Camping & Wilderness Survival Book, opinions?

"Bushcraft" was my all time fave when I was a teenager. It's obviously a newer edition now. Mine was published in 1978. Good stuff.

I'd also recommend Any of the NOLS books. There are topics on everything from first aid, cooking, navigation, edible plants. I have been a trained NOLS guy since 1989. I am a wilderness first responder and NOLS training got me started.

 

No idead about that book.

I do know that Ron and Karen Hood, of Hoods Woods, put out some really good DVD's. Check out their site at http://www.survival.com

rimfirehunter

 

Even the used ones are $23+, but the book has 1080 pages. :shock:
Should cover just about everything.

 

I have Bushcraft and it is real good. I have the SAS survival book in my bag along with a welding (cheater lense) .
Spot

 

Since I couldn't find a USMC Survival manual, I had to settle for the US Army Survival Manual instead. It seems to cover a lot of the topics people would need to survive in most wilderness situations. It was published in 1991 by Gallery Books.

It's a little weak on SHTF and TEOTWAWKI scenarios but the general knowledge it provides is better than the trial and error method of learning things.

 

I have the newer version of the army manual....published 2002.....it covers more than i will ever encounter in a survival situation.....even has some edible plant ideas in it

 

A word of caution , be careful with ediable plants until you are 110% sure of what you are eating , one mistake and you could get real sick or worse.
Also you must start slowly eating wild plants , because your system is not used to them and it will give you the squirts. :wink:
Spot

 

edible plants

Correct, and thats why i recommend reading about them. There is also a field guide called "Nature Craft" which is a quick identifier for edibles in N America with preparation guide.
Education will also show you how to prevent the squirts (and plants that help) , but more scary is getting impacted. I had a buddy that could not poop for 4 days on a big wall climb- thats painful.

 

I was never a fan of Mil manuals. The are poorly written and are based on "government agency recommendations"- It's like Political Correctness for books. Sometimes the topic is either too general or way too specific to bureaucratic operations- that the whole foundation is lost in regulating me to death, when i actually just want to find out which friggin' plants i can eat.

The books I stated above have been tested in the field for over 20 years, without the burden of a gov't filter, and have responded to the actual techniques, terrain, and realities of survival. Quick access to parts you need is paramount. Do you really want to hunt for section 10.23.6.B- subsection 23.5.1 when your kid has eaten a strange berry?

 

I have always liked the Air Force survival manual. It is anything but poorly written and has a ton of great material.


Matt

 

Ok, Horribly written.
Please guys, don't rely on Mil Manuals for survival info, they are notoriously ridden with misinformation, nor are they written by actual people from the field.

http://ridgerunnersurvival.tripod.com/da1.htm

 

vallen,

Have you read all of the military manuals yourself or just a few and then extrapolating to the rest from there?


Matt

 

My mistake, sorry. I was always of the opinion that you have to actually be familiar with something before you (attempt to) speak intelligently about it. Go figure.


Matt

 

I have read all of the US Government Issue Survival Manuals. I am a WFR and former instructor with NOLS.
so no, i am not talking out of my a$$.

 

I'm glad to see that you've read them all and I will plead ignorance as to what WFR & NOLS stand for. I still will stand by my opinion
that the Air Force survival manual (the early 80s was when I obtained my copy from the squadron Life Support shop) was well written.
It probably had too much information in it though seeing as it was many hundreds of 8" x 11" pages long.


Matt

 

WFR= Wilderness First Responder
NOLS= National Outdoor Leadership School

If you have ever practiced some of the descriptions and techniques spelled out in the AF Survival Manual (We have), you will see how flawed they are.
In fact, many of the books I recommended were written in response to the BAD information in mil manuals. It's sad that our guys are getting deployed with crappy information, not to mention the geographic discrepancies.