Philosophy in Bushcraft ?
“Live each day as if it were your last. Without fear, apathy or pretense”.
This really resonated with me after 25 years of disability and multiple surgeries. In the last year Ive had close to 20 hospital admissions. Most of those I now find out were due to the wrong medication causing fluid to build up in my lungs. The stage 3 kidney failure Ive now been told Ive had for 10 years and has been stable, this also due to scaring from the medications. Still at the gym every day, sometimes just on the bike to keep the knee and lungs going like the last few months. Other times for 2 hours straight of weight work, but still there none the less.
Injury list highlights:
L4 to S1 back injury 2 operations
2003 first bilateral lung transplant
2014 second bilateral lung transplant
throat cancer, shoulder cancer
severed quad tendon
sternum broken 3 times
scar tissue right groin 90 litre blood transfusion
left shoulder severe arthritis
tore the tendon off my right bicep
stage 3 kidney failure
“If you cant give a man something to love, give him something to hope for, if you cant give him something to hope for, give him something to do.”
Even though my last post was on building a GO Bag, I wanted to point out the fallacies of using that as your primary plan and not as your contingency or emergency options.
When I had my Raptor ute, if i just threw my GO bag into the back, with the amount of food Id be carrying in that bag, there’s 5 days. In reality Id throw in the GO bag for my equipment bag then a duffel of dehydrated food supplies, another duffel of clothing, tools, Jerry cans of fuel, Jerry cans of water, larger medical kits, 6 months of my meds, larger solar array, chainsaw, generator, etc etc. There’s two months before becoming a refugee.
In my van I have three weeks of tinned food and a water filter on my sink and 6×8 trailer with 6 months of supplies and a secure place to sleep. Id need to find alternative sources of water after two weeks and I could only travel as far as a tank of gas and two Jerry cans filled with diesel could take me if my tank was full from the beginning. How far could you get carrying all this equipment on your back.
The second video is placed here to show your not only escaping a disaster but you have to work your way through major damage to infrastructure. Damaged roads and bridges etc.
(This has been a work in progress over the last year with only a few items left to purchase and test).
I keep going through my gear to pack a GO bag. I don’t believe in a bug out bag due to the methodology behind them even though they carry similar equipment. . A bug out bag is meant to take you somewhere. If you DONT have some where to go you become a refugee. A GO bag rather is an emergency bag, set up to last you 3 to 10 days depending on the amount of food packed. Its for an emergency resource.
Ive based mine around the below youtube clips.Ive changed out certain pieces of equipment to suit the area Im in and the brands available to me. The reason its taken so long to build are two reasons. One I live in a mobile home and have everything with me and two there were certain pieces of gear I wanted to upgrade too. Such as a square multicam tarp to set up a ranger diamond fly rather than a standard hootchie which is oblong. Square shapes let you set up a greater variation of tarps shapes.
Your not going to live off the land out there. This is a large ditch option to support you until help can be provided. As part of the P.A.C.E plan primary, alternate, contingency, emergency, this is the last E.
(its good to compare the difference between the third and fourth video pack contents)
(check out the bumbag first aid kits Em going to have to make one of these out of a 511 Rush Moab 3)
TOOLS
cold steel shovel
boreal 21 inch saw or corona razor tooth saw 10 inch (I would like to try the Corona)
SAK or leathernam
5 inch belt knife
paracord line kit 5ft and 10 ft daisy chained 20 ea
FIRST AID
IFAK
booby kit
extra tourniquet
SHELTER
poncho
tarp 9×9
swagman roll
3/4 gonk mat (non inflatable)
ridgeline kit with stakes
sleeping bag recon 6
gloves (leather and woolen)
bivi bag
COMBUSTION
butane lighter
ferro rod
tinder kit
duct tape( gorilla)
POWER
solar
power bank
head lamp
spare batteries( rechargeable)
NAVIGATION
maps
compass
COOKING/FOOD
MSR pocket rocket and small butane cylinder
MRES
tuna
food bars
coffee or tea with creamer
spoon
WATER
grail ultra press
brown bag
large dry bag to carry water from a stream
32oz water bottle stainless double walled
nesting cup
extra water bladder
SPARE CLOTHING in a dry bag to be used as a pillow
extra socks and jocks
beanie
hat
shemagh
thermal under wear
neck gaiter
snugpack arrowhead jacket
PACK and PACK COVER
camo cover
Eberlestock Pactrack or Snugpak rocket pack ( I like the pactrack with the front opening, but here’s its an $800 pack). I already have the rocketpack.
I saw this project on youtube and wanted to give it a go. I called around to local antique dealers and found one cleaning out his back shed and was throwing out a lot of old steel for scrap. He offered me some old files for free so I grabbed as many as I could for a mate that’s into making knives out of them. We used his workshop to cut the file and found it it wouldn’t spark until the sides were smoothed. We polished it up a little and applied gun blue to stop it rusting, leaving enough of the file edges in for looks. It was cut to fit an Altoids tin in length. I didn’t bother drilling a hole in the end for a lanyard.
On the off chance I searched for fat wood in Australia and it came up at my local hardware store. It wouldn’t light by itself using a ferro rod. A cotton ball had to be used for the initial ignition and then it went off and burnt for almost 4 minutes. I still have to try using a scandi grind to see if the shavings are finer. Id also like to split the kindling into smaller pieces to place in my fire lighting tin or have a pre-shaved hand full in a small bag.
Ive finally started using more Altoids tins rather than tobacco tins to reduce weight and to try and have more intent towards my kits and carry only what is necessary and nothing else.
I don’t remember where I saw this, I believe it was a custom knife maker on youtube who was making custom flint and steel kits. He wrapped the the char cloth in another piece of calico. This prevents the pieces of flint and the steel from breaking apart the char and also stops everything from rattling, making noise. The two extra pieces are also there to make extra char cloth.
Another week in hospital. I finally got to see a cardiac and kidney specialist. For the past three months I was told I had stage 3 kidney failure and a heart condition. It took them a day to figure out one of my medications was causing all the problems with fluid in my lungs. A quick tweak and will soon be back on my feet. I have removed most political posts as of today due to the new hate laws being passed in the last week, or should I say new DISSENT LAWS. The country is changing and not for the better. Time to go grey. Fighting for freedom and education is no longer an option. It is now against the law. I started posting political ideas to educate people as having general conversations no one seemed to be aware of half the laws being passed in this country. 90% of people are sheep and deserve what they get after the next federal election if they continue to vote as they have done in the past.
Just one week in hospital set me back to 2.5 minute sets on the bike to build up to 15 minutes.Haven’t been able to do gym work for a couple of months and still cant put weight on from 60 kilo. One week in hospital takes me several months to build back up to doing weight work.
