Who's able to survive in wilderness for an extended period?

I always thought that the archetype of a survivalist who is able to bug-out and live in the wilderness for an extended period was fiction.

That was until Eric Rudolph did it for 5 years (more or less - he had some help).

Anyway, I'll tell you honestly, I can NOT do it. Just don't have the skills or health.

But I'd like to hear from those who can.

Where did you get your training?
What essentials would you need?
What are the key skills to master?

Feel free to add anything else that you deem important.

 

Brokor is right...For me, the army was the first class training... The rest is practice...go out and learn... I only don't know how to grow vegetables or work the land...and I have a feeling that my night sky orientation sucks...or is the sky changing... ...but I'm learning...

 

Thanks.

Yes. Serious.
I did not mean to imply any insincerity.

As for me, I've done a bit of backpacking, even a few solo overnights, but nothing any more serious. Never did any real survival training. I hope to ease into it as my health improves.

I know there are guys out there who can do the "Les Stroud" thing where they're able to survive until rescue. That's admirable, but just to clarify, I'm interested to know if anyone can or has done it long term and if they're prepared to be "bugged out" indefinitely.

 

Well...I'm prepared as anyone can be...It's easy if you're alone, but with kids? So far I'm only prepping my house...If SHTF, and we MUST leave, I have picked about 4-5 locations suitable for long term, with possibility of going back and forth for stuff I would have to leave behind...
It all depends on the situation really...I haven't gone Stroud for long time, but I think I'm prepared for indefinite as I can be...

 

Absolutely not planning on bugging out but am hopefully fully prepared to go. We have virtual rooms stored in Aluminum shipping containers and in about 15 minutes should be able to leave indefinitely.
As for living in the wild, one just has to learn and practice. We have a gathering in Oct and as always teach subjects on pioneering/survival skills. There are just a few basics one will have to acquire if he is going to "make it" as a refugee. Water, food, shelter, first aid, communication, and safety. Those six will keep you alive and functional. One needs water filtration or sanitation chems, food either stored or procurable, weather protection fairly permanent or highly movable, adequately trained and supplied medical personel, alternative powered radios, and well supplied armament. Without any one of these and you are in trouble.

 

It depends...
Weather is the biggest factor for me.
In winter, I have to procure a shelter, but strangely enough, food it seems is far more available in winter than in summer...at least in the desert regions.
Water is far easier to get also, due to rain and snowfall.
Desert Summers can be a real bear!
I got some experience as a kid in high school, as we used to go camp out around the lakes, and rivers here in the summers.
Being kids we never had everything we should have, equipment wise, but we did ok! Fishing and hunting were easy then.....
Then in the military we had survival school.....pick either: matches, a compass, a half filled canteen, or a knife.
Stay out and see how long you can go, with what you choose to take along.
( Thank God I was younger then! It would kill me today to try that!)
IF given the most basic of requirements, (with knowledge of course) the stay would be indefinite.
Most made the course end in 2-3 days, some of us made it the whole 2 weeks.
I chose the knife, and I had lizard and snake meat for almost a week.
With just the knife, I could make a shelter, make traps and spears, kill and clean critters for food, and with a small flint, even started a fire.
The knife blade, if cared for properly, made a great signal mirror too.
( I had some experience prior to the survival school, as there were a bunch of people always going out backpacking and such in Arizona. I picked their brains LONG before I ever went into the military. Glad I did too!)
1 week in the desert outside of Fort Bliss Texas, and I was right at home....
2 weeks in the forest areas around Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, and I was miserable with the humidity, but had a field day with all the wild berries, rabbits and even had some sassafras! Instructors were pissed, asking who had brought root beer or candy along! I showed them my tree bark and after that they kept calling me "Uell Gibbons"....spelling? I was just a country boy at heart from the desert!
I figure with a decent enough supply of water, I could manage at least 6 or more months.....( most of which would be spent getting food to eat!)

 

I think it's all greatly dependent on one's mindset about it....
I used to "play/pretend" I was stranded out in the desert and only had what I had in my pockets...
It can be quite enlightening and educational!
Now many people just can't handle the thought of being "stranded", and that's where they get into real trouble,...they panic!
Make it a game....Like boyscouts, and have fun with it, and it all seems so much simpler to deal with.
Those that go camping ( without the generator, tv, dvd/vhs player, and MP-3's,) are far better prepared than the rest!
They get used to doing without, and making do with what they do have.
The hardest part is to get the mind to accept the fact that you need to concentrate on other things, NOT being alone or stranded as it were....Things like getting food, water, building a shelter, anything to keep the mind occupied....I have seen people go nuts in a simulated scenario where they where placed out in the woods at night with just a flashlight and a compass! It's strange to see reactions of some people how they can react, some even to the point of being violent, due to FEAR of the unknown.
That's the bad part.

 

Thanks all.

Good to know that it can be done.

We're a bug-in family for now, and I'm working at setting up a cabin at our bug-out location. Even that won't be too primitive, but it will be a long distance away.

I plan to learn some bushcraft skills in case bugging out takes weeks or months of travel, and plan to scout some primitive sites along the route and maybe plant a few caches.

little by little...

 

As was stated in this thread earlier if I was alone I could probably stay out on my own for about 2 weeks, but no longer. The wife and kids are not designed for anything longer than 1 day roughing it.

 

Huh...mine too...but I'll put the fear of Bane in them soon enough and force them to start reading, learning and doing things...or I'll kick the sheet out of them!...They'll survive, whether they like it or not! Otherwise, I'll kill them if they don't!...