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Survival Tale In Texas

By Adam

I went on a survival trip for a week with some friends of mine a few years ago. I believe it was the summer of 98 I was 13. Anyway it was a week of good times and bad. I packed a good sheath knife, about 100 matches in a waterproof container, magnifying glass, cigarette lighter, and a magnesium striker, also I had a space blanket, water purifier (PUR Scout), some good rope, some fishing line and hooks, 1 small pot, a canteen with some water and the clothes that I was wearing. My 2 other buddies did likewise. We tried not to use the items that we had packed as much as possible.

We ate nothing that first night but had a good brush hut (the best shelter I have ever tried) and a fire going. The brush hut is simple. Live materials make moisture. Dead materials make warmth. Take a good long pole and lean it up against a tree brush, etc. Then form a sort of skeleton on the pole to support the leaves etc .then lay of leaves, pine branches or other material. Then again lay more sticks and logs of the outside to keep the insulation from blowing away. In the end it will look like a dome against a tree. I realize this is a very rough description but if this doesn’t help go to a book store and look up these authors: Eddie McGee, Tom Brown, Larry Dean Olsen ,and E. Gibbons. These guys are my survival idols. They know their stuff. The hut was big enough for us, and gear, the walls were probably 12 inches thick by the time we were done. Dead leaves were used for bedding. Live material makes moisture and its hard to stay warm when you are wet. Then we laid the space blankets down. Each mans space blanket was half underneath, half on top of our bodies. We were warm and comfortable but nothing to eat.

We figured we’d catch some fish and set a few snares the next day. We woke up thirsty and took a few drinks from our canteens.1 of my friends was taking sips instead of healthy swallows. I told him that I’d heard stories of people being found dead with plenty of water in the canteens because of this rationing so he started drinking normal. We figured we had better find more water or we’d be in trouble. LOL. So we all split up to look for some water. I found a few puddles that were stagnant but they just didn’t look good even if I were to filter them. I don’t want Dysentery or Giardia so I kept going. About 30 minutes later my buddy screamed that he had found a stream. Sure enough the water was clear and cold. We started a fire by the stream to start boiling some water and I was delighted with the results it tasted great and no side effects. We dug a hole about 20 yards away from the stream and lined it with a piece of space blanket. We boiled a lot of water and put it into the hole. We had about I’d say 10 gallons and figured this would be enough for the time being. A rule was made to put the proper amount of purification tablets into the hole each day to kill bacteria. I don’t know if storing the water in the space blanket hole was the best thing to do but evidently it worked because we never got sick. To protect or water supply from animal we set a few snares around the hole. Nothing ever did get caught at the water hole.

Cherokee pole snares were made to try to catch squirrels and we did have some success during our trip. 6 squirrels were snared and they were dispatched every time. That is a great primitive snare. A Cherokee pole snare is basically a pole laid against a tree where squirrel sign is evident. 1-3 snares are put on the pole. nail or tie branches to the bottom side of the pole. Green branches that have lots of stems work best.

When the squirrel is snared it falls off the pole and gets wound up in the branches attached to the pole and they soon choke down. It works very well as they are dead every time. You can use bait but you don’t have to although baited sets work better. Acorns were the bets bait. We mashed em up then poured boiling water on them. I heard this extracts a lot of the smell and has better luring qualities.

Our main source of food was the streams and a few blackberry bushes. There we caught catfish and they were cooked over an open fire. The berries were a good nourishment especially in the mornings. the catfish bait we had to scourge around for. We started over turning logs and looking for worms or something. We came across maggots and all kind a of stuff but the best bait we used was grasshoppers and crickets. Biggest catfish we caught we all made an estimate from 8-10 lbs. We made what is known as a lazy fisherman. Its a dry springy pole that you sink into the bank. Then you tie the line to the pole and sink in the water. Then any snare trigger where jerking of the line sets it off. This sets the hook then all you must do is check your lines. I’ll send pictures of our survival camp when I have time. We have lots of em.

The third night it rained and rained and rained. All that day it rained, the fire was put out so we had to stay in the shelter pretty much all day waiting to good fishing. (no one wants to be wet all night. LOL) finally the rain let up but we didn’t get an fish. The stream was roaring, so went another foodless night. But we were dry and warm. The rest of the week went good except for my friend cutting his arm on a sharp stick in the water. The last day we were dirty, tired of fish, and just plain old tired. LOL We packed up the gear took down all the snares, and other chores to clean the place up. The shelter was left up so our friends an family could see what we had lived in. Boy were they surprised. lol. We were all in a way disappointed to leave we had so much fun and figured out where we stood on the survival level. Only things we had used were knives, rope, although we had weave some out of grass and bark. One of the grass ropes never broke and we caught 2 squirrels in it. Grass rope weaving is very simple when you see another person doing it but ill try to explain. You take 2 handfuls of grass that are roughly the same thickness and put them together like an X. then you fold one end on the other and you make a Y shape. then twist and turn twist and turn. The best book to learn this from is "The Complete Book of Survival".

I have eaten dandelion, berries, sumac tea, wild plums, wild potatoes (I forget what the name is) and cattail roots. June bugs are very tasty. Gather them with a spotlight or a fire at dusk. Toss them into coals. When you here them pop take them out because they are cooked, peel the wings and other appendages off and eat. They taste very sweet like a peanut dipped in syrup. June bugs have a medicinal effect against flu, dysentery, and stomachache aches. Don’t eat to many though. You’ll feel like you just ate a pound of chocolate.

Magnifying glass and a few matches were used. The pots came in handy too. Space blankets kept us warm and we made a oasis out of a piece. LOL I’ve yet to start a fire with the bow drill method but I'm still working on it. Lots of fun! I never felt more alive. I was decent but I want to get good enough that I don’t need to take all kinds of stuff. I think I relied to much on the things I brought.