survival, foraging, etc

Quote: petroglyph

Are you saying true north? Because magnetic north has been moving at a rapid rate and is now somewhere near Siberia. So depending on the dogs Latitude, they may face west or east when relieving themselves if aligning with magnetic north.

no it's not that bad, though I'm surprised how bad it is in California/the West if I understand it. Not sure what all this chart is implying. In the East here definitely fairly normal these days

also see https://www.magnetic-declination.com/#

edit: the below is from 2019. Searching for 2020 but might have to sign off

My dog always faces East because
he walks straight off the East facing
porch.

Quote: rxwine

I only learned this yesterday: dogs generally face north or south when they poop. Something to do with magnetic poles. Not a 100%, as the poles can be erratic at times. All the spinning around in circles is them calibrating the magnetic waves.

Observed my dog making a dump for the first time since knowing to look for this ~ sometimes busy doing something else and miss it of course.

She is one to sniff around and be picky about where to go. Faced directly south on this one. I was amazed.

This guy disappointed me quite a bit with his video, if you check out the blurb he wrote you'll see why. I didn't check it out [the first sentence is all you can see without clicking on it] and I got close to half way through it before realizing it wasn't much of anything, and certainly not "a year in the wilderness". He evidently got reamed by the comments, now disabled, and though he apologizes he still allows you to get sucked in and is benefiting from that I guess. Seems like a nice guy in a way, but he deserves criticism.

One thing I have to give him, though, he demonstrates making a fire from friction in the most primitive way possible, I've never seen this before and really assumed you'd practically have to be placed in a stone age culture all your life to pull this off, but he does it, check it out at 27:45.

One thing I've learned is that it really matters when it comes to the wood that is to create the ember. Apparently Yucca is the best choice if you can get it, igniting at an awesomely low 200 degrees F. He uses a local white pine that must be pretty low too, but I think pine generally is not a good choice. Still checking that out.

Quote: rxwine

I only learned this yesterday: dogs generally face north or south when they poop. Something to do with magnetic poles. Not a 100%, as the poles can be erratic at times. All the spinning around in circles is them calibrating the magnetic waves.

One of my dogs poops facing northwest 99% of the time. I have been watching for the last two months. My other dog must be a sneaky pooper. I almost never observe him pooping.

Quote: DRich

One of my dogs poops facing northwest 99% of the time. I have been watching for the last two months. My other dog must be a sneaky pooper. I almost never observe him pooping.

You need another hobby..

Quote: Evenbob

You need another hobby..

It is not a hobby, it is science.

Quote: DRich

It is not a hobby, it is science.

If you say so..

His video also disappointed me by not showing if he got anything with his traps. Insufficient food is the one almost impossible situation to avoid for a long term stay in the wilderness, though times of plenty exist in meat supply if you have a gun no doubt ... year-round is tough, especially solo. There have been instances of sufficient meat but a lack of fat, the meat being too lean with venison, for example. 

At least he went about trapping in a professional way, using leg-hold traps instead of snares. I've seen many a laughable episode in various survival programs where they don't know how to use snares, I saw one where the guy was trying to get a squirrel by setting a snare on a miscellaneous spot on a tree limb. 

The correct procedure with a snare is to set it up in an improved-by-you funnel situation on, say, a rabbit's well-traveled trail and attempt to startle the rabbit so that it sprints down the trail in a panic, then you have a chance. As with all hunting it goes a lot better in times of over-population. 

I saw a Bear Grylls episode where he at least put one out on a distinct trail. They supposedly caught a skunk this way, though of course who knows how they really got it. There was no talk of making sure an animal sped down the trail instead of just ambling down it normally, allowing no chance of success. Anyway he supposedly actually ate it, complaining about the smell that got all over him.

Long term survival in the wilderness? I'd want a place with a lot of fish and good fishing equipment.