Discussion: Survival

[Pat B]

I believe the bow and arrow to be a perfect survival tool. Even though you can make your own gun powder you still have to have all 3 ingredients. For a bow and arrow, the components are all around most of us. Points can be made from found materials and objects. They are relatively easy to make and are quite effective.
   Most of us will never have to deal with a survival situation but if push came to shove, I believe I could hold my own. I don't knap but if I had to I could make an assortment of stone tools...if we had decent rock here!
   Today's society wants everything handed to them on a platter. The easy way out! The 8 guys that I have been hunting with for 25 years, all very good friends, consider me the "token" primitive guy. They all hunt with wheels and as soon as possible get the 270s, 30 06s and 308s out for the rest of the season. They just don't get it. None of them "need" the meat for survival, although they all enjoy it for dinner. They think what I do is cool and each loves the "primitive" arrow hanging on their office wall... but they don't get it.
   I have rim fire and center fire long and hand guns. I have a black powder gun. I have lots of bows and bow making materials, arrows and arrow making materials, I have knives and hatchets and steel and stone for blades and points, plants for cordage, glue and dyes and clay for pottery...if I need it! The road I am traveling is going towards simple but effective! ...but I, we, are of a different mindset than most. I think we would all use what we had available, in the order of its ease, to survive. Hopefully it will be use by choice and not necessity!...and until then, "I'll do it my way!"     Pat

[deerhunter97370]

I use a bow for hunting for convience. Here in Oregon rifle season is about a month for deer and for days for elk where I hunt. With archery I get amonth of deer, elk, and bear in the month of September. As far as survival say you are in a plane crash where would you get a gun in the woods. If you have been on this site long enough just from reading the posts you have the head knowleage to make a bow from stone. Joel

[Minuteman]

Another survival aspect concerning bow over gun( not against guns own many) is the fact that guns make alot of noise. If you are hungry you can bet theres a dozen other hungry folks within earshot of that rifle going off. They come creepin in while you are gutting that much needed deer , incapacitate(or kill) you and take it to feed their family. The bow allows you to take game wherever you want without alerting others to your presence.You could even hunt parks and reserves if it was TEOTWAWKI.
 That being said I'd probably just shoot it with a 22 that had a plastic pop bottle taped to the end of the barrel. , bottom cut off obviously. That or I'd just shoot it with whatever and take my brother or wife armed with my AR-15 style longbow to cover my back .
 Lotta folks are gonna come to their senses too late. They will come to our doors knowing we had our heads on straight all the time and ask us to help them. I'll help all I can but after a while we'll not have much for 'em but they'll still ask for something , some kinda weapon to defend themselves. All they'll get from me is a butterknife out of the drawer. They can sharpen it on a stone, lash it to a stick and make their own meat. Guy I saw once called them " the butterknife brigade" they'll consist of all the anti gun folks you know now after the defecation hits the air accelerator.
 Any survival plan that doesn't take into consideration how you are gonna deal with folks trying to kill you to take what they need to survive isn't a very good one in my opinion. Now as I think about it, well we won't go there I don't wanna get everybody's undershorts all to chafin'.......
   Well I guess I will.A crossbow would make a good survival weapon as they are much easier for an untrained person to use. .A ten year old kid could save your but with one with very little training.They are also much more intimidating than a stick and string. Looking deadly is important in those sort of situations
 My rant is over sorry if I hijacked the thread.

[Jack Lannom]

Don't forget snares they are working for you while you sleep or get other chores done, I have spoken to old timers that say they had caught critters up to small deer in snares.

The "woodcraft" skills we practice as a hobby or "as a just in case the modern world may come to a end" should help point out how blessed in many respects we have it today.

However just like any skill you use it or loose it !

[huntertrapper]

i feel i hunt the deer and other animals here for meat...i enjoy hunting and love being in the woods, but for me the meat is what feeds my family and we save money on gas to run to the store to spend money on the meat....i dont honestly think i could hunt with a scoped rifle or compound bow...instead ill shoot stickbows and my flintlock, its just the way i feel i am to shoot, my friends wonder why i do that and i just say its what feels correct, but as was being said, no we dont hunt to just survive, but in a way if a deer is not taken our freezer is empty...

[Minuteman]

You are absolutely right, Jack. A snare made from the aircraft style cable you have in your garage connected to the lift springs will make a dandy snare for a deer. Learn how to make a snare lock from a fender washer now while you have the internet!
 
 Huntertrapper I think if you and your family hadn't eaten in a week you would carry the best rifle you had to the woods and kill the first animal you saw to put food in your belly.   Your priorities change when theres four hungry mouths to feed and you gotta do it or they don't eat! Its easy to look at it and think you know how you'd react, but in my opinion only a fool would continue hunting with a primitive bow when their survival depended on it.  Unless of course thats all they had or military action in the area precluded the unwanted  attention firearms might bring.

 
I know that around my neck of the woods the deer population is gonna be hurtin in a serious fashion if food ever gets short at the grocery. Buncha folks around here kill 'em year round already whenever they need the meat.I can see the BP rifle being awful handy. But only after other bullets had been used up or in the interest of conserving ammunition stores. You'd be carrying an AR-15 ( or SKS better yet) over your shoulder for the two legged varmints of course.
 I ain't trying to start a shovin match, just stating my opinion and I WAS NOT  calling anyone a fool.
 Surprised no one addressed my x-bow commen...

[Stonedog]

This has been said....but if you are really concerned about survival.....learn to trap.  Period.

Learn to snare, learn to set commercial traps and learn to set deadfalls and twitch up traps.

Also learn to snare brids.

A Day setting traps.....can lead to a week of eating...do that math......traps and snares are force multipliers.......you have many doing the work for you......

Now, that being said....except for a few times a year, I always hunt with a bow and arra.....just cause I love it......

But if I had to feed the family...trap the small (up to about beaver size) critters and kill and preserve (dry, smoke and jerk) the bigguns.....

Also....learn to run a trot line...and seine......

Oh yeah....get a book about wild edibles in you area......

[JackCrafty]

Mmmmm....some beans, squash and tobacco would go good with all the meat being harvested here....

I agree with the trapping idea....especially fish traps.  The supply of land critters dries up quickly (no pun intended).

[mullet]

  I'm glad Florida has more cows per acre than Texas or any other state. I like hunting dumb animals.

[Jack Lannom]

So far we make the assumption we will continue to live where we are now but if there is much of a calamity unless you are "VERY" rural / remote,  relocating out of the mainstream of those who haven't the skills to survive and the ones who would prey upon them will be necessary.

In this case what can you carry with you for how far.

No fuel at the station or Groceries in the local market for just 30 days would put many  into panic mode another 30days would require the National Guard be called in for sure!

[Minuteman]

Jack I think you give too many people too much credit. 2 weeks of the grocery stores being shut down would turn every major metropolitan center in America into a dog eat dog, kill or be killed fight for survival  for those that didn't see it coming.
   Mullet has a valid point as well, killin a cow is not difficult and a feller with a bow and 3 buddies could have it dead , cut up and hauled off in less than an hour if the threat of imminent death hung over their heads. But things would be a bit different at that point. I doubt any farmer is gonna leave his cattle out away from the house where he can't keep an eye on 'em . They'll probably post guards in fact I know I would.
 Hope it never comes to any of this stuff but I'd rather have my head around it before it gets here than to have to GET my head around it while its happening.
 

[Jack Lannom]

Hope it never comes to any of this stuff but I'd rather have my head around it before it gets here than to have to GET my head around it while its happening.

Not just you but every one you are responsible for as well no on the job training here.

I figure the 1st 2 weeks they will huddle around the relief shelters and sports stadiums still believing the Government is going to take care of them giving the smart folks time to go the opposite direction as fast as you can

[D. Tiller]

  I'm glad Florida has more cows per acre than Texas or any other state. I like hunting dumb animals.

Yeah! Eddie. But what happens when all the gas dries up for your mechanical joisting horse? 

[mullet]

   Do you mean my jeep?, I make meat with it for fun. The first thing I would do is head for the least populated areas I know. Packing a Glass bow and arrows and a 22 rifle and as much ammo I could carry. Oh, my 22 would be my 10-22 with 30 round clips, for the reasons Steve brought up. one shot for game and a whole bunch for vultures. Plus if push came to shove, no small farms down here, just huge ranches. It would be easier to sneak and turkey hunt ranch hands protecting cattle with a 22 and bow.

[Kegan]

The trouble I see with traps, and there is only one, is that you ned alot of decent cordage for the traps I prefer (Paitue and variants thereof). Other than that, it would be the way to go.

As for crossbows and what not being mroe effective- my brother and I were at a buddy's place, and we wondered what a blunt arrow from a 20# kid bow would do (under drawn, about ten yards away). He missed my back and hit my elbow, which immediately smarted and began to bleed. Put a pointy stone flake on that and some one's gonna get it.

And then you eat them !!!!

As was said, if it were to feed your family, we'd use the gun (if we had it). However, for me, the gun would definately be back up. Everywhere I've been that has game, one loud noise and they're all outta there. With a bow, they're outta there, just not so two or three hundred yards off. I'd rahter have a miss every once in a while and get a few more shots at them rather than getting one almost-certain kill for a few hours. Especially if they're small critters .