# Outdoor Survival Quiz



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

This quiz is kind of hokey but at least it gets the mind thinking:

Take the Quiz HERE

The only one that threw me off was the moon question and an edible plant question purely because I have never heard of the plant before.

Good luck!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I'd like to ask some of these people that make up these quiz's and see if they really know anything about what they are writing about.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Ha ha agreed!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Bax* said:


> The only one that threw me off was the moon question and an edible plant question purely because I have never heard of the plant before.
> 
> Good luck!


Missed those two as well. The moon one is silly because if it points one direction, 180 degrees is the other direction.

-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I missed the cotton ball one. 

I much rather have a thing of dental floss than a cotton ball. Much more useful.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Critter said:


> I missed the cotton ball one.
> 
> I much rather have a thing of dental floss than a cotton ball. Much more useful.


You and me both! Shelter applications, snares, fishing line, bow drill, etc


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

johnnycake said:


> You and me both! Shelter applications, snares, fishing line, bow drill, etc


And cleaner teeth!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I missed the moon and the boiling water questions.

.


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

ditto stupid quiz. ambiguous. why not camp in a valley? the vast majority of all campgrounds are in a valley of some kind... ditto floss. the only thing cotton balls are good for is fire starter and then only if you have chapstick. boiling water? what the crap difference does it make 1 minute or 3? at altitude 3 or 4 is better. boil the water. water from snow is 'typically' good, but in rare situations it can contain a huge host of bacteria including some, the watermelon snow that can be harmful.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Kingfisher said:


> ditto stupid quiz. ambiguous. why not camp in a valley? the vast majority of all campgrounds are in a valley of some kind... ditto floss. the only thing cotton balls are good for is fire starter and then only if you have chapstick. boiling water? what the crap difference does it make 1 minute or 3? at altitude 3 or 4 is better. boil the water. water from snow is 'typically' good, but in rare situations it can contain a huge host of bacteria including some, the watermelon snow that can be harmful.


Flat Brimmer created quiz...nuff said.


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

I missed boiling water.. put 3 minutes. It said 1 minute then says if you are above a mile add 2 minutes.... We typically are hunting above a mile! 

Hippies.

I also chose floss. Not to mention there are a million different ways to survive in the wild.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Well I ate a bad plant, drank unsafe water, moon got me, flossed--I don't know how I made it all these years.:mrgreen:


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

You know, I find these quizzes interesting and try to take them as often as possible just to see what they are about.

One thing stands out in my mind every time I take these quizzes: I am so glad that I was a Boy Scout. There are so many things that my leaders taught me as a kid that have carried in my memory ever since.

Oddly, I was never an Eagle Scout (too busy chasing girls and money). But I respect the boys who do earn Eagle. 

I only have girls and have been trying to teach them these principles. Hopefully one day they will know what to do should they find themselves in a situation that requires them to survive in the wild or during a natural disaster.


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

The moon and body temp regulating (was distracted at the time). I also would overboil water by 2 min...


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Oddly I got the moon (my father was a navigator on board ship in WWII). I went with floss, so much more practical and also with the longer boiling time since we're almost always above 5,000 feet.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Even when you area above 5000' once the water comes to a boil you are really safe. Very few pathogens can live in boiling water no matter what the actual temperature is as long as the water is up to the boiling temperature.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*It's 2017 for crying out loud, no one boils water anymore*



Critter said:


> Even when you area above 5000' once the water comes to a boil you are really safe. Very few pathogens can live in boiling water no matter what the actual temperature is as long as the water is up to the boiling temperature.


Normally pathogens take one look at me and run the other way.


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

so true about boiling water... for most people caught in an emergency situation its not the 'pathogens' that's the problem and I believe we put way toooo much emphasis on making sure our backcountry water is 'safe' to drink when the immediate threat in most cases is dehydration. we airlift folks via helicopter to the hospital because they ran out of water... with the creek right next door. cant drink that water, might get giardiah... so what? you wont even know it till a week to 10 days after you have died from dehydration. when was the last case of typhoid fever from a backcountry creek in Utah? I am a proponent of if you have a filter or sterilization agent, use it, if not drink the water and most likely deal with the non consequences later.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

True, if in a survival situation that is likely to last less than a week water source filtration is "less" important. Clearly drinking water of some sort is pivotal for survival. That said, giardia and cryptospiridium can cause deadly outcomes in longer term survival situations. But most of us aren't likely to experience that in our lifetimes.

I always think critical thinking and problem solving and an since of perserverance are the most important things in emergencies. Case studies show one of the worst choices is passively "waiting for help". Grand Canyon has some classic cases of bodies found within short distances of trails. 

I chose floss as well. I knew the moon as I just saw that again recently. I knew water boil time because our filter died on a backpacking trip last fall and I looked it up afterwards (I always tend to overboil). 

Quiz was silly but its always good to review basics.


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## ZEKESMAN (Sep 14, 2007)

Just for the record we all over boil our water, and live. We all take floss, and can also use it to start a fire along with several other uses.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*floss is too heavy*



ZEKESMAN said:


> Just for the record we all over boil our water, and live. We all take floss, and can also use it to start a fire along with several other uses.


I carry bailing wire instead of floss, thank you.

.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> I carry bailing wire instead of floss, thank you.
> 
> .


I also have some of that with me when I am out and about.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*Sending stool samples to the lab is a blast.*



Kingfisher said:


> so true about boiling water... for most people caught in an emergency situation its not the 'pathogens' that's the problem and I believe we put way toooo much emphasis on making sure our backcountry water is 'safe' to drink when the immediate threat in most cases is dehydration. we airlift folks via helicopter to the hospital because they ran out of water... with the creek right next door. cant drink that water, might get giardiah... so what? you wont even know it till a week to 10 days after you have died from dehydration. when was the last case of typhoid fever from a backcountry creek in Utah? I am a proponent of if you have a filter or sterilization agent, use it, if not drink the water and most likely deal with the non consequences later.


1982 - I worked a big gas plant project east of Evanston. The contractors filled truck loads of 5-gallon water jugs with ice and then topped them off with water from a spring up on the Bear River Divide. There was about 350 construction workers drinking the spring water on our project.

Approximately 75 got giardia. I was one of them. Giardia is just awful, let me tell ya, dehabilitating. Symptoms show up weeks later after the exposure. I was in Missouri whitetail deer hunting when things went nasty for me. just awful.

Uh...I've pretty much had an iron stomach since then. 

.


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