I think most people have lost sight of what it means to be truly self-sufficient and survive
Thanks to modern technology and our consumer culture, what was once common knowledge in this country has largely faded away. Most people these days wouldn’t make it an hour without their iPhone, I won’t even mention how long I think they would last out in the wilderness.
I was listening to a song this morning, Country Boy Can Survive by Hank Williams Jr. and it got me thinking about what the next generation is being taught about life.
When I was a kid I went fishing almost every day. I made my own poles, dug up the worms I needed for bait, and sat for hours upon hours down at the little pond near where I lived. These real life experiences helped shape who I’ve become, and they laid the foundation for everything I know about survival. Today, most kids can’t event tell you how to tie a fishing knot without checking their phone!
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn…..
Real survival knowhow comes from experience. It’s not about gear, it’s not about gadgets, and it’s definitely not something you can read about in a book. Real Survival abilities come from a lifetime of adventure and experience. Without these experiences you can never be truly ready to survive.
Sadly, we live in a time where the biggest adventure most kids will experience is sitting in front of a T.V. watching someone else experience the outdoors. I think it’s a tragedy that more kids don’t have the ability to learn about the great outdoors. They’re not only losing out on what I consider to be valuable life skills, but they’re also missing out on a lifetime of adventure and fun.
If you have kids, take them outdoors. Teach them to hunt, fish, hike and camp. Encourage them to experience the adventures that were once a part of daily life.
Here is the song that inspired this article……
I grew up doing the same things and in the country part of the time. But I did not know enough to survive off the land. I had experience with hunting fishing abs raising animals for food but, living off the land is a lot harder. I mean there is no stoves in the wild. Just making a fire can be almost impossible. Enter Dave Canterbery and the Pathfinder School. Man I learned a lot! I still may not be able to live off the land but I think I can. I will guarantee that I will life longer then 90% of the population if every one had to live off the land. Do yourself a favor and watch Dave’s YouTube videos, he gives away a ton of free info. Take his classes or go to one of his gatherings if you can. What you learn may save your life! You will learn a lot and have a great time too. IMO
Thanks for sharing!
I grew up in the boy scouts, we were taught to hunt ,fish and trap. We got survival training from winter wilderness to desert survival along with a little jungle training by leaders that were real men! I give thanks for those men and their lessons everyday. The song is right a country boy can survive. I feel sorry for this next generation that don’t know anything but computers and video games
Just wanted to share this regarding county boy skills and the present generation of kids. I teach. A percent of the kids I see cannot read or write or do math very well. The latter well if a calculator is used. In fact, a kid today asked if he could use one to reduce a fraction. I asked a student today who wrote the book, Twenty Thousand Leagues under The Sea by Jules Verne. I was told Benedict Arnold by one and President James Garfield by another. They weren’t kidding. This is just a preview of what the present generation of kids is like. They understand computers and hi tech gadgets, but as for practical knowledge they have no idea.
Im a madman student genus, and Id like to know what the fraction was. While I reduce simply reddiculus fractions on a daily basis,some problems realy do need a calculatior, IE 1423 over 3293.
it is a damn shame that most kids now a days do not get off their xbox, but as for me im always in the words getting my prepper knowledge up with edible and medicinal plants, got me a recurve and crossbow and proficient with both, along with some guns, always hiking to better my physique and learn the territory building shelters, and working hand to hand techniques with my best friend, i know i am safe if i can make it through the first of a shtf situation
“DUMB” and “DEPENDENT”
i love liveing n the woods i am n them every day i tri to teach what i know to younger kids and tri to get them instred n the outdoors but some parents are so affrade of what is out there they dont even want to tri to give there kids a chanse. But they encorage them to go fore big jobs computer jobs .just hope that most people ant all afrade of what is out there like a little tick
I live with children screaming at garden spiders- the ones that are .5 centimeater long-on a daily basis. Grow up, little ladies.
I just left the area where they filmed that video. Right on the Mississippi, in Mississippi. I was there for twenty years. I left there because it was flat and there was a mile of river to cross if the SHTF. Now I am in the Mountains, but I’m glad and learned a lot in those twenty years. We are about to form a group of preppers here in the small town I live in and I am getting ready to can like a fiend – head start you know. I don’t know everything I need to know yet, but I am getting there.
As for the education system today, as a historian I can tell you that the dumbing down of America was intentional and if you want to get hired first today homeschooling is the answer. Even the employers know what the public education farce was about.
I want off the grid, all I lack is the land. Workin on it.
If you’re going to can things, make sure you’re using produce that was grown with non-GMO seeds, and preferably, in a traditional manner, using compost, manure and such, rather than with chemical insecticides and fertilizers.
I grew up just like that thanks to my families love of the outdoors I can pass a loved knowledge of survival on to the fourth generation.
this is my grandfather definition of a red neck people that feed the city slickers
Grew up in the Midwest farm lands, but spent every summer in the Cherokee National Forest learning the ways of my grandparents and great grandparents and I am a better man for it. Living off the land is all they knew and I was a sponge. I wont let these ways die….
The article is very true along with all the comments too. I grew up in rural MS and now find myself in NJ and have a hard time teaching my kids all that I know. One thing I have done is tell them we are going to the local lake to fish. I intentionaly leave the gear behind just to show them you can use the “trash” others leave behind. We’ve caught 4 small sunnies and the kids couldn’t believe it. There is always tangled string in bushes and hooks, bobbers and dig your own bait.
As a kid i grew up hunting and fishing and tending a garden. Now that i am a father and have kids myself i refuse to let them sit in the house and watch tv or play with their toys. i make them go outside like i did and on days where its pretty outside and not too hot i make them stay outside all day unless its time to eat. I take them fishing and the oldest hunting everychance i get. we have a small garden they help with, as well as their own plants they picked out that they must tend to. alot of people say im being mean to them but they enjoy the hunting and fishing as well as the gardening and i say they are better off for it.
I hear people complain all the time about how commercially focused we are (while 90% their web site content points to Amazon or some other shopping site) and they complain about how kids today and people in general know nothing of the outdoors. To that you should say “Thank God”! because if everyone alive today decided to embrace the “country living” life style there would be no country left. I fear this si what will happen in the event of any type of SHTF scenario. Millions flooding to the country, maountains and “wild”. People in numbers no amount of ammo you have stored could stop… it keeps me up at night!
I think a lot are so tuned out to the basics of living, they would have a hard time like a lot of those in the last storm. Imagine what happens to a large city that would lose power and water. Lines of people looking for a meal in a city with empty stores. Thousands spilling to outlying areas looking for food, game, water and fuel. A 100,000 hungry people would not care about you or yours and most with no idea on how to find a meal without taking or begging.
winstein agrees and sorry to say but from experience in 3 states ur mostly ignorant rednecks
einstien*
Awesome Post ! Thank you for sharing
To a point, even the Country Boys/Farmers aren’t equipped to survive anymore. Someone, in another article, pointed out that during the Great Depression over a quarter of the population knew how to survive/grow food/etc. Now that number is down to a percentage of a percentage. For example, few farmers now how to grow food for themselves. In the past a farmer grew food for his family and sold the excess; now farmers produce food for everyone else and buy their food from a grocery store. A company tells the farmer when to plant, a computer drives his equipment, and another computer determines when and where to water his crops. And aside from their choice ‘cash’ crop most farmer don’t know how to grow anything else. This is dire!