well theres other ranches that are hopefully as good.

i think hbo covered one of them last year.

Keep in Mind Folks, that Ben Originally said, -that this Hypothetical (But It Can Very Well also Be Real!) Survival Situation, -Involves "Nothing to Do" Moments when One's Survival Basics and Tasks HAVE Already Been Attended To!

Yes, -Those Survival Imperatives Sooner or Later Will Return, -and One Must then Firstmost Get Back Onto Them!

But While you are in Such "Between Survival Tasks" of Down Time, -What Might One Suggest, or Like to Do, -to either Pass, or "Gainfully" Make Use of What Could Otherwise be Idle Time?

That I Feel is the Spirit and Question here.

Personally, I've Thot of Things Such as Reviewing and Learning my Self Taught Foreign Languages Vocabulary, -Things of That Sort.

(Incidentally, -I'd like to someday Cull Together a Basic List, -of some Most Important Survival Words and Phrases, -in the Chiefmost World Languages. This Admittedly Ancillary Area of our Entire Survival Sphere, -Can Nevertheless Come In Very Important and Handy! Far From our Entire World, and All the Environments we can Find Ourselves Thrown Into!, -Speak English!, You Know!).

Or One might rather Solve various Mental Math Problems.

Or Towards Going on Imaginary Trips and Reminiscing on Memories, -

To the Already Mentioned Just Enjoying!, and Learning From!, -Nature and the Great Outdoors!

Also a Practicing of various Survival and Outdoor Skills, -From Knots to Fires to Many Things Else, -Would be Another.

As would Going Out to Gather Up *Extra* Firewood!, -Over and Above What you Think might be your Needs!

Having some Small and Lightweight Reading Material, would be Another.

As would Journal or Log type Entries, or Other Writing! Many Other Possibilities Exist!

If you for example Want to Remodel a Room Back Home, -Think and Plan How you might Go About Doing It! This can Serve to "Kill Two Birds with One Stone"! One Such "Bird" is With you now here in the Wilderness. The Other is Back at Home! You'll Save Yourself some Thinking and Planning Later!

Or you Can either Make a Conscious Effort To Think About Life / Your Life, and What It's All About! Or Just Let Such Thoughts and Reflection Come! You're *Not* Too Busy with Other Things in Life Now! You have No such "Excuse" Now! It's Now a Perfect Oppurtunity to Just Sit Back and Think! This Same Goes for Just Enjoying the Beauty and All of Nature Around you!

Many Other Great, "Something To Do!", Possibilities Exist! A Great Overall List of Such, -Can Go On!

So in the Down, "Nothing to Do" Times *Between* your Vital Survival Tasks!, -What Might we Do to Pass or Fruitfully Occupy such Down Time?! Thats the Spirit and Substance of the Question here. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]benjammin[/email]

good idea about the phrases scott, i got an idea for board members as well as newbies.
is there a way to sticky a thread on top that contains those important phrases and perhaps a seperate one for newbies with all the short hand we use explained?
you know EDC,SAK etc..

Again,with all my respect, you are mixing things: what you desscribed was field craft, campcraft, however you wishto call that-It is NOT SURVIVAL!!!!
In a survival situation you are struggling to save your life. Sure, those skills we learned when kids help improvise tools and devices that will make your task easier, so keep improving yourself on them- it is both fun and useful.

If I know how to make a blade? oh yes, I do know that.and thousands of knots, , and first aid, and field cooking, and navigation by the stars, and reading topo maps, and other things. No, I don't play harmonica, but drums I can play decently well.....

But you can Still Do such Fieldcraft, at your "Between Survival Tasks" / "Nothing to Do Moments"!

Its Still Fieldcraft, Yes. But as Ben Constructs it, -Its Nothing that Goes Against Survival Imperatives. It's Nothing that Can't Be Done, -in your In Between, Down Time Moments!

You're Both Right!, if in Different Ways. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]dBu24[/email]

NYRat:

This will be a little hard to explain because of some of the constraints on this board, but I will try.

The Mustang Ranch was in Reno, Nevada.

All the "employees" left there on their last day in their Lotus's, Mercedes, Cadillacs, Corvettes, Ferarris, etc.; with their whips, chains, handcuffs, leopard leotards, exotic oils, wigs, costumes, and medical certificates of immunization.

Understand ! ?

Bountyhunter
<img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Dbu,

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with you. The stuff I do and teach is about wilderness survival. It's a set of skills designed to keep yourself alive in the wilderness, whether you're lost, delayed or whatever.

Is the stuff I teach useful in the middle of a godorsaken combat zone? No. But it's still survival, and not only bushcraft... Bushcraft is a part of it, though.

I've seen a "wood guy" who could light a fire with a single match every time and sharpen a knife beyond shaving sharp, get lost and start bending the map, forget drinking (and stop thinking) and start rushing and trashing around to find the exit... He was good at bushcraft, but he didn't know how to survive in the woods outside of his usual framing... I had a hard time bringing him back to the real world and just have him calm down, drink a little water and think again...

Now, could we say that wilderness survival is just a specific part of survival in general? IMO: yes.

Cheers,

David

>>what you desscribed was field craft, campcraft, however you wishto call that-It is NOT SURVIVAL!!!!

It is if your life is at stake.

I may have misunderstood your post, but survival has nothing to do with comfort. You can be very uncomfortable and not in the least threatened; you can be very comfortable and be minutes away from death.

For example, a pilot in a light plane over the Rocky Mountains at night, with only ten minutes of fuel left, is physically just as comfortable as if he had full tanks and was within gliding distance of Kansas City Municipal. Except he's probably sweating bullets.

Laurence Gonzales (Deep Survival) describes the case of a US Army Ranger Captain who drowned after he got thrown overboard on a commercial whitewater rafting excursion - apparently because he made the same mistake as you (apparently) just did. He was properly dressed, he was warm, he was fit, he was well-fed - so when the (civilian) guide tried to rescue him, he just laughed and pushed the guy away. A few minutes later, he was pinned under a rock and drowned. His army training had conditioned him to think of survival as being wet, cold, hungry and miserable.

If you're lost in the woods, you're lost in the woods. If you don't know how to build a shelter, build a fire, keep warm, find water, and signal for help, you could die. That, by definition, is a survival situation. MHOO,OC <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Some people can just sit still and be entertained; others will go stir crazy without something to do.

I never saw it as a problem myself. If I got bored with the scenery and the bird-watching, I'd probably try making up some math puzzles. (My dad spent several days in a POW camp in Italy reconstructing the proof for the Pythagorean Theorem that he'd learned in university.)

I'm told that it's more likely to be a problem with children of a certain age group (8 to 14) because they often have a lot of energy and a limited attention span. Even though they may know about the "hug a tree" principle, they may be conditioned to think that if they stop and hug a tree, rescuers will magically pop up from behind the nearest rock; after 4 or 5 hours with no sign of rescue, they may get bored and/or start panicking and decide to try exploring a little further "just in case".

I agree with Moine, a couple of feet of paracord (and, if possible, a good book on knots) would provide many hours of amusement.

heh, i know i just tried to keep it pg on the boards.