I was thinking about this today while chopping more firewood. If I was thrown into the past knowing what I know I probably would not last a few weeks in the mountains. I could probably make it in Florida (fishing) but not here. I'm no hunter so I would starve easily, but water would not be a problem.
Take the chore of finding and chopping firewood. With the use of a chainsaw I gathered enough firewood today to last five days. From actual cutting, lugging with an over sized wheel barrel and splitting, time spent was about three hours. Using methods from 150 years ago, I would imagine that would be a two day job in the least. That big cross cut saw above doesn't look easy to operate. It would wear me out in ten minutes.
Think about your ancestors and what they had to endure. Considering I don't use the heat stove 24 hours (electric heat in the morning) a day combined with housing insulation of today, what I cut today may have lasted those folks only a day or two. When is there time for hunting?
We have an obesity problem in the USA today. I have an idea. Throw 'em in the wild for a few months. They're bound to lose some weight.
Yeah, i'm right with you there. Earlier this year there was a show on the discovery channel similar to what you are talking about. The Alaska Experiment. They dropped 4 groups of average people in the Alaskan wilderness and they had to survive for 3 months or something. It was crazy! http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/alaska/alaska-week.html
ReplyDeleteYea, they made it mostly by fishing. A tent? Forget that. Not me.
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