Sticks and Stones!

Ultimate survival is down and dirty, caveman era stuff.  If you are caught out in a wilderness area without proper preparation, you are relegated to using the materials and tools which you can make using the most primitive of means.  People groups from all over the world have used caves as natural homes or bivouacs for millennia.  They are ready made and usually dry spots can be found.  Smoked ceilings and entrances as well as old fire pits attest to their long term use from ancient times.  However, living in a modern insulated home is far superior to any cave dwelling for comfort.

Back in 2011, the very excellent Survivalblog.com posted an article from Andrew M.  It was called Survival Philosophy 101, The Caveman Survival Index.  And basically, the gist of this excellent article was that survival is about raising your comfort level, starting with your basic caveman and moving up the scale in civilization until you reach the modern era, as we know it today.  The more skills, tools and knowledge you possess, the farther up the Caveman Index you go.  This is why the basic tools that you need for survival starts with a knife and then adds a fire starter of some kind.  Something to cut with and start fires with are the most difficult to re-create from natural materials and so having  those in your pocket or on your person helps tremendously.

To quote from the article, “Caveman survival is what many people think of when they say “survival”.  The word “caveman” conjures up images of hairy men running naked through the woods and starting fires with sticks and rocks.  Isn’t this what a lot of survival schools teach you?  (Well, ok maybe they don’t talk about the hairy/naked part… that mental image is bad for business).Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing to know how to live like a caveman.  In an emergency situation, “Threat Level: Caveman” means that the only way I can avoid imminent death is by rubbing two sticks together to start a fire.  It means the only way I will eat is by killing rodents with a crude club or a sling… just like a Stone-Ager would do.”  As the author points out, that is a tough and crude way to live!

So having a steel cutting tool, (A knife) and a fire starter (A Ferro rod or matches) on your person or in your pocket gives you a leap ahead in traveling up the Caveman Index.  All that we do in training and preparing for a natural  or man-caused disaster or being lost on a hunting or hiking trip is to keep us from falling all the way down the Caveman Index to the bottom where we are forced to try and survive with sticks and stones.  The more you know the less you need to carry, but having just a basic ten piece kit like Dave Canterbury recommends, gives you the ability to rise above that basic level – even to the point of going from survival to just “Inconvenient Camping”.

I hope that none of you, my readers, ever has to discover what the Caveman Index is all about.  But if that unfortunate event occurs, then maybe, just maybe, the skills that I write about and teach will help you rise above the Caveman Level and regain some of the luxury and comfort that we all enjoy in this wonderful, modern age.

As a child, I learned a little saying.  “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.”  While that may be true in sense, and we don’t want to go around with our feelings on our sleeve, words can be destructive and hurtful, mentally and spiritually, to the point of even causing physical harm.  The Scripture teaches us to be kind to each other. To be tender-hearted and forgiving toward one another.  How have you used your words today?  Sticks and stones are for survival and words are for blessing and encouragement.  Practice all your skills and learn to use them wisely!

James B.

PS. You can check out my website where you can set up training for many of these skills at www.waypointsurvival.com and look at and order my custom knives at www.benderknifeworks.com.