Best Wilderness Survival Guide
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I wanted to poll the audience and get some opinions: What is the best wilderness survival guide? |
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There's only one real expert to trust. You know who it is: |
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Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival is fascinating. Pretty comprehensive. Literally covers trapping bears. |
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I was kind of thinking about surviving off the land in case of an emergency. And what exactly do you mean by a "spot locator." |
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Survive! by Les Stroud is probably the most realistic, no-BS guide to how to live long enough to get out or be rescued when things go sideways in a variety of environments that I've encountered. |
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+1 for Tom brown's field guide. He covers a lot of plant finding and IDing, too. And fishing and snares. And he's from NJ! His book The Trapper is also really cool and a quick read |
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SinRopa wrote:Unless you fall into that first category, the time/money you'll invest in becoming a survival expert might be better spent on a SPOT locator or something similar, especially if all you're looking to do is stay alive in the event one of your outdoor adventures goes awry.Agreed. Your best "survival" tool is this: A satellite phone will work anywhere you have a clear view to the sky. The service is normally expensive ($2-3 a minute for prepaid plans), but if you only use it for emergencies, it is not that expensive. It is possibly better than the SPOT because the prepaid plans do not have monthly contract charges. Also, unlike some of the SPOT devices, a satellite phone is, well, a phone so you can have a two-way conversation. |
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SinRopa wrote:Quick disclaimer: I've done a ton of outdoor survival training, and honestly, most of these guides are SO detailed and have SO much info that you can't retain it all, so unless this kind of thing is your full time hobby, you'd better have it with you in your time of need. Most times common sense and some prior planning will keep you out of situations where you'd need to find food in the wild...just my 2 cents...This^ In general: You can survive without 3 weeks w/o food, 3 days w/o water (and 3 min w/o air - 3 is just a good # to remember). Finding wild edibles can fun, but really is more or less unnecessary, unless you get REALLY lost. |
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There's a difference between 'primitive living' skills and 'survival' skills. |
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dholte wrote: and 3 min w/o airThis guy would disagree: huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/… That said, I can barely hold my breath for 30 seconds. I guess I am not cut out to be a SAR swimmer. |
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ACR ResQLink 406
No subscriptions needed. You just pay the price of the unit and thats it. Yea, there's no way to communicate but you're sending a signal at 5 watts (0.5 watts for the SPOT) using the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) frequency. If you do use the beacon all you have to do is send it back to ACR with a briefing on what happened and they'll replace the unit. |
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Consider this - people who get lost die from dehydration, injuries, and/or environmental exposure (heat or hypothermia). They don't starve to death. |
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Competency outdoors is a great skill to have but if you're alone, a SAT phone is a great way to save your bacon in an emergency. Any time I go on an overnight in the backcountry, my wife requires I take one with me. You can rent them online. They mail it to you and you mail it back when you're done with it. |
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don't forget to take your pas -- you can make it into a cross to guard against demonic possession, and vampires. |
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I like guides from shepherdsurvives website. I learned a lot of new survival practices there |
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just face it.... |
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RockinOut wrote: ACR ResQLink 406 No subscriptions needed. You just pay the price of the unit and thats it. Yea, there's no way to communicate but you're sending a signal at 5 watts (0.5 watts for the SPOT) using the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) frequency. If you do use the beacon all you have to do is send it back to ACR with a briefing on what happened and they'll replace the unit.We had a fatality on Mount Washington in NH last year where a woman used her emergency beacon and they still were not able to locate the woman. The signal was bouncing all around the ridge, I want to say within a mile radius or something like that... an impossible search area. That event alone changed my perception of the beacons... I'd go with a GPS Sat phone if I had a choice. Hands down. |
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This is a great book that gets into how your mental and emotional state plays a huge role in how successful you are in surviving an emergency situation in the backcountry. |
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For those of you considering a sat ph.... |