11 years alone in the Idaho wildernss, 1930s, without a gun, or a home, or even an axe. The guy had a pocketknife, a skillet, a coffepot, a wool blanket, a tarp, some hooks and line, and the clothes that he stood in. He lived another 2 years like that, but had stolen a single shot .22 rifle and 50 rds. He got a deer a month with the .22, for the next 2 years and said that finding the .22 was the best thing that happened to him in 13 years. Moreland was small enough to be able to sleep inside hollow logs, or the cold would have killed him

reference or source? Sounds interesting...And no, I am not sure I could have handled it.....

Ragnar Benson, Living off the land in City and Country. Brad Angier mentioned Moreland's ordeal, too. He was so tough that he pulled his own teeth, using a springy branch and some fishline.

here's one link I found --

http://www.librarything.com/work/8332914
Tim

Geez. Not sure I could handle that. He also sounds a few cards shy of a full deck, putting up with that.

Was it a voluntary solitude? I get that impression, based on him stealing a gun.

Why would anyone want to "handle it"? Doesn't sound like this was thrust upon Moreland so much as stepped in and than actively maintained as a state of being in the face of many other much more civilized options. Essentially a lifestyle choice.

Can I live like an early proto-hominid; yes, if forced to. As long as there is some reasonable expectation that it is temporary and any hardship is simply a stepping stone to a better situation.

Can I "handle" choosing to live that was long term without some exit strategy and without any prospect that once chosen I will live like that for the foreseeable future; no.

Short term hardship chosen as a controlled adventure, camping or walk-about, or having such a situation forced on you in an emergency, or after an accident, I can do, and have done. But survival and deprivation is something I do to get to the other side where things are better. It is not, for me, a lifestyle I would choose and it is not a situation I would willingly stay in if I found myself there.

Stealing a Gun/Ammo,Deserves a MUCH Stiffer Penalty than he had to "Handle",Depression or Otherwise!He may have started out Innocently enough,But It all stops there before he decided to Steal!Anything Harvested with The Stolen Gun is Stealing,Period!I CANNOT Handle someone Stealing from Me,& If I were to Catch them in the act?They would Forever be Picking their Nose with their Toes!Can You Handle That?

No, I could not handle that.

Especially not the teeth-pulling part.

so he was a tramp,thief and poacher,in the 1930's the country was filled with guys like that, he got got his story told.i would suggest a reading of True North by Elliott Merrick.trappers in Labrador at the same time paddle and portage with what they can carry to the height of land and winter over in tiny cabins you can't turn around in.living on tea,bannock and partridge.after snowshoeing,they made those,and setting traps nite was spent in a "tilt" so small you could not stand or in the open wrapped in a blanket by a fire.in the spring they went back down river and sold the firs---so they could provide for their family!!..find and read the book if you want a dose of what honest people had to handle to make a life in the wilderness.

Sounds like a real fun time - NOT.

I can't think of a reason to subject myself to this type of supremely primitive lifestyle short of a life sentence in a max security prison. And even then, I would be figuring out a way to get the hell outta the woods to someplace better.

Idealized is the word that comes to me. Survival is hard work. It's 18 hour days, 7 days a week, 52 seeks a year. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. It's not pretty, it's not cool. You are cold, tired, wet, hungry and just so stressed it's not funny.

Nah, I think I will stay in my house, not break any major laws, and be comfortable.