Thanks for the link. If you were doing something dangerous, $500 is a reasonable amount of money to invest, so I like your safety idea. It's one I haven't heard before.

I agree. No need for hard-core survival skills if you can call for help and get rescued within a day or two. Most people can stay alive long enough to get rescued using basic survival skills - water, fire, and shelter.

Sorry, I'm old school. I like to learn new skills and be self-reliant in the wilderness, not just make a phone call and wait for AAA to come pick me up.

Whatever happened to the "American spirit" of adventure, self-reliance, taking on the challenge?

I thought we could start a discussion about survival skills, tools, tecniques, and stories. I didn't expect "Go buy a phone and leave it to the professionals." Remember, your talking to a Canadian. Up here, the show "Survivor" is just an average camping trip.

JAK, if the goal is to return home to your spouse and children ASAP, then having an iSat phone is the way to go. But if the goal is to hang out practicing old school survival skills in the wilderness, then having an iSat phone still makes sense. Why? What if you injure yourself and require help ASAP?

But all that aside, what kind of survival skills have you developed? Do you know which plants are edible? Do you know how to catch fish, birds, and animals? Can you start a fire without matches or a lighter? Have you ever started a fire using the fire plow method? Hand drill? Bow and drill? What kind of shelters have you built and stayed in for several nights?

Bump for JAK.

I guess I see technology as a rescue tool, not a survival tool. I had in mind something like intentional survival, where one goes into the woods to learn/practice self-reliance and "pre-high tec" skills.

I grew up camping, fishing, etc. I've never thought of "the bush" as a scary place to be. I have logged, guided, and traveled through some really empty country. Sometimes my return has been delayed, and I was once 3 days with nothing to eat before I got back. But I never thought of it as a "disaster", just an annoyance.

To answer your questions,

Do I know which plants to eat? Some, in my local. Also (more importantly, and useful, to me) the medicinal plants. I've had to use medicinal plants more than "food" plants. Animals are easy to catch and provide more sustinance.

Start a fire without matches or lighter? I presume you include the metalmatch and firesteels in this category as well. I have never started a fire with the plow method, nor the hand drill, but I have with the bow and drill. I do this for personal enjoyment, and I view firemaking with the bow drill to be the "ultimate" wilderness skill, since it takes a lot of knowledge to do. (which woods, where to find them, making cordage, etc.) But I do not rely on primitive methods for fires, since most of the time, when I really need a fire, these methods are unreliable. I carry lighters, which I personally have never known to fail, except around -40, when it is too cold to vaporize the butaine (sp?) Receintly I have use firesteels, which seem to have good promise.

Shelters? Snow caves (Very common); quinzies (sometimes, when there is not enough snow); Debris huts, if you include a huge pile of evergreen branches; the classic Boy Scout lean-to if I'm staying for awhile such as a "base-camp" idea; often a fallen log or rock overhang if just passing through; overturned canoe if it starts raining.

The best survival tool is your brain, and the knowledge inside.

Second, the clothes you are wearing must be appropriate to the weather and task.

Third, yes, the knife. I did most of my outdoor activities with a "Premier Lifetime" knife I got when I was about 14, and had to put a new handle on. It has a5 1/2" blade, flat ground, with a teak handle wraped with string. I changed to a CS Trailmaster a few years ago, because shelter building is a lot faster with a bigger knife. (I have receintly been experimenting with a tomahawk, the CS Rifleman's 'hawk, which I really like.) But I still carry the old Premier. I wrap 550 around all handles, for grip and for cordage in the bush. (Shelter building, etc.)

Firemaking equipment is on a par with edge tools. I carry lighters, since they will start thousands of fires. I also carry matches, but only because I like them. (Really, I am old school.) Here and there I have a few firesteels, but only to play with.

I'll post more later; I have to go now.

Here's a video of me starting a fire with a bow and drill.

Here's a photo sequence of me building a snow cave.

Here's a video of a guy using Sotol and the fire plow. If you're interested I can mail you some Sotol so you can experiment with the fire plow. However, I have used Cottonwood successfully. The difference, though, is that I am successful every other time with Sotol. But with Cottonwood I am only successful about every other 30 times.

Sorry, I don't do Facebook, so I couldn't see your videos. If they're on youtube I could see them. The guy making a fire with the plow method claims that the local indians used this method. It would have been better if he had walked into the woods, cut some native materials, and build his fire with locally available stuff. I would have been SERIOUSLY impressed if it was also raining at the time. Otherwise, a lighter is a lot easier to carry than 4 feet of sotol and 2 buckskins.

If I lived in the US Southwest I would be interested in making a fire using the plow method and sotol, but I don't. But I would like to find local woods that I can do the same thing with. I'm guessing that the same woods that work in a bow drill will also be a good bet for the plow method.