For, and In This World, Calgary, High River, Alberta, Canada, The Absolute Necessity of Being Prepared,

The absolute necessity of being prepared: sensibly supplied, well maintained, home, vehicle, and personal disaster/emergency kits/ has once again been driven home to the people of Alberta, the High River, Calgary areas, Canada, and hopefully the world.
Survival is NOT an adventure. Survival is NOT a TV Reality series. Survival is NOT a weekend excursion into the "Boonies". Survival IS REAL. 
Other trained media reporters, medical, and emergency personnel, have covered the whole scenario much better than I could ever hope to. I will just provide some important (in my opinion) links.

Alberta flood recovery could take 10 years, says premier.

http://globalnews.ca/news/667720/alberta-flooding-health-precautions-to-take-when-returning-home/

Stay away from High River, warns mayor.

Man caught with knife wanted to find his dog, say RCMP.

Stay home on Tuesday, city officials advise.

Partial reopening of downtown core streets resulted in traffic mess on Monday

Other Disaster Emergency Kits.

The Vehicle Emergency Kit.

The Home Emergency Kit.

Nagoonberry or Arctic Roseberry (Rubus arcticus)-

  

 Berries grow 4-10 inches high, in cool mossy thickets and swamps, in meadows and near creeks. They are dark red, and look like raspberries. The flowers are a deep rose-red

For Arctic Char, Salmon, Steelhead, the Single and the Double Bait/Egg Loop, Whip Knot

The single or the double egg loop,whip knot(toward bottom of linked post) can be used for any type fish; is the best knot for simply tying a hook to line; and probably the most versatile of all knots.

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy

            The muskellunge is arguably (very little difference in size muskellunge and Northern Pike-mostly due to water depth,temperature and food supply)Canada’s largest freshwater fish next to sturgeons. It is a member of the pike family. A long moderately lateral compressed body, a long head and snout and a large mouth, the dorsal and anal fins are located at the end of the body near the tail. The body colour scheme is generally dark marking on a light background. The back, head, and upper sides are indescent green gold to light brown. The sides orange green, green gold to brownish to grey or silvery. Often in the silvery specimens there are no dark markings. Found in the freshwaters of eastern Canada in rivers and lakes from the St. John River system in New Brunswick, through southern Quebec, the St. Lawrence and its north south tributaries, throughout the lower great lakes and in Manitoba. The Muskellunge is generally a more docile fish than the Northern Pike but will inter breed to produce a hybrid known as the Tiger Muskellunge which is much more active.

Bash, Crush, Destroy, Hang, Slash, Stab, Mangle, Tangle, KILL

-In Most Survival Situations, Weapons ARE NOT Essential.

In most survival situations, food is not an essential; therefore most weapons are not needed or even wanted. 

You can live only a few days without water, but you can live for weeks without food and the energy used to find and hunt for animal food sources can often burn more calories than are given back.

But, if you have plenty of water, are not sick or injured, and your camp is set up, you can spend some time looking for food. ALWAYS START WITH PLANTS; because while water is a prime need to  human survival; drinking it is not always  necessary; hydration (water) can and will be derived from consuming vegetation. 
Many animals; especially birds and reptiles, do not actually drink; they have little need for "FREE"water, except to bathe, play, or dunk their food in.

There are many edible plants, and while there also exist many that are poisonous; at least to some degree; the actual danger- in Canada, is probably less than from animal sources.  You do need however to identify edible plants before eating any of them.

Later, streams may provide you fish or crayfish.

You can use worms, grubs or insects as bait: or you may eat them if absolutely needed.

Canada, and most civilised countries, have very stringent laws concerning the carrying and or possession of firearms and other deadly weapons; therefore you are very unlikely to have any available in a survival situation-as previously stated; they are not usually needed or wanted in any case(remember they would have to be carried).

Snares and traps do require some expertise, practise and skill to use successfully; but with most game it is easier to trap than to stalk and kill, in a survival situation you do not want to be hunting large game in any case.

While setting traps leaves you with time to attend to other duties like foraging or shelter building, the title of this page represents the principals of hunting trapping; your trap must effect to either bash, crush, dangle, destroy, hang, slash, tangle, mangle, strangle, KILL, your quarry-or, perhaps, acquaintances, friends, relatives, or other would be survivors. Yes, traps are dangerous; lethally so. Using them is also, in all likelihood, illegal. Don't attempt to use them except in an extreme survival situation; when the survivor’s own preservation must take precedence over humanitarian principles. It's not big; it's not clever; it’s not macho.

Putting up several traps around your shelter/retreat gives you more than one opportunity at a time to catch a meal, check all traps regularly to prevent escape and or undue suffering.

If, not overdone, starting a routine of regularly doing the rounds of your traps can provide you with a positive activity and mind set, however BE PATIENT, you will need to study the habits of animals to site traps effectively. ©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved..

I Am, Forever Grateful to Jesse and Corin-Always be Prepared-I Was Not.

April 27, 2013, while on a fishing trip on the Chilliwack (Vedder) River I suffered a fall, causing a dislocation and minor fracture of the left shoulder. At the time of the accident, I was about 3/4 of a mile off the main road, on a dyke, it was raining heavily, and there was absolutely no one else around. Fortunately for me, I was able to get up, and did manage to drive myself back to the main road; where Corin and Jesse, two young people, young enough to be my grandchildren, (to whom I am forever grateful), not only offered their assistance but DID drive me to the hospital. Then, nine or ten hours later, they Did drive me home, in my own vehicle (Jesse drove my vehicle, while Corin followed in theirs-they still had to drive themselves back to Chilliwack) to my residence in Vancouver, after the shoulder had been treated in emergency. They DID NOT expect any remuneration; in fact, they balked at the very suggestion of such.
The point I wish to get across, through relating this, is that I was not adequately prepared. MY personal survival Kit was not complete. I WAS NOT CARRYING A MOBILE PHONE, ON MY PERSON. I was able to get up and was still fairly ambulatory.  But, suppose I had not been. I might well still be there, still requiring assistance- if indeed, that is; I still required anything at all 

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan 2013. All rights reserved.

Survival Bushcraft vs. Leave No Trace, Weekend, Camping or Scouting

Many of you, followers this blog, seem to be very conflicted over the two terms; I on the other hand very much enjoyed learning about survival, just as I enjoyed working at Camp Gardner-the Boy Scout camp, located near Bragg Creek, just outside of Calgary. I also enjoyed getting outdoors with my kids at the weekend, going on day hikes, and practising our bushcraft skills like making fire-sticks  carving pot hangers, and learning how to properly build and start a camp fire. We, as do the Scouts always adhered to the core principles of Leave No Trace, as much as humanly practicable, or possible. However, it has recently been brought to my attention that many of you consider that these two schools of outdoor ethics may actually be at odds with one another.

Bushcraft, in my mind, is about surviving and thriving in the natural environment. It's about using-NOT ABUSING- natural materials; to practice age old skills like fire starting, fishing, hunting, shelter building, foraging, twine making, and wood carving. it is not about altering or destroying the environment. It is not about bashing, burning, destroying, chopping, "developing", garbage( INCLUDING CIGARETTE BUTS/FILTERS-which can take 40 years to decompose and which can be deadly to wild life), fuel/gasoline/oil spills, hacking, slashing.
Survivor bushcraft encourages us to use the Mother’s available natural materials in a responsible way.

While many of the "survival experts"???out there teaching SURVIVAL COURSES AS A WAY OF LIFE are pretty much free to do as they wish on their own private land; the seven key principles of "for real, survival bushcraft" are exactly the same as those practised by staunch followers of LNT or any other responsible person: plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find as you found it, minimize camp-fire impacts, respect all life, and be considerate of others. Knowledgeable survivors, in order to improve their own circumstances, will go to extreme lengths to ensure that they do not disturb, or especially harm; in any way, the natural beauty of their surroundings.

What “Survival Bushcraft” is Not About; and What True Believers in LNT Object to ; Especially When it is Done Under the Guise of "Survival Training" and Then Left in Wilderness Areas.

Cigarette butts represent not only a threat to MAN but to the continuance of life on earth. Not only are they deadly to all of The Mother's world; they take up to forty years to bio-degrade or disintegrate.

It’s fair to say that there is no real consensus on what skills and practices really constitute bushcraft or survival. Part of the reason for this is that it varies so much in different conditions and locations but the main reason is all the “reality” “survivor” television game farces.

There is general agreement about what Survival Bushcraft is not about. In recent years however, because of all the Crocodile Dundee and Rambo type action movies, there also seems to have been a disturbing increase in practices that are anything but low impact. It’s as if people think the woods and the wilderness can just be torn apart for their own enjoyment; typical are drinking camps and dens that have gone on for years in places close to urban areas. Nothing new there and not much you can do about it but clear up after they have gone home.What seems to be a new development is the widespread practice of building natural shelters in the woods.These are not the kind of dens that kids often tend to build, but serious attempts to copy the types of shelters shown in TV “survivor” shows. Several things characterise these shelters as having been built by this type of people: people with no real understanding of what bushcraft, pioneering or survival is all about though. While it is true that not even an insect or reptile can live in an area without leaving any trace at all; it is also true that it is of first and foremost importance to a true bushcrafter/survivor to “leave no unnecessary trace and then only of responsible usage.”

·         Hacking down live trees to build shelters or fires is destructive, unsustainable and definitely not what any of it is all about.

·         Leaving shelters built in the woods is an eyesore, potentially dangerous and definitely not what bushcraft is all about.

·         Leaving rubbish around or even buried is illegal, slovenly practice and definitely not what bushcraft is all about.

·         Lighting fires and then leaving charred ground with a ring of stones and beer cans is disgraceful behaviour, potentially devastating to the environment and definitely not what bushcraft is all about.

·         All these practices show a total lack of respect and understanding for the outdoors. It is the practice of a lout, not a SURVIVOR or bushcrafter.

·         When I leave a campsite, I make sure I leave no trace of ever being there.

·         Everything carried in must leave the same way, that means carrying your rubbish home with you ,when you’ve completed your little game.

·         Natural shelters should only be built where there is enough dead material to not impact on the local environment. They should always be dismantled and the site returned to natural condition before you leave. Using a tarp or a tent is almost always a better option.

·         You need the permission of the land owner before you can set up any kind of camp, natural or otherwise.

·         Camp fires are illegal in many places even if you do have permission to camp.

·         If you do have permission to light a fire, it must be lit in a container or on bare earth, not on leaf litter, pine needles or peat. Fires can spread and smoulder underground in these conditions and re-ignite with disastrous consequences. Wildfires caused by a foolishly sited campfire, damage large tracts of land and can devastate wildlife and livestock.

·         Do not cut trees or branches for firewood, live wood is full of water and does not burn well anyway. Collect fallen, dead wood or don’t have a fire at all if there is insufficient fuel. A stove or a small hobo stove is usually a far better option.

·         Make sure any fire is completely extinguished before you leave.  Pour enough water onto the fire area that you can pick out any ashes left over with your bare hands and scatter them to hide all traces of your fire.

·         Cover any scorched areas on the ground with fresh soil or detritus.

If you can look back and see remains of your campsite when you have packed up to leave, then you have no right to call yourself a real SURVIVOR