself through the art of self reliance. Whether it be constructing your own primitive musical instruments or making a shelter like no other! There is so much to learn in this field that I guarantee that one person could not learn everything in 10 lifetimes. But it is the journey that forms our character. I go camping with people constantly and am always amazed at how little so many people know about the everyday happening in nature around them. Most people are so alien to their own planet! Modern man cannot even walk into the wilderness without a plethora of space age tools and hope to survive very long. It is almost as if we are astronauts having to carry life support equipment in our own environment! What would you do if your modern conveniences were stripped away from you and you were forced to live as 97% of the worlds past inhabitants lived on a daily basis. Most people will just roll over and die!
Bushcraft is the ability to utilize resources around you to harvest whatever you need from the land. Just as a journeyman apprentice for a carpenter needs only basic tools to construct most any structure, a bushcrafter only needs a few tools to be comfortable in the bush! And a true master can construct his tools and all his survival needs from absolutely nothing! He uses his mind as the master tool to produce all his wants. Once you have achieved this higher level I can guarantee that it will give a sense of self confidence that cannot be reproduced by any other trade or martial art. Primitive survival will give you the confidence to know that no matter what happens that the sun will shine again for you!
Check out what one of our members made by mixing the modern and the primitive in order to create his own unique bushcraft piece! Its a fishing pole made from a yo yo trap and a piece of bamboo! Great Job Steve!
Last year I made an all natural product for medicinal uses that surpasses my expectations all the time and I just had to share it with everyone! If you don’t know what salve is then you are in for a real medicinal treat. Salve can be used for an amazing amount of external ailments. I have personally used it on boils, bites, blemishes (pimples), deep cuts, infections, and rashes! Its made of a medicinal concoction that relieves all types of symptoms. This salve is the single best thing I have ever used for treating poison ivy. Its really amazing at how well it works. The yarrow numbs the skins and eliminates the itch and the anti-inflammatory plants dry the wound up! Try it for yourself!
Salve is made as follows:
Items Needed: olive oil (or rendered fat for primitive applications), bees wax, medicinal herb concoction of your choice, boiling pot, mason jar, cook top or fire
Favorite Personal Herb Blend: When you combine all these plant medicinal properties together this recipe creates one of the most potent external creams that one could have. Better than anything I have tried store bought.
Yarrow- coagulant, pain reliever, astringent, disinfectant, anti-bacterial (extremely powerful herb)
Willow- anti-inflammatory, contains same properties as active ingredient in aspirin, chewing bark relieves headaches
Plantain- great for all kinds of external wounds, anti-bacterial, and many wonderful properties that have been used as a medicinal for thousands of years
Garlic- known for its abilities to kill hundreds of different micro-organisms, anti-viral, bug repellent, etc.
Fill a pan with small amount of water about an inch or two deep. Bring it to a slow rolling boil on low heat. Next fill your mason jar with your custom herb concoction and then cover the herbs with olive oil. The more herbs the more potent its medicinal properties. Set the jar in the water and let them simmer for 20-30 minutes. Make sure to not let mixture get to hot or it will hurt the medicinal potency of the herbs. After the mixture has had plenty of time to simmer then remove the mason jar and pour the contents through a piece of cheese cloth to filter all the particles out. Keep filtering until cleared of leftover herb particles. When you have properly strained everything, then set the mason jar with the olive oil back in the water on low heat. Then begin adding your bees wax. Amounts vary depending on how much you plan to make, but just add enough to give the mixture the consistency of Neosporin after it has cooled. Set it out in a cool dry spot to setup and come back a few hours later and it is ready to go. This salve will last for years and is guaranteed to produce awesome results. Try this recipe out sometime and make comments about your results in the forum.
1 Comment »Okay. This is a serious topic and should be well thought out! Prepping depends a lot on your budget and your living circumstances. There are two survival philosophies: Bug In or Bug Out. Now even though I am a bug out practitioner I do believe it is more practical for most of the crowd to bug in! But let me clarify that I think people should have a good amount of food put away in case their is a food crisis or you are not financially fit enough to get food when hard times hits. So first is first, get yourself around 6 months worth of cheap staples like beans, flour and rice. This should not cost you much at all if you buy in bulk. For a few hundred dollars you can ensure that your family will have food and you can supplement that stockpile with foods you can gather in your area. Even in the city wild edibles are to be had everywhere, but they are bountiful in the wilderness.
Next investment I would make is to buy a good amount of conibear traps. At least 10- #110, 6- #220, 4- #330. Conibears are extremely effective traps and they last almost forever if you take care of them. They are lightweight and can be carried in a bug out bag and are more useful than almost anything you can have for putting food on the table. If properly deployed you could feed an entire family of four with just these traps. For instance, at our Primitive Hunting Techniques and modern trapping course we set out 4 #330 conibear traps and overnight we had two beavers in excess of 30 lbs. That is a lot of meat for only 4 traps and one 12 hour period. If you had all those traps out you could have more meat than you could eat if you knew where and when to trap, guaranteed! You will also want to buy some heirloom vegetable seeds and stockpile several kinds of different fruits and vegetables. Store them in your freezer to make them last longer and after each years harvest you can dry and keep the seeds!
After I got a stockpile of food together and a box of conibear traps then I would move on to building a bug out bag. And I am not talking about a 72 hour bag either. Put together a rucksack full of all the essentials one would need to survive on the move in the woods or an urban environment! This ruck should be complete and have everything you need! I know most people are most likely to bug in but the problem with bug in philosophy is that you are hiding all your eggs in one spot and if something happens that causes you to evacuate your area then all your stockpiles will do you no good. It is better to have a system for self sustainment than to depend solely on your household or caches for your needs! So first prepare to have to leave your home if necessary, but after your entire family is equipped and trained to use their kit then start focusing on storing things in your home.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that prepping is crazy or that bad things will never happen in America. Be a student of history and look what has happened generation after generation! Just about the only thing you can depend on in history is that bad times always return. They come in waves and sweep the unaware out into the deep. So don’t be shark bait! As Maynard from Tool would say, “Learn to Swim” (from the song Aenema, check it out)!
Summary: Put back six months worth of food, buy conibear traps and heirloom seeds, put together a bug out bag for family and train them in the basics, learn techniques to live off land, and then begin bug in prepping for longer terms when finances allow. Don’t ever solely depend on your home for everything, you must have a system of self sustainment wherever you find yourself!
