One of my hiking partners (Matt) has been talking about doing a Survival weekend for a while now. His plan is to do survival stuff, but in comfort. That is: we bring our regular backpacking stuff, but set up to learn & practice survival stuff as if we had minimal stuff.
Skills I really need to learn &/or practice:
Shelter building.
Fire making, specifically with an actual flint & steel.
Food gathering.
Navigation.

Where: My mom has 12 acres pretty far from “civilization” in SW Ohio about 10 miles or so N of Harrison not far from the Indiana border.
We will be able to go anywhere on the “wild” part of her farm, so about 10 acres. There is a large creek & a small creek on the property. The large creek (Dry Fork) has fish (Carp, Bluegill, Catfish, Minnows) SNAPPING turtles, creyfish & snakes (yep, venomous). In season there are Blackberries & Black Raspberries, cattails (sometimes), Multiflora roses, “seaweed” & etc. There may be nettles, not sure, can’t feel them so don’t care.
The area we will be setting up in was where the creek flowed in the past, so MAY flood. But there is ample area above the old creek bed for as many as will, and this means that for the most part the “Dirt” is very sandy or is sand. But there are plenty of rocks too. Yea, plenty of trees to hang from & ample room to spread out.

Matt has some skills, I have minimal, but can get mostly by.

Anyway, No idea as to when this will happen, in fact still have to ask Mom. But as Matt doesn’t stop shivering till it gets above 75 & even then he is wearing a jacket (till about 85), it will likely be well after it gets warmer, but as I don’t stop sweating till it’s below 70, it won’t be too warm out. LOL. Yea, our window for hiking together is very tiny.
If anyone wants to join us I’ll let y’all know when & where. Bring your hammock & comfort gear, and what you consider survival stuff. The hike in is about 500 yards along the creek, but don’t overdo the comfort stuff, this is a survival weekend after all.
I picked mom’s place cause we don’t have to follow the rules of a park and I know there will be water & fish* there. Mom doesn’t allow hunting, but you can practice making & setting traps, primitive weapons & etc. Fishing is OK. I strongly recommend against trapping for real even if mom allowed it, as there are quite a few skunks in the area. Last one I saw was pushing 40 lbs at least so I’m betting he could do some serious spraying. Yea, he was HUGE for a skunk, I followed him for about an hour & 1/2, he looked at me once, decided I knew what he was & then ignored me the rest of the time.
Matt will likely be bringing a few groundlings so there will be entertainment.
It will likely be on a Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

So, do we limit what we can bring for survival?
I'm thinking survival stuff that will fit in a small day pack.
But then, what if you get in a survival situation with your full pack? Is even that enough?
Per Matt: this is to be a FUN weekend, where everyone learns something on what to do "IF".


*We MAY need an Ohio fishing license, not sure of the laws anymore. Used to be able to fish without on private land, I haven’t lived there for 35 years, haven’t fished in nearly that long.