A Survivalists Tale Read online

  Well the belief was, hunting was becoming less successful than we believe, as groups grew so did, the problems on how to feed them, when the hunters moved into an area there was no guarantee another group hadn’t just moved out. We believe the switch came from the hunters having dogs, usually with some salt and pepper, yes I know, now a day’s people would jump up and down saying oh cruel people, but when the group was starving or even just hungry the good old dog was for dinner. We know this as a fact from their middens, so it would be a small step from this to keeping other young animals on ropes and culling them when hunger strikes. The looking after the animals would be down to the children and anyone who couldn't hunt or gather any more, basically the old and infirm.

  As you might guess, I'm going for the hunter to farmer with my group, but with luxuries thrown in, yeh our ideas of luxuries may be slightly different, but my group will have a good time if I have anything to do with it. The producers had sent a leer jet for me and it would stop and pick up the others, the only one I didn’t know was the young woman they had found, she was supposed to be really good. I didn’t mind for most of my life I had been learning from others anyway, this was life as far as I was concerned, also, they were allowing us to take six things with us, to help us survive.

  My six items were no surprise to anyone who knew me, it was four axes and two good sized knifes, I couldn't believe it when all six of us had got on board, they informed us of where we were going for the next five years. America, they had secured the land for the project from the native Indians it was reservation land, this way they had complete security, and the natives were helping them, they had built the compounds and had placed native species in each, I fucking loved it more and more. Then they said we could chat to each other but not about what we would do, we then found out one of the people in the ten would be a doctor. Like any of us would need a doctor, producers were chicken, they then informed us, the rest of the group were rich armature survivalists and would have paid millions just for the experience, they weren’t kidding when they said it would be a hard group to shepherd through the years. Better to have someone with no knowledge than a bunch of idiots second-guessing you, I could see the rest of the guys thinking the same thing, fucking nightmare. My approach to them would have to be entirely different to what I planned, I done the exact same as the rest of the group, we would load ourselves with plenty of food and water, before we arrived. We landed at a private airport about four o’clock in the morning and there was the six helicopters waiting to take us to our new home for five years. I climbed aboard my helicopter and there was my four axes and two knifes, however someone had thought about them, as the axes were all for chopping no splitters, thank god, and the two knifes were a good size eight inch blades and could be used for skinning and butchery work, excellent. As we approached my area, I could see that it was part mountain and part plains, plenty of trees and water, I saw as we landed a grizzly scampering up through the rocks and thought you sly bastards. I landed in the open planes, and just as I got out with my tools, my helicopter flew off, there was a log flat in front of me so I stuck the axes into it to keep the blades sharp and stuck one of the knifes in as well. I was keeping for myself one knife and one axe, the rest would be for communal use, I hadn’t long to wait before I heard another helicopter, this was big enough to be delivering my ten new friends for the next five years.

  When they got out of the helicopter I was watching the way they moved, they were all I recond between the ages of thirty and about forty, mabe forty five ish, that was good and they all looked like they were fit and moved like they were healthy. Mike was the first to intruduce himself, closely folowed by Amanda, then Sharon, Peter, Tom, Babs, Clair, Jack, Joseph and Jess, I sat them down and watched who done what, and where they sat in relation to me, it was psychological, if they sat close to me they would need me the most, good and bad with that, they would be the keenest to learn, bad they had the least personal strenth, that sort of thing.

  I asked my team just to see what they knew, who can tell me the next thing the team should do, I had some good answers, like build a fire, build a shelter, lay out traps, and locate water, all good answers but wrong, with only one being even close. Don’t you think with all your good ideas we best find a good place to set them up in, one off you said water, almost correct, but we have to think five years, simple things like never at the foot of a slope. Why is that said Amanda, I have never heard of that, well simple really doc cold air moves down hot air rises, she said wait did you just call me doc, sure did Amanda I could tell by the way you look at the others and by the way you act. I explained to the others that we had been provided a doctor just to be on the safe side, Amanda was quite surprised I had picked her out so quickly. Don’t worry Amanda you were harder to pick out than the psychologist that they provided, even after I asked them not to, would you like to introduce yourself Mike. He got up and ran through his qualifications, I stopped him and said sorry Mike but that is why I didn’t want a psychologist in the first place, I meant introduce yourself not your qualifications, they can be used in survival but not very important. I had them all introduce them self’s to the group and then some of them started to ask sensible questions. Like how will we spot areas we shouldn’t camp in, so I said can any of you think of a visible sign, the wind leaves, when it blows in one direction more than any else. That got them it is kind of a hard question for people who work in offices most of their lives, but to someone who works outside all the time it’s so easy. Jess who was an outdoors type said straight away, well the shape of the tops off the trees, they always point away from the direction of the wind. Everyone started to take note of the tops of the trees and sure enough, they bent over in a slight angle. Now I want you all to stop thinking so much as adults I said and start thinking as children, they looked at me as if I had grown two heads. I explained children create more than adults, when you reach the adult stage you tend to just follow the norm, or normal, the same as everyone else or as you have been taught, the mind of a child will look beyond that and marvel at building things that seem stupid but work. Also, you have to think of this as a reward for all the years you have worked hard, it’s a chance to show the world just how clever you really are, no one has done this before and believe me we are not alone, millions of people are watching. If you feel lonely for anyone on the other side just find a camera and talk to them they will hear you and be comforted, also if you truly know that person you know what they will be saying to you. Also as we, travel always be looking for your tools and anything that will assist us for we are now a family. There were a series of hills that would block the winds also there looked like a whole bunch of trees running in a line, good indication of a stream. Five hours later, we arrived at a cracking site a very large rock face, trees and plenty water just two hundred yards away, I showed them the type of shelter we would need for tonight and probably the next week so we could have time to build shelters that are more permanent.

  As this would take, the group several hours to construct both myself and Jess went to the trees to strip bark to make cordage, we would then set traps for small game, however this didn’t go quite how we expected. We were deep in the woods when we saw a young deer it wasn’t to far from us and up wind so we hadn’t been scented yet, the group of around nine or ten slowly appeared. Luckily the first thing I had us make in the woods were spears and clubs, they couldn't see us for we were behind good-sized trees and in tall grass. I was just about to throw my spear when Jess, who had been maintaining eye contact with me indicated to my left, a good sized young stag had come out of the grass just so close to me I would have been a fool to miss out on such an easy kill. It had been injured there were claw marks down its haunches and it was limping. It would also pass me within six feet, I wasn’t going to take any chances though so with my eyes I looked at another deer about fifteen feet from Jess and indicated she should try for it. I slowly crouched down as the deer came level and I thrust forward just behind the front sh
oulder. I got it right in the heart, it went down dead before it hit the ground, just as the herd looked in my direction, Jess threw her spear and then ran at her deer, she had hit it in the right area, but it hadn’t gone deep enough. It staggered and that was its lose, she hit it hard just behind the head and threw herself on top of it, my one was dead so I ran as fast as I could to her, when I reached her I cut the deer’s throat. Between the two of us, we could have skinned and butchered the carcases no problem, however this meant stepping up certain things, so I asked Jess to nip back to camp and get the entire group, I laid the two carcases together and it was a lot of meat. When the group arrived, we only had enough cordage to hang one at a time, so I had Jess, show Mike and Peter how to strip cordage using the axes. The rest of the group I had them lift the biggest one into position while the others tied its hind legs apart, I checked with them who knew how to skin and butcher the deer, two said they knew so I gave them one knife and said, one skin and one butcher, you decide. I got on with the help of two others moving the carcase with me to better positions, I quickly skinned and butchered my carcase and the rest who weren’t now doing anything I had build a sledge, to carry the meat back. One of the guys I had find a branch to use as a rake and sent him to rake moss up and gather as much as possible. I showed Sharon how to make a bow and fiddle fire starter, and she assured me she had done it before, so I had her draw me it in the dirt.

  She was spot on so I told her go back to camp and start two fires one good sized and the other about two foot by two foot, she asked how far apart. I said where you would want a smudge fire to be is the two foot one for smoking the meat that is spare, and the other should be long enough to take a carcase and about two and a half foot wide, she got the idea pretty fast.

  I just finished the butchery of my carcase in time to see the end of the butchery on the other, the ones not doing the butchery were putting the meat on the sledge and covering it with good layers of moss, I saw two paying close attention to the butchering. I asked why and they gave me the right answer, so when we need to butcher we will know what to do, perfect. I noticed that Clair was missing so I asked where she was and Joe said she had gone back to camp to build a smoke frame for the meat to hang in and also a larger box type smoker for the main meat to sit in, to help keep the flies off. I liked this group better and better all the time, now it was back to camp with our prize, god there were a whole load of black type flies around and biting like crazy. The guys built a frame over the pit fire and once we had washed, the blood of I showed them the two ways we would cook the meat. We dug a long trench about a foot deep this we lined with hot rocks from the fire, we then placed in all the legs and some of the other cuts, then with more hot rocks on top of the meat, we placed green branches across the top of the pit and then covered the sticks with plenty moss. On top of this, we sealed the pit with soil I had left a single stick stuck into where the meat was, pointing straight up, once it was sealed, I removed the stick and poured water down the hole. Then sealed it, we then pushed the fire ashes and branches over the top and we would give the meat a couple of hours. Tom and Clair had found some fragrant leaves and fruit branches, which were giving of a lovely smell, they were also cutting some of the meat into thin strips to hang on a frame she had built. It was the shape of a very pointy pyramid and she had used lots of branches with leaves to help keep the smoke inside so that it would cook and smoke at the same time.

  The group were working so well together, when they saw a job to do they just got on with it, I had the guts and sinew in the stream washing it, others were cooking the livers and kidneys and some of the meat so it had that nice roast taste. If anyone got a bit stuck they just either asked me or someone else who wasn’t so busy. We had seven of the shelters finished and a smoke house where the meat was being stored, even after cooking, Clair cut up the livers and kidneys also the hearts, and was going around with them on small sticks with their bark stripped, you have to strip the bark from any branch that comes in contact with meat. The bark is where the bacteria is, we were eating while working, when we were thirsty we would just go to the stream and drink, this was ok for now but we would improve it as we had time.

  As night fell, it was a happy bunch of campers who sat around the fire, we caught up with who we were where we had come from and it was a brilliant experience, I think I got the best group possible for this challenge. I covered the next problem as we were sat around, I explained that the nighttime was the worst as you would be cold and miserable, so to avoid this we would have two people at a time awake for two hours, keeping everyone’s fires going well. We had everything ready for lighting them and each personal fire had a heat reflector to throw the heat back into the shelters. I had shown them how to dry the moss for their beds and the grass was nice and long so I showed them how to use the grass and moss, to make a type of simple blanket, to help keep the heat in. The next morning it was quite hard to get them out of bed, they were saying it was the best night’s sleep they had in quite some time. I showed them the advanced shelter we were going to build and they asked why, so I explained to them, when we make the cabins for the winter, we will want seasoned wood, unfortunately, the only way to do that is to season the wood and that takes time. These shelters will see us through the winter no problems, this will give us plenty time to build cabins and furniture, I also have plans for running water straight to the cabins. So these shelters will give us that time and comfort we need.

  It’s a simple build but can take a lot of time, so we will build one at a time, at the same time we will carry on hunting and checking out the plants and roots around us, not just for food but also medicines.

  One of the guys found a red berry type plant and as there were plenty of them, she asked if we could use them, they were a brilliant find as far as I was concerned. Wild chillies, or Pequins, these chilli seeds are dropped in the birds solids all over Texas, but mostly south Texas so we now had a better idea where we were. We would now have something to pep our meals up with, all year round, what a find, the next great find was in an open valley, the bottlebrush tree, this was a good find as the flowers and leaves could be used as a really nice tea. Also, flavouring in stews, if you crushed the flowers and leaves you could apply it to skin to keep off insects, also if you put it where you didn’t want insects it worked a treat. The plants just kept coming we found Chickweed, Indian strawberry’s, Blackberries, and our first true medicine plant the Pimpernel. They just kept coming our guys really knew how to look, which brought up another project, good clay for plates, pots and jugs.

  Most of the team had noticed we were getting the smaller fish in the traps, along with some crayfish, they wanted to know how to get the bigger fish, as we didn’t have enough cordage for nets yet. I showed them what to do with the bones from the deer we had killed and some of the small animals we had started to catch in our traps. Like the fox, Gopher, Mink, and Muskrat, there were more but they wanted fish, and were quite right, fish is a very important part of our diet. So with the bones I showed them how to make a good fish spear.

  The most important point of fishing with a spear is aim in front of the fish, due to the reflective quality of water, and don’t throw the spear, it is best used with patience and a quick jabbing motion, this way you don’t break the ends so quick.

  While everything was going well, I knew there was risk in my next venture and discussed it with the team first, I was planning to check out the Barbary sheep, these had been brought in to replace the big horn sheep which has vanished from the area, while we were there we would set some traps for feral pigs. We would be after the sheep for their fleece and was also looking to pick up some young ones to keep and domesticate, we would do this with any young pigs also. The biggest danger was black bear for when I realised where we were it wouldn’t have been a grizzly I saw it would be a black, but most danger would come from the areas we would be climbing through.

  The two who would be coming with me would be the ones with the best eyesight, I had mov
ed or placed six items about a hundred yards out, and the first two to spot them all would be coming with me. To make it fair they did the same to me, but I had learned early in my youth to take note of what was around, this way a predator had less chance of sneaking up on you. More importantly, fewer meals missed, it ended up being Clair and Joe, who aced it by spotting them easily.

  We set off in the morning to give us the best chance of covering as much ground as we could, we had only gone about four miles when we started to see signs of wild pigs, they seemed to be everywhere, there were at least three family groups and two seemed to have very young babies. I thought at least we won’t have to worry about trapping pigs to far from camp, all the time we were grazing as we went, picking fruit, leaves, flowers and roots. We carried a fair bit of jerky with us, just so we wouldn’t have to hunt to soon, we must have made eight miles that first day and found ourselves starting up the mountain. It wasn’t the biggest mountain in the world but it was big enough, we camped that night and had a reasonable nights rest. I have heard people say there is nothing as good as your own bed to sleep in, this I was finding to be true, even of the bed I had made back at camp. Fortunately, we had enough hides to make a type of sleeping bag, so we wouldn’t freeze at night, it just felt that way.