Dared to Survive

Wildcrafting While Taking a Walk

Honing in my wildcrafting skills during a walk on Monday. Needed a breather and decided to get up from my desk and take a 5 mile walk. Below are some of my finds. I didn’t have my field guide so I was not able to identify some other plants and decided not to catalog them. In order we have Sassafras, Persimmons and Chanterelle mushrooms.

I currently have plans to create an app to make field notes easier with tools and references. If anyone has interest in this even if beta testing please let me know.

Where’s RedBeard

Out on location to scout a location for the next episode of Dared to Survive. We took some photos that we’ll be posting on Tumblr and Facebook.

Where’s RedBeard? Can you spot him?

What does a 2 year old untouched primitive shelter look like?

Went out scouting the filming location for the next episode of Dared to Survive. We decided to go out to our old location and just see what a 2 year old primitive shelter would look like. To be honest we thought nothing would be left of it especially not the debris. What does a 2 year old primitive shelter look like? It looks like this

2 Years Ago When Built

2 Years Later

Mr RedBeard is catching a minnow sized fish with his bare hands

Here’s a clip from Dared to Survive during a demo event. Mr RedBeard is catching a minnow sized fish with his bare hands.

Music Credits:
Theme Song
Burt by JM Ballard
Special thanks to JM Ballard for letting us use his original music.
Find his music on Sound Cloud http://soundcloud.com/jm-ballard
Follow JM Ballard on twitter http://twitter.com/JmbWompRat

Ep 1 Dared To Survive Podcast During Lunch

This is our first podcast episode leading up to our video series on Youtube. This is a rough recording using a phone during lunch with the guys. Most episodes in the future will be recorded with better equipment. Thanks for listening!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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In the primitive shelter with the fire going

Gearing up for filming later this month! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr using the links above to get updates.

In the primitive shelter with the fire going during a first run at filming Dared to Survive. This is after several failed attempts…. Remember we’re not experts. This dare challenge was building a primitive shelter and spending the night with no sleeping bag or blanket during a cold night.

Building The Primitive Shelter

Gearing up for filming later this month! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr using the links above to get updates.

Building the primitive shelter during a first run at filming Dared to Survive. This dare challenge was building a primitive shelter and spending the night with no sleeping bag or blanket during a cold night.

Building The Fire

Gearing up for filming later this month! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr using the links above to get updates.

Building a fire by the primitive shelter during a first run at filming Dared to Survive. This is after several failed attempts…. Remember we’re not experts. This dare challenge was building a primitive shelter and spending the night with no sleeping bag or blanket during a cold night.

Hanging Out at The Primitive Shelter

Gearing up for filming later this month! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr using the links above to get updates.

Hanging out next to the fire in front of the primitive shelter during a first run at filming Dared to Survive. This dare challenge was building a primitive shelter and spending the night with no sleeping bag or blanket during a cold night.

Primitive Shelter Building – Lessons Learned

Time – Make sure you give yourself as much time as possible to build your shelter but not so much that you neglect other survival needs. We only had about an hour before we lost daylight. Remember if you are doing this for multiple days you can improve your shelter as time passes.
Make sure you have a relatively flat surface to lay down (being on a hill side makes it tough to get comfortable and remain safe)
Make sure that you cover as much surface area with branches and sticks
Height – During warming temperatures you will want the roof of your shelter higher and leave open the sides to allow for air flow. In the colder periods you will want the roof lower and as much of the sides closed so that the dead air space will aide in trapping warmth. Note you will not want it so low that you can’t sit up (very uncomfortable) and if you have a fire this will increase your chances to pose a danger of drying out your shelter and it possibly catching fire. I wish I would have made the shelter a bit higher and more closed in on the sides.
Bedding – You will want to pad the ground with as much as possible but prepare for some aches in the following days regardless.
Fire – One of the most essential tools to survival. You will want this a reasonable distance from your shelter but not so much that it does not provide heat for you. I may have had the fire a little close to the shelter because some of the shelter materials started to dry out and blacken through out the night. I’m not going to complain too much because it kept me warm and I was never asleep very deep or for more than 45 minutes at a time. We did one thing right! When gathering fire wood make sure you get enough to last the night. You will not want to burn more than absolutely needed so that your supply lasts the night plus it makes tending the fire a lot easier and safer to maintain. If you’re relying on the fire for warmth you will not want to sleep for long periods, I mean you will but won’t have a hard time when you get cold or uncomfortable, because you will need the hot coals to build the fire back up when it dies down which also reminds me that you will need various types and sizes of fuel to include small sticks and twigs to thumb size pieces, dry leaves & grass.
You will not want to skip the step of smoking out your shelter to remove insects and other creatures. Almost all living creatures have a natural disposition to fire. When we did this to the shelter a quarter size scorpion came out from the shelter and from under Mick.