who's daring enough to try ?

[ChrisCraft]

24 hour paracord survival challenge


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZjNOHtC9I

[shepherd]

great video... not sure id wanna be bear foot in those conditions.... but this dude is clearly more bad ass than me! haha... interesting concept.. personally i think iv probably become overly reliant on my knife in bushcraft and "survival" situations.. mainly because i enjoy using it and have never actually been in a life or death wilderness situation with or without it. saying that, not only when im out doing bushcraft but everyday at work my knife is on my hip and only comes off once im home for the eveneing, and back on again when i get dressed on a morning... so i dont mind depending on it too much as chances are, if i need it. ill have it! saying that - this vid has def inspired me to think outside the box and practice afew things that i wouldnt normally do! because, you never know!

[saxonaxe]

Interesting video although I would always struggle a bit if someone said..." Suppose you find yourself deep in the wilderness with one match and a ball of string" ( or similar... maybe just a paracord bracelet).. My answer would be, Well you're a dipstick for getting yourself into that situation and no, I'm not going to pay you for a £250 course just in case....:D
Seriously..I appreciate it's about being inventive, self confident with practical skills, self reliance etc: but sometimes I wonder if modern life is so humdrum for some people that deep inside they long to be in a survival situation and I don't mean the common one where they've just lost their Internet connection or their Hokey Cokey mobile phone battery has gone flat..http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/lol-044.gif

[FishyFolk]

Interesting video although I would always struggle a bit if someone said..." Suppose you find yourself deep in the wilderness with one match and a ball of string" ( or similar... maybe just a paracord bracelet).. My answer would be, Well you're a dipstick for getting yourself into that situation and no, I'm not going to pay you for a £250 course just in case....:D
Seriously..I appreciate it's about being inventive, self confident with practical skills, self reliance etc: but sometimes I wonder if modern life is so humdrum for some people that deep inside they long to be in a survival situation and I don't mean the common one where they've just lost their Internet connection or their Hokey Cokey mobile phone battery has gone flat..http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/lol-044.gif

Could not have said it better.

[ChrisCraft]

im gonna do it with just a knife, in 3 weeks time when its proper cold, and probably snowing.

then in summer, i will try again, with zero items.

cant call myself a true bushcrafter untill ive done it with nothing.

[rik_uk3]

Chris take some back up kit with you, 'proper cold' can lead to being 'proper dead' if you don't have kit with you.

Saxon, spot on post mate.

[OakAshandThorn]

Well stated, John...for some, a "survival situation" is living without the internet for a week or *gasp* a month. lol

This guy reminds me a lot of Cody Lundin. He's very down-to-Earth, laid-back, and if I'm not mistaken, he's the same guy who made an excellent hand-drill tutorial. Would I do this? Perhaps in the future, but as for now I doubt I could create an ember as I am still learning friction fire. Of course, for only 24 hours, I think anyone would do just fine without, unless we're talking about doing this experiment in the chill of winter.

[FishyFolk]

Well stated, John...for some, a "survival situation" is living without the internet for a week or *gasp* a month. lol

This guy reminds me a lot of Cody Lundin. He's very down-to-Earth, laid-back, and if I'm not mistaken, he's the same guy who made an excellent hand-drill tutorial. Would I do this? Perhaps in the future, but as for now I doubt I could create an ember as I am still learning friction fire. Of course, for only 24 hours, I think anyone would do just fine without, unless we're talking about doing this experiment in the chill of winter.

If I was to do this in winter for 24 hours , it would have to be in a place with lots, and lots of snow, and I would want a spade instead of cord...I'd be so comfy :-)

[OakAshandThorn]

If I was to do this in winter for 24 hours , it would have to be in a place with lots, and lots of snow, and I would want a spade instead of cord...I'd be so comfy :-)
When I was younger, the few times we had a heavy winter with plenty of snow accumulation, I experimented with snow caves, using the snow itself as an insulator. Back then I was so surprised that I felt warm in my snug shelter. And one time in particular, it was well below the freezing mark at night, with strong winds whipping snow through the countryside. I headed out across the street into the meadows where the town employees cut the timothy hay that grows there twice a year. I knew they had left a few bundles, and though there wasn't much snow on the ground (no more than 20 cm), I figured I would put together a little shelter made from the snow and hay bundles, just big enough to cover my body. I slept for several hours on the snow that was on the ground, quite comfy with my vintage Sorels and "eskimo" (as my classmates called it) parka. The hay was thicker along the side walls parallel to my body, and the roof was made from sections of other bundles that broke off in frozen pieces when I tired to move them to construct the shelter. For quite a while I listened to the roar of the gales, feeling rather pleased with myself for improvising and being comfortable at that :). And then at around 01:00, I woke up and realised I had to go to school the next day, and walked back home. I wanted to stay there all night...it was an awesome experience.

Aside from that, last year I missed my chance to build a quinzee, because we had 160 cm accumulation for the season. But I didn't know what to expect, especially since December was a complete wash-out with spring-like temperatures, and there was only one brief snowstorm in November. Then came Jack Frost with his ice giants knocking on our door in mid January, and we had snow up until late March.

If there's one thing I learned about winter here, it's that nothing is consistent year-to-year, and looking at the actual data recorded by NOAA, there is no such thing as a "normal" anything because of the dramatic fluctuations each winter season. Weirder still is that this unpredictability was known since the early 1900s when the state started recording official weather data.

[mick91]

im gonna do it with just a knife, in 3 weeks time when its proper cold, and probably snowing.

then in summer, i will try again, with zero items.

cant call myself a true bushcrafter untill ive done it with nothing.

I did 2 no gear challenges, summer and autumn and fully intend to do a winter one. The reports for them are over at BCUK. Great fun and an eye opener if you have the required skill set. Although I did take a couple of rabbit snares more in an attempt to keep it legal, I'm more than capable of setting natural traps and was even forced to prove that to the people that set me the challenge to be allowed the snares.
Cordage was one thing I REALLY missed. So in light of that fact ice started learning to twist my own. Its also where I found the piece of steel to make the famous Wilson

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134344

[shepherd]

thats sounds like an awesome experience mick.. ill head over and read the write ups now! T^

[mick91]

Aye I learned a fair bit on both of them. Well worth the experience. Especially about the no "specialist" clothing part. T-shirt and jeans vs norgie vests and Barbour jackets it's astonishing the difference!

[ChrisCraft]

nice one mick.

interesting that you chose to take the 5 x snares.
its almost like you were thinking about food, before you even got there :)

good one for making the effort.
most people will never try it, but i bet you walked away with more confidence.

[mick91]

nice one mick.

interesting that you chose to take the 5 x snares.
its almost like you were thinking about food, before you even got there :)

good one for making the effort.
most people will never try it, but i bet you walked away with more confidence.
Cheers chris!
The snares seemed like a sensible option, if you know how to set them they're a viable option to trap food and I am exceptionally partial to rabbit! That and I trust my skill set as a hunter far more than my incredibly dodgy foraging knowledge (I'm working on it!)
It's a great experience if you have the required skills and knowledge, if not though it's a good way to get yourself into deep you know what quite quickly.
I suggested making it some kind of actual challenge over there but someone who shall remain nameless said it didn't seem in any way challenging... From under his goretex bivi eating an MRE I suspect!

[shepherd]

great that you have the skills mate, see lots of people, mainly on youtube, who pack shares or 'cordage for snaring' in bushcraft kits who openly admit to never having done it before.. its something that particularly annoys me, as a gamekeeper snaring is a huge part of my job, keeping rabbits down and also for foxes and i know how hard it can be to snare your target animal... and also see alot of poor animals caught in snares by inexperienced folk and they die a horrible death... i think people who plan trying snaring when out and about should go on a propper snaring course or out with someone who has done it for a long time to get the basics down.. plus once you have the skills down you can get plenty of free meals :D

[mick91]

great that you have the skills mate, see lots of people, mainly on youtube, who pack shares or 'cordage for snaring' in bushcraft kits who openly admit to never having done it before.. its something that particularly annoys me, as a gamekeeper snaring is a huge part of my job, keeping rabbits down and also for foxes and i know how hard it can be to snare your target animal... and also see alot of poor animals caught in snares by inexperienced folk and they die a horrible death... i think people who plan trying snaring when out and about should go on a propper snaring course or out with someone who has done it for a long time to get the basics down.. plus once you have the skills down you can get plenty of free meals :D
Aye it's concerning when you see people that assume you can just set a snare anywhere and hope for the best. I've had good teachers and been doing it since I was about 7 so like to think I can do it responsibly and reliably now

[shepherd]

Aye it's concerning when you see people that assume you can just set a snare anywhere and hope for the best. I've had good teachers and been doing it since I was about 7 so like to think I can do it responsibly and reliably now

couldnt agree more pal T^