[H1N1]

(02-02-2015 08:08 AM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  

(02-02-2015 06:29 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

(02-01-2015 10:30 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 10:18 PM)rpg Wrote:  

It would be a real bitch in the winter. Ive spent time in other countries during winter with no heat and it sucks. After a while you cant even think straight.

stuff like this^ Living 'off the land' or 'off the grid' isn't fun in my opinion. Winter, shitty rainy weather all suck. The first time you get sick while by yourself in the wilderness is fucking horrible. You still have to do all of your 'chores' with 1/8th the energy, while shitting yourself. Injuring yourself also blows pretty hard too, but I'd rather have a sprained ankle than the flu in an icy december rain in the woods.

Not trying to argue or change your mind, but people carry diseases/illness. If you aren't exposed to people, you don't get sick. Certainly not advocating being a hermit as a good way of life because it'll stop you getting colds.

Its never been people that have gotten me sick in the woods its been intestinal parasites because a beaver or a duck shit in creek I was drawing water from. Other's I've worked with have contracted Lyme's disease from Ticks or blastomycosis from woodland fungal colonies http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kenora-cot...-1.537971.

This image that nature is pristine and non threatening is a 'noble savage' kind of argument.

I understand the point, but good practices, eg drawing water from its source, not at a point where an animal can shit/die in it, can go a long way to mitigating these risks. Of course, it's not like nature can be sanitised, but reducing your own carelessness can go a long way to minimising the risks of harm (again, if you walk through long grass in tic season in shorts and a Tshirt, then say nature is wild and lethal when you get lyme's disease, you really only have yourself to blame). Again, not specifically targeting this response 'at' you, as it were, but my own experience and training has shown me enough to be confident that the risks from nature can be largely mitigated through good practises.

None of the above is to suggest I don't welcome modern medicine, and the ability to get some penicillin when the need arises.

[Roustabout]

I'm with Joseywales on this one. I too live in Alabama and believe this video is total bs. Look at all the houses on the lake, he's not in a remote area. Where does he get the gas for the boat, money for his knives, ammo, and clothes? Plus, judging from the color of the leaves on trees, the video was filmed in early fall, which is pleasant, so living outside would not be that bad (not that I would do that). I doubt seriously he's sleeping in that cave now, because it's cold here today.

[Caligula]

For depictions of people going to live close to the land, I highly recommend Werner Herzog's film about trappers in remote parts of Siberia.

[Glaucon]

(02-02-2015 11:40 AM)Caligula Wrote:  

For depictions of people going to live close to the land, I highly recommend Werner Herzog's film about trappers in remote parts of Siberia.

Oh man, I watched it a few weeks ago, this movie is brilliant. Such a crafty, hard people. They will survive everything.

[Dr. Howard]

(02-02-2015 09:09 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

(02-02-2015 08:08 AM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  

(02-02-2015 06:29 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

(02-01-2015 10:30 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 10:18 PM)rpg Wrote:  

It would be a real bitch in the winter. Ive spent time in other countries during winter with no heat and it sucks. After a while you cant even think straight.

stuff like this^ Living 'off the land' or 'off the grid' isn't fun in my opinion. Winter, shitty rainy weather all suck. The first time you get sick while by yourself in the wilderness is fucking horrible. You still have to do all of your 'chores' with 1/8th the energy, while shitting yourself. Injuring yourself also blows pretty hard too, but I'd rather have a sprained ankle than the flu in an icy december rain in the woods.

Not trying to argue or change your mind, but people carry diseases/illness. If you aren't exposed to people, you don't get sick. Certainly not advocating being a hermit as a good way of life because it'll stop you getting colds.

Its never been people that have gotten me sick in the woods its been intestinal parasites because a beaver or a duck shit in creek I was drawing water from. Other's I've worked with have contracted Lyme's disease from Ticks or blastomycosis from woodland fungal colonies http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kenora-cot...-1.537971.

This image that nature is pristine and non threatening is a 'noble savage' kind of argument.

I understand the point, but good practices, eg drawing water from its source, not at a point where an animal can shit/die in it, can go a long way to mitigating these risks. Of course, it's not like nature can be sanitised, but reducing your own carelessness can go a long way to minimising the risks of harm (again, if you walk through long grass in tic season in shorts and a Tshirt, then say nature is wild and lethal when you get lyme's disease, you really only have yourself to blame). Again, not specifically targeting this response 'at' you, as it were, but my own experience and training has shown me enough to be confident that the risks from nature can be largely mitigated through good practises.

None of the above is to suggest I don't welcome modern medicine, and the ability to get some penicillin when the need arises.

I don't think we are opposing each other completely but I want to be clear on intention of best laid plans vs. practicality.

When I have gone camping I've , used good water sources, didn't venture into the long grass of tick infested meadows. I chose where I went and was prepared for a short stay, a great time was had by all and I would do it again.

I would like to contrast this with my longer term, work related ventures to the canadian wilderness...which I equate more with 'living off the land' than visiting. We would helicopter, swamp buggy or 4x4 into a remote site and stay there for up to 3 weeks at a time. We would come in with water purifying equipment, pumps, field clothing etc to start.

Once we were there though, we were THERE, we couldn't just drive down the road to the store if something went wrong. For example if a cold front rolled in, froze the water inlet and cracked the ceramic water filter and its housing rendering it useless (actual example). After that you go with plan B which is pouring a god awful amount of bleach into your water bottle and/or trying to wade out deep enough get a good water fill. You can't swim out to fill...as how do you swim with a few gallons of weights tied to you? No one is coming to drop supplies or get you out of there for another 2 weeks, your water filter is broken and you can die of thirst or drink heavily bleached water or risk natural parasite contamination....and then maybe get parasite contamination, turning your old field maps and t-shirts into toilet paper because your diarrhea burned through a weeks supply in 2 days.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the 'best practices' are reliable until you don't have a choice or something breaks or someone gets injured and when that happens a person will make do or die, especially when replacement parts, transportation or cash reserves aren't available...and shit will go wrong, its just a matter of how long until it happens. A weekend, or a week in the woods is pretty safe because your gear is fresh and you can resupply/repair at the end, but pushing out to a month...stuff starts to break and go wrong and thats what I envision 'living off the land' to be like: A clusterfuck of ductaping things, heavy swearing and praying that your shit holds together through storms or inclement weather.

How thats fun?, or the dream life, even if well prepared and following the textbook. I don't know. I'd rather be a teddy roosevelt outdoorsman...go and shoot some things, or fish for some things with a guide, then come back home to all of the trappings of modern culture when i get tired.