Are we spoiled?

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rman1201

Member
if i get stuck somewhere ill need them, if technology fails ill need them.
we need them like we need MA, they're optional but good to know
 
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blablabla

Member
Well living in the Appalachians gives me a view of the skills without neccesarily putting me in a position where my life depends on them, and thanks to personal interest I've got a bit of experience in disaster and wilderness survival so I've got an idea what you're talking about and I agree they should be kept allive.
I just don't feel that they're neccesary or even appropriate for most people to spend time learning, and I don't feel that the transition from basic wilderness survival skills to the basic survival skills these days really indicates any loss in integrity or strength of character.

Now I do feel that there are plenty of people who are just wildly ignorant and self absorbed and miserably unaware of any sense of self preservation but it knows no age. These days it doesn't matter how efficiently you can hunt, skin and prepare game if you're too waspy to acknowledge the cars in the intersection you're walking through or too ignorant of or frustrated with modern media to assess the risks associated with travelling on a given country's airline.
 
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Sean_Plays_Guitar

New member
Yes but I have the skills to survive in much of the northern hemisphere and the ability to quickly learn to adapt to different natural environments given appropriate knowledge. City survival gets you probably less than 1% of the land covered surface of the planet.

So my survival environment is bigger than your and many other people's
 
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jordie

New member
Unfortunately for that exclusive generalization, the vast majority of that land is dotted with hubs in which those city-savvy individuals may quickly find what they need.
 
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dougeebear

Member
Since most people in the western world live communally, then skills that enable you to live within one of those communities have a vastly greater value.

You may be able to live off the land, but I don't need to nor would I ever want to. I don't have to worry about a lean hunting period or a poor crop, because I can get my food from a market.

I'm struggling to believe that I'm having to spell that out.

If you want to live out in the sticks, then you need skills to facilitate your survival in that environment, but to claim that because that wilderness occupies a greater geographical area makes those skills more important is seriously flawed logic.
 
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baileyL

New member
SHTF I have a good chance of survival... that's what I really want, heck that's why I train in martial arts. And I think it's one of those things which ties us to our humanity. The city environment is artificial and at least for me being out in nature and living mostly off the land, being able to survive on my own, that true freedom.
Also I think it's more the resourcefulness than anything that's the key thing. My grandpa grew up during the depression and many of the attitudes and personal characteristics and yes strength of character which were necessary for him and his family to survive the depression were imparted to me alongside those skills.


Resourcefulness and adaptability. I can judge whether or not a swamp is safe to walk through, a little literacy and information searching is not too far beyond me. Besides if I can build a cabin with few tools why should that same resourcefulness not apply to say... electrical engineering?
 
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Kissmyax

Member
That's all very true but I have those skills on top of other skills (so no you don't have to spell that out) just like you have martial arts skills to defend yourself on top of linguistic ability to try and talk your way out of a possible confrontation... and I didn't say more important just that I can survive over a greater range of environments than most people and that has utility as far as my personal safety and survival goes.
 
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stephm

Member
I'm not really seeing why the attitudes that allow one to learn the older skills transfer to modern ones, but not vice versa.
Or do you mean something else?
 
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timr

Member
They do entirely! For example a civil engineer would have no problem building my deer snare and after a few tries might even come up with some improvements.
But there's a different kind of thinking whe you're in the bush. You have lots of tools and resources that are plainly visible in the city because you've been taught them. You have many resources in the bush but you have to know what they are. One example is edible plants. You can boil and eat the roots of cattails for example... in the proper season.

And I also think that the personal characteristics of resourcefulness and mental resilience my grandfather developed which allowed him to learn and develop the skills were directly related to his being raised in a 13 child family during the great depression.
 
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tennislover

Member
On a long enough time line the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

Don't try to hide your fight club references. Muahahaha!



Ontario actually.
 
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KristinB

Member
In many cases, yes, I would agree... in wilderness survival... no, not really no. It requires some very specialized knowledge.
I'm not talking lost in the woods with people coming to find you. I mean hatchet, knife, tarp, clothing a bag, and some food, and being able to survive for long periods of time.
 
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FirstNameAlexC

Member
I agree there is specialised knowledge, and having spent a lot of time in the wilderness, being both a country-boy and a bushcraft enthusiast, I too am fairly well versed in this. However, a lot of it does come down to logic. I don't think it's necessarily accurate to assume that anyone who doesn't have these skill can't pick some of them up along the way when they are in a bad situation.
 
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RachelZ

Member
Wait wait, lots of tools and resources in the city, because you've been taught them. Lots of resources in the country but you need to know what they are. You know this magically? Isn't it taught as well? Learning one is the same as learning the other, so long as you've got a teacher, or some resources to work from (and given the preponderance of online/written resources, someone who civilisation smart might have better odds of finding resources on the wilderness then vice-versa )

I don't really disagree with you in terms of those skills being useful skills that should be remembered, I'm a country boy too, so far as you can be in the UK. Which only really means is I know how to gut game small enough to be taken out with an air rifle (And hidden in a decent size jacket ) and have a rough idea of where to start with a crop rotation if I had to start from scratch. I get frustrated with people who don't have a clue outside a city, especially the kids who don't know where their food comes from, but it doesn't hinder their ability to survive and thrive in the world we've set up. And should some kind of chemical/influenza/zombie apocalypse occur, I'm heading back north and this lot can lump it! Just means more leftover resources for me to scavenge if they don't make it
 
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