Could you be totally self sufficient?
 

Just finished watching "One Mans Wilderness". ( For about the 20th time)
The story of Richard Pronneke, who went up to Alaska, pretty much with an axe, some basic hand tools and built a log cabin and basically lived off the land. ( had occasional outside food drops.) But basically was isolated and self sufficient. He seemed very content.
Every time I watch it, I think "would I ever be able to do that? Do I have the abilities to survive like that? As far as the abilities, I think I'd have no problem at all. My biggest problem would be the isolation from people. ( although, sometimes I think that would be the best part!):p

Basically what it comes down to is, If need be, could you ever live and survive completely on your own, starting from scratch?

As long as I could make beer I would be set. Just kidding. I attended S.E.R.E. school and got some really good pointers but for the long term I think I would not make it. Too much time ( isolation) to think would drive me crazy.

I could do it; I'd just have to figure out where I was gonna get my boat gas from?

i love that film. what an inspiration.

i believe i could have done the same, though my carpentry skills are not what his were. & i feel it would be alot easier to survive that way in alaska than ny i assume, being that there is an abundance of wildlife to kill and eat and your must-do-now instincts would kick in

if i had a guitar and a crop of reefer to cultivate and nurture, i most likely could have survived the boredom as well, as i have little to no use for human contact

I'd like to think that I could manage, and maybe I could. I was a boyscout, so I'm not as clueless as some folks might be, but it's not the same.

I'd think that Alaska would he hard because of the winter. Someplace a bit more temperate sounds like it would be easier.

I suspect I'd lose a bunch of weight.

That is a great story the photography is excellent for the technology at the time he did all the filming. I have flown over that lake, my friends have stayed in that cabin it is maintained by the forest service or national park service now. I bet he was quite a guy he was a fairly successful commercial contractor from Anchorage or Fairbanks he choose to retire in that manor. He was close to 90 when his kids finally moved him back to civilization. He was in top physical condition for his age or any age .
A very inspiring story for anyone to watch. Highly recommended for any outdoor types on the board.

I would really enjoy that type of life however I would need a float plane full of beer and fresh women every week. :D

I've read the book, I didn't know there was a movie. I do a bit of backpacking and camping and have read some of Tom Brown's survival books so I think I could fare pretty well. I would expect the majority of your day is spent working and organizing for shelter and subsistance so I think that could keep me occupied. But no way am I changing my name to Alexander Supertramp.

you really go through a new woman every week? :p

As a younger man I could have but my health now wouldn't let me. Guess it's off to the icebergs with me!

I have thought about this (being out in the middle of nowhere) on occasion and always wonder - what happens if you need an appendectomy? or a root canal? I wear contacts (glasses). If I broke my glasses, I'd be dead in the water (literally).

As adventurous as it sounds, I'd be worried about all of the little things that woudl come to haunt me...

That is why it is called survival of the fittest.

At my age...no.

If dumped into the wild with no prep or gear, Nope.

If move to the wild with enough planning, gear, and time, I think maybe yes until accidents and age caught up to me. A climate, terrain, and lead time conducive to farming would be almost necessary. I very much doubt I could get enough calories purely from hunting. Fishing would work better, for me.

Being alone would be okay. You'd have broadband, right?

I love "One Man's Wilderness" My kids are/were enthralled by it as well.

I think it takes a pretty extraordinary mix of knowledge and ability to do what he did. See Chris McCandless as a counterpoint.



Some follow up here:

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There's also a Dick Proenneke website:

http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html









Tim

That is the key. The problem is that most people these days aren't healthy enough without antibiotics, etc., to survive on their own. Certainly some people would make it, but I'm sure the average life span of someone living like this is dramatically reduced. Also, you'd have to grow an awful lot of stuff to get the proper nutrients, vitamins, etc., for a healthy life.

Also, did you know that our bodies rely on being around other people to keep our immunities up? If we are around others, we are exposed to all kinds of stuff which we build up immunities to (in fact, scientists have theorized that our appendix "stores" bacteria, back from when people weren't exposed to other people very often). Again, there are some people who have healthy immune systems, but I'm not sure how the average person would do alone for very long.

no.

we,,well i have lost the art of food preservation. no pickling, salting.. i would starve.

Man, an ax and the clothes on my back? Even a gun for hunting. I'd be on a razor's edge. If it rained and was cold/cool for the first week, probably I couldn't eat enough to stay warm and build a shelter. The calories necessary to stay warm over the winter. Giardia in the summer. The skills necessary to stay clothed. My work boots last about 2 years as it is, I would give them 18 months max if I wore them all the time, then what? Realistically I think I'd have a tough time if I had to go it alone in my current house with my clothes and cooking implements. Firewood with an ax, and bucksaw and hauling everything I had to burn by hand. If my spring goes dry, having to haul water by hand from a creek. Break a leg, get bit by a snake, bear eats your food stocks, decades later someone looks at my bones and says, "I wonder what happened to that guy?"

I could you be totally unself sufficient.

Its my lifelong dream. Dont know if I could do it, when I retire I am going to try.

Yes, I could do it no problem.
If a man really wants do do something, he can. This was nothing special 200 years ago. Hell, even 100 years ago in places like Colorado, Montana, Wyoming most were self sufficient.
Very few people can build a suitable shelter or find food without grocery store. Society has become filled with people that can't even survive a few days without electricity.

been there - done that

BUT "completely on your own,"... what do ya mean, exactly? Do you have to smelt metal to make your own axe head? If so, how did you learn that technique???

Humans are never completely on their own...

Lets all be careful what we wish for here.:-)

Getting off the grid is a terrific goal and it would probably beat winning the lottery if you had the 'nads and the smarts - but I don't think I have what it takes to really do it - I have too much imagination. Wild animals, disease, accidents, weather, food poisening. . . the list is endless.

(that guy who cut his arm off a few years ago to escape from entrapment between two boulders really opened my eyes to what just might happen to a lone wolf in the wilderness)

-mo-

This guy must have lots of customers these days:

http://www.codylundin.com/

ben, back in the day folks passed on good info. like what mushrooms you could eat. or what plants you could treat a wound with. you cannot shoot an animal everytime your previous animal spoiled. it would take too much energy. a person cannot keep it up. food preservation would be essential. you grow crops, and dry the food? how do you do that? how to store it? there wont be foodsaver bags and freezers.

i would die. eventually. i would kill things eat it, catch fish, plant crops..but i think the energy i expend to do it would wear me out.

interesting questions. maybe a group of like minded outdoorsy folks would stand a chance.

hell, i cannot even start a fire without at least a magnifying glass...and gasoline.

A guy with braids wearing "Daisy Dukes" who's been on the Donny and Marie Show? No thanks, I'd rather not have to sleep out in the wild with my butt against a rock.

Another good read is "Alive" by a guy who survived for six months (iirc) in a lifeboat after his sailboat sank.

I knew a guy who paddled a kayak alone from California to Hawaii. Also a very interesting survival story.

There is an old sod house still standing on some land I hunt in Nebraska. Its pretty amazing to actually see one of those up close. I never saw the movie but I read the book about that guy and his life was amazing.

Its my dream to live off the grid like that at some point... Yeah, I could get sick, or hurt, and die.. But I could do that in the city too. I wonder where one might have better chances of survival.

If you want to see the opposite of that man then watch "Into the Wild." It is the story of a brat. Anything more will give too much away.

As a kid I remember reading a book about living self sufficient. It was an interesting read, especially for a kid. It covered everything from where to plant what kind of trees on your land, to what kind of veggies and grain to plant. Sure, it sounds a little crazy now, but I'd sure love to experience it.

For now, camping or sailing for a few days is about as out there as I get.

Yeah, if you have shelter and tools and provisions that will sustain you until the seeds you plant grow into harvestable plants, at least 60 days, and it's growing season, then I think most of us would have a fighting chance at surviving at least some years, until accident or age or illness or slow malnutrition got us. It'd be sort of a pioneer homestead situation. City folk were among those who loaded up conestoga wagons and headed west, and some of them settled and survived But without all that preparation and equipment and preplanning, I for one wouldn't make it. If the woods were chock full of game and the streams full of fish, but all I had was whatever I could carry on my back, I might have a 10 pct chance of lasting a few months. In summer.

In ideal climates you can dry meat as jerky. Root veggies can be preserved in a cool root cellar. Maybe green veggies can be dried like jerky, I know a food dehydrator works on them so the concept is possible. Pickling and canning require salt and equipment which you might not have Odds are you'd have long winters of subsisting off moldy potatoes with the occasional precious strip of dried meat. Scurvy and other nutritional diseases would be a threat. I read that in olden days, like medieval times, people spent the long cold winters huddled under whatever covers they had, bodies pressed together for warmth, tending a small fire from the shrinking firewood supply, eating and moving as little as possible. Almost a semi hibernation.

I had a minor stroke 3 weeks ago. After the doctors finally let me go home my neighbor gave me the DVD so I would have something to do. I ended up watching it 3 times. I did a good few backpacking trips as a young punk, and have thought about living like that many times. After the film, I think I would love to do it for a season. No human interaction would kill me after 1 month. Since I am a contractor, I would really need my electric tools. That axe would probley take my toe off. I have been thinking about his film for 2 days. Now the rain stopped, and I am almost 99% recovered, I am heading off to the mountains tomorrow.

The guy who built that cabin... I haven't seen the movie but IIRC the book said that he would come home once a year for 2 or 3 months to see his family. He was not out there for years on end with no human interaction.

The book is better than the movie but yeah, he was a punk kid.

Definately two opposite ends of the spectrum.