Alright so here in this thread we can talk about what skills weve learned what techniques we think are the best etc aka woodland knowledge, feel free to post videos or infographics if they happen to apply
Example: best way to make a shelter
This should be based on personal experience and can be a little thing that makes shit easier or a bigger skill that took practice to master
I will start with just a simple trick I've learned which is bring 91% isopropyl alcohol for quick wash downs after exposure to bad shit such as poison oak or poison ivy, I used to get it so bad my airways would shut on me but ever since I started basic washes of my arms and hands and legs I will get minimal irritation and has been vital for my survival on extended trips. No my skin does not get "too dry".
Pic is the McKenzie river in oregon took it today while riding my bike off-trail
>>624020
Oops upside down!
Another oregon pic hopefully not upside down
>>624020
perhaps silly, but using snacks as kindling works well.
I was recently in Big Bend NP. No open fires allowed; only charcoal grills (absurd rule) and being desert there is no kindling to collect even if i wanted to. I had cheapo charcoal but no starter fluid. I used a handful of Doritos to get the coals started and had a lovely dinner of canned corned beef hash.
There is enough oil in fried snacks (doritos, fritos, cheetos....) that they burn like a candle
>>624160
I figured out doritos burned when I was a bored ass teenager.
>>624160
Thats epic
i was out the other day collecting fatwood and sap, it left black stains all over my axe even after i had cleaned of all the residue with some lighter fuel.
found out the best thing for it is hand sanitizer and can confirm it works brilliantly.
if you chop your foreskin off with an axe in the middle of the woods the outdoors jew fairy will grant you three wishes
>>625195
but of course your 3 wish can only be one of the remaining four C
>>624020
So what skills would /out/ consider the basic essential skills to have for going out?
>>627346
Basic foraging: crown berries, compound berries and anything that looks like a strawberry is edible. Anything with six sepals and four petals is edible. All round stemmed plants with blade-like leaves and single seed pods are edible grasses (before you turn your nose up, grass includes corn, wheat and rice)
Anything that looks like a mushroom, onion, carrot or any smooth berry is probably poisonous.
Easy enough to remember, is nearly always true. The only exception I'm aware of is a poisonous compound berry in south America.
>>627354
Anything with hair is edible.
>That doesn't mean she shouldn't shave.
>>627354
I mean, I'm thinking of trying to assemble a "how to go out and not die" syllabus, and was actually going to start a thread about it before I saw this.
Not looking for tips (though by all means), but particular skills or areas of knowhow people should have.
Foraging would be one, as part of food gathering. Navigation - how to use read a map, how to navigate by the stars, trailfinding, etc. Dealing with weather - reading the weather before it comes, proper layering, what kind of shelters are adequate for what conditions, etc.
>>627355
Also fuck this, body hair is wonderful and/but people should make their own decisions about their bodies.
>>627346
Cutting firewood is a waste of time and energy. Anything worth burning can be broken by swinging it against a tree.
Hammocks require mats or underquilts at surprisingly warm temperatures.
A couple drops of generic unscented bleach is the fastest and safest way to purify water. So safe, in fact, it's in all US tap water.
Squirrel poles.
The best flint and steel you can buy comes with a butane accelerant. Its sold under the brand name BIC.
Water will always lead you to people.
If you get lost, just remember that people used to do this with nothing but stone tools. Stay calm, you'll be fine.
>>627356
I actually know a thing or two about skyreading. Tall clouds that sort of look like anvils indicate that a thunderstorm is probably approaching. In order to tell how long itll come you have to feel the wind and judge for yourself. Know the differences between overcast and soon to be rain, overcast may have corpsuvular rays(probably mispelt that) and will have a greyish colour. Soon to be rain is much darker, and has fewer holes in coverage. If you can feel a warm wind and also cold winds its going to be a thunder storm. As for shelter from rain, make a simple hut, with leaves for shackles. Upgrade to bark for long term.
>>627356
Anything I add, feel free to elaborate on for your work. It's really all just common sense. A good source of basic information is your standard army field manual. It's going to be hard to top that, actually, but I'm looking forward to what else can be added, that isn't in there.
>>627357
I was absolutely joking.
Paracord inner threads do in fact make excellent fishing line. Gorge hooks work surprisingly well, too. And while I wouldn't exactly recommend it, slightly dried human blood (well, any blood, but human is always available) makes a decent substitute for bait on wooden gorge hooks.
>>624020
Sleeping is made much easier if you close your eyes.
Every day, you need to drink between 1 and 100 liters of water.
Never eat too many spiders.
>>627372
I get super earnest when I'm tired.
All the tips are solid, but I'm looking for a list of areas to flesh out later. I'm trying to make an outline to fill in with information from what I know, other resources like field manuals, etc.
The general idea is getting me and other like-minded friends together and going through this list of skills together and filling in each other's gaps until we're all as proficient as we can get. Then throwing something up online that others can use.
>>627369
This is a skill that's kinda been lost to the ages. I've tried looking it up, but there's no good information out there.
Three of anything is a distress signal. Whisle blows, a row or triangle of stones. Also, a plus sign means you need medical help, arrow means you moved.
If you're making a field guide, don't make the common mistake of alphabetizing the plants section. If I knew what it was called, I wouldn't need the fucking book. Plants should be catagorized by leaf pattern, that's the fastest way to identify something, and gets people in the habit of proper identification.
>>627376
That's going to be really hard to do. Not only are there major differences between a tropics field manual and an arctic field manual, but for long-term survival, there differences in how you should cook your food, depending on if you've got for instance pine or cedar wood available. You'd almost have to have a general tips section, with detailed guides for specific areas and seasons.
Kinda a moot point if you're already lost, but always put salt in your bag. I did 15 miles/day for three days once. By day three, I was thirsty as hell no matter how much I drank and started becoming delusional. Hyponatremia is no joke.
Cougars hunt alone, and they're pretty quiet, keep a laser pointer or ball of yarn handy as a distraction so you can get away.
This is exactly the kind of thread I need to improve my outdoorsmanship.
Especially since I have such low experience
>>627397
It sounds like you were dehydrated. Anyway, good trail foods like jerky or trail mix or ramen are loaded with salt. Carrying a bag of salt that you are not cooking with seems fedorish
I feel like this doesnt need to be said but to build a proper fire all you need is fuel and 2 sticks.
Take a stick, cut a notch in, and stamd you other stick in it. Rub your hand back and forth to get it moving and move them in a downward motion.(if you have a bow shaped stick and some vine, string the stick, and loop the vine around the stick, get a flat rock and use it to push the stick down, while moving the bow back and forth to spin the starter stick.)
This will take about 10 minutes, and when it starts smoking you have coals. With these coals you can light tinder, which can light kindling, which can light fuel.
As a avid bushcrafter for the last 4 or 5 years I have had a lot of people ask me about fire more than any other subject. Our brains are wired to know that fire means safety and comfort. Keeps the bogie man away if you will. But more importantly than keeping the big bad wolf away, it gives you moral and the ability to stay warm, boil water, and prepare food, create tinctures and other things such as pine pitch glue.
So I always recommend having a system of items to have with you to aid in building fires so you don't have to rely on primitive earth skills. But to master the primitive skills so you'll always have that as a default level incase your gear fails or you're caught out with nothing.
I've created fire with bow drills, pump drills, fire piston, solar ignition, flint and steel, and ferro rod (preferred method for myself).
What really aids in knowing the local materials in your area that you can use. Knowing where a pine tree thicket is at could provide fat wood. Knowing where Birch trees are at so you can utilize the oils in the bark. Being able to see the path of the sun and figuring out that there is a good chance of dried grass on the top of the mountain or side that can be used to create a birds nest.
For me, I'd say learn fire until you can't do it wrong.
>>627548
Cells can't get hydrated without sodium. I was drinking about two gallons per day, which probably made it worse. I was also carrying a forty pound bag fifteen miles per day in mid July, so I was sweating pretty darn hard.
>>627902
Weren't you eating food? Anyway 40 pound pack, there's your problem.
>inB4 I was military and carried 60 pounds so I need the cast iron pan
>>624665
Or just alcohol. I always carry methylated spirits, just a multitude of uses
