13 Mountain Man Survival Tricks You Need To Know!

Some of the baddest men to ever walk this Earth are mountain men. These very brave men ventured into virgin wilderness territories with not only the full wrath of Mother Nature and all She possesses against them but native American Indians – survival experts in their own right – who were out to capture them and kill them dead.

Some Indian tribes were experts at a slow tortuous kill. Mountain men in their own right were true survival experts and here’s a partial list of the mountain men, their survival tricks and associated survival facts that you’ll learn in my Survival Book (see “169+ Mountain Man Survival Tricks!” at the end of this blog post).  Here are ’13 Mountain Man Survival Tricks You Need To Know.’

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Here are “13 Mountain Man Survival Tricks You Have To Know” so You’re Ready Anytime Anywhere! Let’s start with survival tricks from the famous Lewis & Clark Expedition.

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Lewis & Clark Expedition Survival Tricks!

Prior to 1804, the United States was bordered by Indian territories, territories of France, territories of Spain, territories of Mexico, and territories of Russia. The territories west of the original 13 colonies were surrounded by not only American Indians but worse yet threats from other countries. In a secret gathering, on 18 January 1803, President Thomas Jefferson proposed an expedition before the United States Congress. President Jefferson was worried that foreign countries would establish themselves next to the small United States. He wanted to know “what was out there.” President Jefferson’s great insight was “to control the continent” for the small but growing United States. He didn’t mention this to the Congress when he proposed the Expedition. This expedition would cost approximately $2,500.

President Jefferson chose his personal secretary, 28-year old Meriwether Lewis for this expedition. In turn, in a letter dated 19 June 1803, Lewis asked an old friend his friend 32-year old William Clark. Clark was a very experienced woodsman and even knew how to communicate and negotiate with Indians.

To prepare for his trip, Lewis took a crash course in Philadelphia learning botany, medicine, mineralogy, star navigation, and zoology for months. He also purchased supplies for the expedition.

On 04 July 1803, President Jefferson agreed to the Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million dollars (03 cents an acre). The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase covered the area from the Mississippi River to Rocky Mountains. The Louisiana Purchase gave even more importance to the Lewis and Clark Expedition – called by President Jefferson The Corps of Discovery.

The winter of 1803, Lewis and Clark began their recruiting and preparing for the crossing of the Mississippi. They settled on the eastern side of the Mississippi – near East Saint Louis.

On 14 May 1804, Lewis and Clark and their expedition entered the mighty Mississippi on their way up to Missouri River which took them westward. The expedition was a mix of young men, soldiers with experience in the outdoors.

The expedition averaged only 14-miles a day pulling themselves against the current up the Missouri. After 02 months of travel, the expedition was still in what is now the state of Missouri.

Along the journey Clark kept busy making maps of their journey. Lewis was busy tending to the medical aids of the men. He also gathered plants and soil samples.

The expedition made very detailed notes. Each member of the expedition was ordered to take daily notes of their observations and experiences. But Lewis due to being a manic depressant failed to make daily notes but he still kept command.

The expedition was governed under military rule. Several court martials were administered for everything from talking back to a superior officer (Clark) to sleeping on duty. Due to their potentially hostile environment, sleeping on guard duty was punishable by death.

By the summer of 1803, the expedition reached the treeless Great Plains, an endless sight of grasslands. The expedition encountered many new animals never seen before like antelope, buffalo, coyotes, prairie dogs,…

The expedition encountered Indians which is now the Dakotas and Nebraska. They made friends with the Indians as ordered by President Jefferson. They told the Indians that the land they lived on is now owned by the United States and they had a new great father (President Jefferson).

The expedition gave the Indians peace medals with Jefferson on one side and two hands shaking on the other. They gave out certificates and gifts. Lewis and Clark made many promises to the Indian tribes they encountered. The friendly Indians warned the Lewis and Clark Expedition of the Teton Sioux Indians up the river.

On 25 September 1804, (near what is now Pierre, South Dakota) the expedition was met by hundreds of Teton Sioux. The boat was stopped and Lewis and Clark offered them gifts (medals, flag, knives,…). But they wanted more but the expedition had nothing more to give them. The expedition’s tow rope was seized, Clark drew his sword, threatening to kill the chief, Lewis loaded the canon, hundreds of Indians were ready to launch their arrows. An Indian Black Buffalo resolved the tense situation. His conditions were that the Sioux women and children allowed to visit their boat. For 03 days the expedition stayed static.

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Bear Grease Insulator:  It’s not known how many times the explorers ate bear meat. Bear steaks were cooked using “bear grease” – the bear’s own fat! Bear grease was actually used by some Indian tribes to not only cook with but it was used to help keep them warm during the winter months. They would take the bear grease and smear their entire body with it. The bear grease acts as insulation and helps keep them warm – makes sense doesn’t it?

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Sulfur:  Sulfur springs contain the obvious mineral – sulfur. Sulfur compounds and allicin are attributed to the wonder healing of garlic. Allicin, one of the sulfur compounds in garlic is one of the most active ingredients. After drinking from the sulfur spring, Sacagawea overcame her sickness.

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Horse Meat:  Clark and his explorers had no choice, they needed to eat. The explorers killed one of their colts and ate it.

Clark and 06 hunters went forward ahead of Lewis and the other explorers to find more food. They came across a stray horse, killed it and dressed it. They hung horse meat in a tree for the trailing Lewis party. Back at Lewis’ camp, the men were forced to eating candles, eating awful tasting soup (emergency rations) and sipping on bear oil.

Salt Collecting: Camping at Fort Clatsop (off the Pacific Ocean), to add taste to their food (elk meat), explorers were dispatched to the ocean where they would gather water in a pot and boil it till the water evaporated leaving behind caked salt. The caked salt was scraped off and gathered. This process was repeated till the required amount of salt was gathered.

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Art Of Suffering:  In this Survival Expert Blog, I’m going to talk more about the ‘Art Of Suffering.’ The ‘Art Of Suffering.’ is like being weathered. The miserable elements of:

• cold
• freezing stinging cold
• rain
• non-stop drizzle
• snow
• submerged in cold water
• hot humidity
• hot dry heat
• blasting freezing blizzard
• constant non-stop biting nagging insects,…
• and a combination of these elements

don’t bother you (if you learned the ‘Art Of Suffering’) like most people. Throughout history and throughout the world, Indians, bushmen, prisoners, Special Operations soldiers, Old West Texas Rangers, Old West pioneers,… learned the ‘Art Of Suffering.’ A miserable day and a serious survival threat to most folks today, would be ‘No Big Deal’ to those who learned the ‘Art Of Suffering.’

Later in this ‘Survival Expert Blog’, I’ll give you – my own “Mind-Over-Matter To Ignore Killer Cold Temperatures!”  OK, now let’s carry-on and learn a bit about Sacajawea’s own ‘Art Of Suffering.’

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Sacajawea’s Art Of Suffering.  Sacajawea was no doubt instrumental in the success of the Lewis And Clark Expedition. First of all the expedition, encountered approximately 50 Indian tribes. Sacajawea probably saved their lives because the expedition was not thought of as a war party because Sacajawea – a woman was part of the expedition and women aren’t part of war parties.

And second, Sacajawea was no sissy. On the expedition she was toting her baby. She walked hundreds and hundreds of miles, braved severe weather, and never complained. And on top of all of this, throughout the entire expedition, she always sought food for the expedition members, gave life-saving advice and safely guided the expedition. Sacajawea, an expert in the Art of Suffering, has gone down in history as a World Class survivor and deserves more recognition for her efforts in the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

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Kit Carson Survival Tricks!

Kit Carson and Daniel Boone are some of the most famous mountain men in US and world history. First let me tell you a bit about Kit Carson.

Christopher Carson was born on 25 December 1809 (same year as President Lincoln) in Madison County, Kentucky. At barely 13-years old, blue-eyed blonde scrawny Kit was learning wilderness survival and in a few years would be associated with legend mountain men like Jim Beckwourth, Jim Bridger, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, Joe Walker, and Old Bill Williams. At an early age Kit learned the ways of outdoor adventure from his father who was a frontiersman. At barely 16-years old Kit Carson rode the Santa Fe (Saint Faith) Trail west to New Mexico from his home in Missouri.

Even as a teenager, older frontiersmen turned to Kit for he was a born leader. Kit Carson turned out to be a very wise and experienced scout, trapper, injun fighter, and hunter. He even joined the famous John Charles Fremont on explorations to the western continental US. In them days, early to mid 1800s, human kills were recorded by imbedding brass tacks in the stocks of weapons. At the age of 32 – that year alone, Kit’s weapon had 19 brass tacks. He had many minor and major engagements (Indians, Mexicans, outlaws) since his teen years and many more beyond the age of 32. Kit was associated with the military and attained the rank of General. Kit at 59 years old, died on 23 May 1868. His last request:  “Cook me some fust-rate doin’s,…a buffalo steak and a bowl of coffee and a pipe are what I need.”  When Kit was young, he learned about the legend Daniel Boone.

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Kit’s Wilderness Survival Equipment:  Here’s the basic equipment carried by Kit and it directly satisfied the 8 Elements of Survival (Fire, Water, Shelter, First-Aid, Signal, Food, Weapons, and Navigation) except navigation and water. Kit and other mountain men had in their possession a horse, flintlock rifle, sack of 06 beaver traps, blanket, extra pair of moccasins, powder horn (hollowed buffalo horn filled with gun powder), bullet pouch with lead balls, hunting knife, small box of beaver scent, small tobacco sack with pipe, flints, and tomahawk.

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Beaver Fur First-Aid:  Kit and his men caught the thieving Blackfeet and with his language skills, got the Blackfeet to agree to a parlay (parler = french ‘to talk’). But the parlay turned into a hand-to-hand combat. Kit took a bullet (ball) that cut through his right shoulder making his right arm, hand, and finger useless. As they evaded to safety, to stop the bleeding, they took beaver fur and stuffed it into the open wounds in his shoulder. Kit was in a bad way. He and his fellow trappers hunkered down in the below freezing weather. The cold actually helped to stop the bleeding. Blood is mostly water and water freezes at 32-degrees.

If you’re in a warmer environment, use ice if you got it. Direct pressure with a clean bandage or even any available material also works. So now you know 04 ways to stop bleeding or the survivor is dead. Psychological first-aid may compliment the treatment too (lie through your teeth – “hey, you’re looking better today…”).

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Daniel Boone Survival Tricks!

Born on 02 November 1734, Daniel Boone came from a large Quaker family in Exeter, Pennsylvania. His parents Squire and Sarah Boone had 11 children including Daniel. Growing up, Boone learned many of his survival tricks from his father Squire, Delaware Indians and Shawnee Indians which you will soon learn about. Daniel was recorded in history as being a famous Indian fighter, even against the Shawnee that taught him when younger. His favorite food was sweet potatoes. It was recorded that he died at the age of 86 by indigestion from eating his favorite food. He was eating sweet potatoes! He went out a legend with happy tastebuds and a full stomach! Now let’s learn about Daniel Boone’s survival tricks.

Clothes & Equipment:  Daniel Boone wore clothes that protected him and equipment that kept him alive in the beautiful but unforgiving wilderness.

Boone wore pants and shirt made of buckskin (male deer). His footgear of moccasins were made of deerskin that allowed silent walking through the woods. Deerskin pouches were used to carry lead shot, flint & steel; food, deer jerky,… An animal horn carried the precious gunpowder. Even in rain the waterproof horn kept the gunpowder dry. A famous saying back then was “Keep your powder dry!”

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Deer Hunting:  Daniel Boone taught his young son James one neat deer hunting trick. He told him to always stay downwind of deer. Daniel showed James where to find natural salt deposits called “licks” near riverbanks because deer would always go to the licks to get the minerals their diet needed. All you had to do was lay in wait downwind from a lick and the deer would eventually show up for an easy kill. Plus, you can bet they’ll go for some water too! So monitor riverbanks for deer activity and stay downwind.

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Boone Fire-Starting:  Daniel Boone had a small deerskin pouch hanging from his belt. Inside it he had a small piece of steel and flint rock. On the ground he placed some dry grass. He struck the steel piece against the flint which threw some sparks into the dry grass. Once it smoldered, he gently breathed into it igniting the dry grass which I’m sure he threw into the firepit with more tinder. But let me tell you about other natural fire-starters.

Note:  Let me tell you about another proven tinder they used back in them days and hundreds of years prior, it’s moss.  The moss has got to be dried and you’ll see it everywhere. I’m sure moss will ignite from sparks better than dry grass because the fibers in moss are much finer thus more ignitable. I think ol’ Boone could have started a fire a lot quicker with a pinch of gunpowder from his powder horn.

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Mountain Man Camp:  Mountain men made a habit of making camp surrounded by thick vegetation. Why? Not only did the thick vegetation conceal their camp, muffle the sounds in their camp, it was also used as early warning! You see, the mountain men knew those savage Indians would steal their horses, steal their furs, steal their gear, and them injuns had no problem killing the mountain men – most mountain men were veteran injun fighters. The thick vegetation was used as an early warning; for even those sneaky Indians would make too much noise going through the thicket.

And angry critters like bears would make a noisy racket coming through the thicket too – plenty of early warning for those savvy mountain men. This mountain man camp sounds like a military clandestine patrol base to me! Consider a mountain man camp surrounded by thick vegetation when you go camping so no man nor ornery critter will invade your privacy without an early warning so you’re ready Anytime Anywhere!

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Weapons Oil:  Mountain men used tallow to oil their weapons. Tallow is whitish fat from animals. And tallow may not be exclusively white – depending on the definition. Mountain men described using tallow that looked and had the consistency of butter. As I said tallow was used to oil weapons, but tallow from cattle, sheep, horses, buffalo,… was used for food and foodstuffs. It was also used to make candles, leather dressing, soap, and other lubricants. And tallow was used (smear it over the entire body) to insulate the body against cold temperatures.

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Davy Crockett Hypothermia Remedy:  After killing the bear at point blank range with his knife in the January winter night, Davy Crockett was faced with killer hypothermia. Crockett was already wet from crossing the wet terrain so he had to do something quick. He managed to start a small fire from some tinder but could find no dry kindling and sustaining fuel to keep it going. Most in that same scenario would be overwhelmed with FEAR & PANIC, lay down, fall asleep and die.

Davy Crockett did the only thing he knew to do.  HE TURNED INTO PERPETUAL MOTION!  He moved constantly. He kept moving, never laying down. He even climbed a 30-foot tree, slid down the trunk and climbed & slid down the same tree all night long so to stay active and warm. Like shivering, it’s a sign of hypothermia and a way to warm the body is constant non-stop movement, the best trick when you have no other options.

1st Note:  I (author) can vouch for Crockett. Many many times I was soaking wet shivering cold and continuous movement is far better than staying in one place feeling sorry for yourself!  I annotated “Sauna In A Can” in my book – “35 International Wilderness Survival Tricks!”  This trick probably saved my life more than a few times!  See “Sauna In A Can” in this Survival Expert Blog.

2nd Note:  Now Davy Crockett had them dogs with him. Could laying down with them dogs help save his life? First you have to build a real shelter on dry ground with a dry layer of bedding (lose 60% of body heat on bare ground). Second Crockett’s clothing was wet. NEVER lay down in wet clothing. Third, it’s unknown how many dogs and their size were involved in the hunt. I assume at least 02. In my humble estimation, it would take at least 04 full-sized dogs to keep a naked man alive & warm in freezing weather in a shelter with dry bedding.

So this is why Crockett chose perpetual motion as his life-saver against killer hypothermia.

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MOST IMPORTANT NOTE:  Now that you read & viewed ’13 Mountain Man Survival Tricks You Need To Know.’ – You’re Ready Anytime Anywhere.  However, before you go out on your next outdoor adventure, please re-read “How To Plan Your Outdoor Adventure!”

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Paperback Book—————Kindle E-Book

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Thank you for taking interest in my Survival Work.  I just re-published “169+ Mountain Man Survival Tricks!”  I’ve added more mountain man survival tricks from one of the baddest men to ever walk this Earth – mountain man James ‘Jim’ Clyman.

Here’s a list of the survival subjects you can learn from so You’re Ready Anytime Anywhere!

• Mountain Man – James ‘Jim’ Clyman
• Clyman’s Catching Beavers
• Lewis & Clark Beaver Attractant
• Clyman’s Campfire Learnin’
• Clyman’s Evasion
• Clyman’s Water Finding
• Clyman’s On The Job Doctoring
• Jedediah’s Emergency Surgery
• Crow Indian ‘Art Of Suffering’
• Clyman’s Buffalo Hunt
• Clyman’s Fire-Starting
• Clyman’s Fighting Hypothermia
• Clyman’s Buffalo Hunt, Again
• Clyman’s Water Finding, Again
• Clyman’s 600-Mile Evasion
• Clyman’s Evasion, Again
• Mountain Men Best Guides & Best Advice
• Mountain Man Tasty Canine Vittles
• Invisible Mountain Men
• Clyman’s Weather Forecasting
• Clyman’s Catfish Fishing
• Clyman’s Bear Hunting

And don’t forget about all the other “169+ Mountain Man Survival Tricks!” from all the other bad ass mountain men.

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