Containers are among the most important pieces of kit in on your person, in your scout kit and of course, your cache items. Survivalists often talk about the various "c's" of survival, all seem to have a different total number of "c's", but they all include containers. We'll start with on your person. I wear a kilt so I do not have pockets, I wear a sporran. This is my primary container which contains much of my basic kit. Even if you wear pants I encourage the use of some type of belt pouch. I like to have several. Without getting ridiculous, the more you can carry about your waist, the better. Around my waist I have my sporran which...
Now that we have covered the shelter materials for a scout kit, let us now take a look at intermediate level shelters. These will allow us a higher degree of comfort and functionality while we build permanent shelters from the materials on site. Having a larger, easy to set up shelter is especially helpful if you are out with multiple people, your family or your dog(s) and to store readily available tools and supplies. If having a larger tent of some type is not a possibility or does not interest you, and if your tarp is large enough in your scout kit, you can always combine natural building methods with your current kit to make something more substantial. I will...
This section will just be on the temporary shelters we might choose to carry into the field with us. The tools and materials for building permanent camps will be covered in future posts under the subjects of general tools and materials. I have two basic kits I head out with; my scout kit which I use for exploring new areas or on overnight hunting excursions, and my long-term kit which consists of cache items. In this post we'll cover our scout kit. There are 3 basic components to a shelter system; the ground cloth to prevent moisture from rising from below, your insulation in the form of blankets or a sleeping bag and perhaps some kind of pad and lastly,...
One of the most important parts of our kit is our clothing. The most important considerations for long-term wilderness living are durability, movement and being repairable. Fine materials and weak stitching will end up being rags very quickly. Your typical backpacking and hiking clothes are entirely inadequate. Just like your tools, your clothing must be what you would wear while working construction. I know, I wear a kilt and we'll get to that. We'll start from the ground up. First, and in my opinion most important, is footwear. I will always prefer boots of a moccasin type. Here in the U.S. most areas have snakes and it is very nice to have confidence that you are protected as high up as...
As I stated in Part 2 of this series, the presence of perennial water is what's most important in selecting a home territory. Cleanliness is not so much a concern as long as it is not chemically contaminated or has heavy mineral content. Water can generally be filtered and sterilized even without modern filtration methods. It is a good idea though to bring a several methods of making save drinking water with you as you get established. I do not like chemical sterilizers such as chlorine or iodine, as these will damage your gut bacteria and weaken your immune system. There are natural agents that you can use instead such as citricidal and colloidal silver. Most environments have herbs that...
