What would you do if you are tracked by a patrol of scouts for a night and all you have is a daypack with 1 set of clothes, enough food for 2 meals, a poncho, a PSK, and a canteen of water. You have a headstart of 1 hour before the hunt begins. How do you avoid getting caught? Especially if you're going to build a fire at night and shelther to sleep.

Kenneth

Set various deadfalls, pungi traps and other devises constructed with my SAK. Slip into the scout's encampment, slit the throat of a few, make a whole lot of noise, render a universal hand signal and leave through my escape route dotted with the previously constructed devises.

I would go to the nearest road, hail the first vehicle I see, go to the nearest motel, take a hot shower, and watch television with the vibrating bed off while the dumbies are out there sweating their butts off looking for me in the most absurd places.

Reminds me of that Dustin Hoffman film "Straw Dogs", where they took him out on a snipe hunt while they doubled back and had their jollies with his wife.

Bountyhunter

Well, the scouts here in this scenario are 2 scout masters and 2 other venture scouts. I don't really want to explain to their next of kin as to why I slit their throats at camp.
Its one of those wide area games. Cat and mouse only in jungle environment and over a very long period of time. Its sorta like a test of our scouting skills. I wont be wearing BDUs but a grey shirt and a pair of faded black pants. Any advice on avoiding capture?

Are the 2 scout masters wives attractive?

Load up on Viagra ahead of time, and bring a small bottle of oxygen with you, then double back and-------------------- <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Bountyhunter

O.K. Ken, we've had our fun. Ask anyone involved in E&E ( escape and evasion) and they will give you a very simple reply. Forget fire, shelter, sleep. Forget setting ambushes, false trails and camoflage. You have one hour head start. You move-fast, hard and without letup until you reach safety.

Yep. The longer the head start, the more thousands of square feet they have to cover. Use it.

The area to search goes up by the square of your distance.

I think I'd keep moving until I was well away from (or had eliminated) the tracking team. Until then, I don't think I'd take the time or risk of stopping to make camp, and I definitely wouldn't build a (here I am, come and get me) fire.

If I weren't being actively persued, and didn't feel like having company, my Hennessy hammock and a SMALL fire would do nicely (my Hennessy goes everywhere with me). If I didn't have the hammock, I'd try to make a basic one to get me off the ground while I slept (lots of really NASTY nasties in most jungles). Hope this helps.

Troy

I thought your last name was Kavanaugh... not Rambo <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Keep moving, keep quiet, and keep your ears and eyes open.

I don't know if I would try this in a life or death situation, but I would try to hide out up in a tree, I think most of the searching/scanning for clues would be done between the ground and eye level. If I noticed them passing my hiding spot, then I would double back and make myself comfortable near the start point.

PS Let us know what you did and how it worked out.

This would work with novices, most people don't spend much time looking UP, but with a good tracker, they'd just shoot you out of the tree (or yell gotcha in this case).

Troy

Why stop ? Go for as long as you can, put as much distance between you and the pursuers. Go as light as you can and skip the fire, maybe use some heat tabs in a shallow hole to heat up something at night. Find the worst terrian you can to hide in at night. I say hide and not camp, because that's what you want to do. Any chance you could look over the area ahead of time? That would help find 2 or 3 good spots to hide and help plan routes. You might even cache a few things to lighten your load.Don't bother with the extra set of clothes, take something warm for the night. If you are concerned about camoflauge, try a camo net/scarf over yourself to break up the color , shape and outline.You could also smear mud on your shirt or tuck folage around yourself, that might be a little overkill, though. Don't waste time trying to cover or remove your tracks, just keep moving. You are probably younger and fitter than your pursuers anyway. Don't forget about bugs, mosquito net and repellant.Floppy jungle hat recomended. PM me if you need any details.

Bit simplistic Chris.

Read Scott O'Grady's book , he spent more time hiding and concealing than running. I think SERE is a bit more complicated than just run ahead of your would be captors.

Concealment and good bush skills are all part of the game and every situation is different, sometimes you hide sometimes you run.

Flip

One night? I wouldnt even bring the day pack! Well OK, I would but all I would put in there would be the PSK, food, water and the pancho.

Look for hide postions that have multiple egress points. Move only when you are sure that you will not be detected. I would avoid trees, as if you are caught, you will be stuck up there. If you need to stop, find a depression, dry creek bed, old building, fallen tree, and DIG IN.

If its only one night, I may just try and move hard for an hour, then circle back toward the camp and hunker down somewhere los until morning, then waltz into camp while they are jsut getting back.

A mischief factor could be added by circling back after they have left, and taking all their gear. Make them earn their wilderness survival badge as well.

Happy Evading,

Garrett

Running is hard when surrounded, you might run right into the enemy

Ken is not surrounded, and he has an hour head start. Running is good in this situation. That's not to say he can't switch to hiding later.

Actually we're carrying the day pack with both useful and useless stuff because the scout leaders want to teach us the importance of packing right. Its to show us how the extra weight will bog us down. Learning by doing as they say. After that we'll know for sure what we arent going to take on a recce trip in future.

Ah this brings back fond memories of ROTC. Forced marches, EE, the obstical course and the mud course were more fun than one should be allowed to have for free. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Okay, enough nastalgia. It's been about 15 years since I have done these sort of drills with professional, experienced instruction and back then it was 50+ year old retired USMC drill sergants providing the instruction so my technique may not be the best or most modern and my memory of the instruction and experience may also be lacking so I may be way off, but here goes nothing anyway.

1st: Forget shelter and forget fire! (and I really wouldn't worry about eating much either... just enough so you can concentrate on evasion rather than be distracted by hunger).
2nd off there is no such thing at useless gear!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> That's something you can teach the scoutmasters when you?re done.

Lets review your gear (hopefully I wont leave anything out).

1 set of clothes
enough food for 2 meals
a poncho
a PSK
a canteen of water

I don?t know what is in the "PSK" so I am at a major loss on this one and I will simply say that you hang on to this piece of equipment. Unfortunately there are probably lots of things in here that would be very useful but since I don't what's in there I wont speculate.

The poncho and the canteen of water will both be kept on your person as well. The poncho is all the shelter (if any) that you'll need for one night and the canteen of water should be obvious! You did say "jungle" in this implies warm climate.

That leaves us with 1 set of clothes and enough food for 2 meals. These may be the most useful items you have for purposes of evasion! Yup I'm serious. Since you're not being chased by bloodhounds (luckily) you will want to discard both the clothing and the food. However you will not just discard it anywhere... no sir. What you want to do is use it to lead your would-be captors on a false trail! Ah yes I see the little light bulbs going on above everyone's heads! Now, as Flip has already accurately pointed out, every situation is different and this unfortunately is why I cant tell you exactly how to discard your clothing and food properly in order to get you?re pursuers looking in the wrong places. I can however tell you the following. Don't discard your change of clothes. Put those on and discard the clothes you started off wearing. This is much more believable. Also discard your food in a way in which it can be found BUT that looks very natural. In other words, don?t just start dumping it all out on the ground and also try to discard mostly wrapping/packaging materials rather than actual food. Once again, I imagine even the most minimalistic of PSKs would be chalk full of useful items for evasion but I wont speculate on specific uses since I don?t know what you have in there. I realize youre a scouting so it may not be natural for you just throw your food wrapper and clothes all over the woods like it may be if you were someone less concerned with the environment. To this I say maybe it's best to carefully discard your food wrappings, clothes and other excess gear in a way that would imply that when the exercise is over you intend to return to the area to clean up your mess. The point is to be realistic about it and not be too obvious while still making sure that your pursuers see that which you have left behind.

Also let me close by saying one more thing. I almost left this out because I don't want to offend anyone else here but let me say very humbly that if you're truly surrounded then simply running as fast as you can, making lots of noise and showing fast movement in one direction is a very bad plan. This is a good idea only if you're sure ALL of your pursuers are behind you.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how it goes.

One thing I have not seen anyone post here is the strong leg circle syndrome. If you do not have a visible fixed point to which you are running, and you do not have a compass to maintain the chosen direction of running, you are liable to do the the strong leg circle. If the persuers spot a tendency for you to circle as you run, they could actually cut you off by taking a tangent line to your eventual position.

Bountyhunter

Kenneth,

Remove PSK from pocket:


Open PSK:


Extract proper equipment:


Wait for about an hour. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Toe poppers anyone <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Tends to discourage further pursuit <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

lmao

did You thinked about wrapping your foots with pieces of blanket to change/disappear your footprints?

If you want to have a little fun with it, you could set a noisemaker booby trap of some sort, like a tripwire to a coffee can full of pebbles, or something like that. Sounds like a fun exercise.


Chris.

LOL

Thanks Hutch... I needed a good laugh <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Troy

Hutch4545:

Why do you have a bunsen burner in your PSK? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

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

Bountyhunter,

I'm reluctant to take this thing all the way out...you know how hard it is to pack a PSK. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Hutch4545:

Hey!, that's neat, a bunsen burner with a plastic handle and a triangular thingee on the right for a sparking wheel. I see you can even clip it to your belt with that square whatcamagiger in the middle of the handle. You ought to cut off that square lug on the left side so it doesn't hang up on something when you are trying to pull it out. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

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

Bountyhunter,
"...You have got to quit letting that grape juice ferment before you drink it." <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Hutch4545:

You know what they say; "Candy's dandy, but liquor's quicker.".

The only thing sneakier is to say that you have sworn celibacy since the love of your life died in a horrible accident the night of your wedding.

Of course there are the old standbys of being an insecure virgin (A little hard to pull off at 58 years of age.), or being unsure of your sexual orientation (They are starting to catch on to that one.), and feeling the "right" woman could straighten you out. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I'll have to look at those pictures again as soon as I can pry this grape juice bottle out my hand! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

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