[JRandomFreeper]

I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s? And have actually practised being a mountain man over years?

/johnny

[PCPOET7]

I have determined if shit hits the fan I am good for about 3 months but after that I am in trouble . I just don’t have the skill set to make it in a mad max world or a zombie apocalypse.

[rabidralph]

All of you who thought the Amish were weird for living without electricity. Bwahhhhhh!!!!

[Durus]

The mid 1800s were relatively civilized and wouldn’t require a specific skill set unless you had the desire to go live out in the mountains.

[Kartographer]

Johnny even now I would give up half my preps to have you at my side in SHTF!

[Ellendra]

I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s? And have actually practised being a mountain man over years?

Working on it. One new skill at a time :)

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

That’s a good point; and it supports #4. An individual is unlikely to have the required skill set — but, with a group, you expand on that skill set; and you can have division of labour. Each member of the group only needs to have or acquire a fraction of the total required skills.

[Iron Munro]

I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s?

The number that is always bandied about as the death toll from a large scale catastrophe like a nationwide EMP event is 90% dead within one year.

I have read people say that there is supposedly a government study to this effect but I don't recall ever seeing it myself.

But to me that number sounds plausible. There's just not much food in the pipeline for a population of over 300 million people. And if the planting, harvesting and distribution of food stuffs breaks down the food in the pipeline is pretty much all there will ever be other than locally produced food.

And even for those who know how to garden and farm, if they (we) don't already have crops in the ground when the SHTF it will take months before the first crops start to produce.

And there aren't that many people with the skills and experience to produce enough food to support themselves, let alone a group or community. Especially when everything will have to be done by hand.

[Marcella]

There are two of us and with my preps for 2+ and my medical training/equipment and his ingenuity to fix equipment that screws up, plus his firearm natural skill and training, we are as prepared as we can be. No one knows what may happen but we'll roll with the way it is, whatever that may be, and adjust as necessary.

He actually said he could live in the woods. That's “Bad Strategy 2”, but he's one who could do it if anyone could, except for you, Johnny, we know you can do it because you have.

[kvanbrunt2]

i have the house for it in philly built around 1830-50. just no food or fuel infrastructure. wonder how long the farmers will connect to the farm markets here where people will pay whatever for food. check out my youtubes on how to maximize tomatoe plant growth youtube keith van btunt.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Good question and I think the answer is very few of us.

All the more reason to make sure you have 1 year of food stored up. And anything else you cannot live without.

That garden may not take off the first year.

[familyop]

" I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s? And have actually practised being a mountain man over years?"

"Bugging out" from a city to go uphill into real mountains, even a capable pioneer of that sort would need a large, strong wagon with a strong team for hauling the many heavy, old fashioned tools needed. And during these dry times, very much hay. Granted, the highways with fast traffic and no road shoulders up the passes might prevent that.

...or the kind of motorized convoy and luxuries that movie folks used during the '70s to present us with the kind of hippy looking "mountain man" that most of us have really seen. [*Hork* *Erp*] That is, if there's no disaster preventing clear highways and getting fuel and services along the way.

Even pioneers during the 1800s preferred lower elevations for good reasons. Ditto, the Injuns, who were smart enough to keep high elevation visits short, warm, and head back down long before winter. Remember the story of the Donner Party?

[mad_as_he$$]

I am spend a great deal of time in the mountains and am perfectly at home there. Every trip I offer myself a challenge such as primitive fire making, obtaining safe water or avoiding detection by others. I do realize I am the exception.

[Excellence]

Civil War reenactors do.

[dware]

I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s?

I'd like to think I could, and I've certainly been practicing. From knitting (my next project is to learn to process wool from sheep to scarf) to tanning animal hides, preserving foods using natural methods, growing my own food (and tobacco! :) to the honey wine I have brewing and the primitive weapons methods I've been working on and more. I've got a helluva lot more to learn, but I make sure to practice each skill set I do learn. I get a lot of strange looks from people these days. I don't really care.

[tacticalogic]

I have to wonder how many actually have the skill sets to live like it was the mid 1800s? And have actually practised being a mountain man over years?

I'm more of a "Junkyard Wars" kind of guy than a "mountain man", but I figure that's got to be worth something if the SHTF.