This 72 hour thing?

[Silent memory]

So why is it there is this thing for surviving for 72 hours on all the TEOTWAWKI and prepper blogs/websites?

For instance they say when SHTF you grab your bag and go off and survive for a few days. But what happens when it gets to hour 76 or hour 80? What then? Why is there a golden number of 72 hours or lasting something for 3 days. Will everything after this time has gone a magic fairy comes along and *poof* your area is back to normal. This is what gets me about this number.

So why 72 hours. Why not longer. Is a plan in place to make everything back to normal in that timeframe incase of judicial litigation from some disgruntled socialite, or has it become ingrained into survivalists so much that the number is now considered the golden rule for everything?

[David Craik]

No idea, I don't really interact with any "survivalist" people. What is TEOTWAWKI?

[sean_stonehart]

The
End
Of
The
World
As
We
Know
It

A catchy tune too...

[Jonathan Randall]

Perhaps they simply believe that 72 hours should be the minimum prepared for? Or, perhaps they feel they will run out of American Silver Eagles too quickly?

[Cliff Hargrave]

72 hours is the estimated time frame that help will arrive following a disaster. It's not exactly the end of the world preparation, more like hurricane prep. My first real disaster, Hurricane Rita, hit and we were prepared properly for three days. Problem was, it took five days before everyone was safe and settled.

If you are worried about the end of the world as we know it, you can't stock enough stuff.

[Jonathan Randall]

72 hours is the estimated time frame that help will arrive following a disaster. It's not exactly the end of the world preparation, more like hurricane prep. My first real disaster, Hurricane Rita, hit and we were prepared properly for three days. Problem was, it took five days before everyone was safe and settled.

Thanks for the info, it clears it up.

I'm sorry you had to go through what you did and I pray you don't ever again. My parents were caught in Hurricane Camille (the 1960's Big One).

[Silent memory]

Well if people are saying to do the 72 hour thing for hurricane disaster then they will be on a canoe without a paddle when it comes to other types of emergency. Looks like the internet is wrong again.

I have always seen end of the world preppers as a bit futile. Recently there was a Nat Geo program about preppers and food warehouses stocking large sacks of rice and allowing people to buy these. It's a cash in type of thing. So a 6 month store of food and you are safe and the world around you is going belly up, lets hope their aim is better than their food hording. My first port of call would be them if hunger is my main problem.

Oh well best put on my cape and go out and do another futile task of putting the internet right.

[Jonathan Randall]

Well if people are saying to do the 72 hour thing for hurricane disaster then they will be on a canoe without a paddle when it comes to other types of emergency. Looks like the internet is wrong again.

I have always seen end of the world preppers as a bit futile. Recently there was a Nat Geo program about preppers and food warehouses stocking large sacks of rice and allowing people to buy these. It's a cash in type of thing. So a 6 month store of food and you are safe and the world around you is going belly up, lets hope their aim is better than their food hording. My first port of call would be them if hunger is my main problem.

Unfortunately, we saw the very thing you are describing during Hurricane Katrina. Thugs with guns stole water and food from unarmed private citizens. In fact, Katrina was a galvanizing force in the defence of 2nd Amendment rights. Many former gun control folks on the Left decided that, well, having something may not be such a bad idea after all...

[Silent memory]

Unfortunately, we saw the very thing you are describing during Hurricane Katrina. Thugs with guns stole water and food from unarmed private citizens. In fact, Katrina was a galvanizing force in the defence of 2nd Amendment rights. Many former gun control folks on the Left decided that, well, having something may not be such a bad idea after all...

Well it is better to be a scavenger than a hoarder if things like that happen. Personal survival is more important for me than seeing others eat while the rest starve. When it comes down to things like TEOTWAWKI (or it's equal counterpart) then taking to survive is better than asking if you are having to move through that area.

But then morals come into it. Oh the vagueness of morals and taking food without thinking of consequence there after. I guess after 72 hours anyone can become a scavenger with hunger and a firearm if the situation fits it.

[David Craik]

Cool, thanks for the explanation Sean. I was always more interested in skills that would more applicable in the long-term, making as much as possible with what nature provides rather than hoarding and carrying all kinds of stuff. More an exercise in self-sufficiency that would be useful even if you chose to remove yourself from human society rather than an "emergency" mindset.

[Abbax8]

I was effected by Camille. We were without power and drinking water (from the tap) for about three weeks. The National Guard brought in water trucks and we used xlean plastic trah cans for water storage. We cooked up all the perishable food over the first two or three days, the gas lines were working thankfully. Ice left the shelves in hours after people could travel, which took about 36 hours after the storm stopped. Most roads were still impassible.

I am not a survivalist but I do believe in being prepared. A well stocked pantry is a great idea, at least a months worth of non-perishable food is not out of the question, more if you want. People use to can food to last through the winter, that's three months plus.

As far as bugging out, I am where I plan to be as long as the house is standing. If crap happens the first step is to survive, the second step is to help others, the third is to put things back together. I can be the most help right where I am.

Dennis

[TonyU]

Cool, thanks for the explanation Sean. I was always more interested in skills that would more applicable in the long-term, making as much as possible with what nature provides rather than hoarding and carrying all kinds of stuff. More an exercise in self-sufficiency that would be useful even if you chose to remove yourself from human society rather than an "emergency" mindset.

I agree with this. I'm not a hunter, never interested me, but I would learn damn quick.

[David Craik]

Your greatest benefit would be in trapping, not only land animals but fish as well. Actively hunting can produce a bonanza, but it can also be a huge expenditure of energy, time, and calories with zero gain. Many's the hunter using even the most modern equipment that returns empty-handed (myself included), and you can't afford this. At least that is my opinion. You can set a score of traps, snares, and deadfalls in the time it would take to stalk and kill a large animal. Using only what nature provides and saving precious ammunition. Then they only need to be checked and repaired as neccesary. Let an animal's own instinct or misstep bring you food, rather than chasing them down. Scavenging, hoarding, and plundering will only last so long belore nobody has anything.

Now, a natural disaster like a hurricane, order will be restored at some point so there isn't much sense in going completely "bush". There are emergency situations and then there are hypothetical situations in which this is now your life.

[Silent memory]

I was effected by Camille. We were without power and drinking water (from the tap) for about three weeks. The National Guard brought in water trucks and we used xlean plastic trah cans for water storage. We cooked up all the perishable food over the first two or three days, the gas lines were working thankfully. Ice left the shelves in hours after people could travel, which took about 36 hours after the storm stopped. Most roads were still impassible.

I am not a survivalist but I do believe in being prepared. A well stocked pantry is a great idea, at least a months worth of non-perishable food is not out of the question, more if you want. People use to can food to last through the winter, that's three months plus.

As far as bugging out, I am where I plan to be as long as the house is standing. If crap happens the first step is to survive, the second step is to help others, the third is to put things back together. I can be the most help right where I am.

Dennis

There is now a large plastic tank that sits in your bath and can have up to a weeks worth of water in. FEMA have recommended it so it could be something to look into if you have to plan for the next hurricane. It's collapsable so it will only get used when some agency says to gather water.

Your greatest benefit would be in trapping, not only land animals but fish as well. Actively hunting can produce a bonanza, but it can also be a huge expenditure of energy, time, and calories with zero gain. At least that is my opinion. You can set scores of traps, snares, and deadfalls in the time it would take to stalk and kill a large animal. Using only what nature provides and saving precious ammunition. Then they only need to be checked and repaired as neccesary. Let an animal's own instinct or misstep bring you food, rather than chasing them down. Scavenging, hoarding, and plundering will only last so long belore nobody has anything.

Now, a natural disaster like a hurricane, order will be restored at some point so there isn't much sense in going completely "bush".

Or place traps while hunting. No point placing traps when you can hunt and trap at the same time. There is a pastime here called ferreting. You get a ferret and find a rabbit hole. Cover the exits with nets and send in the ferret. As that is a predator it will flush out the rabbit and you get to eat along with the ferret. UK has to be regulated but it could be fun if no rabbits are around. Free ferret food.

[David Craik]

I don't know anything about catching ferrets (are there feral ferrets in the UK that can be caught in order to hunt with them?), but the twine, mechanisms, human scent removal and baiting of traps and snares take time to produce. It also produces noise, so "hunting" and constructing traps at the same time isn't going to produce on the "hunting" end. You can fully expect that your land-based traps (outside of bird snares and rigged feed) will catch nothing for at least a day after you make them, possibly two unless a rain comes. By all means, if something pops up take it down. But it's rather like constructing a deer stand while hunting deer. Unless by a great stroke of luck, your "deer hunt" will be a wash. Wild animals aren't stupid. There is also a shelter to construct, water to be gathered and purified, twine to be made, fire to be made, a raised "pantry" of sorts, blankets or a camp mattress to be made, firewood to be gathered, edible plants to be gathered and sometimes have to be rendered "edible".

It can take all day to gather and apply the materials for the thatched roof of even a small shelter. Living off the land is a full-time job, and food is actually one of your lesser concerns. There is little time for "fun". There is plenty of "point" in placing traps, for those are what will put something in your belly. "Regulated"? This is a survival forum, not one dealing in sporting pasttimes.

[Silent memory]

Ferrets which are similar to polecats can be domesticated. Bit like cats: Nice to have and great company but can bite and claw if needs be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9xHEj3Gk4Q

Old local pastime was to stuff your trousers into your socks and see how long you can last with them in your trousers. But thats Yorkshire for you.

Back to case in point. Traps will have to be your mainstay until if things are so bad you have to go for a harvest. But that could take months of work. Trapping is your best option until food grows enough to sustain and keep for the time until things get back to normal. But if it is that long then it will not get back in 72 hours or 7 months. Like preppers and the survivalists they would do the live off the land thing if they could but most are urbanites. One good thing though is this youtube account. http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters Not your avarage "I need guns, ammo and loads of stuff to burn while it all goes wrong". Most survivalists I have seen on the net with this 72 hour thing reminds me of that guy with the Uzi in the Highlander film. Nice intention but misdirected. That link is Dave Canterbury from Dual Survival on Discovery. One of his videos is making a improvised bow and arrow out of willow and paracord.

That Canturbury to me is no nonsense and someone I would pay to go learn from myself.

[David Craik]

Yes, I know what a ferret is. Suppose it's great if you just happen to have some domesticated ferrets and nets. Sounds rather "Beastmaster" to me. I'm not gambling my survival on the chance that I may have an elogated rat lying around.

Traps will have to be your mainstay until if things are so bad you have to go for a harvest. But that could take months of work. Trapping is your best option until food grows enough to sustain and keep for the time until things get back to normal.

Well, yeah. That's why there is a "point" in placing traps. It doesn't take "months", I could construct a hundred of various types in a week. It might take months if I was attempting to trap mastodons or tanks...but rabbits and birds, hardly. Edible plants grow in reasonable proliferation throughout spring and summer, after that it generally gets a bit lean. At this point you can go to aquatic plants and roots. I can get more meat from trapping for two weeks than hunting with the best equipment I have on a private, stocked hunting club with baited trails in a month, though my trapping methods are decidedly unsporting and illegal.

The Pathfinder link you posted is interesting, I wouldn't mind attending that course myself. The number of camouflage wanna-be Rambos is just under my limit. Of course, you don't need 2% tincture of iodine; only a pair of close-woven pants, something to boil water in, and a fire. Eating a snake sounds exotic but there is nothing to it. Venom glands are generally located behind the eyes of the snake, lop off it's head, skin it, and that's some good eatin'. Tastes like chicken (I know, I know, everything tastes like chicken) cooked and a bit like a very delicate fish raw. I'm interested how they made their fires. He asks how many thought of gathering tinder when they are surrounded with it right where they stand. Also bamboo is a fairly horrible cooking device, intracellular water often causes it to rupture in short order when exposed to heat, botanically it is a giant grass. You can actually raise a whole lot of hell by throwing a stick of green bamboo into a campfire. If it's a whole section, it will explode almost like a grenade. Same reason you never heat stones for cooking or boiling that came from a river....steam is no joke because water will not compress, and you could be severely injured.

Making a functional bow isnt that difficult if you have a commercially-made cord, and willow - like yew or lemonwood - is excellent. I did this when I was about 14. Now if you have to make the bowstring, unless you have specific skill with this - now that is hard. I have made a lot of twine and rope but it is difficult to make a length that is narrow enough gauge to mount an arrow yet will handle this kind of strain and release. Maybe better to try this with sinew or my old lady's hair....though she may then represent a greater threat to my survival than not having a bow in the first place.

[Silent memory]

Or tree stump remover.

[David Craik]

With regards to what? I'm sorry, I don't get the connection of tree stump remover to anything.

On the farm I worked on as a teen, "tree stump remover" would be an excellent survival tool though. Revolutionizes the act of fishing. This tree stump remover was also called in common parlance "dynamite".