8 Common Mistakes of Wilderness Survival

1.  No Shelter

This is a two fold mistake that will cost you your life in a Wilderness Survival Situation.  The first fold of this mistake is not having a proper shelter with you, the second fold is not having the knowledge to build a shelter from nature’s tools which are all around you.  When talking about someone or a group of people who died in the Wilderness there is a common term that you will hear come up, exposure.  Whether it is hypothermia or heat stroke, the bottom line is you either did not have shelter (tent, tarp, sleeping bag with bivvy) or you didn’t have the knowledge to build a suitable shelter to shield yourself from the elements.  Remember, Staying Dry is the first rule of Survival.

2.  Lack of Good Navigation Tools

People who venture into the Wilderness without a map, compass, and GPS are flirting with disaster. Anyone who has spent time in the woods knows that within seconds even the best woodsman can get turned around in thick trees and bushes and begin to walk the wrong way.  The key to navigation is having a back up method to find your way to safety, remember “Two is One and One is None” never rely on GPS alone.  Having a good understanding of cardinal directions using the Sun and Stars is also beneficial if you are thrown into a situation where prior preparation wasn’t available (plane crash, boat wreck).

3.  Poor Knowledge

“Be Prepared” is the motto of the Boy Scouts, unfortunately most people who find themselves in a Wilderness Survival situation have very poor knowledge on how to survival and are usually totally unprepared.

Know the 5 keys to Wilderness Survival 
1. Know how to build a shelter
2. Know how to signal for help
3. Know what to eat & how to find it
4. Know how to build and maintain a fire
5. Know how to find water and prepare safe water to drink.

4.   Miscalculating the Risk

Most Wilderness Survival situations start off very innocent; like a fishing trip with friends, a day hike on a familiar trail, or a planned father & son hunting trip.  Then things go terribly wrong and suddenly you are faced with a life and death scenario.  The only thing you can do is plan for the unexpected.  Sit down and go through contingencies before you set off on your trip.  Once you leave, it is too late.   There is an old military saying “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.”  Make sure you have done this same process with your emergency car kit.

5.  The Wrong Clothes

As a rule you should always dress one layer warmer than you need.  You can always take stuff off and wrap it around your waist, stuff into your pockets or put it in your backpack if you get hot.  But once you leave an article of clothing behind there is nothing worse than being cold knowing that you left your jacket in the closet.  Also remember the outdoor sayings about Cotton. (Cotton Kills, Friends don’t let friends wear Cotton, and Cotton is Rotten) Find and wear clothes that retain their warmth even after they become wet.  Also have a shell jacket and pants of some kind for rain and snow.  Remember, most cases of hypothermia happen in temperatures over 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

6.  Getting Drinkable Water

We all know that the human body doesn’t last long without water.  The question you have to ask yourself in a Wilderness Survival situation is “Will this water make me sick?”  Waterborne organisms such as cryptosporidium and giardia can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting that increases dehydration and reduces your ability to carry on your other survival efforts such as building shelter, finding food, and signaling for help.  On the flip side dehydration will kill you in a matter of days.  Without a good supply of pure drinking water, the body can become dehydrated very quickly.  Along with dehydration comes poor judgment, loss of energy, and eventually you will lose the will to survive.  There are several methods for purifying water (Boiling it, Chemical tablets, & Water Filters) and there are several methods for catching rain water or dew.  Learn these strategies and be prepared.

7.  No Signal Plan

Being able to signal for help is a key trait in Wilderness Survival.  If you go to almost any outdoor store they will have a whole section dedicated to these devices.  The most common ones are whistles and signal mirrors but you also have to think about being able to use fire starting devices and high beam flashlights.  Other good tools to have are radios, bright clothes, and emergency beacon devices such as ACR or SPOT.  If you are caught in a Wilderness Survival situation without any of these tools, have an understanding for creating an emergency signal using rocks, trees, snow, or dirt.

8. Fire

It is only one word but in Wilderness Survival it has many meanings.  Warmth: a good fire can keep you and your loved ones warm in some of the worst conditions.  Protection: a strong fire can keep you safe from predators and a long burning stick has scared more than one animal away.  Signal: a blazing fire can be seen for miles away at night and the smoke can be seen during the day.  Purifier: a hot fire can be used to boil water and keep your drinking water safe.  Keep several methods of making a fire with you when traveling in the Wilderness and also learn how to make a fire the old fashion way……with two sticks.

Source: https://survivalcache.com/wilderness-survival/

Survival Gear List: The Survival Essentials

by Filip Tkaczyk

Not sure what to include on your survival gear list?  Well, here are some helpful tips to making it more manageable.  For starters, you want to consider several possible perspectives depending on the type of scenario you are planning for.  You can choose to include gear that is all modern and relatively high-tech in nature.  On the other hand, you might only include simpler and more primitive gear only.  Oftentimes the best approach is to include some of both. 

First, you want to be sure that any kind of gear you do include is something you are very familiar with.  You want to make sure you are completely confident in using all of the materials on your survival gear list before you actually include it in a pack to be used in the field.  Bringing untested and unfamiliar gear is possibly going to put your life or your family’s life in very real danger. 

Simple tools such as flint and steel for fire making, a knife for carving or a hatchet for splitting wood are great.  Remember, that simple does not mean easy.  Practice using these tools under different conditions, including during difficult weather, in poor light and while cold and tired.

Having redundancy in your survival gear list is also a wise approach.  For example, having multiple tools for making a fire, more than one knife, extra batteries and so on.  This must be tempered with the need to keep your pack or other gear containers light and portable, which brings up the questions of how long will you be counting on this gear?  The type and amount of gear you will need can vary considerably depending on the amount of time you will be out.

Below are two lists that include both high tech and more primitive tools to include on your list and in your packing.

Here is a recommended survival gear list for a short-length wilderness survival situation. 

• Several fire starting methods: lighter, matches, flint and steel with a magnesium strip.
• Large, dry tinder bundle in a sealed bag
• Handheld flashlight or headlamp with extra batteries
• Fixed-blade knife (or two)
• Base-plate or lensatic compass
• Map of location (if you know it ahead of time)
• Emergency whistle
• Poly-cord rope (50-100 feet)
• Variety of sizes of Ziploc bags (for keeping tinder dry, storing food, collecting water, and more)
• First Aid Kit
• Large rain poncho (can be improvised into a variety of shelters)
• Emergency blanket
• Large stainless steel cup or canteen (for boiling and holding water)
• Pump filter (for filtering water)
• Water purification tablets (such as grapefruit seed extract or iodine)
• Extra warm clothing

Here are some additional pieces of gear to add to a survival gear list for a more extended survival situation.

• Hatchet or quality large kukri knife (for chopping and splitting wood)
• Wool blanket (maintains much of its insulating value even when wet)
• Fishing line and fishing lures in a small container
• Wool clothing, especially pants, socks and jacket, warm gloves, cap or beanie
• A small stainless steel cooking pot
• Multi-tool
• MREs (how much you bring is completely dependent on how long you will be out there) or dried food such as MountainHouse meals
• Bow and drill friction fire set (when you are skilled with this, you can make a fire practically anywhere)

All of this gear starts to add up in weight.  Practice with everything until you feel confident with each item. 

Short term survival is about making it through and finding help.  A wide variety of materials can be utilized for this purpose from a survival gear list and don’t have to be limited to what was suggested here.

Long term survival, also called “wilderness living,” is also dependent on an intimate knowledge of the land, and generally requires the cooperative actions of a group of people as in a tribe or village.  For long-term survival to be sustained, hard-won knowledge must be used. Such knowledge is often passed down from generations of people who have practiced it. 

Wilderness living is about cooperating with others, including all the living beings on the land that sustain life.

Remember the most important survival skill is your knowledge.  Educate yourself on how to survive in the wilderness by taking classes from experienced bushcraft practitioners and survival schools.  Nothing beats learning directly from an experienced instructor and practicing with their coaching.

Source: https://www.wildernesscollege.com/survival-gear-list.html