What wilderness survival skills do you have?

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

The Aboriginal people of Australia were good at it for about 60,000 years, I have been hanging out with them for the last 5, I could probably make it for a while. Bush tucker is pretty good, kakadu plums, yams, water lilies, file snakes, witichity grubs and roo! I would hate to give up my Paul Newmans Light balsamic vinagarette dressing though.

I’ve grown up in a city area all my life, the only thing I know is what I’ve seen bear grylls do lol. I’d assume some stuff is common sense: I would find a way to become warm, try to find shelter, make a weapon, find food, find help….lol.

I live out in mountain lion country so this is a no brainer.

I can gut animals, I can cook over a campfire. I know what berries and such are edible, or whats dangerous. I know how to build a shelter. I know how to start a fire without matches.

Plus, I know am strong willed enough to survive.

I’ve been a backpacker, hiker and camper for most of my life. As a kid I bow hunted and fished. I’ve read books on survival and am an avid fan of both Man vs. Wild and Survivorman. On top of all this, I’ve also got a forestry degree, so I know a great deal about different ecosystems. I think I’d do fine in any bush or forest survival, though I know the desert would be a bit more challenging for me.

One of the things I’d really like to do one day is to wander into the woods overnight with next to no gear, and build a shelter, start a fire, eat only edible plants and wrestle Bigfoot.

I’ve been preparing for the zombie apocalypse. A little wilderness has nothing on me.

I can make a tent out of tent parts.

I’m a city boy, and I’m physically disabled (visual disability). I wouldn’t last 24 hours unless there was an expert with me.

I always carry my torch (flashlight for Americans) and multitool on me. So I guess that puts me at an advantage over many many people. Plus I have watched a lot of Ray Mears shows and Bear Grylls too. Unfortunately Bear Grylls is an idiot. All his stuff is preplanned and theatrical. But Ray Mears, he is the real deal. Off topic, where was I?

Oh yeah so I know how to make a lot of things and I’d say in a forest I could survive for a long enough amount of time. The desert would probably kill me pretty quick if I couldn’t find water.

I know that if your feet are about to freeze off, put them on someone’s belly to warm them up.
Dibs on not mine.

Oh, and I am a home brewer so I could probably make myself a delicious survival cider to numb myself a bit before I can make it back to the local beer store.

Thank you all. There seems to be quite a spectrum here. Do you think what you have learned from TV shows is sound knowledge? How do you tell which ones know what they’re on about and which ones are just for the show?

Yeah I wouldn’t last.

dropped in with nothing except the clothes on my back… in the desert… yikes, the most I’d probably do is make good grilled dinner for something once I collapsed from exposure; actually I might be able to keep myself alive for a bit provided there are plants/cacti to be foraged or a riverbed to dig in, I might be able to get a fire going at night provided I can find fuel, food wouldn’t be that hard at night but the expenditure of hunting it would likely do me in the next day, though shelter during the day would be tough without something other than sand and dunes. yep, guess I’d end up as a snack.

Couldn’t say anything for certain except that fear would sharpen my wits and I’d look for water, shelter and a big mound of sticks and kindling. I think I remember how to start a fire and build a lean-to, and that’s it.

But to answer this question seriously, I only have urban survival skills, not nature ones. I suck at nature.

I know how to make fire, weapons, shelter, and find food and water with limited or no supplies. If you ever get stuck in the wilderness, I’m the guy you want to be with.

I teach wilderness skills for a living…so yea.

My hunting and trapping need a bit of work, though. But I could still use them to keep myself and a few others fed pretty well.