Pick the environment--forest, desert, seacoast, desert island, arctic. How dependent are you on civilization to sustain you? If you had to sustain yourself through hunting or your own agricultural efforts, including forage, could you survive?
I think I could manage for a little while, but I'd be in trouble after a month or so. I would definitely need to find shelter and clothing if I didn't already have them, and food would become an issue fairly soon.
How would you do? Could you find and kill wild game, or hunt wild nuts and berries? Would you recognize the mushrooms you could eat? Do you have enough tools to keep you alive?
I don't expect to ever have to do this, incidentally, but it's something I've always wondered about.
2012-11-24T13:33:30Z
Sasha--50 years ago was 1962. We had large stores and most of the products you see today. People weren't living off the land back then. We did have stronger families, but that's a separate issue. This question is posted more for fun than as anything serious. I think it also points at something I didn't even put in the question: the value of communities in preserving our lives.
I am a Christian, by the way, and I do believe all blessings come from God. Many of us may not appreciate just how much we are blessed, though. That's largely the point of this question.
horace hockey2012-11-25T11:26:21Z
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Seeing my home is in the forest, I hunt , fish, gather ginseng, paw paws, mushrooms, and am trained in survival techniques from my military days, yes.
Warren, the things that matter now will cease to have any importance then. My worst failings are in not achieving financial success- but there are many city survival sklills that only poverty and being n the streets can teach you. Therein is my talent. I could survive either in the wild or zombie apocapalooza, I can shoot a weapon and hit a target from a reasonable distance, I can grow food in the Las Vegas Soil with my own elbow grease, compost and ash; I can identify edible plants in the southwesr deserts and mountains, and I know how to filter water effectively using several methods- though some REALLY do not taste good.I know how to care for wounds and could probably stitch one up with a little assistance. I am good at keeping aggressive creatures calmed and or off guard and hesitant...I can mediate between arguments to help sides come to an agreement...I know how to tell stories that I can make up on the spot, and get others aduts as well as children to be interactive.
But I am small and my bones are thin, and I would have a hard time hauling stuff or building shelters or going in hand-to-hand combat with an aggressor. I could not work with too large a weapon.
That's why I gladly step up to ask a man to do those things, though it is not the scenario described in your question, but opening jars, carrying large items, weilding the bigger weapons from their more well-stockedarsenal!! Oh and tools. Though I got power tools of my own the first birthday after I was married.
I would be OK anywhere except a desert. Finding food and making shelter would be the easiest parts of surviving. . The big troubles would start when my boots wear out or I break the handle of my knife. There are very few days where part of my diet isn't something a grew, hunted or foraged.
Actually the way I see; the first month is when you find out if you could survive. Once you survive a month there is no reason why you couldn't survive forever. I don't know if I could do it if I was just dropped there with nothing. In order to survive I would probably need at least a hatchet, a bow with arrows and a lighter or some matches until I can figure out how to make fire by myself.
Cavemen or nomadic people never had to do these things on their own, they always had a group to rely on.
Seacoast would be the easiest if you don't tired of fish. However, you will have to find a nice source for water. If you can survive fourteen days alone, over six weeks in a group, then you could possibly survive for a few years or longer, depending how you manage and grow your resources for water and food. However, you will need a wide knowledge for plan foods or other plants for medicinal purposes.