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Wilderness Drum, Inc.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Steve Beyer

What is the wilderness? What’s so special about the wilderness? What is wilderness survival? How does all this relate to survivalism? What are primitive skills? Are wilderness survival and primitive skills the same? Why bother? What is wilderness spirituality? What is animism? What is pantheism? Is wilderness spirituality pagan? What does this have to do with shamanism? What is a vision fast?

Aren't wilderness survival and primitive skills the same thing?

There is a lot of overlap, to be sure. If you are dropped naked into the high desert, you will need a lot of primitive skills to survive. But wilderness survival embraces all sorts of survival techniques, not just primitive ones – starting a fire with steel wool and a flashlight battery, for example, or forging a knife blade from a piece of scrap metal. A lot depends on the duration of the situation, too. Most wilderness survival situations result in rescue – whether on one's own or by others – within 72 hours. Longer stays in the wilderness will require a greater use of primitive skills, as the products of civilization become used up or broken.

For More Information

Primitive skills gatherings Primitive skills schools Primitive skills organizations Books on primitive skills Books on wilderness survival Wilderness medicine training Magazines on primitive skills Videos on primitive skills Primitive skills on the Web Books on wilderness medicine Wilderness survival stories

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