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ALABAMUS INDIAN SURVIVAL SKILLS

HOW YOU CAN SURVIVE TODAY

How and why did I learn to survive?

When I was growing up I stayed with my grandparents on the mountain.My job when I got up in the morning was to take the two buckets down the side of the mountain to a spring, called Princess Spring.My Grandmother’s ancestors had been Alabamus Indians. She showed me how to make a call out of the stem of a squash, so that the end flopped when you blew on the whistle.This made the call of the Indian Hen or Pileated woodpecker. My grandpa showed me how to build and set a trap to catch quail.You made the trap by putting cedar slats together and taking a hickory bow to hold the slats together.You put the trap in a sand bed, dug out on one end and put some corn around and inside. After a while, you could go get your supper.My grandma loved me because I was the smallest and went to get the water any way.

That is what happened to me. If you have the will to survive, I have tried to give you the way in this book. If you use the suggestions in this book, you will survive.

I will tell you ten things in this book that I have used to survive that you have never seen in print in any survival book. I will share each of them with you as I come to them. I will make sure that you know what they are.

This is number one of the things never before written down in a survival book

I do not know how much you know about nature, but if you are trying to survive the end of times, it will take you a very long time and a lot of money to do that.

This is the first of the things that you have not seen in a survival book.If right now, today, you had to survive what should you do. We have to assume that you are not sitting in your living room but somewhere in the wild. Walk down hill, all the while you looking for water. Make sure that you do not walk over a cliff or into a swamp! When you find water walk down stream until you get to where the water is running; the more water the better. If you see anything that will hold water pick it up and carry it with you for you will need water today.

As you walk along this stream you are looking for a downed tree if the downed tree is an oak then you are in luck.

If you see any rocks while walking, they may come in handy later for helping you to cook some food. Just remember where they are you may can come back for them later.

Remember this. If you take 4 Bic lighters with you, they will give you enough lights and help you live long enough to build a lot of other things. Deep Woods off will keep some of the ticks off you.In Missouri, you can get ticks on you in McDonalds.

In the South, you will find cottonmouth snakes along all streams. They are guarding the fish in the water and they will bite you so you need to find a stick to use for a snake stick. The best one to use is a beaver stick.If you intend to eat the snake, this will not bother you.

Remember that if you are truly surviving, then you will not worry about the law coming to your smoke. However, any smoke will draw the law. They do not want you to set the world on fire.

This is number two of the things never before written down in a survival book

You can use the bank of the steam where a tree is down.You should dig a hole straight down in the bank, just about a hand span away from the edge. Then take a stick and measure the depth of your hole. Holding the stick at the top of your hole, take another stick and push into the bank where it comes into the bottom of your hole.You can use wet clay to dress the inside later. This is called a Dakota hole and putting this along the bank will allow you to use the light from the fire to fish at night.If you stick a long stick down in the hole, it will keep the ground around you lit for more than a few minutes. Remember that this will also attract snakes to where you are.

A caution on Dakota holes: while they are used because they make the least smoke, are easy to make, and can be used to cook any food, they have one drawback.They are hard to see at night if the fire goes down. If you stick a stick on both sides, at least you will be able to see the sticks. A rock, stone, or wood chip can be used to control the airflow into the bottom of the hole.Stones can explode when heated in a fire so be careful. If you stopped at a downed tree, and used a Dakota hole, the wood should a long time.

I need to tell you that if you do not eat fish then you will have a hard time surviving and if you do eat fish you will have a better chance of surviving.

This is number three of the things never before written down in a survival book

I caught fish for two years like this. I fished every day. You can find string and hooks. All you have to do is look. During the winter, if you walk along the banks of any lake you will see string, and at the end of the string are usually hooks. If you see a cork in a tree or hanging on a limb, it usually has a line and sometimes a hook.You can go around in the fall of the year, collect these, and trade them for knives. I did. Just like bringing the Bic lighters along will give you time to catch the fish that you will need to eat, where you will live long enough to do all the work that it will take for you to survive. None of this is easy and you will have to cook every meal.

This is number four of the things never before written down in a survival book

A lot of surviving in the wild is to find the bait you can use to catch the fish. Most of the creeks and all the rivers have mussels in the water.If you go to a bank where you can see down into the water, where the water is just above the sandy bottom, in the early morning you can see lines or trails left in the sand during the night.Where the trail ends is a mussel and they can be either big ones or small ones.Walk into the water and reach down into the sand bottom, and you will find a mussel just under the sand.Pull the mussel up and it will close its shell. If you stab a knife in where the water is coming out, if you hurry you will not have any problem getting to the mussel inside. So, what you are looking for on the bottom is the trail left by the mussel at night.

If you are starving, cook and eat the muscle. If not, you will take the mussel and make thin slices the long way and these you will use for bait.You know where all the artificial lures you see for sale. I wonder why they look that way. This bait is best fished on top of the water in a flowing stream; the bigger the stream the better.

Use as little weight as you can in getting this bait into the water. When it floats along the surface is when the fish will hit it.If you are careful and make sure that you have your hook running through the cut mussel, you can use this bait repeatedly. when you catch a fish on it, put the hook back in it and use it again.

No, I do not want you to go down to the stream tomorrow and harvest the mussels there for fishing.If you want to try it to see if it will work, that is fine.Remember, someone might need it to survive and you just ate his or her food. That also goes for collecting the lines, hooks, and corks someone else may need to survive.

This is number five of the things never before written down in a survival book

I carried a few extra stringers with me, and when I caught more fish that I needed, I would put them on the extra stringer. If there were someone there that was not as good at fishing as I was, I would say, “Hey, look I will sell you these catfish, and you do not even have to bring the stringer back.” The most I ever got was about five dollars, but some brought the stringers back any way.

Four commercial fishermen the same landing, and I caught enough fish that they would take them off my hands.They brought me coffee and sugar and when I knew they were coming, I would have a fresh pot of coffee made.I had bought a tube of plastic cups, and always gave them their coffee hot. Sometimes these fishermen would bring me eggs, and once in a while they would bring a pork roast, which I cooked for all of us. The commercial fisherman that lived closest to me brought me water sometimes, too.

This is number six of the things never before written down in a survival book

You have to gather sticks with which to start fires. However, while I was living on the river for two years, I never let my fire go out.That was 26 cords of wood, dragged in, broken up by hand, and stacked.I took large pieces of thick bark off an oak tree and covered my wood so the rain would not hit the stacks straight down. These large pieces of bark could also be put on the fire to keep the rain off.It rained 52 days that last year.You drag the trees in, break them up with your hands, and stack your firewood and cover it with very large pieces of bark.It should take you a few hours every day to keep your fire wood up.

This is number seven of the things never before written down in a survival book

Where I stayed in the woods, there were fire ants. How I got around them took work and dedication. I put a large tarp on the ground, put my tent up, brought the tarp up and tied it open facing east.If you are going to do this, be sure to get a tent you can stand up in. You can bring no food into the tent or on the tarp, or the ants will come. This was a huge tarp, the largest that Wal-Mart sells. I put the tarp down and set my tent up under it. I had the tarp all staked and had the front of the tarp facing east so that the morning sun came in. This tarp I rigged by putting an anchor rope high across the front suspended, from big tree limbs, so that it had a lot of play across the front. My fire that I kept going was just a few feet away, and the whole time that edge of the tarp never got hot enough even to leave smoke marks. When the storms blew from the south, it blew that tarp down on that side of my tent. When the storms came from the west, the tarp was blown tighter against the back side of my tent, but it never blew any rain on my tent, even when it rained hard enough that you could see whitecaps in the water coming down the hill.

Even though the park was closed, there was one concrete bench and that was between my tent and my fire. I used this when working, and for holding things while I cooked. If you set your tent up like mine, remember your tent has to be big enough to stand up in. If there are no benches you can build your own out of Poplar logs.

This is number eight of the things never before written down in a survival book

You can take 2-liter bottles, fill them with hot water, and put them inside a sleeping bag to keep you warm even through the coldest weather.It snowed on the tarp covering my tent and that meant it was very cold in the tent.The smaller the tent, the easier it is to heat this way.You can use a 4-gallon peanut cooking oil container to do the same thing. Put it on a piece of Styrofoam to keep it off the bottom of the tent.You can use any tinfoil as a funnel for the 2-liter bottles, even that in a cigarette pack.

This is number nine of the things never before written down in a survival book

If you need to know where north is, it is easy to find. Everyone in North America knows where the Big Dipper is.Look up into the sky until you are sure that this is the Big Dipper, and that will be north tonight, tomorrow night and every other night.

When the Indians built there fires, they would lay one log pointing north, so if you turn your back to north you are facing south.To your left will be east and on your right will be west.

So, if you find four logs and line them up and start your fire where they meet, your fire will be easier to keep going. Just move the logs into the fire as they burn.

Every person living in the wild needs to know from which way the wind is blowing. To find that out, take any feather, tie the feather to some type of weight, like one of the fishing weights you found.Hang this between the front of your tent and the fire.This will show you from which way the wind is blowing.Make sure that you do not use a crane feather, even if you can legally remember the 52 days of rain that year. They were in a row.Hanging a crane feather brings rain.

Five planets are visible at night, and the easiest one is Venus. Look just above the setting sun to the right and that star is Venus.You have probably never seen this in a survival book.

Go to any stream and look for crawfish. These can be used for bait, or you can boil them and eat them.The first wild food that I cooked and ate was crawfish.

This is number ten of the things never before written down in a survival book

The rest of the book will be in story form and you will have to keep up with what you have learned.If you have a pocketknife, you can make an atl-atl or spear thrower.I brought one of the first ones I made to a friend’s house to show him how it worked. I had wrapped the end of the dart with duct tape very well. He watched me throw the dart. I was trying to throw over his shop building to the field on the other side.The dart stuck into the side of the metal building about a foot of the wrapped tape went into the building.The curator of the Museum wanted to see if she could throw one of the atl-atl and her first throw went over a hundred yards.I tell you this to let you know that these darts work, but it will take you a while to learn to hunt with them. The varmints that come to your camp sometimes will not go away, though.

I will start my explanation with the darts first. Once you have them made, making the dart thrower will be easier. You will need to find some cane that grows in the hills. It is very small and perfect for your atl-atl darts, and your arrow shafts later. When you find this cane growing in the hill, it will be growing very close together. The cane growing on the outside of the patch can be used for arrow shafts and the very tall canes growing on the inside can be used for your atl-atl darts.These need to be about five or six feet long.Go ahead, when you find the canes, and cut a few more than you think you will need.

You do not want dead canes or crooked canes, and you want to cut these canes as close to the ground as possible.If you have found the right cane, they will be a little bit larger than a pencil and taper little as they go up.Remember that the knock on your thrower will have to fit into the end of your cane.

While you are at the site of the hill cane, take a few of the shorter canes on the outside and cut them off as close to the ground as possible. These are for you arrow shafts. Hold the arrow shafts end close to your nose with one hand and lay the other end across the very end of your opposite hand fully extended.Cutting these arrow shafts off while they are still green saves you time later.

Now you will have to find a hickory tree. This you will have to cut with a limb about the size of a pencil at the small end. The other end will have to have enough wood left to form the knock or nipple.Use the end of one of your darts to show you how large to make your nipple.

Your atl-atl should be about as long as your arm or maybe a little shorter. Now take one of your darts and fit the nipple into the end of the dart. Let the dart lay up your atl-atl, holding the dart with your fingers while still holding atl-atl with the same hand, having your little finger and ring finger holding the end of your atl-atl and the dart lying across the top of these fingers. Keeping pressure on the dart with your fingers to keep it in the knock or nipple, draw your arm back and bring it forward in a long throwing motion.When you feel the dart is right, let go of the dart while still holding the atl-atl.

You can take a nail, get it very hot, and burn a hole in the end of your atl-atl. Put a string through it and wrap the string around your wrist to give you more leverage and let you keep up with your atl-atl.

I once took a lemon wood tree, which has pure white wood inside, and carved an ivory-billed woodpecker. His beak was the knock. It worked fine.I put a braided strap through a hole in the end and that is where I found out about using the strap for leverage in throwing the dart.

Now I will tell you how to make a bow that will shoot an arrow over a hundred yards. Remember that any arrow fired from this bow will do what all bows do. When throwing the darts, you will have to make sure that the arrows you fire are not going to hit a human, or even go near a human. You must work your hickory wood while it is still green.

Find you another hickory tree (or a green ash will do), making sure that no limbs come off the tree at the ground. Using your dominant hand, reach out straight from your shoulder level, reaching up or down, placing the fingers of that hand around the tree like you are trying to see how big around the tree is, keeping your arm straight from your body to the handle of your bow. The length of this bow will be right for you no matter how tall or short you are. Remember one more time, do not reach up or down, and stand on the ground beside this tree. You should be able to reach just around the tree with your hand, and your fingers and thumb should just meet.

You want your fingers and thumb to meet. Mark that place with a string.You can use any kind of saw or knife to cut the tree down.This bow will be built to fit your body.Make sure before you cut the tree that there are no limbs just above where the center of your bow is going to be.

If there were limbs, these limbs would make the removal of the knots they leave behind hard to work around. Make sure that you do not lose the center.

Next, take your hand, put it around your bow blank, and mark this end on the top of your hand and bottom of your handle. Do not remove the bark from this part of the bow. Now take your bow blank to any flat surface and let it roll to a stop. This will tell you which side to take the wood off to make your bow. What an Indian would say is, take everything off that is not a bow.

You can make a bow by trimming down what you have now, but the best way is to tie your bow blank to a popular log or a 2 x 4.Tie the bow blank in the center first where your handhold will be and then tie either end. The Indians would have used rawhide, but you can use duct tape.

Starting where the edge of your handle is, lay your machete flat and pull it to you. Take care to keep it as level as possible.You can also use a drawing knife or sharpened stone and do the same thing.As you take off the wood, try to work on one end and then the other, making sure that you are not taking off too much wood.With wood, you can take it off but you cannot put the wood back on, so take your time.

When you have what looks like a bow, you will know that you are doing it right.You can sit on the ends of the bow to draw what you are using; make sure it is flat and does not take off too much at one time.You might not know it, but this fits you and the size of your body.When you stood beside the tree and felt for the right diameter this bow became a bow only for you.Just like when you place the arrow shaft from the end of your hand to your nose. This arrow was made for you.

Remember that you left your bark on the center and when you are finished, it will still be there.Cut the notches in each end of your bow and remember that you are working with green wood. Get you some very strong string and string your bow. The first time you pull it back with the string on it, you will be a new person. You have built something that can keep you alive as long as you have the will to live. The arrow shafts need to be fletched and I always used the wing feathers of crows because they work. If you have an objection to getting the feathers, then use store bought.

If you are to survive, you may need to know how to make a blowgun and darts. To make these you will have to find a different kind of cane.This cane grows in swamps, between slews, or along creeks.Unlike the hill cane, this cane is very large and very green.This cane will be over an inch in diameter; the larger the better.This cane is the same cane from which the Indians made their baskets.For the cane for the blowgun, you will need to go to the center middle of the patch of cane and chose the largest cane.The Indians called this cane the mother cane.

Making the blowgun takes a little time, but making the dart takes a longer time. This book is the only place where you can find the method for making darts, except for my book, The Knots of Time, by Charles David Scott, at Amazon.com. In my book, the directions are in context, so the steps are not impossible to follow. This book, however, gives me a way to make sure you need to know how to make them. Like the bow and arrow, it works every time if you follow instructions.

There are 32 kinds of cane in my state (I am a biologist), and no bamboo will work to do this. Look for cane growing in the wild. I need to put what I am telling you into context.

My grandfather Moore had killed an eagle with a blowgun.I remember seeing his blowgun and it was made of a copper pipe but his darts were split cedar with a cotton ball glued to the end of the dart.

I had to find out what the Indians used to make their darts. so I started by going to different types of plants, and different ideas for how they got the dart to work. I tried many things through the years.

One year at the Indian fair (my job during the fair was to work in the museum) I asked if there was any one that could tell me what their ancestors had used.They said there is an old man from across the river that could tell me if he would.

When I met him, he was an old man. He said, “Go to the store and get you a small dowel rod and put some cotton balls on the end and sharpen the other end.”The old man smiled as he said this to me.

I said, “How did your people make them before the store and dowel rods and cotton balls?”

He said one word, “Cane.”