One year alone in the remote wilderness...
- Thread starter Bronco Boy
- Start date
Coldn't happen
This thread is hypothetical. The opening of it appears to have the person limited to one piece of equipment, a gun. If this is the case no one would survive a year. A gun is actually quite low on the equipment one would need, to attempt such a venture. All the old timers in the bush carried food with them. Such items as oatmeal, for making porridge, dried beans, flour, baking powder and salt. Any meat they got was to supplement their other food. And of course, they had a frying pan and a couple of light cooking, or tea pails, while their most important tool was a good axe. Prospectors would sometimes keep working until their regular food ran out, then head for a trading post, shooting small game along the way until they arrived.
Yes, hundreds of years ago, the Natives did get along without "storebought food." Spawning salmon was a major food item, year round, for a huge percentage of the BC Natives. Fish supplies most of the food elements needed, while meat does not, unless the entire animal, including the stomach contents are eaten. The old time Natives did this, but not many of us would! Also, Native tribes traded, going great distances to trade with other natives.
An example was the Blackwater Natives, west of Quesnel, who went all the way to the coast near Bella Coola, to get oolichan fish, nearly solid oil, for their much needed grease for winter. The trail they used is to this day known as the grease trail.
This thread may have been more useful if it would have asked what three, or maybe five, items of food/equipment would you consider most important to survive in the bush of northern BC.
This thread is hypothetical. The opening of it appears to have the person limited to one piece of equipment, a gun. If this is the case no one would survive a year. A gun is actually quite low on the equipment one would need, to attempt such a venture. All the old timers in the bush carried food with them. Such items as oatmeal, for making porridge, dried beans, flour, baking powder and salt. Any meat they got was to supplement their other food. And of course, they had a frying pan and a couple of light cooking, or tea pails, while their most important tool was a good axe. Prospectors would sometimes keep working until their regular food ran out, then head for a trading post, shooting small game along the way until they arrived.
Yes, hundreds of years ago, the Natives did get along without "storebought food." Spawning salmon was a major food item, year round, for a huge percentage of the BC Natives. Fish supplies most of the food elements needed, while meat does not, unless the entire animal, including the stomach contents are eaten. The old time Natives did this, but not many of us would! Also, Native tribes traded, going great distances to trade with other natives.
An example was the Blackwater Natives, west of Quesnel, who went all the way to the coast near Bella Coola, to get oolichan fish, nearly solid oil, for their much needed grease for winter. The trail they used is to this day known as the grease trail.
This thread may have been more useful if it would have asked what three, or maybe five, items of food/equipment would you consider most important to survive in the bush of northern BC.
Tha'ts why I said to make jerky!!
Now you have a bear skin rug, too!!
There's SO much I can learn from you! I can't tell you how much that frightens me...
- Location
- Maple Ridge, BC
Of course this was posed as a hypothetical question. I never meant to imply that the person was limited to one piece of equipment and no one is implying that a gun is the most or even one of the most important pieces of equipment. I assume, this being a gun forum, everyone here would take a gun if they were going to spent a year in the remote wilderness. Given the timeframe I presented, (one year) “storebought” food has no chance of lasting the other food sourced are going to have to be found and used.
I WILL BE REALLY CLEAR!
If, on a crazy dare or bet, you had to survive in the remote northern BC wilderness for a year with only what items and equipment you could carry, (I’m assuming you would choose a to bring a firearm), what gun or guns would you bring?
The “bet or dare” states that you have to live off of what you bring and no further items of any sort will be provided dung the entire year. You may not bring any communication items. You will be heli-dropped in May and picked up the following may; you can bring only what you carry in a pack-back and in your hands.
Of course we would all bring things like: a couple of knives, an axe, a small saw, lots of wire, a multi-tool, a compact fishing rod, a warm sleeping bag, a tarp, lots of waterproof matches, a cooking pot, a plant identification guide and a wilderness survival guide just to name a few. (I would not bring a tent btw).
- Location
- Maple Ridge, BC
This is not true (in my humble opinion only). For the vast majority of us it’s true but someone like Tom Brown (or many of his advanced students) or Mors Kochanski would be able to pull this off.
powder burner
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Red Rider BB gun. Compass, leather tassle, holds a can of Bb's. Why wouldnt it work?
Yes RickF, listen to Gatehouse. Next he'll be telling you to buy an obsolete .375 Ruger.
While a 375 Ruger is a bit too "specialized" for a adventure like this, it could work, as long as you weren't traveling around too much, since the ammo would get heavy.
As well as a couple of big game loads, I've also loaded a few "plinker/grouse" loads, with 200gr (375 Win) bullets at 1400fps.
My 260gr Accubond load would kill anything in North America, and the lighter (and very accurate) 200gr loads would suffice for knocking heads off of grouse, ptarmigan, and any other small game.
With hand-loading, and living in he bush- You are only limited by your imagination.
Yah right, maybe to shoot the branch off the tree with the bird in it.
It took me about 10 minutes of screwing around, then I came up with the reduced load
I've head shot many grouse wiht fullpower cartridges from 303, 7mmRM, 300WM 300WSm, etc etc..
But if you are a reasonably skilled handloader and shooter, you can make reduced loads, with cheap bullets and hit grouse int he head at 25-40 yards.
BC Bigbore
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- BC's Peace Country
IMR sr4759 is the reloaders friend for reduced loads But since this thread is all hypothetical anyway, in addition to the .30-30 for popping moosemeat, I'd strap my Ruger Single Six on my hip and pack a brick of each .22 Shorts and .22LR along instead of the .30-30 reduced loads.
But since this thread is all hypothetical anyway, in addition to the .30-30 for popping moosemeat, I'd strap my Ruger Single Six on my hip and pack a brick of each .22 Shorts and .22LR along instead of the .30-30 reduced loads.
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About 15 years or so ago, I remember reading an article on an ex RCR officer who decided to chuck his Bay Street job and move into the Rockies for a year. His planning and preparation took 2 years and his equipment and food weighed in at over 2,000 lb. He planned ahead and had an enjoyable year of it. If I remember correctly he carried a Remington M700 in .30-06 and a couple of hundred reloads.
Personally while I like the Remington M700, I don't like it enough to be my only firearm. A good .22 rifle and a quality revolver in .44 Mag would be nice addition also.
Personally while I like the Remington M700, I don't like it enough to be my only firearm. A good .22 rifle and a quality revolver in .44 Mag would be nice addition also.
manbearpig
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Somewhere in the Third World
It took me about 10 minutes of screwing around, then I came up with the reduced load
I've head shot many grouse wiht fullpower cartridges from 303, 7mmRM, 300WM 300WSm, etc etc..
But if you are a reasonably skilled handloader and shooter, you can make reduced loads, with cheap bullets and hit grouse int he head at 25-40 yards.
but why lug around reduced-load .303s to headshoot small game when you can do the same with a .22 short that weighs 1/10th the weight?
i understand the concept of shooting a moose or deer in the first couple of days and relying on that rather than small game, but what if you dont get a moose? what if you are in an area inhabited by primarily small game and you injure your leg and cant hike out 50-100 miles to a more moose-inhabited area?
with a .22/20 or .17/12 you could shoot big game and protect yourself just fine with a 20-40 brenneke slugs you bring along, and still have hundreds of rounds of .22 or .17 to kill all the small game you want, while also preserving meat and fur. you could even headshoot deer and preserve your slugs. id hate to see what was left of a squirrel after being shot with a .30 cal.
are there any guns out there - not custom drillings - like the Savage model 24 that combine two rifle calibres? like a .30-06 and .22? would be interesting.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Why not split the differance and have an insert or adapter for lets say, 30-30 to slide into the shotgun barrel if one had to shoot across a field to peg a deer or whatever..... This would resolve the issue of carrying around a heavy rifle?
I think that would be a great compromise for a Savage 24....
- Location
- Maple Ridge, BC
I agree with manbearpig - I would not want to carry around a high powered rifle hoping to get a moose/bear while counting on reduced loads for small game. I really like the idea of the .17/12
We are talking northern BC here...sit in one spot with your injured leg, and a moose will walk by eventually. Until then, you can shoot the grouse wiht your reduced loads, and since you aren't walking aywhere due to your injured leg, weigth isnt an issue.
A combo gun wouldn't be a bad choice, just not my choice.
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
With only one rifle to choose from it would definetly be a .22 LR.
I have spent ( and many other trappers far more experienced than I)months on end in the bush and the 22 everything , including dispatching bears.
What many don't realize is that the rifles is only a small part of the survival equation, and stuff like a good knife, axe,ngth of rope , chord, fire making tools, etcd, are far more important than a big rifle.
Far more energy and time is spent keeping warm and gathering stuff to live than hunting big game like moose, deer and bears.
.22 ammo is small so it doesn't take up a lot of space, and the guns are for the most part light and accurate enough to shoot stuff in the eye or ear.
Iif I ever have the opputunity to go again I will ( again!) pick the 22 as my main firearm.
Cat
I have spent ( and many other trappers far more experienced than I)months on end in the bush and the 22 everything , including dispatching bears.
What many don't realize is that the rifles is only a small part of the survival equation, and stuff like a good knife, axe,ngth of rope , chord, fire making tools, etcd, are far more important than a big rifle.
Far more energy and time is spent keeping warm and gathering stuff to live than hunting big game like moose, deer and bears.
.22 ammo is small so it doesn't take up a lot of space, and the guns are for the most part light and accurate enough to shoot stuff in the eye or ear.
Iif I ever have the opputunity to go again I will ( again!) pick the 22 as my main firearm.
Cat
