Do you practice surviving in the wilderness?

We all search for information relating to survival, most of us have a backpack ready to go. But how often, if ever, do you actually test your skills? Do you just decide one day to walk into the forest and stay for a a few days, build a small shelter, find food etc?

Or is your preparation limited to gathering information and equipment?

 

To be honest, we don't practice life in the wilderness although there are times that we go for a short hike or a camping trip just for leisure and not really survival training. The kids love the adventure trek but it is limited to leisure and not the extreme of staying overnight in the forest. When camping overnight, we usually stay in a park or in a mountain resort with facilities. It's not enjoyable to camp out in a place with no water, no bathroom, no cooking facilities.

We have some friends who are backpackers that sometimes they tell us about their overnight stay in the forest or mountain with no facilities. Sometimes they don't even have tents (when they are sure it will not rain). They said it was lots of fun but we are not adventurers like them.

 

no, it's not all about that. But it is a part of it.
To me being prepared is more about having the right skillset rather than anything else. And quite frankly practice is the only way to get there. I know there are different views on this but that's one of the reasons for starting this thread.

 

I usually watch survival shows on National Geographic and I really learn a lot from them. I haven't actually tried practicing the things I learned in real life though. But if given the chance, I would try applying the things I have learned from those survival shows. It also pays a lot to watch these kinds of shows because you're given ideas you've never thought of before. I also think that the best teacher is experience so I really admire and commend the ones who go the extra mile to personally experience life and surviving in the wilderness.

 

I camp out in the wild every month. I don't know if that counts as wilderness survival. Of course I do take some food with me because there never are any guarantees that I'll catch any fish. Nonetheless I believe that I could survive in the wilderness for an indefinite amount of time as long as I have my tent, some weapons and fishing gear.

 

He never said it's all about being self-reliant, just a part of it. As to answer the question, I don't practice camping, however, I do usually go outside to see different possible bug out locations, and even practice some skills which can be used later on.

 

I've camped out in the wilderness before and usually do mountain hiking by myself. Since I never know what's going to happen, I try to "prep" for the worst case scenario. I'd like to think this keeps me on my toes, but I won't know until something does happen that requires me to actually attempt survival.

 

I don't know if it counts as survival, but it certainly counts as practice! You are fishing, building a shelter (even though I imagine it's a tent most of the time) as well as starting fires, maybe gathering some berries or mushrooms etc. So even though you might not realise it you are actually keeping up with a lot of useful skills.

 

I've survived in the wilderness before (well more precisely living off the grid in a rural area), and is a lot of hard work for everything. Unless you're thinking to utterly embrace that kind of lifestyle, you would not be able to practice effectively those skills. Of course, you can do camping regularly and that counts somewhat as practice, but doesn't exist same pressure and motivation in comparison to actually be in a situation where you have to rely on these skills.

 

I've been camping for the better half of my childhood and teenage life. Learning how to live off the land and find resources was part of the fun. It's something that I keep and will share with others when I get older.

I am prepared to live off the land and in the sticks if need be.

 

No matter how much you search online for techniques or theory you're never going to learn how to survive in the wilderness unless you go out and do it. You can start out slow by preparing good and going on a camping trip to get a feel for what it's like to live out in the wild, that's how I started out.

 

I no longer practice surviving in the wilderness, but I used to. I lived in the wilderness for some time and found it more difficult than I imagined. It's a hard lifestyle to take on and really requires some good ol' fashion training. It teaches you skills that you never thought were necessary. One of my favorite things to do, years ago, was to walk the trails in whatever city I was in. It was a nice way to get away from civilization and really teach myself what survival is really all about. You don't know what surviving is until you put yourself into a very unfamiliar situation.

 

Great question.
Prairie Dog

 

I have been gathering information for half a century or so!
Sometimes I practice and sometimes I watch others!

Getting comfortable enough to sleep and wake up refreshed is the real trick!

 

I was out waking my dog the other week and it was -25c and I was thinking I would not want to try to survive in this weather. What if I had to? So I waited for the cold spell to pass and when it got to about -5c I went for an overnight in the woods. That was not fun. Too cold and did not get much sleep. Now I know what I was missing. May try again soon.

If things got bad I would have to bug out because I live in a town with a lot of chemical plants and would not want to stay in case they could not contain the chemicals. My safe place is 160km away and if we had no car it’s a long walk.