BEFORE YOU PLUNGE INTO THE WILD READ THIS RIGHT DAMN NOW

 

 I want to make this perfectly clear before you plunge into the wild thinking you are going to learn on the job so to speak , please think again DON'T ... The stone age skills are a skill set that can take years to master.. you need to  be able to ID at the least about 100 wild edible plants , know how to make friction fire , you need to know how to construct at least 4 kinds of primitive traps ,  the ability to know tracks and know what an animal run is, you need to know how to use some primitive weapons to hunt with and be  pretty good with them and have the skill to build a few of them yourself...know how to build a few different kinds of primitive shelters using the materiel found in that AO... know how to make a net , know how to make containers be it from wood or clay ... of course you might take some kind of container with you as well as some food stuffs .know how to find water and know how to find directions as in where are you and how do i get out of here . know what and how to create a discoidal blade .. by smashing rocks . my suggestion is do not overwhelm yourself , its easy to do ... I have witnessed many folks mostly men who over estimate their skills and they fail as in falling flat on their face .. Rescue me,, sometimes they do sometimes they don't ,, don't be that one ,,,this is not a complete list of what you need to know but it is basic.. 

I'am trying to impress on you the importance of knowing the skills, you can practice many of them in your backyard or in a local area on weekends .. there are a lot classes almost everywhere in the USA... None of us started out knowing everything it took time and effort dedicating ourselves by committing to learning the skills we would need  to meet the conditions we might face in the wild ... 

 I  have written a lot about being free in the wilderness but it does not come with a ticket to ride , without the proper skill set you can die and really be at one with the earth... that is not what we have in mind ..

 do not be afraid to cheat, take a bic lighter with you and perhaps two other means of making fire.. take enough food  and water , remember it is not a contest .. I take and assume no responsibility these articles are for informational purposes and if you choose to try out some of your skills that's on you .  I cannot be there to hold hands I  do not want to read about your dumb butt or hear about you on the news ... Remember  this, even the best can screw up and you are not the best yet don't get so good that you become arrogant about it ,  thinking you could not possibly goof up ..

CLEARLY, YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING  start small in short day trips then weekend trips go with a friend never go alone  always tell a responsible person where you are going and when you should be back ..

 by      DUDE MCLEAN

A COMPLEX LIFE ARE WE TRAPPED

    We live in an increasingly complex society that at times is baffling and confusing, at least it is for me and might be for you as well, the pace at times is staggering and as i have grown older i cant seem to really keep up and truth be told i find i really don't want to keep up, my give a damn broke and i don't want to fix it 

The way out,of the trap , for me are the ancient skill sets as in Stone age skills  creating an awareness  for me that i never knew before ,suddenly you are in charge of owning yourself . As i continue to explore the prehistoric skill sets that lead to  a completeness  of understanding what breaking free really means  in my life  ,shaking off the constrictions of the modern ways  and as understanding  dawns on me that i do not need what our modern life says i do.  Being dictated to all my life from the time i was a little boy  by teachers who were just doing  what they were taught a monkey say monkey do society.

We are forced to go to school and in reality we are still just little wild creatures and they want to chain us to a desk , don't move sit there until we tell you you can go . Training us to be adults and spend the rest of our lives tied to a desk or a machine... being robbed of our lives by a  job  or a career ,   you find that the so called retirement , the well known golden years ,for the most part is crap . One a lot of of folks never live long enough to be in the golden years or if they do its only a very short retirement bye bye ...Cant tell you how many i have known who never made the golden years work worth a damn and most older folks i talk with feel they were tricked by the system , so something is broke. 

Rather than be owned by a job , own yourself , we all know the phrase 'wage slave' and we are  sucked into it because we were trained from early childhood that this the what we should do . Too be a so called success you have to make so much money etc and gag so forth . My question is  ah but are you successful as a person ?  I feel the prehistoric can help you with a feeling you have never known in your life , a freedom that yes i can make fire with two sticks is empowering , being able to ID wild edible plants and how to prepare them so you can eat ,trapping wild critters  called making meat  taking only what you need no waste , building a shelter your own self , and many other skills . Always thanking the plant and the critter for feeding you . 

Be a success as a person , sorry this turned into somewhat of a rant   oh wait not sorry ...

by Dude McLean

Sewing

Here's something we don't read or hear about very much,if at all, the invention of sewing ,a needle and thread I feel is one of the top inventions that helped take us into a more advanced lifeway allowed us to make clothing to shield us from the cold and the wind and rain. Whether  its a simple awl and sinew or  silver threads and golden needles or a machine that stitches our clothes it comes down to gee you look good or its a good thing I have this coat to keep me warm all because we learned along the way to sew instead of just wrapping up in a deerskin. I don't know when it was we began to sew but it seems it was pretty universal . 

Sewing became a  real creative activity maybe even more important than weaving , I don't know that for sure but it seems to me sewing was giant step in the ancient time. And maybe weaving and sewing evolved hand in hand , no pun 

My research might be off but as best i can find is that sewing needles and thimbles date back to 202 BC the Han Dynasty and that news spread fast . And then we have buttons and button holes but they don't to seem to show up until the 13th century ancient  Persians were the first it is believed .

At any rate sewing was  a real giant step in the ancient world " hey Alice i need a black tux for the Dino dance next week " 

by DUDE MCLEAN

PASSING THE TIME USE IT INSTEAD

Seems like we should be taking advantage of this situation of being told to stay home, isolate they say .

Trying to be creative by learning new skills  is kind of cold and lonely when you cannot share it with a friend  . Ah but we still have the google for at least a little while anyway so all you have to do is search for any skill and in most cases it will pop up on more than a few vids .

I'm not saying it wont be lonely but you will have a real person doing a demo of the skill and if it isn't clear enough look for other vids on the same subject , at some point someone will make it clear enough for you . keep looking you will find it . I feel that many are are home just passing time when we could be learning a new skill or finding ways to improve any skill in your toolkit. A good time to introduce yourself to some new stone age skills.

At the very least read one of the many books about the primitive skills and lifeways.

 I  have an extensive collection of primitive skills books and have been taking advantage these past months oh i've read them all before but its kind of fun rereading and going oh yeah forgot about that... books are like old friends they are always there when you need them. Or you might create some of your own tools or weapons  i always find that to be fun even if it doesn't turn out so well just make another one , each time you make the same thing it will improve most of the time ... 

  So get up and do something have something show for all this time fleeting by  .. there will be a test

by DUDE MCLEAN 

'SOUND and SILENCE'

 What is that noise what is that sound , might be hard to ID that sound for some but it is called silence a very hard thing to find in most places  and its scary to some ...I always seek it out when I can but it is getting harder for me to find it as I'm getting a bit limited as where I can go to find real silence . My ability to trek into the remote places I love is being hindered by my age as my ability declines though I fight it but the reality is  i have already gone thru the door of 82 at the time of this writing. my family doesn't like me heading out alone anymore and in reality i think they are right as much as i don't like it...However i do not want to be the headline in the news .. stupid 82 year old etc etc,,, but i still long for the silence that you can hear...

 When you have true silence and can hear the leaves rustle as a small critter moves through them  still gets my attention  as i wonder what is that . When i can hear a humming bird flutter by or a ravens wings as  he  looks down on me . Have  you ever heard a  leaf that is falling hit the ground its a sound like no other .  I  used to love it when my dogs would come running to me from far off and at times it sounded like wild horses  hoofs hitting the ground as they got closer , what a sound . 

True silence allows one to hear things we don't think about  but there they are  making a sound like nothing else , even as my own hearing is not so sharp anymore  i can still hear things from the earth created by the critters  and the wild  plants  in the wilderness., as a breeze moves through the leaves  i find it to be wonderful .

 Although i know i'm missing a lot at this stage  but i feel for some reason that my hearing improves when i'm in a silent place , might just be my imagination but i like to think it is not.

I urge you to try and find  that silent place of your own and learn to enjoy no noise no traffic no phone no music for the wild places make a music of its own . 

 by Dude McLean

BOOK REVIEW by Dude McLean "FIRE without matches ,tips , tactics, and techniques for starting a fire in any situation" by Christopher Nyerges

     

Diving really deep into the world of fire without matches , Christopher, covers conventional and  unusual methods of making your fire. The book is informative and concise , very clear and made more so by the photos all in color . 

    Fire is what really set man apart from all the other critters . now you can learn how to make fire under any conditions  without a match  including in the rain .. the best locations to build your fire ... how to tend your fire  and other information that may have not  entered your brain.. 

 there are diagrams  with side notes  a ton of color photos this is a book that could save your butt. if nothing else it would make good tinder . Christopher has been teaching botany and survival skills since 1974  now thats a longtime  , having known Christopher for more than a longtime , I know he knows what works and what does not . No wasted words in this book my deal is this GET THIS BOOK  a few bucks well spent .

Dude McLean

GENDER AND THE PREHISTORIC SKILLS TODAY

 Reading about the ancient skills one might get the idea that only men are involved but this is far from the truth , many ladies are practitioners of the aboriginal skills . I have an article about one of the outstanding women, Robin  Blankenship ( http://www.earthknack.com/) is a primitive practitioner who has written a few books on the skills and has been an instructor for many years . 

The classes that Christopher Nyerges holds always has many ladies in attendance . So it  is not an exclusive domain of the men to practice the aboriginal skills . If one attends Winter count or Rabbit Stick or any number of such events in the states you will find a lot of ladies many who are very good at the skills, i'm not going to try and name them because if i fail to mention someone i will feel like a jerk .

My goal here is to get the message across that this is not an exclusive activity for men oh no not at all. As a matter of fact i would put many of the ladies up side most men in this primitive skills thing. Now guys don't get all bent out of shape about this, don't go all macho on me because truth is the truth .  

 So part of my plan is to motivate some of you lady people to get involved learning the skills from Id'ing the wild edible plants to all the other skills, you can do it.This also a fine thing for couples to do together. 

 Alright if you have any questions post them in the comments and i will try and have an answer that makes sense. 

 So ladies see ya in the bushes ...

By Dude McLean