If you need to sleep, don’t lie directly on the ground. Try stuffing dry leaves inside your shirt to create a layer of insulation. If you’re cold, look at the materials around you. Even better? Dip yourself in a creek if there’s one nearby. If it’s hot, stay out of direct sunlight. It costs about $16.Īre you cool enough? Or warm enough? Can you maintain a comfortable body temperature with the clothing and shelter you have? If not, you should address this first. This model includes a paracord lanyard, a whistle and a bottle opener. He makes it sound simple: “To me, the whole act of survival is problem-solving.” Lesson 2: Not too hot, not too cold A ferro rod or fire starter, such as the one above by Texas Bushcraft, creates 5,000-degree sparks - hot enough to ignite a variety of tinder to then burn kindling. There are three basic needs you must attend to: body temperature, food and water - or what Scott calls the survival triangle. Take some deep breaths and quiet your mind. When they do, it’s important to stay calm. That’s why he carries a few basic items in his vehicle (see his list, C) to carry when he ventures into the wild: a small knife, something to start a fire and a water filter. The key to wilderness survival, Scott says, is planning ahead so you don’t find yourself in an emergency empty-handed. “I think the combination of my love of nature and wanting to be self-reliant made me to want to learn more about what it takes to take care of myself in the wilderness,” he said. Army police officer, he spent three years training in wilderness survival, then became a survival skills instructor and eventually opened his school. When he was old enough, he trained for search and rescue work himself. After his father joined a search and rescue team, Scott listened to emergencies unfold over the sheriff’s radio. After his father bought land in Colorado, Scott spent summers there, rambling around in the forest. Scott grew up exploring Williamson Creek in South Austin. Survival, Scott says, requires a steady disposition, some basic skills and an adjustment to an individual’s comfort level. The school’s style of wilderness training is more about learning confidence and enjoying time in the outdoors than about preparing for an apocalypse. ![]() “We don’t get a lot of paranoid people, but with COVID and (2021’s statewide) winter storm, we are hearing from people who feel more vulnerable.” “It’s just people who like being outdoors and want to increase their skills or learn more about what it takes to take care of themselves in the wilderness,” Scott says. The majority of the action is at the Earth Native campus, but there are some activities at Garey Park in Georgetown and McKinney Falls State Park in southeast Austin. About 3,000 people - young and old - sign up for instruction or go to camps every year. The school offers programs for children and adults who want to learn how to live off the land or special skills. It occupies 58 acres of wooded land west of Bastrop. Scott, 41, opened Earth Native Wilderness School in 2011. Dave Scott shows Pam a few basic survival skills, including foraging for and identifying edible plants, such as this wild onion. By the time I leave this afternoon, I’ll know not only how to make fire, but also how to stay warm, hydrated and fed if I’m ever away from the comforts of home with nothing but my instincts, a couple of tools and these lessons. “I do think one of the coolest things you can learn to do in life is go out into the woods without a tool in your hand and make fire,” says Dave Scott, founder of Earth Native Wilderness School in Cedar Creek, west of Bastrop, where I’ve come for half a day to learn what it takes to survive in the wild without the trappings of modern-day life.īut there’s more to surviving in the wilderness than making fire. And as it grows, a bolt of confidence sizzles through my soul. I puff a little more, and it gets bigger. I transfer the glowing bead into a thumb-sized indentation in a bundle of fluffed-up cedar bark and blow gently. The convenience store route would defeat the purpose of the day, anyway. I could walk to a convenience store and buy a lighter by the time a single sunflower seed-sized ember drops from my “fireboard” onto a waiting piece of bark. Making fire using nothing but a few sticks and a cord isn’t easy. After gathering the items to make a ‘bow drill’ and spark a small ember, Pam transfers the ember to a bundle of tinder. ![]() Dave Scott shows writer Pam LeBlanc how to make fire in the wilderness. ![]() My arms pump furiously as I try to coax an ember from a piece of wood. I'm sawing away like a lumberjack with a handmade bow, its cord wrapped around a wooden spindle.
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