SHTF Training Weekend Ideas

Ok, so a friend and I have had enough reading forums and hypothesizing what we would do in a SHTF scenario. We are both veterans of OEF and decided military trianing and being in the field wasn't enough. There's always room to improve, right? We have decided to take a weekend trip to the local forest, in central Mississippi. I would just like to get some opinions on what we should bring (just a BOB?) and what skills we should excercise. It will be a mostly wooded area with a creek and small lake. Any advice or stories of you doing the same would be greatly appreciated. We plan on doing an AAR afterwards and I will post the results after the trip. Thanks guys.

Bring Nothing.

Start at the ground floor and craft a stone knife and axe. Build fire with nothing.use those 3 things to collect game from nothing.

That is real training and practice. After that everything else is gravy.

reply to post by stormrider26


Bring along people you dont like because when the SHTF, they are the ones you will have to deal with the most. Other than that, learn how to work on cars and fix things, valuable skills in any scenario, much more so when you cant go to the store and buy a replacement.

reply to post by Shadowalker


Though this would be a true test one should never dive into the deep end til they know how to swim. Take the BOB with you but try to get away from it. Like instead of using a lighter try fire with two sticks. Instead of eating a hot dog try a few snares. You stated there was lake and a creek. Try constructing a few spears or harpoon like tools using a self made fire. Using perhaps a sharp edged rock to gain the stick. See how long it takes to chop down a small sapling or limb down that you will use. If the sapling is soft barked see what you can braid together using it. IE Rope or twine. Instead of setting up that tent try making a lean to.

Have your hot dogs and lighter with you just incase. You certainly won't freeze to death without a fire nor will you starve over night in Mississippi, but don't let your attempt at surviving sour your process. You may fail the first day and cave. But that is okay when you are just starting out. these little trips out are all about learning what you don't yet know. These excursions are for learning not for cracking you. After a few weeks it will become second nature and you will find you won't even need to take your bug out bag out of you vehicle. right now you don't need to sink or swim. Hopefully that time won't come, however it will give you a good starting point. Helping yourself to acknowledge your weakness can only strengthen you..

Therian

Thanks for the suggestions. We're just not going for the worst case scenario JUST yet, haha. We do, in fact, plan on making primitive fire with no artificial lighter or flame.

When I was in my 20's, I used to go out for 2-3 days at a time with a knife(K-Bar), a canteen(with gi cup), a piece of flint, a compass, some hooks, and a roll of fishing line. My canteen was full, but no food. It was a lot of fun and I need to get back into it.

I did a trip with a friend sometime in high school where we left our homes and hiked to a point just south of the Canadian border through state park land and forests. The camping and fires and stuff were technically illegal so we practiced a significant amount of evasion and camouflage.

We just had typical "BOB's" with us and some cash for emergencies.

Took us about a week. Ate some horrible stuff. Slept in stupid places like deer runs and gulleys below the water line.

Had to make one emergency trip to a store for 100% DEET because the mosquitoes were absolutely brutal and that trip in itself proved pretty daunting since we stupidly assumed just finding and following a road would lead us to a town........a town that was 20 miles away .

No GPS. No firearms because of state laws. A really crappy map.

When we got to the end we ate so much food at a local diner I couldnt believe it. We must have looked like vagrant crackheads or something all dirty and stinky and starving. Then we took a bus back.

It was so much damn fun.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

That sounds like an absolute blast. I wish I had a week or two to devote to it. I will be taking a firearm, though. I just purchased my first AR-15 and I am dying to shoot at something with it haha.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
Bring Nothing.

Start at the ground floor and craft a stone knife and axe. Build fire with nothing.use those 3 things to collect game from nothing.

That is real training and practice. After that everything else is gravy.

exactly.. best and most overlooked way to learn.

reply to post by stormrider26


I have gone out several times with just a small BOB. The longest I was out was for 5 days.
I had a small fishing kit with string, sinkers, hooks, and a couple of flies...it worked very well with a green stick for catching pan fish..
I used a 8ft x 10ft tarp for a lean to...I had spruce branches that I laid on it, I used my KBAR to cut the poles and cross beams...550 cord to tie it up tight...small ETOOL for digging a fire pit.
I used 3 sticks to cook with...2 with a Y and 1 straight for running through the fish.
I had a small stream close by, so water was easy to get, plus a couple of natural springs about 50-75 yards away.
The times I have had out there camping like that are some of the best ever..I would explore the area in a different direction each day...it was wonderful.
I practiced tactical road crossings anytime I found any..the goal was to remain hidden from everyone.
For a fire I used a magnesium fire starter, and a blastmaster...they both work great.
My complete BOB weighs about 25lbs, its fairly light and I can survive out of it easily for 5 days for sure...I bet I could do a month easily...if I had the time off of work!!

We have asked a few other people to "join" us. They will actually set up a camp of their own in a random area. Both groups will also have paintball guns for semi-realisic defense. I know it isn't ideal, but I feel it couldn't hurt, right?

reply to post by stormrider26


Practice making monkey bridges and check how much the rope will weigh how many need to carry total amount of rope and how many needed to build bridge, as well as ways to set the beginning ropes from one side of crossing to other.. tree to tree or over water or high ground

Good luck

Originally posted by stormrider26
We have asked a few other people to "join" us. They will actually set up a camp of their own in a random area. Both groups will also have paintball guns for semi-realisic defense. I know it isn't ideal, but I feel it couldn't hurt, right?

I would love to, but Mississippi is a long ways away for me...paintball is ok but you need co2 and paintballs...and a gun...my guns don't convert to that. Have fun and enjoy it, I hope you learn all you want to and need to from getting out there and doing!

You could try going to a junk yard before hand to see what kind of tools/supplies you may be able to create out of one of our many overlooked resources in a SHTF scenario: Busted up vehicles and junk! Sure, fashioning your own stone knife sounds all bad ass but lets face it, for most of us there will be a lot more urban jungle than there will be actual trees. I can see myself making a crude knife out of a twisted piece of metal and a rag long before I find a nice piece of flint to shape.