Prepping to head out

[katzmoor]

A very short post this will be. I'm still finishing school, but I'm really interested in going innawoods and starting myself a little homestead or something, I'm well versed in local edibles and weather, but I've never had the chance to practice. It's something I've wanted to do for a while... I think there was a book I read as a kid that got the idea in my head.
In any case, I want to start completely from scratch. No tools or anything. Thing is, I don't know of any stones around here to work with, or whether anything of quality can be made of the soil here (see: sand - not suitable for making pottery...), nor do I know for sure if there's a means to get on land to do this, without some sort of purchase involved. Any advice is welcome.
PS: The board topic is great. Ooga booga all the way.

[Hawkdancer]

If I read your post correctly, you are setting yourself up for a very challenging experience, and you don't have any experience!  Unless, of course, your major is survivalism.  Dropping back to pre Stone Age is a noble idea, but you should have a few tools available.  Get a lot of practice before you dive in, and if I recall, there are very few homestead site where you can stake a claim.  I'm sure others will comment also.
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

Do you know how to make fire with the materials that might(or might not) be available to you? Will you have access to potable water?  How and where will you get food? ...shelter? Going out in the dead of winter it will be very difficult to find food. Do you know how to make traps and snares to get animal protein? Except for bark, inner bark or plant buds there will be very few in any plant to eat. Can you identify the right and wrong plants to eat or not?
 Where do you live?

[katzmoor]

Do you know how to make fire with the materials that might(or might not) be available to you? Will you have access to potable water?  How and where will you get food? ...shelter? Going out in the dead of winter it will be very difficult to find food. Do you know how to make traps and snares to get animal protein? Except for bark, inner bark or plant buds there will be very few in any plant to eat. Can you identify the right and wrong plants to eat or not?
 Where do you live?

I know how to make a fire, I've done it once, and I'm quite good with simple machines (I'd likely make a pump drill as soon as possible for re-usability). Water here is easily potable, though I'd likely have to make a distilling pot with any clay I find to make sure there's no salt in it. There are nuts year round, particularly acorns that have fallen, remnant berries... if I find lactarius indigo I'll be well set for lighter bits of meals, or porcini (both local). I'd need an identifier book for most other fungi though. Shelter is relatively simple, with all of the smaller woods and pine straw all over the place. It will be, I'd hope for more of the brown rabbits that are local, but there's no guarantee I'll have anything besides sweet potato, roasted smilax and blackberry leaves. Snares and traps of various kinds are pretty simple: relies on tension and a relatively loose connection on an animal path, potentially with bait, fast enough to snap the neck. And as for most plants, I'm sure from my current foraging experience I'll be okay. I'll have to learn one way or another though... at least winter isn't very cold here. 

If I read your post correctly, you are setting yourself up for a very challenging experience, and you don't have any experience!  Unless, of course, your major is survivalism.  Dropping back to pre Stone Age is a noble idea, but you should have a few tools available.  Get a lot of practice before you dive in, and if I recall, there are very few homestead site where you can stake a claim.  I'm sure others will comment also.
Hawkdancer

I'll likely bring a hatchet if anything. That's a fat if too. Baskets and other things are easy, but finding quality stone here is not...
I'm from the Florida panhandle FYI. I live next to a bayou. There are bears everywhere, and I've been tempted to get back at the one that's raided everyone's trash lately... getting up at dawn only to pick up trash on a day off... 

[Pat B]

Well, good luck to you. I think you'll need it.  Keep us posted if you can.

[Hawkdancer]

Be sure to post some grid coordinates so a search party can get you out!  Remember to leach your acorns!  You should also learn how to boil your water!  I am trying my best to be polite ! But I think you have a lot to learn!!
Hawkdancer

[GlisGlis]

You will not like what I'm going to write but you have to know it.
In the more optimistic case you are underestimating the risks, the knowledge and techniques needed.
You CANNOT rely solely on books to id mushrooms and edible plants. This is the quickest way to get poisoned and possibly die.

Survival, living in wilderness, in the woods.... whatever you want to call it requires years long practice.
Even more if you want to do it primitive way
What you see on youtube and in survival tv shows is 95% (at least) bu..#..it

All that "simple machines" are actually very difficult to make and difficult to use
You will NEVER have the time to master on the field all the required skills while struggling to find food, water, fire and building a shelter 

Just for a quick reference have a look at "into the wild" movie
or read about the life of Ishi. He was a very experienced native that struggled and almost starved to death while left alone and without his tools

If your passion is genuine be humble and take the long way to learn what you will need to fulfill your dream in the future

[willie]

cool idea, can you find a place nearby to do it part time? come out to rest, eat or learn from research? don't make it too hard at first, it's easy to get discouraged and quit.  you can spend more and more time  at camp as you learn

[katzmoor]

Be sure to post some grid coordinates so a search party can get you out!  Remember to leach your acorns!  You should also learn how to boil your water!  I am trying my best to be polite ! But I think you have a lot to learn!!
Hawkdancer

Fine advice, I'll keep that in mind. It's all good, you don't seem rude. As for leaching acorns, you mean through water drained and re-boiled, correct? That's usually how you get toxins out as far as I'm aware, but I'll have to practice that some.

You will not like what I'm going to write but you have to know it.
In the more optimistic case you are underestimating the risks, the knowledge and techniques needed.
You CANNOT rely solely on books to id mushrooms and edible plants. This is the quickest way to get poisoned and possibly die.

Survival, living in wilderness, in the woods.... whatever you want to call it requires years long practice.
Even more if you want to do it primitive way
What you see on youtube and in survival tv shows is 95% (at least) bu..#..it

All that "simple machines" are actually very difficult to make and difficult to use
You will NEVER have the time to master on the field all the required skills while struggling to find food, water, fire and building a shelter 

Just for a quick reference have a look at "into the wild" movie
or read about the life of Ishi. He was a very experienced native that struggled and almost starved to death while left alone and without his tools

If your passion is genuine be humble and take the long way to learn what you will need to fulfill your dream in the future

I understand. I'm expecting to practice for a long time, I'll likely start part-time to get practice in with backup so that if I make a mistake I can come back and learn from my mistakes. As for books, I meant for fungi IF I ate any. Fungi are unreliable. As for plants, I've been foraging around here for a while, I do it as not really a hobby but for eats normally, oddly enough. Even if I have normal meals...
As for the "survival shows" and YouTube stuff, yeah, most of it is fake. I've gone a long ways to research elsewhere, /out/ on 4chan has been a good source for information to cross-index for years. Primitive Technology is probably the only channel on YouTube with legitimate advice, as you can see the man do the stuff himself, and has openly admitted that when not recording he does live normally and does not recommend going out without plenty of practice.
I don't think I'll ever master any of it, I want to learn, and the only way to learn is to practice... that's why I came for advice, and I appreciate it. I've heard of Ishi before, I think someone mentioned him a couple of years ago to me. Last of his tribe, correct? And as for "Into the Wild", what's it about (before I go looking it up)?
In any case, I appreciate everything you're telling me here. I'll go looking around for more information, and will set aside some time to practice these skills. The only things I've gotten the chance to do besides forage is cut the occasional tree. I might clear an area next to the bayou and make a hut for starters.

[Hawkdancer]

Practice!, Practice!, Practice!!  And when you think you know how to to do it practice some more!  You are not going to survive off  grid in a Stone Age mode, but you could maybe make it in a Fur Trade era, Mountain Man mode.(1790-1840).  If you can make a fire in 5 seconds with flint and steel, you are on the way!  Btw, the fastest I have seen is 23 seconds!  Really, I wish you good luck with this endeavor and I would like score some of whatever it is you are smoking!   I don't believe the world is going to end, I do believe in having the skills to deal with a major disaster, but I'm crazy, not dumb!
You obviously have a lot to learn! 
Hawkdancer

[GlisGlis]

You can download a free of right ebook of "Hunting with the Bow & Arrow" by Saxton T. Pope from project Gutemberg. It contains also the Ishi's story
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8084

And as for "Into the Wild", what's it about (before I go looking it up)?

Into the Wild is a 2007 American biographical survival film based on the travels of Christopher McCandless across North America and his experiences in the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1990s.

[BrianS]

If you are asking for advice, here is mine. For now, make a shelter or take a tent, bring some "already made" modern gear, a reliable fire source along with some food and spend some time out living in the woods. If you are planning to do it alone, please beware that living in isolation may not be for Everyone. Also let someone know where you will be and have some way of contacting them in case of emergency. Even with a tent, food etc. You will be challenged to prove your skills. 100% Primitive is extremely difficult and may result in you getting hurt or killed. Please be careful. Best of Luck with your quest.

[BrianS]

katzmoor,
I got to thinking about my post and how it may be misinterpreted. I do not want to discourage your quest. One of the most important skills one can learn is to be comfortable living by themselves in the woods. The primitive skills will take time to learn but in the meantime learning to be at home in the woods can be learned safely using modern gear until you learn the primitive stuff needed. Good luck with your quest Young Man.
brian

[Scyth]

Katzmoor -

First let’s start off with

Clean Water :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SAWYER-PRODUCTS-Water-Filtration-System/dp/B0185QNVE2

(Unfortunately 99.99% of water is undrinkable because of a witch’s brew of bad bacteria & human caused pollution . . . and ends the tale of your “prepping adventure” by dysentery or worse . . .)

then follow the C’s to whatever destination you choose :


• Cutting device

• Combustion device

• Cordage

• Container

• Cover


regards,

Scyth

[mullet]

Acorns here in Florida do not taste very good even after leaching. Have you planned for mosquitos, because they are bad even in the Panhandle. I was born in Pensacola and have family all over up there. There is good rock up there, you just need to educate yourself about Coastal Plains Chert. I wish you good luck and remember, Black bears will beat you until you are dead unlike Grizzly's.