When you’re stuck out in the wilderness, it can prove to be quite dangerous. Being properly prepared and having the proper essentials will help ensure your safety in your time of need.
Here is a list of the top 6 survival tips every wilderness lover should know about:
Table of Contents
Stay Calm
It’s important to stay calm during any survival situation. You are much more likely to be able to formulate a plan and get to safety if you are not panicking.
Try to develop a plan which makes sense to your current situation. Keep track of what resources you have so you don’t lose or waste them. Particularly food and water, because you’ll never know when you’re going to get more.
Make a Shelter
Creating a small shelter is another important survival tactic. How to do so really depends on what kind of situation you find yourself in, but in many situations, hypothermia, rain, snow, or even desert heat prove deadly. Wild animals are another problem which you might encounter.
One example would be using a fallen tree or large boulder to form the basis of your shelter. You can then use sticks to form it the shape of it, and then use other natural materials such as bark, leaves, pine needles, or moss to insulate your shelter.
Find Clean Water
Finding clean water is one of the toughest parts of survival. Sure, there are plenty of sources where you can obtain water, but drinking the wrong water can be dangerous and even contain parasites.
A couple of safe sources of water are rain and snow. You can heat snow up over a fire and obtain relatively clean drinking water that way.
If you drink water from elsewhere, try to boil it first if you can, although I realize that isn’t always possible.
Light a Fire
I definitely recommend traveling with either a lighter, waterproof matches, or a magnesium fire starter. These will make sure that you can cook any meat or boil any water which you find. It can also provide a sense of safety when stuck in a dark environment, as well as keep animals and insects from bothering you.
Scavenge for a bundle of tinder, and mix with pine needles, dried leaves, or whatever you can find which is highly burnable. After you get the fire started and going well, then you can add the larger pieces of wood.
If you don’t know how to start a fire, simply use a larger piece of wood as a type of wind-block, then put a nest of tinder inside, and make a teepee of smaller kindling around it. You ignite the tinder with your source of heat or flame, then place it under the teepee. Blow on it steadily to spread the flame.
Much of the wood you find is going to be rather green and may cause smoke. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it may help somebody find or locate you.
Learn to Tie Knots
Most outdoors people know how to tie knots, but if you don’t already, then this is a great survival tactic to learn. You can use knots for all kinds of things, such as crafting shelter or weapons.
A couple knots I recommend you learn how to tie are the bowline and the two half hitch knot.
Make a Spear
If you are stuck out in the wilderness, you need a way to defend yourself. By crafting a spear you can drastically improve your chances of survival. Not only can you use it to defend yourself, but you can use it to catch fish or other small animals as well. This will provide you with a way to feed yourself.
To craft a simple double-pronged spear, find a long, straight stick and split the end of it to create a fork shape. Separate the fork with a small stone and lash it into place. You can then sharpen the forks with a knife or rock.
