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3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
17 February 2013, 01:42,
#1
3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
not far from my recently discovered bol, there is an area witch is perfect for simulating hardcore survival situations. its is situated near the ft of the cliffs, so when the sun goes down and the shadow of the cliff falls over the wooded area, you know its gonna be cold when its minus 2 200ft above. my step son and i have hit this place a few times and when that cold freeze hit i thought it a perfect op for an op. we went down with full clothing but with no jackets. one pack with only a large machete that i have converted into a junglas style knife, a mess tin and a fire steel. we entered the wood late at mid day and set about making a lean to from the scarce wood suitable, and got as much dead fall as poss(with the exeption of a few nice fat oak ends). the best part of this location for practicing survival other than the extreme climate conditions is the fact that even your in woodlands, dont mean there's wood for shelter and enough insulation. so the work effort is alot more. were we went wrong (and i can say we wont b making that mistake again) is that although we had a poorly if not just about do able shelter built, and we were off the floor on a extra long bed made from birch saps lashed together with nettle's. we didnt insulate the bedding enough to stop the cold from being attracted to our core heat. we were running out of time and we only had the end of birch saps and the few dried oak leaves that there were. that night, although we had a good fire going, we didnt sleep. we was sat up, stoking the fire all night. at 5am, sitting by the fire was funny enough, not good for us. and being that we did not set any traps or hunt any food at all, we were bloody hungry and it had totally over took the need to b warm or sleep. so we head for the shore to collect winkles, lympts and hopefully a few crabs. no crab but a bountifull breakfast was achieved in only about 40 mins. i set 3 snares on the way back to the camp and picked some braken flowers for a brew. my step son was busy building the fire again and sticking the lympits to a flat stone we brought back with us to scatter the embers from the fire on to. i went and collected as much fire wood as i could as it wasnt looking good rain wise for that night. i went far for the fire wood and filled our pack with loads of drie leaves i found along with a wet canvas cloth i pulled up from under the ground. on the way back i checked our snares from a distance with no joy. back at camp my step son had breakfast and brew well underway and i worked through it washing in the stream the cloth i found to be dreid over the fire. after a well deserved breakfast i told my step son to get a few hours while i prepped for the night ahead. once i had the cloth nice and drie over the fire, i ventured out to wear i found the cloth for anything i could use to cover the fire wood with so it didnt get wet that night. i know rubbish in the woods isnt good, but for survival its like bonus points. along with some broken fence post's which would burn nice if dried by the fire for a while, i found an old rusted builders rd sign (what it was doing there i dont know) i took these back to the camp with two rabbits from my snares!!! woke up my step son with a moral boost witch he took his knife to greatfully lol and put the posts by the fire. i helped prep the rabbits and we put them over the fire to cook. whilst they were cooking we went out for a last fire wood hunt and to set some more snares. i also set some sea traps with lympet for bait on a rig i found on the rocks. when back at the camp it was close to sun set so we made the last preps before another night of freeze. my step son laid the cloth over the birch sap ends and then put the leaves we had gathered over the top. we were laying where our feet top n tailed, and the cloth only just went the lenth. i took the rd sign and put it on top of the wood pile and then laid thin birch saps to guide the rain down off the wood like a thin thatch. that night we ate and slept!! what wood was left by morning was drie, and it shat it down that night. the lesson is. insulation is very important. when u think you have collected enough, collect some more, and dont trie and find the coldest place in the coldest time with a family member unless u know your both up for it coz if we tried to sleep on the first night rather than jointly making the decision to stay awake and gain heat from the fire, one or both of us might not of woken. sorry about the spelling but its late lol
he never planned to fail, he just failed to plan. like lambs to the slaughter the wolfs look down from the hill tops. we are those wolfs!!!
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17 February 2013, 05:32,
#2
RE: 3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
Sounds pretty intense.

Great outing WM.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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17 February 2013, 09:53,
#3
RE: 3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
That sounded like a good weekend, all good fun, I often do this, I go out with my dogs with minim equipment

There is no disgrace in not getting your bed right, its a very common mistake to make, more cold will come up from the ground than down from above, so that has to be made right,... I tend to put down small twiggy branches, these lift you off the ground and form an area of air between you and the ground, then I add bracken, and top off with moss,.. the `mattress` is about a foot thick by the time I am done
[Image: madeupbed.jpg]
A major part of survival is invisibility.
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17 February 2013, 12:35, (This post was last modified: 17 February 2013, 12:38 by Prepper1.)
#4
RE: 3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
Watch out for the cliff though wm, check above to make sure there's no loose stuff...

I'm sure your missus would be pissed if you came back on your own one day...

Theres a cliff near me where me and my boys go but there's also huge rocks that fall off so we're always ready to run...

Thanks for the pic hl there always great, you can visualize stuff but pics sometimes just confirm what you see in your minds eye...

Also is there a trick with the moss?
I've always been put off using it because the moss around here is always sopping wet and still dampish if you squeeze it...
I tried to be normal once.... Worst two minutes of my life...
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17 February 2013, 13:57, (This post was last modified: 17 February 2013, 14:11 by Wildman.)
#5
RE: 3 weekends in minus temps practicing survival.
(17 February 2013, 05:32)Scythe13 Wrote: Sounds pretty intense.

Great outing WM.

cheers m8, i learn a much as possible through out the year and then test out what i've leaned in the winter.

(17 February 2013, 09:53)Highlander Wrote: That sounded like a good weekend, all good fun, I often do this, I go out with my dogs with minim equipment

There is no disgrace in not getting your bed right, its a very common mistake to make, more cold will come up from the ground than down from above, so that has to be made right,... I tend to put down small twiggy branches, these lift you off the ground and form an area of air between you and the ground, then I add bracken, and top off with moss,.. the `mattress` is about a foot thick by the time I am done
[Image: madeupbed.jpg]

nice man, that sounds 5 star compared to what we had to work with. we were a ft off the ground with about 10-15 % insulation lmao.

(17 February 2013, 12:35)Prepper1 Wrote: Watch out for the cliff though wm, check above to make sure there's no loose stuff...

I'm sure your missus would be pissed if you came back on your own one day...

Theres a cliff near me where me and my boys go but there's also huge rocks that fall off so we're always ready to run...

Thanks for the pic hl there always great, you can visualize stuff but pics sometimes just confirm what you see in your minds eye...

Also is there a trick with the moss?
I've always been put off using it because the moss around here is always sopping wet and still dampish if you squeeze it...
i hear you there m8, aspecialy this time of year. there was a massive one whilsts we were there. the danger in the winter time is that as the ice under ground freezez, it expans pushing the cliff from with in. there is one point in witch we have to cross to get to our location, other than that we're ok. although i will say, the beach along the coast was my land untill i found my self running for the sea with the soul cracking rocks behind me!! went down the next day as it was dark, and the rocks that fell werent much at all. i still dont walk along the beach at high tide anymore. low tide only.
he never planned to fail, he just failed to plan. like lambs to the slaughter the wolfs look down from the hill tops. we are those wolfs!!!
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