wilderness iq

Would You Survive??????WILDERNESS IQ

1. Drinking UrineFALSE. It contains too many toxins/salts. To cool off you can use it by dousing a shirt or bandana.

2. TRUEEating snow will hydrate you. However, if your temperature is dropping due to other factors, chomping on snow will push you to hypothermia faster.

3. FALSEThe water inside a barrel cactus is full of alkaloids, which will cause you to vomit the liquid. Some species are actually poisonous.

4. FALSE Although space blankets will trap heat and are better than nothing, you are better off using it to water-proof a shelter…or to signal if it’s bright orange.

5. TRUE“Come up with a reason to live and focus on that”, says survival expert Tony Nester. “The drive to get back home has proven over and over to be the #1 factor in successful survival stories.”

6. FALSENot enough moisture is produced to keep you alive. Five gallon-sized bags tied around bushy plants for 24 hours will only produce a teaspoon or less of water.

7. FALSEAll six-legged insects in North America are OK, but most wild plants will wreck havoc on your GI system. Unless you’re a skilled botanist, move on. Starvation is a slow killer (about thirty days).

8. TRUEA three ounce hamburger patty made from lean ground beef has about 145 calories and about 15 grams of protein. Approximately 10 large grasshoppers offer about 121 calories and 13 grams of protein.

9. TRUEBunched berries include raspberries and blue berries. Avoid white and yellow berries.

10. BCortinarious traganus is poisonous. Less than 5% of wild mushrooms are edible and one wrong bite can literally kill you.

11. FALSEThese fables are all unreliable.

12. COnly ration the bar if the idea of having no food freaks you out and you want psychological comfort.

13. North Star

14. FALSE BIG TIME!!!Vast majority are hunters (56%), anglers ( 24%), and trappers (12%).Gino Ferri, PhD. Director of Survival in the Bush school, Ontario

15. TRUE These soft, resinous (sappy) woods have a lower ignition point.

16. FALSEDiamonds are much harder than the steel used in blades.

17. ACoral snakes live mostly in the Southeast and Southwest. The others are harmless. To tell them apart, remember: Red on yellow, kills a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.

18. CBy restricting circulation, a tourniquet prevents blood from diluting the toxin and reducing tissue damage. Suction methods have been shown not to work.

19. ALL OF THEMSince they have a hardness between 5 and 6.5 on the Moh’s scale.

(1 point for each)

20. BAlthough cottonwoods are usually a good sign of water, too, their roots can reach 40 feet deep. Bermuda grass requires water close to the surface.

21. C

Enough said….this doesn’t apply to you anyway!!!!!!!!

22. If you can’t do C, do B.Downed trees form underwater obstacles called strainers, which can snare and drown swimmers.

(one point for each)

23. C and D (1 point for each)Contrary to Hollywood theatrics, most drowning victims do not make a sound. The body’s instinctive response blocks voluntary actions like shouting or waving. All actions center around inhaling, exhaling, and keeping the mouth above water.

24. BThis is a rip current—a stream of water flowing away from shore. More than 100 Americans drown in them each year. They can form anywhere with breaking waves and are common around low spots, breaks in sandbars, piers, and jetties. Polarized sunglasses help you see them.

25. CRip currents are typically only 30 to 100 feet wide, so you can easily escape them before they carry you out to sea. BUT, swimming against the current will exhaust you!

26. B Lightning is attracted to high points, and since wet rock conducts electricity, lightning can also arc across slabs and cave openings.

27. With a black bear, fight back. With a grizzly, play dead by lying on your belly, legs spread for stability(to keep it from flipping you over) and hands over your neck. If the bear does roll you, keep rolling back onto your belly.(one point for each)

28. BNot recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29. FALSEClothes block sun, cooling you off more than going without.

30. B 4 inches thick!!!

31. CPanic usually strikes the moment you realize your predicament. While the sensation is intense, says survival expert, Doug Ritter, “For most people, that panic dissipates quickly and generally before they do anything really stupid.” Haste can be good or bad depending on the situation, and overconfidence can get you into further trouble. But despair saps the will to live, the # 1 reason people make it through!

32. B Fight: Self-arrest, grab a tree, or swim to the side or back of the slide, to avoid being sucked into the subducting head. If you’re in the head and likely will get buried once the slide stops, focus on forming a breathing space with your hands to disperse carbon dioxide.

33. B Keep your boots on until you’re in a place where you can revive your feet permanently (camp, cabin, the car). If you rewarm them in the field, two things can happen: First, they might swell up, preventing you from getting your boots back on, and 2nd they might refreeze, causing more damage. Never use a fire or massage to warm tissues, which burn easily under dry heat.

34. CSays survival expert Laurence Gonzales, “The personality type best suited to survival is calm, humble, curious, deliberate, cautious, and (at the right times) bold.

35 . B When bad things happen, denial is natural. Getting beyond it fast is

critical.

Score Your Odds=ADD ‘EM UP!!!!!Give yourself 1 point for each correct answer.

0-5 Points…You are:A Faberge’ egg that mostly serves as ornamental purposes.

6-10 Points You are….A fickle ficus that thrives only in a narrow range of environments.

11-25 Points You are….A Tuff Shed that’s capable of weathering most conditions.

26-40The child of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sigourney Weaver.

Sir Ernest Shackleton• In December 1914, Shackleton set sail with his 27-man crew, many of whom, it is said, had responded to the following recruitment notice: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. —Ernest Shackleton." • The wooden ship became trapped in the

pack ice of the Weddell Sea. For 10 months, the Endurance drifted, locked within the ice, until the pressure crushed the ship. With meager food, clothing and shelter, Shackleton and his men were stranded on the ice floes, where they camped for five months.

•When encountered open leads of water, the men sailed the three small lifeboats to Elephant Island. They were on land for the first time in 497 days; however, it was uninhabited and, due to its distance from shipping lanes, provided no hope for rescue.

•Recognizing the severity of the physical and mental strains on his men, Shackleton and five others set out to take the crew's rescue into their own hands. In a 22-foot lifeboat, they accomplished the impossible, surviving a 17-day, 800-mile journey through the world's worst seas to South Georgia Island, where a whaling station was located.

•The six men landed on an uninhabited part of the island, however, so their last hope was to cross 26 miles of mountains and glaciers, considered impassable, to reach the whaling station on the other side. Starved, frostbitten and wearing rags, Shackleton and two others made the trek and, in August 1916, 21 months after the initial departure of the Endurance, Shackleton himself returned to rescue the men on Elephant Island. Although they'd withstood the most incredible hardship, not one member of the 28-man crew was lost.

41-43 Points…You are:A Cockroach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!