Eating Wild Plants

[DancesWithKnives]

I'm just curious what your thoughts are about eating wild plants in a survival situation. I'm talking about a survival situation of a few days to a couple weeks---not months.

I'm carrying a built-in, gut-mounted survival pack and I hate having an upset stomach or digestive tract. Furthermore, I've experienced what parasites and/or toxins can do to your guts and the resulting dehydration, loss of energy, etc.

I've been on fasts for days and functioned OK. I think I could get by for quite awhile without eating plants. I know my energy level would be a lot lower, but I believe I could still function.

Although I know a couple wild plants that I would probably feel comfortable eating, is the extra energy worth the risk of sickness over a period of two days to two weeks?

Your thoughts?

DWK

[Obviously most of us would try to obtain some animal protein to eat, but this question assumes you are unsuccessful at that.]

[Bushman]

I think I'd get a book or two on the subject and find out what I could and couldn't be eating in the area. I'm sure it would not go down like a Cesar salad, but you wouldn't be poisoned by it. I'm always pretty amazed at what Survivorman finds to eat out there in the wilds, but then they don't show the out takes of him puking over a log either. That other guy has a camera guy along with him and I often wonder if the camera guy doesn't slip him a ham sandwich when the camera isn't rolling?

[AK-49]

unless it was somthing that you were absolutely 110% sure of then I'd say do NOT eat wild plants. Starvation isn't an issue during short term survival situations.

[DancesWithKnives]

One of the few exceptions would be on trips to your beautiful state. I've eaten buckets of wild berries over the years. However, I can't recall eating any other wild AK plants because, as you say, I'm not 110% confident in others.

DWK

[Bushman]

DWK, I've got the books Stalking The Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier, Eat The Weeds by Ben Charles Harris and Feasting Free On Wild Edibles by Bradford Angier. Any one of those books along on a trek would give a guy confidence that he is not going to eat the wrong thing.

[AK-49]

DWK, I feel safe with blueberries, watermelon and salmon berries...

Bushman, i wouldnt bet my life on it LOL

[Bushman]

AK, I hear you. Didn't Euell Gibbons die of some malady brought on by something that he ate? I can't say that I have ever read any of these books as mom had them so I guess they are mine now. I don't think I will read them in the near future either as I don't get that far away from civilization or a sandwich in a Ziploc.

[dave-t.]

Same here Bushman. I know a few edibles that I would have confidence eating if it came to that, but the stuff I know about is local, and there's no reason to be stranded locally (MO and boarding states). I would have to be stranded mile and miles from anything for more than 24hrs to really have a need, and in the midwest, I don't know how you could get that stuck.:rolleyes:

In real remote areas of Canada, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, or bigger deserts, etc, I have zero knowledge of what plants to scavange besides the standbys, cattails, acorns, pine nuts, hickory and walnuts, queens ann's lace, clover, dandelions, onions, sassafrass, chantrell mushrooms, coral mushrooms, hen of the woods, morels, beefsteak mushrooms, and the more common fruits pappaws, crab apple, persimon, mulberry, and wild berries/grapes. Heck even honeysuckle leaves and blooms would be safe. I don't know how common any of those things are in the "wild and remote" areas.

It would take a couple of days before I went out of my way to look for any of them though. First choice for me would probably be to head to a creek for mussels, crayfish, frogs, snakes and turtles.

Where I am in the midwest, I can't see it getting that bad. Walk a mile or two and ask to borrow someones phone.:o

[Altjaeger]

AK, I hear you. Didn't Euell Gibbons die of some malady brought on by something that he ate? I can't say that I have ever read any of these books as mom had them so I guess they are mine now. I don't think I will read them in the near future either as I don't get that far away from civilization or a sandwich in a Ziploc.

Yup he died of eating the wrong stuff. He had severe arthritis and had done too many asparine to long.

[Greywolf]

Yup he died of eating the wrong stuff. He had severe arthritis and had done too many asparine to long.

cambium (under bark) from poppel or aspens = asprin

[Greywolf]

Dave T be sure you are well hydrated before picking that Queen Anne's Lace
even that has look-alikes






79

poison hemlock?

80

queen annes lace?

who's who?

[dave-t.]

The first one is queen annes lace. It has a little wild carrot root.

[Greywolf]

The first one is queen annes lace. It has a little wild carrot root.

Bingo, but,
if you were dehydrated and well, just hurting mentally and physiclly, can you see someone making a mistake?

Same for a lot of species of mushrooms, there are a few that look like the right one but are not.
There is also types that grow in proximity to eadible ones, that are ineadible and spread toxin to eadible ones.

Always been my philosophy to 'let the other guy eat first, it's just a polite thing to do:rolleyes:

[Bill Gunn]

Make sure that Queen Annes Lace isn't Giant Hogweed

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/images/species/1460059_lg.jpg

You'll pay for that mistake for the rest of your miserable life :(

It's another one of those gifts that "Keep On Giving"

Major species include: Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum A native of the Caucasus Mountains, grows to 4-5m tall, and can cause severe dermatitis if the sap gets on human skin. The main mechanism for this dermatitis is extreme photosensitivity, causing severe sunburn on exposure to relatively small amounts of sunlight, with rash and blistering appearing within a few minutes, and lasting the rest of your life !!

It is now established in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington State. Reports of infestations have been received from Maine, Michigan and Washington D.C.

[Rock Chuck]

A few years ago, an outfitter took some elk hunters into the Oregon backcountry. He found some mushrooms that he cooked up for supper. 2 of the hunters ate them, the others didn't trust them. The outfitter and the 2 hunters didn't survive. Better know what you're doing. I wouldn't touch any mushrooms other than morels. Some are just too hard to identify in the field.