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Another question. If I bring my wife along does she count as one of the 5 or 6 items I can bring? Or, does she get her own 5 or 6 items for the challenge?
Into The Wilds Challenge
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One item that I don't believe anyone, including myself, has mentioned is bug spray. If you are planning on surviving the Minnesota, Alaskan, etc. wilderness, you'll need some way of preventing bug bites. A person cannot live in the smoke of a campfire all summer long to ward off the mosquitoes and flies.
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Birch oil
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I've heard of birch sap which is often used to make syrup, but I've never heard of birch oil. Tell me more.
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Birch oil/tar is made from the bark of the white paper Birch. It is made the same as pine tar. The evinki use it for bug dope.
I have no plans to go anywhere, but I could go bush if needed. I am already more than half there; physically and mentally.
If you want a true story with only a little exaggeration, read Grass Beyond the Mountains and Nothing too Good for a Cowboy by Rich Hobson.
They were very old men when I grew up, but I grew up out in their neck of the woods and everyone knew them. I went to school with their grand kids.
If you want a true story with only a little exaggeration, read Grass Beyond the Mountains and Nothing too Good for a Cowboy by Rich Hobson.
They were very old men when I grew up, but I grew up out in their neck of the woods and everyone knew them. I went to school with their grand kids.
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I mentioned it was under my hat a few posts ago. I grew up without bug spray. It's an extremely miserable experience, but eventually, you become immune to the rat ba☆ards. I know that because I would have to start over with the immunity thing. I have a crap ton of bug spray socked away.
I went crazy purchasing small pressure cookers, a few years back. I have (5) Five and the largest is three quarts. I have never used any of them. They were for remote "cache" and camp sites.
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Remember: the challenge is you and you alone. Not plus 1. And no cabin fitted with all your needs. Where’s the challenge in that.
I’m still thinking.
I’m still thinking.
That's a chemical, know/learn what wild plants to use! This isn't a glam camping thread!! I love ya Cabin, but had to call that out!
Lavender, mint, citronella, lemongrass!! No more bugs
You won't find any of those in the bush, here.
Many times I would have breakfast at the house, and take my tractor, rifle and gear to the bush to spend the day cutting firewood and bear or moose hunting.. Working in the woods didn't seem to bother game too much.. I would stay all day and come home in the dark using the opportunity to field test my ..homemade MRE... type meals...
== ==
Clem..... Have you read any of the books by Jack Boudreau ?? History of northern BC..
I knew his older brother Clarence and the ..family stories.. I heard the 2 of them were much more ..bush savages.. then they let on to others or in the books..
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=jack boudreau
Also a couple books about the history of the upper Caribou plateau and Williams Lake area by a pair of brothers who grew up there..
== ==
Clem..... Have you read any of the books by Jack Boudreau ?? History of northern BC..
I knew his older brother Clarence and the ..family stories.. I heard the 2 of them were much more ..bush savages.. then they let on to others or in the books..
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=jack boudreau
Also a couple books about the history of the upper Caribou plateau and Williams Lake area by a pair of brothers who grew up there..
Not even ferns? There's always smoke baths- you can hollow put a small green round and relash it together with a stop- drop some punkwood into that little container as a small smudge fire and tie it to your belt and you've got a cavemans thermacell and a good way to transport fire.
Down here we've got wax myrtle, ferns, yarrow, pawpaw, sasssfras... the list goes on and on. I will say-none of that stuff prevents chiggers if you step throug 'em- those devils require a physical barrier.
None of the above, including chiggers. Thankfully black fly season is only a few weeks. The bush is a near impassable dense kind of place. Most won't make it out there on a wing and a prayer.
No material for a smudge fire? Where the heck do you live?
She's in Canada!
Poor thing, bugs are the least of her concerns.. I'll pray for her.
If your diet isn't 80 percent sugar the bugs are far less likely to bite.
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Lavender, mint, citronella, lemongrass!! No more bugs
I'm with Clem on this. We don't have any of those plants growing wild in Minnesota. I looked up that birch oil that @randyt mentioned. We have lots of birch. The only problem is, to make birch oil one needs a can with a lid and a Mason jar to make it. Those two items are not part of my 5 allowed items.
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I bet Clem has polypore fungus growing on dead birch and poplar trees. This fungus, or mushroom, is hard and looks like a horse's hoof. Once started, the fungus will burn and smoulder for hours. Native Americans, pioneers, and voyageurs used this fungus to move fire from one camp site to another.
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So, what you're saying is the trusted friend shows up for a day and told me to get out and then he returns to wherever he came from? He's not going with me? Some lousy friend he turned out to be. Not only that, but I have to leave my home and wife behind? Don't make sense. I bettcha if I left, he'd double back and take my wife and home for himself.
I'm confident there are at least some wild plants with repellant properties in every AO. It's something that plants do to protect themselves. If you have bugs, you have plants that have adapted to protect themselves from bugs and can be used to deter bugs at least partly if you learn how to ID and use them.
Also- I wasn't the one that reccomended the birch oil- but since you mention it's manufacture there is indeed a viable primitive method that can be done if you feel that the juice is worth the squeeze. Actually, there is an example on the thread about the museum of appalachia- @randyt Posted this picture:
The leaf shaped pattern was used to make oil and can be pecked into an appropriately sized stone. Fatwood or birch bark could be effectively placed on this pattern and covered with stones, clay/mud and a fire built on top of it. The heat will cause the oil to flow down the channel and into whatever improvised container/surface you have prepared (for cooling at least) to be used at your leisure.
I've not personally tried it so i cannot comment on the yield- but it makes sense to me and there is historical evidence that it worked. If I had 6 months I would definitely attempt this because the wooden tools/weapons I would make would benefit greatly from the protection such oils/tar would offer.
There's gotta be birch up there- if not there's certainly Fatwood.. but I'm sure there are easier sources to be had.
For the record- smudge fires are a much easier resource and what I reccomended. You can use grass, moss, cattails, leaves, pine needles, punkwood, poop... there is always something you can build a smudge fire with- it's just crappy fuel afterall.
When I'm not limited to 5 items I use small smudge fires underneath my hammock often in the summer because I hate wearing my mosquito headnet and bugs get bad around these parts.
If you watch the TV series Alone, I am about 1.5 hours back of the Chilcotin lake area they were at. I know that area and if they weren't restricted to their tiny plot of existence by the rules, there were old trails and an old road not all that far from them. They would not have stayed put to starve in the real world.
Right now, and for the sake of this exercise, the bush I would be going into is in the middle of severe drought.
There are still 100 of last years forest fires burning under ground. You just don't go around willy nilly lighting or packing smudge fires without a strong awareness of setting your world on fire, with you in it.
Without appropriate fire containment, that tiny bit of crappy burning fuel, could also go underground and pop up somewhere else. A smudge fire hanging off your belt isn't going to let you get on with finding dinner, either.
Anyways, I freely admit that I would not be a suitable candidate to repeat the feats and hardships of the initial settlers here. I am going to assume that six months could turn into six years and I am taking a pack horse loaded with 3-400 lbs of gear and grub just like they did. If I can't do that, my trusted friend who is apparently not along for the ride, will be ignored and I will make my final stand right here at home.
This place is nothing to mess around with. I will read this thread with interest, but I am not going to make a good survivor show contestant. I am tapping out in the spirit of things.
I think the first thing I should do is pick the location. I'd want it to be in a place where it's
Chuuk Lagoon (formerly Truk Lagoon) 7°28'54"N, 161°54'48"E
View attachment 125147
There is a small island, about 2Ha (~5 acres. It's uninhabited, but when I was a kid, the local chief allowed anyone to come and visit/picnic/explore it, as long as we didn't cut down any trees. I'd go there sometimes with a couple of other kids (12-14 years old) by our boat and hang there for the weekend and sometimes even longer, sneaking cigarettes and maybe some Chef Boy-ar-dee sketty and meatballs, playing all day and building a fire on the beach. Ad insulam qui laetificat juventutem meam, baby!
It was pretty well treed, right up to the sandy beach, and had the following food: coconut, banana, limes, taro, breadfruit, yams, sweet potato, and cassava. The lagoon was full of fish, ranging from little 8-inch pan fish, to 20-pound tuna, as well as other species; eels, shark (small and not that dangerous), crabs, and so on. It rains every afternoon during the wet season, less in the dry times.
Given that, here are my five items: 3-qt steel pan with lid; fishing line and hook set, Ka-bar knife, fire-starter, and about five hundred feet of 550 para-cord.
View attachment 125147
- Safe from predators (except for one);
- Easy to get a wide variety of food;
- Has a moderate-to-warm tropical climate: and
- Someplace I've been to and am somewhat familiar with.
Chuuk Lagoon (formerly Truk Lagoon) 7°28'54"N, 161°54'48"E
View attachment 125147
There is a small island, about 2Ha (~5 acres. It's uninhabited, but when I was a kid, the local chief allowed anyone to come and visit/picnic/explore it, as long as we didn't cut down any trees. I'd go there sometimes with a couple of other kids (12-14 years old) by our boat and hang there for the weekend and sometimes even longer, sneaking cigarettes and maybe some Chef Boy-ar-dee sketty and meatballs, playing all day and building a fire on the beach. Ad insulam qui laetificat juventutem meam, baby!
It was pretty well treed, right up to the sandy beach, and had the following food: coconut, banana, limes, taro, breadfruit, yams, sweet potato, and cassava. The lagoon was full of fish, ranging from little 8-inch pan fish, to 20-pound tuna, as well as other species; eels, shark (small and not that dangerous), crabs, and so on. It rains every afternoon during the wet season, less in the dry times.
Given that, here are my five items: 3-qt steel pan with lid; fishing line and hook set, Ka-bar knife, fire-starter, and about five hundred feet of 550 para-cord.
View attachment 125147
For anyone wondering how to make a smudge fire portable in short order of course using just the knife and the saw - I went ahead and made a sloppy quick one and took pics for ya. This task literally takes less than 5 minutes- if you have to twist your own cordage it'll take longer obviously- but I figured this would demonstrate what I'm talking about. 9/10 times I dont need it to be portable and just put some punky wood over some coals in a divet ive dug into the ground or I've already been out for a day or two and smell completely like smoke anyways and the bugs stop bothering me. If they are really bad I prefer to rub some ferns or some wax myrtle (if i can find it) on my skin till the exposed skin has some green on it and that usually does the trick.
this particular method is in my opinion very niche, but what nice is that its universally doable in basically any environment and it has several other uses.
dry punky wood works best imo, but leaves and pine needles are usually so common you can just grab crap as you walk. For practicing primitive crafts I like jute twine for quicky natural cordage- in this case the fact that the cordage doesn't catch fire (y'all know how flammable jute twine it) is a good litmus that you built your container tight enough that your not letting any fire out.
Use a fist sized green tree (or bigger if you want) for a small little pot- this one happened to have a hollow pith, which acted as a nice little air hole- if you don't have one just carve some divets in the sides of each quarter for small airholes or carve a thin channel by flattening the parts where the split occurs when you baton. Shav down the sharps of each quarter and youll have nice hollow tube. Do the same for the sharps near the bottom for a second shallower hole like the top and you can place it on a pole/stake that you square off to fit it. Just remember to cut/carve a channel for your cordage (so it doesn't slip) before you split the round so you are messing with it more than you need to.
You can travel with live coals using this method, and the smaller ones make the best hand warmer ever if the sides are thin and you fill it up with coals and cap it.
View attachment 125162
So yeah- give it a shot it's a super easy one- play around with different materials and whatnot. It's a cavemans thermacell- if you put plants with bug repellant qualities in this thing it's even more effective.
this particular method is in my opinion very niche, but what nice is that its universally doable in basically any environment and it has several other uses.
dry punky wood works best imo, but leaves and pine needles are usually so common you can just grab crap as you walk. For practicing primitive crafts I like jute twine for quicky natural cordage- in this case the fact that the cordage doesn't catch fire (y'all know how flammable jute twine it) is a good litmus that you built your container tight enough that your not letting any fire out.
Use a fist sized green tree (or bigger if you want) for a small little pot- this one happened to have a hollow pith, which acted as a nice little air hole- if you don't have one just carve some divets in the sides of each quarter for small airholes or carve a thin channel by flattening the parts where the split occurs when you baton. Shav down the sharps of each quarter and youll have nice hollow tube. Do the same for the sharps near the bottom for a second shallower hole like the top and you can place it on a pole/stake that you square off to fit it. Just remember to cut/carve a channel for your cordage (so it doesn't slip) before you split the round so you are messing with it more than you need to.
You can travel with live coals using this method, and the smaller ones make the best hand warmer ever if the sides are thin and you fill it up with coals and cap it.
View attachment 125162
So yeah- give it a shot it's a super easy one- play around with different materials and whatnot. It's a cavemans thermacell- if you put plants with bug repellant qualities in this thing it's even more effective.
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Definitely something I'll be doing! Thanks for the great post!!
You are so very welcome!
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Does rubbing mud on the skin deter bugs?
I keep thinking about my escape be going to an area that has sufficient rainfall and humidity, wild fruits and berries, is known for particular types of edible unmistakable fungi and mushrooms, water for fishing. Knowing as @Peanut does about wild herbs for the region you’ve chosen, knowing healing properties of trees, nut and fruit trees. I have a few places in mind.
I keep thinking about my escape be going to an area that has sufficient rainfall and humidity, wild fruits and berries, is known for particular types of edible unmistakable fungi and mushrooms, water for fishing. Knowing as @Peanut does about wild herbs for the region you’ve chosen, knowing healing properties of trees, nut and fruit trees. I have a few places in mind.
500Ft spool of 1/16" Stainless 7x7 Aircraft Cable
1000ft spool of tarred nylon seine twine, size #36
10x10 tarp (quality)
Dutch oven
Long nose vice grips
Axe for a blade.
The wilderness is a place you’d better be comfortable in already. I’d head for the swamp. Grew up hunting and fishing there, trapped too. Cordage is king in the swamp. With it you can make anything, without it, nothing. I don’t really need the water but the jug would be handy so I’ll take it.
No mention was made of useful items we find at our destination. Here in the southeast the wilderness isn’t so wild and empty as most would think, especially if you know what to look for. Europeans have been here 300yrs, natives much longer. Both left useful items where they lived, metal, cordage and lots of flint.
Indications of where they built homes/huts is always near good clean water. Lots of springs here, the best always have signs of man. And where there are signs of man… there are tools/useful material. I’m not throwing away a good flint cutting edge.
Finders keepers on tools I happen across! (they also planted medicines where they lived, all peoples did this)
It’s best to know the history of the area you are going. The entire southeast has been logged in the past, including my swamp, only tiny pockets of old growth left. Did I mention loggers built a temp railroad through the middle of the swamp about 1890? There were camps set up to house the workmen on high ground with good water. Lot’s of metal available at these sites.
And trash, never been to a wilderness that didn't have trash laying about, especially plastics. Plastic jugs make great crawfish and minnow traps, if you have cordage...
The above clues mean I don’t have to find the best place to hide out and survive. That’s already been done. People have lived and worked in wilderness areas for hundreds of years. Just have to be able to recognize what is natural or unnatural in a swamp or forest, be able to recognize the signs of man hundreds of years later.
Beauty berry, black walnut and dog fennel in eastern woodland. All are good insect repellents but Dog fennel is the best, 20yrs ago the usda found it has an interesting chemical. It’s now the active ingredient in the spray used to kill mosquito larva in standing water. In early summer the dog fennel stalk is pliable. I tie it around my ankles, very effective against ticks also. (there are several more plants that can be used but are harder to deal with)
A friend found these in creeks around here which flow into the swamp, anywhere there is erosion. Bird and fish points are plentiful, shark’s teeth are harder to find but available. Tools are common in a wilderness if you know where to look. - below…
1000ft spool of tarred nylon seine twine, size #36
10x10 tarp (quality)
Dutch oven
Long nose vice grips
Axe for a blade.
The wilderness is a place you’d better be comfortable in already. I’d head for the swamp. Grew up hunting and fishing there, trapped too. Cordage is king in the swamp. With it you can make anything, without it, nothing. I don’t really need the water but the jug would be handy so I’ll take it.
No mention was made of useful items we find at our destination. Here in the southeast the wilderness isn’t so wild and empty as most would think, especially if you know what to look for. Europeans have been here 300yrs, natives much longer. Both left useful items where they lived, metal, cordage and lots of flint.
Indications of where they built homes/huts is always near good clean water. Lots of springs here, the best always have signs of man. And where there are signs of man… there are tools/useful material. I’m not throwing away a good flint cutting edge.
Finders keepers on tools I happen across! (they also planted medicines where they lived, all peoples did this)It’s best to know the history of the area you are going. The entire southeast has been logged in the past, including my swamp, only tiny pockets of old growth left. Did I mention loggers built a temp railroad through the middle of the swamp about 1890? There were camps set up to house the workmen on high ground with good water. Lot’s of metal available at these sites.
And trash, never been to a wilderness that didn't have trash laying about, especially plastics. Plastic jugs make great crawfish and minnow traps, if you have cordage...
The above clues mean I don’t have to find the best place to hide out and survive. That’s already been done. People have lived and worked in wilderness areas for hundreds of years. Just have to be able to recognize what is natural or unnatural in a swamp or forest, be able to recognize the signs of man hundreds of years later.
Beauty berry, black walnut and dog fennel in eastern woodland. All are good insect repellents but Dog fennel is the best, 20yrs ago the usda found it has an interesting chemical. It’s now the active ingredient in the spray used to kill mosquito larva in standing water. In early summer the dog fennel stalk is pliable. I tie it around my ankles, very effective against ticks also. (there are several more plants that can be used but are harder to deal with)
A friend found these in creeks around here which flow into the swamp, anywhere there is erosion. Bird and fish points are plentiful, shark’s teeth are harder to find but available. Tools are common in a wilderness if you know where to look. - below…
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