Primitive Survival M-Term 2024

     For my M-Term Wilderness Survival Skills, I had an objective. I wanted one day to fish enough fish for everyone to have fish for dinner. Among other minor goals like surviving and getting water, catching and bunch of fish was at the top of my goals list. For me, fishing is always a really fun pastime so I wanted to find a lake or pond and see what all I could catch. I also figured that if I could hone in on an important survival skill such as fishing, I could better prepare myself for situations in the future. Since we arrived at Sam Houston National Forest around mid day there wasn't any time to focus any energy or time on fishing. We had to unpack, find water and most importantly make or find shelter. Although while searching for water we found a small pond. Now I knew where I could fish and hopefully soon I would find out what I would be fishing. Well after finishing everything else we needed to do on day one, as expected there was no time to fish. Most of us hadn't eve

For my primitive survival trip, I set out to do two things: build a great shelter and weave a basket. However, I mainly wanted to focus on building my shelter because, in a survival situation, I needed to learn the skills to build a shelter quickly and effectively. When we first arrived at camp, I set out with Eli to find a good location. What we were looking for was a spot to create our shelters. Ideally, this spot would be more uphill, not showing any signs of a basin for rainwater, with many fallen trees nearby, and close access to the camp. After exploring much off the beaten path, we decided that a spot already found by Rachal and Sabrina would be best. This spot had a large fallen pine tree with lots of fallen branches around it. It also had limbs sticking out, perfect for my lean-to-shelter design. The whole first day, I spent gathering and cutting to-size fallen tree limbs and saplings crushed because of the fall. This took much longer than expected, with the whole day flying b

  As a culmination of all that we learned over the first week, our group went on an overnight in Sam Houston National Forest. Our overall goal was to implement what we had learned and to pursue our interests within this knowledge. I had three main goals for this trip:  Make a livable shelter Make a basket from scratch Make a bow an arrow I wanted to make a shelter because it was important to me that I be able to create a livable shelter and that I sleep in the woods at least one of the nights. To me, this meant I would be fully taking advantage of our time at SHNF. I began my shelter on day 1, working with Rachel, to create what I have hence dubbed “The Shack''. Our first course of action was to find a fairly clear and sheltered place to make our shack. Rachel discovered a rather large fallen pine tree that ended up serving as a sort of highway for our group. Just off this highway, we found a small clear area surrounded by trees that we decided would serve us well. To begin the

On the second week of Monday, we worked on prepping our supplies and refreshing our knowledge of the skills we have learned over the past week. In the morning we started off by going over our goals and what we wanted to achieve for this trip. The general consensus for our goals was to create a livable shelter, weave a basket, and for some, build a bow and arrow. We next dedicated some time to look over the necessary information to achieve our goals, for example refreshing our memory for tying the square knot. After we refreshed our memory we moved on to making sure all our supplies were all intact and fit for the trip. First we practiced setting up our tents, to not only improve our tent making skills but make sure they where not broken. The reason why we need to bring tents is as a safety measure in case our shelters don't go to plan. Lukily and unfortantly we found out that 2 of our tents their cordage was starting break down, so they where not usable. After we checked the tents

 On this trip I sent out to not only survive in the wilderness but somewhat thrive in the wilderness. My main goal was to create a stable shelter that could withstand the elements and be made in less than one day without any external help. But I also wanted to work on making a stronger bow, a basket, a clay bowl, fishing, cooking, fire making, and more. After using the first week to learn how to accomplish all of these things, I felt prepared and I believed it was possible to complete these tasks within the two-ish days we would be there. On Tuesday, after making it to school, we loaded the mini-bus and set off at around 9:30. On the hour long trip to Sam Houston National Park we picked up some ice at a gas station and two chickens at a feed store. Once we made it to the National Park we found a good place to set up at, drop our stuff off, and have our bp&j tortillas for lunch. I began walking through the thick forest to find a suitable place to begin making my shelter. Around 30 m

  Our group spent 2 nights camping in Sam Houston National Forest. We left on Tuesday the 26th and returned on Thursday.  I had an awesome time at sam houston. We each had our own projects we got to focus on. My biggest one, and probably also the most challenging, was building a shelter with Sabrina. It was much more labor intensive than we thought it would be and we spent hours just collecting materials for building, like the palm fronds for walls and pine needles for insulation.  For the rest of the time I focused a lot on building fires and attempting to cook with them. It was very difficult to get anything going in the first few hours of the day because the dew completely soaked all the possible wood and kindling. Even once the wood had dried some, it was pretty difficult to get a bigger log to hold a flame. It required a lot more attention than i thought it would to keep adding kindling in the right places and clearing out the ash to prevent it from blocking the airflow. I was