to it whenever you need to start a fire in the rain, read a compass, forage for food, sharpen a knife, or survive a bear attack. It’s reassuring to discover that many seemingly complicated tasks are quite simple when broken down into their basic, essential steps.
Some of the skills in this book require a bit of practice, but in the words of Eighties pop band The Korgis, "everybody’s got to learn sometime" and everybody’s got to start somewhere too. Even an expert has to begin with the nuts and bolts. Despite this, the hope is that you could actually study topics like "make a dugout canoe" or "pan for gold" and disappear for a few weeks to turn a fallen tree into an open boat or find your fortune in a local stream.
Reading this book won’t make you a master of primitive technology overnight but it will certainly put you ahead of the game, point you in the right direction, and show that some of the skills you considered beyond your reach are extremely accessible.
STOP A RUNAWAY HORSE
When a horse gets spooked and starts to run away with you on its back, acting quickly and calmly is the only way to avoid taking a dirt bath and breaking bones.
If you tense up, shout, and scream for help or try to brutalize the horse into submission by yanking indiscriminately on the reins, you will simply make the horse more frightened, putting you in even greater danger.
Don’t be tempted to pull the Spaghetti Western trick of ripping your shirt off and using it to blindfold the horse or pulling hard on one rein to make him gallop in a tight circle. Westerns have taught us a lot of silly myths about horses, not least that riding them is easy! Both of these methods are the equivalent of turning off your headlights and punching yourself in the jaw while driving the wrong way on a highway. If the horse can’t see, it may slam on the brakes but it may also run into a tree before it comes to a halt. Meanwhile, if you are exerting several hundred pounds of painful rein pressure on its jaw, you become part of the problem.
STOPPING A HORSE MEANS CONTROLLING ITS MIND SO YOU CAN REGAIN CONTROL OF ITS BODY:
1. Focus first on riding the horse rather than stopping him. Allow the horse to see where he is going while you concentrate on keeping your balance.
2. Stay calm, loose, and relaxed. Stiffening your muscles will only give you a rougher ride, making it harder for you to keep your balance. Focus instead on keeping your body relaxed and upright, allowing your body to absorb the horse’s galloping rhythm.
3. Keep your legs in soft contact with the horse as you become attuned to his surges and begin squeezing a little with your legs each time, then relaxing to allow the stride. This brings you more in synch with the horse and helps him to calm down and trust your judgment. Think about using your legs to reassure by framing rather than dominate him into submission (good luck with that).
4. Gradually take back control and begin to shape the horse’s strides so that eventually you can stop the horse by using the conventional commands that he has already learned. He hasn’t forgotten those commands, but he won’t pay attention to them unless you help him to calm down first.
PITCH A TENT without tent poles
If you roll up at your campsite miles from anywhere and then suddenly discover that you’ve left the tent poles at home, here’s a neat way to get Around the problem.
1. Find an overhanging tree, or a tree with a horizontal branch that is a couple of feet higher than the top of your tent.
2. Tie a rope around the tree trunk/branch and let the loose end hang downwards. This is the center point of the tent roof, so lay out your tent underneath and stake the corners of the tent to the ground.
3. Measure and cut two lengths of rope. Feed one through the front right corner to the back right corner; feed the other one through the front left corner to the back left corner, so you end up with two parallel loops.
4. Attach the two loops to the loose end of cord hanging down from the tree, using a tab (you should have one on each guy rope). Tighten vertically until the tent is taut.
5. Use your remaining guy ropes to pull the tent fabric outward to shape and secure the tent.
CLIMB A TREE
First find a tree that is suitable for climbing: it should provide sufficient challenge to push you out of your comfort zone, but not so you face serious danger. Only you can be the judge of this. Dry conditions are the best for climbing.
1. Don’t look down. Look up and focus on finding a climbing route using safe branches.
2. Always keep at least three points of contact with the tree, so that if a hand or foot slips, you can support your weight with the other two.
3. Lean up against the trunk to gain maximum stability and place your feet where the branch meets the trunk, where it is thickest and strongest. The further away from the trunk you place your feet, the greater the leverage on the branch and the greater the risk of it breaking.
4. The branches get thinner the higher you climb. Usually, a branch will be strong enough to support your weight if it is as thick as your upper arm. Beware of dead branches.
5. Your legs are much stronger than your arms, so use your legs to do most of the climbing work.
6. When descending, support all your weight with one leg and two hands as you locate a lower branch with your other leg. Test the branch by releasing your weight onto it gradually.
CATCH A FISH in a trap
One of the least labor-intensive ways to catch fish in the wild is to build a river bank corral made from sticks or stones. Since the Mesolithic era, hunter-gatherers have built structures in streams and rivers or at the edge of tidal lagoons to trap fish. This method has the advantage that you don’t have to sit around with a rod or spear waiting for your meal to arrive. You can go away and enjoy a leisurely nap before returning to claim your prize.
1. Collect a pile of about sixty sticks, ¾-1½ in (2–4 cm) thick and about 20 in (50 cm) long, which you will use to construct a small, rectangular enclosure at the water’s edge. If there are no sticks, use stones.
2. First make the two long sides of your enclosure with one end facing upstream by driving two parallel lines of sticks/stones into the river bed to form a corridor about 20 in (50 cm) wide and jutting out about 30 in (75 cm) into the water, or until you reach a depth of water that a fish can swim in.
3. Seal off the far end of the enclosure by making a funnel of sticks/rocks pointing into the shore with a 4 in (10 cm) gap—wide enough to allow a fish to swim through.
4. Skewer some bait on a stick and then drive the stick into the river bed so that the bait is exposed underwater inside the enclosure about 8 in (20 cm) from the funnel entrance.
5. Any fish entering the funnel to take the bait will then either swim in a circle or wedge itself nose first into the space on either side of the entrance, where it will stay alive and fresh, ready for you to eat.