Survival Novice - Where do I start?

Basically I never really took 2012 seriously until this year. I think there's a possibility, albeit a small one, that the world could undergo some massive changes this year and next.

So now I feel the need to protect my family in the midst of possible disaster and gather preserves. I live in the UK and am a total novice in terms of survival. I've watched Bear Grylls and Ray Mears a few times, and I like the outdoors, but that's about it lol.

I just wondered where I would need to start? Is there say a general step by step guide that people follow? Where would I get food that will last and something to boil water etc?

I have no real experience other than camping and building primitive shelters as a child, but I would like to learn the basic so I can at least collect supplies, just in case.

Find a weapon that you are comfortable with. Practice until you are proficient. Make sure you have plenty of ammo or whatever it needs to be effective with you.

Learn how to store water. Generally a tiny amount of bleach in water will keep it clear and potable for a period of time. Reseach and make sure you have, if you decide to make a bugout kit, some water sterilizer... the stuff in outdoor areas can make you sick or kill you.

learn a martial art. skip the 'six months to black belt' course. study hard and ask good questions.

Pick up info on local wildlife and habits.

make sure your other half is capable, too. If she's not a weapon user, teach her to dress and butcher game as well as have her pick up some kind of fiber art that can make clothing (sewing, knitting, crochet, etc)

keep your head down and your eyes open.

Dang someone made a thread the pther day with a mega 500mb or so file with a collection of survival stuff but I do not remember what it was.. If someone has it on their "My Ats" they can probably post it for you. But google is also your friend. Plenty of survival sites. Glad your taking survival seriously. Never to late to start preppin.


Deebo

I have been thinking of this as of late and came to the realization (have you seen "The Road?") that you would have to get out of the city. When you think about it, you have no real defenses or protection in a house or apartment. When water stopped flowing, people starting running out of food, the power went out, and their is no communication coming from any major source, its Lord of the Flies time. Even if you had a gun, starving people will eventually outnumber your bullets.

So, you would need to take a survival course, find a remote place in a far off land (for me somewhere deep in the woods of Jasper maybe), and learn how to hunt game, sterilize water, understand what plants are edible, freeze dry food, and take as much non perishable food as you can, bring lots and lots of matches, a portable coleman gas stoves, an axe to chop wood ect. (my biggest concern would be freezing to death in the winter) to your hideout. You would need to do some calculations on how much food you would need for maybe a year or more.

You should check out your local camping store. Their are lots of cool stuff for the aforementioned needs.

reply to post by Scope and a Beam


3's
3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.
These figures may be off depending on the health of any given individual depending on their health.
Just get them as soon as possible.
3 foundations food, shelter, protection, these are the 3 things you will need to survive.
Water is figured into the food equation above.
You will need food and water to be alive, you will need a place to shelter yourself as well as your food, you will also need something to insure that said items stay yours.
My first advice is read anything and everything you can on survival, whether civillian accounts or military strategy.
When you can afford to do this start to put plans in motion.
I would say first is a bugout or bug in location, depending on what you prefer and or what the situation dictates.
Always have a fallback plan, redundancy,redundancy,redundancy.
Home and a bugout location.
Second you can work on the food, learn to preserve and or stock up on non or slowly perisheable foods.
Water is the easiest to get as all you need is a container, there is no reason to not have water.
Last would be weaponry, if you have something that you need to survive, someone may also need said items too.
Insure that these items stay with you and yours.
There is sooo much more but you will learn as you go.
Read everything you can, webpages and videos are free and abundant.

reply to post by Scope and a Beam

Being a lone wolf is more dangerous to you than others, even if you mean a tiny group such as two parents and perhaps one or more kids. Remember, strength in numbers. Have good relations with your neighbors. You can only carry so much food and ammo and survival materials if you are on the move, whereas if you have a community of fellow minded individuals you can store more, grow more, defend yourself better, and survive. Just imagine how many single individuals will have the exact same ideas about where to go and what to carry and how to arm themselves. Lone wolves meeting other lone wolves probably means one or both being injured or killed..... numerous small groups roaming around and fighting each other instead of joining together. Sure, cities are parasites and require food coming in from the outside, so better to be in a rural area with a chance to grow food and forage but with the possibility of large numbers of people with the same idea, how much do you think you can get off the land with so much competition? Do you want to live like a caveman? How long can you live with only what you can carry? Gas will be used up quickly. Horses can carry but provide a large and tall outline for visibility and are noisy. You can easily be outnumbered and out gunned. Surviving in a group provides more defense, more ideas, more people with individual skills that may be needed for survival and in a more civilized fashion. Are you a doctor/expert hunter/fisherman/farmer/crafter all by yourself or wouldn't it make sense to share skills with others? Lone wolf or tiny group may sound romantic but is it practical in a survival mode? Is your area really large enough to support many small groups without conflict or the ability to avoid others? No one to see your smoke from fires and come see what you have they don't and might want to forcibly take? Can you outlast a siege, even if you have a well defended area if you are a tiny group or individual? Even where I live, in very rugged mountains with a lot of wildlife, to go solo for any length of time would be foolish in the long run. You can only carry so much. Unless you live in a very nice year round climate area with a lot of wildlife and low population you will need to be prepared for winters and bad weather. Short term, you might be okay for a little while. Longer term.... you need a group. Short term, you need proper clothing, shelter, ability to create or access clean water, probably heat source (without your location being given away by smoke?), the ability to defend yourself and those with you, food sources, and a way to deal with medical problems. The longer you are out there, the more you will need over time. If the local area can provide all of this without danger of others being attracted to the same area and willing to compete with you, great. Otherwise, join up!

you could look at PDF military manuals, they are a great resource, I'm pretty sure there is one in the survival forum somewhere, actually here, just found it, this one is a wealth of knowledge, and a great place to start, www.abovetopsecret.com... just for opinions sake, I would consider having at least 4 separate ways to create a fire, then waterproof those in a bag. A multi tool for sure. Get a good 8" hunting knife if you can, and a good sharpener to go with it. Things to stock up on would be 550 para cord, small zip ties, some climbing rope, anything medical or first aid you can get your two hands on, (and I mean search for the medical stuff, and hoard it away) vegetable seeds, water purification methods, and some dry food. get a water proof map of your area, as detailed as you can get, and a couple crayons to go with it. Things that are good to have but not completely needed for survival would be a poncho, blanket, can opener, candles, binoculars, compass, flashlight. etc. etc.

As others have said, study is good. But you can only learn so much from a book or video. The best way to learn is to physically do it. Yes, you will make some mistakes along the way. I consider myself an absolute master at casting bait into a tree branch while fishing or just snagging a branch above me during a cast.

But by doing and making minor (or even major) mistakes now as part of the learning process, you learn what works for you. What doesn't work for you. And most importantly, how to recover from mistakes. Survival is adapting to the situation, in the simplest of terms.

Arriving at a campsite and finding that you forgot something you had laid out to pack and working around it or through it is a great way to understand the most important tool...remaining calm to adversity.

Thanks guys, I'm going to read through this thread and start purchasing necessary equipment. I'll also record my learning curve to help others at some point.

One problem (in respect to survival) is that we're not allowed guns in the UK

My advice is to begin by getting yourself "ahead of the bell curve."

You cannot do everything at once. So begin by making sure that you'll be in comparatively better shape than the people around you.

FEMA (!) says that the average American household only has 4 days of food. The info I have seen for Britain and France was slightly less.

So I'd start with food and water. Then first aid, flashlights, etc.

Originally posted by Deebo
Dang someone made a thread the pther day with a mega 500mb or so file with a collection of survival stuff but I do not remember what it was.. If someone has it on their "My Ats" they can probably post it for you. But google is also your friend. Plenty of survival sites. Glad your taking survival seriously. Never to late to start preppin.


Deebo

i think you my be talking about me and my many files i found here is the post
www.abovetopsecret.com...