Hardcore frontier types

[deadfallpaul]

This being by stealing, robbing.buying or whatever means they can.  Take for example NEW Orleans. The looting and stealing that occurred.

 "Ah but remember too that the fools didn't loot food, water, ammo, medicine, candles..., they waded through waist high water to steal TV sets for a city that was without power!
They were not successful when they ran into armed resistance."

 Trouble was the firearms were confiscated, if you remember correctly.
Isn't going to happen in my case.
 Also, they had no water or food and there were a lot of private home break ins.

I agree about "us" being able to survive better then most.
 Heck I mostly live that way now and my neighbors aren't very close.
Still I am ready to "take to the hills" if worse comes to worse.[/b]

[northwoodsdave]

True, it's all very speculative, but fascinating as well.  I often see folks really into "Nature" go out and get themselves in deep trouble.  Snacking on whatever looks like it might be edible is a good way to make yourself really sick, or dead.

How the early frontiersmen not only survived, but often thrived is fascinating.  Jedediah Smith essentially walked from one end of the country to the other, and then back again.  And this was back when Ohio was still considered a part of the frontier!

To say a modern person could not survive is not accurate, I think.  But the learning curve would be REALLY steep.  I tend to equate it to becoming very lost or marooned.  Many simply die.  Others can manage to survive and a few end up doing darned well at it!

NorthwoodsDave

[oomcurt]

This has to be the most interesting thread I have seen on here! Well....my two cents...I am 70 years old..and like others have said..can no longer do what I used to do. Ah...maybe I can but it would take me a whole lot longer. As for today's people being weaker than back a hundred or so years...heck compared to folks I knew that were adults when I was a kid they couldn't even come close to doing that work as a whole. As for health...well...I firmly believe that today we as humans are not at all the same as they were back then. Yes, we are humans...but not the same as then. Our "make up" has changed. Biologically. Today it seems as if one does not practice what they call good hygiene one will get sick. Imo...a great big pile of bs! What has happened is for the most part people today have nowhere's near the immune power they did back then...even as short a period of time is say 50 years ago. Today, for all purposes most live in some kind of "bubble". Shots for this, pills for that, vitamins for whatever...baloney. I don't and never have gone for all that. Do I wash my hands before eating? Nope. Do I shower every day? You got to be kidding! Do I go to a doctor for a yearly checkup? I haven't set foot in a doc's office for over 16 years and have no intention of doing so. I patch my own self up.

Now for skills and coping with the ultimate reality...called nature. Well, IF one had the time to learn what they did then and HOW they did it...and even more important, WHY they did it a certain way... Yeah, no reason why it couldn't be done. "Time" is the operative word here.

So much of our "knowledge" today comes from books. Kinda odd...I know people today who graduated from highschool...are in their 40's...and cannot add! There are "professionals" that while quite good in their field, outside of that are dumber than a box of rocks. Sad.

Bottom line..IF one were to be transported to a age long gone....the majority if not given a long time period would not make it, imho.

Finally, re today's world and dealing with a calamity of Katrina's kind or worse...one that would take years to get over with... This would not be a pleasant place to live...at all. IF, that were to happen, IMO..you better be ready to kill or you will be killed..no if's and's or but's about it. Your neighbor could well be your worst enemy.