Prepare for Primitive

It is time to become organized, prepared, focused and self-sufficient.

You can do it. If you don’t take control of your future now, there are dark and powerful forces that are prepared to shape that future for you.

Indeed, there isn’t a whole lot that most of us can do individually to stop what is coming, or what is being done by powerful people at central banks, in Washington or in hot spots around the globe.

But one thing we still have power over is ourselves, and that power grows with the skills and mindset that we develop and train with. That will remain important, whatever comes our way.

Here’s a video of how one man takes on being alone for a week in wilderness:

Tom Mcelroy-Wild Survival notes:

In this video (part one and two) I go into the wilderness of North Eastern North America with only a knife and live off the land for a week. I document many of the crucial steps and tips and tricks that I do to survive in the forest. Skills shown are shelter, primitive fire, bark containers, water purification, fishing, weaving natural rope, bark shelters, trapping, edible plants, primitive cooking, fish traps….and tons more.

What would happen if the SHTF over the weekend (it very well could), and you were forced to resort to your bug out bag, a few supplies and the wild around you? Could you make it on your own if civilization collapsed around you, and many others were competing for basic needs as well?

Many of us could do it, but not everyone is prepared.

Establishing water, shelter, food, fire and more become the most important priorities in a crisis, and only with practice do we gain the competency to handle ourselves in nature, against the odds and without the support of modern society and its conveniences.

Someday, it may unfortunately no longer be practice but necessity. If that day comes, it would be best to be ready.

SHTFP

23 Comments on "Prepare for Primitive"

Davy on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 8:41 am 



This sounds like fun but not realistic. There is not enough wilderness to make this practical for many doomers at least initially in the coming die off. It is a realistic option for the young that survive the coming die off. The older we get the less bodily fatigue we can take so for the older folks will find it better to think about small agricultural settlements. Depending on the die off we may have great expanses of wilderness available to occupy. Most likely the survival theme would be better to stress small agricultural settlements for most of the population and most collapse scenarios. It is likely these lone wolf type of survivalist will coalesce into of small bands of wilderness survivalist. These bands will likely become raiders of small agricultural settlements. This reminds me of a great book on the Comanche period where small bands of Comanches did raids into Mexico attaching the small settlements. “Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History” http://tinyurl.com/zg2l76d. It is funny how history rhymes.

penury on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 9:29 am 



The military for many years has provided “survival training” to those who could be required to use it at some point. Get a copy of their manual and really learn what survival means. You ain’t going to make it.

JuanP on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 9:37 am 



I have been into primitive survival skills since I was a small child and I first learned how to use a bow drill to start a fire. It was my main hobby and pastime for more than 20 years.

Here is a link to a free PDF of the US Army Survival Manual. Warning: This file has been reprinted illegally without the consent of the US Army!

The book can be bought online at Amazon. I recommend purchasing the British SAS Survival Guide, though.

JuanP on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 9:38 am 



Oops! I forgot the link: http://www.preppers.info/uploads/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf

efarmer on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 10:16 am 



I think it is a great personal confidence builder and enabler of creative and pragmatic thinking. In a real to scale scenario, I submit the short list of ingredients would consist of not being obese, and willing to work but instead waiting for a FEMA truck to roll by and toss out a sack or case of bottled water.
A number of young people engaging with an elderly farmer to replace diesel work with human and animal labor would be a sustainable approach for example, after your week with a knife in the wilderness the need for real shelter of some sort and a shot at sustainable food and water would manifest big time. The real solution in such conditions is the ability to form small symbiotic groups of individuals to pool labor and resources, and then to network into other ones. Mountain Men came back with beaver pelts to the big town to cash in, in this scenario, you would not wish to get anywhere near a big town, and so the ad hoc creation of symbiotic villages that network seem a viable route. Of course the survival training is like boot camp in that it makes a good individual unit to construct an ad hoc “village” with. Parallel to this will be the hang time of bunkered folks with Dinty Moore stew, Mountain House freeze dried stuff, MRE’s, and enough beans to Gold Medal in farting for three consecutive Olympiads, emerging as they realize the best use for their ammo is bartering it to others that hunt for fresh food both grown and hunted. Pokemon Go will change formats to where you don’t need a smartphone but instead walk around finding hidden chits for biscuits which they receive if they return to camp with firewood or edible berries.

Hawkcreek on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 1:15 pm 



All skills are useful, even survival skills you hope to never use. In the event of a SHTF situation, most people will just die in place in the cities. Anti-preparation folks would be among the first to go. They talk about the only safety lying in combining into villages, because they plan on talking their way into a parasite position in one of the villages.
Should be plenty of wilderness left to survive in, it you have the skills to do it.
If you don’t have any skills, or preps, just say your prayers. That should help.

Lore on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 1:49 pm 



First, you have to have a wilderness to use your wilderness survival skills in. This is just a bygone fantasy. You’d be much better off learning suburban survival skills.

Apneaman on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 2:17 pm 



Hunter-gatherer populations show humans are hardwired for density

“To see how scaling exponents apply in the case of hunter-gatherer territories, let’s look at the range of possible values and what each would mean in terms of density. If the exponent were equal to one, then home ranges would scale linearly with population size—10 people would occupy 10 square miles and 100 people would occupy 100 square miles. If the exponent were 1.2, then a group of 100 would occupy 250 square miles. And if the exponent were 0.75, a group of 100 people will only occupy 32 square miles. This last one is what Hamilton and his co-authors found.

Their result is the average of 339 societies, and there’s a bit of heterogeneity within that statistic. Not every group has a perfectly “average” way of hunting and gathering. Some hunt more, some gather more. Some find food on land, others in the water. Where and how hunter-gatherers get their food has a large impact on how densely they live, causing the density exponent to deviate slightly or greatly from three-quarters. For instance, groups which derive more than 40 percent of their food from hunting require larger territories because prey is not always evenly distributed or easily found. Their home ranges scale to the nine-tenths power, indicating sparser living. Gatherers require less space—their home ranges’ scale at the 0.64 power—largely due to plants’ sedentary lifestyles.”

http://persquaremile.com/2011/08/17/hunter-gatherer-populations-show-humans-are-hardwired-for-density/

bs on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 4:04 pm 



Suburban survival: learn to eat asphalt. Or farm on toxic soil.

Hawkcreek on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 4:38 pm 



If a suburban area has no power, no water, little wildlife – then it is just poor quality wilderness.
A modified set of wilderness survival skills would work just fine, IMO.

JuanP on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 6:12 pm 



Survival skills are useful in wilderness, rural, suburban, or urban environments. Do you know which of the weeds, trees, and plants that grow in your area are edible or have medicinal properties? Do you know how to desalinate or purify water? How to collect rainwater? How to trap small animals and fish? How to start a fire in a number of different ways, both using natural or man made materials? How to build a shelter? I do and I can apply my skills in the Amazon jungle, the Everglades, a mountain, or in a concrete jungle like Miami! LOL!

JuanP on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 6:19 pm 



“Hunter-gatherer populations show humans are hardwired for density.” I would argue that humans are hardwires to always breed to the point of environmental saturation and that that has forced us to live in density! It is all about the fact that we can’t stop fucking like rabbits! That is why I had a Vasectomy. I like fucking like a rabbit, too, just like every other animal but I understand that the consequences are undesirable, so I got snipped. Maybe you all should get snipped, too? LOL!

Lore on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 7:17 pm 



Humans can live a lifetime scavenging off the remains of civilization. Not so much in a strange countryside denuded of wildlife, and good, safe places to shelter.

Furthermore the lone survivalist is a myth in a SHTF situation. You’re going to need every able bodied person just to preserve and protect.

Davy on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 8:25 pm 



You can learn to be primitive without the wilderness part. Learn to be stoic and endure privation. Learn what it means to be hungry by fasting. Go offline and out of car transport. Go scavenging locally. Try dumpster diving. Get on a routine and incorporate it into your mental and physical workout. You may want to take your two week vacation and do a being primitive walk about. Do it in your local. Learn adversity and privation. Hang out with poor people if you are not poor. Beg for money. There is plenty of primitive if you use your imagination and common sense. You may think I am joking but I am serious. These are right actions in preparation for collapse. These actions elicit humility inner strength. There must be something to these actions because this is what Taoist did back when China was locked in civil war in the waring states period.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 8:40 pm 



Good advice, Davy, except I’ll pass on the dumpster diving and begging training. Instead, I’ll spend more time learning more about my chosen crops, how to preserve them long term, how to prepare them. I’m always thinking that I should go a week or two (or more) just living off what I grow here, nothing more. See what it’s like. That would be a lot of potatoes, eggs, johnnycakes, cornbread, onions, garlic and spices all with liberal doses of honey for me. If I do it at the right time in summer, then I’ll get a bunch of strawberries, melons, string beans, tomatoes, zucchini and cucumber too. Maybe I’ll top it all off by trapping a local squirrel and toasting it over a rocket stove fire. Now admit it, that’s a lot better than dumpster diving and begging!

Davy on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 9:00 pm 



NR, don’t feast too much or you will get fat and lazy…lol

Northwest Resident on Tue, 19th Jul 2016 9:39 pm 



Valid concern. However, most likely my zombie control endeavors will keep me slim and trim. And hopefully alive long enough to enjoy the fruits of my labor!

dooma on Wed, 20th Jul 2016 5:36 am 



If you want some realistic survival skills training, then you can’t beat jumping on a plane and traveling to a place like Haiti or Venezuela.

JuanP on Wed, 20th Jul 2016 7:21 am 



Dooma, Not a bad advice. I spent several years of my life hitchhiking across South America without a penny when I was young and single. The things I learned on those trips would fill an interesting book and would come in handy in a collapse scenario.

efarmer on Wed, 20th Jul 2016 9:30 am 



My observation that this survival skills training is a bridging skill is not an attack on preparations. I have spent days in the wilderness with just a blanket and knife, and I have a bag out bag, and an OK pantry. I do tend to be sarcastic when I have seen the countless websites over the last 15 years paint a SHTF scenario of their own design, then show you how to beat their prefabbed SHTF with a deluxe kit they are selling. There are so many SHTF scenarios from seismic, climate, cosmic, volcanic,flood,warfare,societal breakdown,etc. vectors that I think being prepared and having some kit is very wise, while predicting your favorite SHTF scenario and specializing your strategy for just that one is not.

Davy on Wed, 20th Jul 2016 12:06 pm 



There are SHTF basics that are common across the spectrum of SHTF scenarios. Cover the basics which are really just life basics. Many of the SHTF basics are nothing more than taking the initiative to take care of yourself. Modern life has bred this out of us by delocalizing us from our local sustainability. Today we have consumerism and mass travel that allows us to flee if needed and buy as needed. This allows us to be efficient with our time and money. Why prepare when you can get what you need post crisis event. Efficiency reduces resilience by leaving out the step of preparing for contingencies. Society offers us these luxuries now at least that is what everyone thinks. We have been told we have a safety net. We have insurance. We have the emergency services. All these status quo tools allows us to go survival lite but at the expense of sustainability and resilience.

When you combine a large population of people with this attitude you create a situation where risk has been spread out and assumed by the whole population. This then becomes a problem when big shocks hit. It becomes a dangerous problem when society is in deflation and decay. We have a people that have not only been dumbed down by consumerism and mass leisure these people are also made helpless to their own personal safety. We are a people divorced from the existential reality of survival on our own merit. The reality is you only have yourself at the end of the day. This is especially true as the collapse process gathers strength and the social fabric deteriorates.

Downsize with dignity means recognizing the realities of existential survival are on a personal level. Turn away from consumerism and leisure that is not realistic with the realities of existential survival. I say this with the understanding that some don’t care because it has always been the case in human history that some live a cavalier life enjoying the day and sizing the moment is a typical human trait. This is very easy to do today because society is there to clean up the mess. It explains the many problems society allows because it can allow them without social failure. Many actions today are allowed without responsibility attached to them.

I am saying change your attitude back to what we once were where we did not have the luxury of being irresponsible without consequences of death or poverty. Practice relative sacrifice because it will allow you to downsize with dignity and pre-collapse in place. Even if you do not believe we have a collapse issue be aware of what is going on in society. Risk has been disseminated allowing us to live further away from sustainability and resilience. When the entire population is in this “risk spread” circumstance and society is in decay and deflation then recognize the dangerous circumstances that creates. Whole populations could be let loose from a common safety net with most unable to manage without it. At least make some basic risk management efforts. You buy insurance. Many practice preventative health efforts. Why not prep for collapse. If you choose to be cavalier fine but please don’t whine when you are facing starvation or forced migration and or death.

penury on Wed, 20th Jul 2016 12:49 pm 



Davy, your last paragraph illustrates why survival for most will be impossible. I can assure you that the majority of residents of the USA can not comprehend one third of what you said. Fewer than that would think that they individually have any responsibility for their own safety, that’s the govs job. I mean food will be available “what are EBT cards for? ” As long as we have “free” medical care why worry about medications? No electric supply, why call your power company and complain. Unless you personally have faced starvation, or witnessed it in a population you really do not know what the effects will be. To prepare individu8ally for collapse would be good, proper preparation should include two weeks without electric, without auto, no working devices, and a bunch of hungry neighbors.

Kenz300 on Thu, 21st Jul 2016 8:39 am 



The top 1% want it all….. and the RepubliCON party will give it to them………..

What do RepubliCONS believe…….. depends who is paying….. follow the money……. fossil fuels….. oil, coal natural gas…, nuclear, NRA………the top 1%

Are RepubliCONS the real EVIL DOERS………..they want to end Social Security, Medicare and access to contraception…….

RepubliCONS are the reason the middle class is shrinking……