Table Of ContentU L T I M A T E
G U I D E T D
S U RVIVI N G
WITH NDTHING
BUT YOUR BARE
HANDS AND
WHAT YD U FIND
IN T H E WDDDS
J O H N M C P H E R S O N A N D C E R I M C P H E R S O N
Ejk "During my first years of learning survival I took
a course in survival and primitive earth skills
taught by John and Geri McPherson. I was excited
by their unbelievable passion and their intrinsic
understanding of survival. Their teachings took me
from understanding basic skills to a full-blown love for
the ancient technologies that humans developed to
survive. John and Geri are the real deal. They don't just
teach this stuff, they live it. I loved the experience with them
so much I came back a second time a few years later. Now that
I have traveled the world as Survivorman — experiencing and
filming survival in every ecosystem there is—I can sit back and
watch my shows and see John and Geri's teachings peek
through in every situation. I have been able to understand
survival because of John and Geri, and ^iffl
can highly recommend this book."
— Les Stroud, A K A Survivorman
Packed w i t h i n - d e p i h i n s t r u c t i o n a n d p h o t o s , L'ltinidte (initie to Wilderness
living teaches y o u the ski l ls n e e d e d to s u r v i v e a n d l ive in the w i l d u s i n g o n l y
those t h i n g s f o u n d in the w o o d s . L e a r n h o w t o :
# Ign i t e a l i re w i t h a t w o - s t i c k h a n d d r i l l ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
# Erect temporary and semipermanent shel ters / OVER600 \V
# Chip scones and bones into primitive tools // m-rn D V OTcn 11
^ [rap animals and hum with a bow and arrow U 01 Li Dl 01 Li JJ
# Fire pots, weave baskets and tan buckskin PHOTOS JJ
# Prepare .nu l c o o k w i l d f o o d s ^
$15*95
I > I M M I M I I . J b y
l'nl>li- l i . i . iSMMp V I ' C M Ulysses
Press
Ultimate Guide to
Wilderness Living
Also by John and Geri McPherson
Primitive Wilderness Skills, Applied & Advanced
"How-to" Build This Log Cabin for $3,000
Ultimate Guide to
Wilderness Living
by John and Geri McPherson
Foreword by Cody Lundin
Wlysses Press
Dedicated to those who give of their time and all too often their health
and lives to ensure that we, and those like us, are able to pursue our
dreams in freedom—the men and women of the U.S. Military. More
specifically we single out the men that I, John, served with in the 173rd
Airborne Brigade (Sep) in the Republic of South Vietnam (A Company,
1/503rd Airborne Infantry) and the men of the Special Operations
Community who accomplish so much for so little.
Copyright © 2008 John McPherson and Geri McPherson. All rights reserved. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor
be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Published in the United States by
Ulysses Press
P.O. Box 3440
Berkeley, CA 94703
www. ulyssespress .com
ISBN10: 1-56975-650-3
ISBN13: 978-1-56975-650-8
Library of Congress Control Number 2007907767
Printed in Canada by Transcontinental Printing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquisitions: Nick Denton-Brown
Copy Editor: Mark Woodworth
Editorial/Production: Claire Chun, Lauren Harrison, Judith Metzener,
Abigail Reser, Steven Zah Schwartz
Design/Production: whatîdesign @ whatweb.com
Cover Design: Double R Design
Cover Photographs: John McPherson
Index: Sayre Van Young
Distributed by Publishers Group West
PLEASE NOTE
This book has been written and published strictly for informational purposes, and in no
way should be used as a substitute for actual instruction with qualified professionals.
The authors and publisher are providing you with information in this work so that you
can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to act on that knowledge.
The authors and publisher also urge all readers to be aware of their health status, to
consult local fish and game laws, and to consult health care and outdoor profession-
als before engaging in any potentially hazardous activity. Any use of the information in
this book is made on the reader's good judgment. The author and publisher assume no
liability for personal injury, property damage, consequential damage or loss, however
caused, from using the information in this book.
Chapters
Foreword vi
Introduction ix
1 Primitive Fire and Cordage 1
2 Primitive Tols—Making and Using Them 35
3 Primitive, Semipermanent Shelters 75
4 M a k i n ' M e a t - 1 101
5 M a k i n ' M e a t - 2 145
6 Der from Field to Frezer 181
7 Primitive Wildernes Coking Methods 201
8 Primitive Wildernes Containers 21
9 Primitive Potery 247
10 Brain-Tan Buckskin 273
Resources 312
About the Authors 316
Foreword
It was 1989 and I was a punk kid attending a major primitive living skills
conference. Toting a smelly deer hide, I walked up to him and asked his
opinion about softening the skin based upon advice I'd just been given by
another instructor. It was my first brain-tanned deer hide and I wanted it
to be perfect. After listening to me ramble on, he looked at me quizzically,
cocked his head, and said, "Son, we don't really care how it looks'—we
want it to work"
This was my first encounter with John McPherson, and his words of
simplicity and practicality have rung through my head ever since.
Years later, the world's interest in relearning indigenous living and
survival skills has grown by leaps and bounds. Whether it's a new magazine
article, book, or TV show, more and more people are exploring the art of
primitive living skills and self-reliance. Yet, as in any other "craze," many
who have dubious credibility in what they preach are eager to feed upon
the body of this growing interest. Legions of media producers and editors
who have zero experience in survival skills give their two cents' worth about
what it means to "survive in the bush." Many of these productions not only
are ridiculous in their format, but are filled with errors that, if taken literally
by a starry-eyed and naïve public, may very well cause their demise.
Little by little, the simple, commonsense survival skills that kept every
race alive upon the planet were being sensationalized in order to sell one
more book or gain one more viewer. Commonsense reality had turned 180
degrees into a shameless bureaucracy of company-sponsored deception that
honored how a survival skill "looked" rather than whether it "worked."
In similar fashion, on the educational front line, well-intentioned
Foreword vii
professors lectured students about how indigenous peoples lived, even
though the vast majority of these professors had never even camped in the
wilderness—let alone created fire with sticks, a canteen from a gourd, or a
sleeping mat made from cattail.
Over time, the repetition of survival assumptions, half-truths, or outright
lies became an all-too-trusting public's "truth" about outdoor survival and
primitive living skills. The majority of the public didn't care (and still don't).
A plethora of survival books, as well, have been written by authors who are
not survival instructors; and, judging by their works, they haven't bothered
to try out the supposed lifesaving skills they regurgitate upon the page. Even
more common are survival skills practitioners who, while proficient in many
physical skills, don't psychologically live what they teach. This "walk-the-
talk" concept goes much deeper than simply doing a hand drill every other
morning while living in the city. It is an all-encompassing life attitude that
affects every decision one makes in their quest to do more with less. All
indigenous living skills revolved around people becoming more self-reliant
within their environment. The quest for the all-important calorie ruled the
day, and there was no time or consciousness for complicated, flashy skills
that didn't put meat in the pot. In essence, truly living a self-reliant life
(whether the lifestyle incorporates literal "stone-age" skills or not) demands
a lifestyle commitment on all levels that few can stomach.
I can count on one hand the number of survival instructors I know
whose passion for survival skills includes living a self-reliant lifestyle. On
this hand are John and Geri McPherson. They practice what they preach—
psychologically and physically—and have done so for a very long time. The
Ultimate Guide to Wilderness Living is a pioneer in the field of no-bullshit
primitive living skills and is loaded with practical, time-tested tips, tricks,
and photos that manifest only from many years of "doing it." True to John's
advice given to me nearly two decades ago, this book is written in a style
and spirit that embodies primitive living skills that really work.
Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin is founder and director of the Aboriginal Living Skills School
and author of the best-selling books 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your
Ass Alive! and When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive
When Disaster Strikes.
viii Ultimate Guide to Wilderness Living
