Tried Wild Living- Tougher than you think

[Oldshooter]

We have such an organization in the country where we live..........Its called a church.

Not trying to be a smart alec .  Its the truth  we discuss this in the men's prayer meetings weekly and have a contingency plan. There are several farmers, mechanics, equipment operators and such etc.

We are grounded in our faith and our belief that we must stick together and protect each other.
Its a small rural town and we understand where we are and what we will need to do

[tn_junk]

We have such an organization in the country where we live..........Its called a church.

Not trying to be a smart alec .  Its the truth  we discuss this in the men's prayer meetings weekly and have a contingency plan. There are several farmers, mechanics, equipment operators and such etc.

We are grounded in our faith and our belief that we must stick together and protect each other.
Its a small rural town and we understand where we are and what we will need to do

One of the great things I have found about moving back to my roots in a small town is that the folks here are really, truly friendly. I am visiting several churches around to find the best fit, and I have felt very welcome at all I have visited. I do have an advantage in that my ancestors are from around here, and almost everyone knows who I am, even though I left here 40 years ago. It is said that one cannot go back home, but I am not finding that to be true.

alan

[Oldshooter]

Alan I think it has something to do with the attitude you go home with.  I find that people are naturally leary of a new or strange face but once they are convinced you are genuine you are accepted.  I'm  not a good Christian yet  but i am a work in progress and I have found acceptance as just that. 

[mannyrock]

Guys,

  I think I would wait until a collapse before I went to talk to a large farmer.  Have you ever tried to convince a farmer of anything in advance?   It's just not in their mindset.  Most of the ones I have met just keep doing the same thing, over and over and over, year after year, until it finally fails  . . . three times.  Then they say, "Geez, . . . maybe I oughta try doing it different."   :-)

Regards,

Mannyrock

[SHOOTALL]

would like to hear more about your trip and hope you have recovered and are well

[tn_junk]

would like to hear more about your trip and hope you have recovered and are well

Feeling better every day.
I am in the process of starting to write about the trip.
I have written a few magazine articles and edited quite a few in my past. All were extremely scientific, dry and very boring. I am finding it very hard not to write my story as if it were a dull textbook..

alan

[gdolby]

Manny, not sure where or what farmers you are familiar with but the ones I am used to, they find something that works and stick with it.......in farming there aint any room for failure once, let alone 3 times. If so, you aint farming long

Getting back to topic. Tn_junk, I grew up in TN and have lived in NM for 14 years now. I used to go out for a weekend or so in TN growing up and have done the same here. Tn was a much easier getting along than here. To me the biggest prob in NM (at least in my local area) is water. In Tn lots of natural springs and creeks. Here I dont know of very many springs and the creeks cant be counted on all the time. All I can say is thank goodness for cow tanks. In the higher elevations that I have been to water doesnt seem to be as big of a issue..........but growing food there would be due to cooler temps and short growing seasons. If you ever come this way again, try using a dead cholla cactus to start a fire. they are easy to find standing and dry. I have not tried lighting them by friction though. Enjoy reading about your experiences and hope to see more..........Bill

[Sourdough]

I lived in Southern New Mexico, and Arizona for many years.  My wife grew up in Alamogordo.  She had friends that lived near Silver City, and we spent a lot of time camping out in the Gila Mountains with them.  For four years my job was rounding up wild cattle and horses on the government ranges in the White Sands area.  I spent lots of time out in that desert as well on horse back.  I had a little gray horse that could always find water.  By watching him I learned a lot about where to look to find tanks, springs, and areas holding water just a few inches or feet below the sand.

In the Gila mountains there is water if you know how to find it.  I usually let my horses do that for me, but watch the insects, they will lead you to water.  Rabbits, both Cottontail and Jacks are there, as well as Javalina, Snakes, Lizards, and Bugs.  But you are not usually going to find them during the day.

[Sourdough]

Ways I found water in the desert. 

I would lie down and watch for insects flying.  I would take note of whether they were flying straight or just sort of puttering around.  Only pay attention to the straight flyer's, and notice which way they are flying.  Follow them.  they will usually lead you to mountains, hills, or at least a pile of rocks.  Keep following them.  As you go there also look for tracks of other animals, deer, sheep, coyotes, bob cats, mice, they all need water.  The water they have to have is somewhere in the area.  Now it might be just a hollowed out place in a rock, back under a cliff, big rock, someplace the sun does not hit.  The water might be what is left over from the last rain months ago.  Or it could be just a crack in the rock where a little moisture seeps out and collects.  Have even found small caves with a small trickle of water running out of the rocks, then disappearing just a few feet away.

One day out on the west side of the White Tanks, west of Glendale Arizonia.  I let Charro my horse loose so he could roll in the sand.  Charro had sucked all the water up out of a little depression up in the rocks behind camp.  I knew it would be an hour or more before it refilled.  After a while I noticed Charro pawing the ground out in a low spot between the rocky outcroppings.  At first the sand just flew from his foot, then I noticed it was clumpy, and sticking to his foot.  I got out my camp shovel and went down there.  The sand was wet down in the hole he had dug.  I realized Charro could smell water.  As I dug the hole down to about 8 inches, water started seeping into the hole.  I continued to dig down about two feet, and water came up to within 8 inches of the top of the hole.  This was all the water Charro needed.  After he drank I refilled my water jugs and covered the hole with a tarp.  The next day when I left I refilled the hole and left a stick sticking up there to mark the location for future use.

As I rode away I took a good look at the area.  The rocks we were in sort of made a circle, with this sand filled hole in the middle.  If you could envision the rocks going below the sand, you could look at their contours and envision how they made a big bowl that held water just below the sand.  The next time Charro and I went out there we took a bigger shovel.

[Almtnman]

That's a good tip Sourdough, one that I hadn't heard before. I was wondering if your horse could actually smell the water or maybe the wet soil that the water had collected in?

[shootercochran]

Just spent 4 months living mostly "wild". Have been from Key West, Florida to Seattle, Washington and back again. Camping. Tried living as wild as possible. Hunting and fishing for food. Have eaten lots of game and fish.
What I learned:
1. If you do this legally, hunting/fishing/trapping licenses will cost you a fortune as an out-of-state person. I did it legally.
2. Starting fires ain't as easy as it looks on TV. Still haven't been able to start a campfire just rubbing two sticks together, though I did get pretty good with a flint and steel. If you don't really need a fire, they seem to just majically start with little effort. If you really need a fire, it feels like you couldn't start one with a blow torch and a gallon of gas.
3. Hunger is a constant companion in some areas. In the Gila mountains of southern NM, there was dern little to kill and eat except for various rodents. Gets real tiring real quick eating ground squirrel three meals a day.
4. Where you are makes a world of difference. Along the Gulf Coast, I lived like a king. Fresh fish daily, warm days and cool nights. In Central Oregon, I would have frozen/starved to death if it weren't for the local WalMart.
5. If you think you will ever need to "live wild", PRACTICE. Get out, in the area you plan on living, and exist for days at a time on just what you kill/catch/forage. It can be an eye opener. I discovered I wasn't a fraction of the mountain man that I thought I was.

Most important thing, sitting on your couch and watching "Survivor Man" and "Man Against Wild" will only get you dead if you really have to survive wild. Only way to learn is to do. I have been hunting/fishing/camping for 45 years, and I found that I had not nearly enough skills to really live wild.

alan

You put some good stuff out there. HOWEVER, if done right in a single state it can be done for some people. I don't see the going over different states myself.   Pick one, like Alaska and become a resident. Then you can do it.

Starting a fire is never easy.  But a fire steel and matchs usually will make it happen.

[tn_junk]

You put some good stuff out there. HOWEVER, if done right in a single state it can be done for some people. I don't see the going over different states myself.   Pick one, like Alaska and become a resident. Then you can do it.

Starting a fire is never easy.  But a fire steel and matchs usually will make it happen.

I agree completely. I have settled in the NW Florida swamps, where I grew up, and am in the process of re-learning everything I need to survive.

alan

[Lurker]

I used to go out for 2 - 4 weeks at a time as a teenager.  What I missed most?  Toilet paper and salt.  Anytime now I go into the bush I have plenty of both.

Yep.
I did a 4 day "aboriginal" stint in the Gila mountains. Just me, my knife, and a poncho. Danged near starved to death and froze to death. And my back side was near raw from using grass to take care of essential issues.

alan

Alan are you sure you didn't use what I pointed out was great toilet paper to an acquaintance in my youth? We referred to it by the slang name of itch weed, I think the proper term is stinging nettles. That boy chased me half way up Saltado mesa in Colorado, I'm really glad I was pretty slim used to the altitude and in great shape then, I think he would have killed me if he could have caught me before we got back to camp. That old boy was madder than the proverbial wet hornet.

I thought I was the only person, who would do that to a tenderfoot... Stinging nettles will really leave a memory with you...

Bill

[Chappers]

wow all this talk about large to small game disappearing in a matter of months makes me feel lucky that i live in a country that only just over 5% of the population owns a firearm. 

In such a situation around here you go about ten minutes out of town and there are roos and rabbits all over the place, thirty minutes in to the hills same plus pigs,  one hr to a local state forest  lots of deer (note: in QLD you cant hunt on state land) and two and a half hrs north is the farm that i hunt in.

Got to say it’s beautiful country up there it’s about 1400 acres and when you walk around you do feel like it’s your own little country. It has everything roos, rabbits, all your small to medium natives, emus, pigs deer, the lot but it has saltys too (never seen one but i been told there their)

Then its about six hrs west and you get this...

don’t know how you would live out there and to be honest don’t care to.
I like to hear the yarns about your trip and how you did it tn_junk, how are they coming along?

[Oldshooter]

He(tn_junk) said he was leaving in a post the other day. He might be puta pocket for a while.