A few essential life skills are necessary to meet basic needs when you are far from civilization. Beginning with securing shelter, water and food, and moving on to igniting a fire, navigating the wilderness and increasing your chances of rescue if worst comes to worst, here are seven outdoor survival tips that everyone should know.
The Top 7 Survival Tips
The best strategies for survival correspond with the basics for sustaining life. Depending on your location and the weather, finding shelter can become the most pressing need. Water and food are other top priorities. A human being can only survive without water for about three days, while the typical well-nourished man has enough calories stored to survive between one to three months.
Knowing various ways to start a fire can keep you warm in cold weather and make it possible to cook food or send smoke signals. The ability to navigate in the wilderness and make effective tools may also save your life. Likewise, it is important to recognize the roles played by your mindset and your connections back home. Here are seven of the best outdoor survival tips for any environment:
1. Satisfy Your Basic Need for Shelter
The location where you need to survive determines the best approach to shelter. A shade shelter that allows air to pass through is best for hot and sunny environments, while insulation is crucial for cold climates. Wooded habitats offer plenty of natural resources for building simple lean-tos.
Regardless of the climate and weather, sleeping on an elevated surface is one of the best survival tips. Stack up logs or leaves to make a padded bed to slow body heat loss and increase comfort. You need the best sleep you can get when you are outside for multiple days and nights.
2. Source and Purify Water
Humans can only survive a few days without water. The most basic survival tips are to seek water from a clear-looking, running source and purify any water that you plan to drink or use to clean wounds.
Rainwater and dew are often clean enough to drink directly, but water from other sources such as creeks, rivers or puddles needs to be purified. Boil or treat water to kill harmful pathogens and use a charcoal filter, if desired, to improve the taste.
3. Master the Art of Fire
Many survival tips include packing gear to start fires. While you can produce a spark in a variety of ways, such as rubbing sticks together or combining items such as a beverage can and chocolate bar, it is much easier to ignite fuel that may not be completely dry with a lighter, waterproof match or magnesium fire starter.
You can also use other items to reliably start fires. Burn a small piece of cloth inside a metal container with a cover for a few minutes. Char cloth is primed for rapid ignition. You can also align two batteries, positive to negative, and connect the ends with strands of steel wool to give off a spark.
4. Navigate With the Tools You’ve Got
Determine the north-south line with an analog watch or by drawing a clock face that depicts the current time on the ground. Point the short hour hand at the sun and create an angle by drawing two imaginary lines between it and the 12 o’clock point. Draw another imaginary line bisecting this angle, and the line point away from the sun is north.
A map and compass or satellite navigation gear can make it easier to find your way. In general, packing the right camping gear can help you start a survival scenario ahead of the game.
5. Improvise To Make New Tools
You can make a spear out of a long straight stick. Split the end of the stick to create a fork and use a wooden wedge or stone to separate the tines and lash this piece into place. Sharpen each point with a knife or a sharp rock.
Make a three-pointed spear by adding another smaller, sharpened stick after placing the wedge and lashing this piece into place. If you can split a strong stick into four equal sections, you can make a four-pronged spear for fishing and hunting.
6. Bring a Good Attitude
Your mindset plays a major role in your ability to survive prolonged periods of exposure. Try not to panic and focus instead on remembering survival tips, planning critical tasks and making inventories of available resources.
In addition to remaining focused, you should also try to stay determined. Giving up can undermine your ability to make good decisions that can keep you alive.
7. Let Someone Know Before You Go
One of the best survival tips is to always tell someone where you are going on a camping or hiking trip and provide a schedule. If possible, you should also share the route that you plan to take.
The more background you can provide to someone at home, the more information they can pass on to a rescue party if you don’t check in or return on schedule. It is also a good idea to avoid venturing too far out into the wilderness alone.
How To Remember These Survival Tips
Different skill sets are involved in reading tips for survival online and putting these ideas into practice in the wild. The best way to learn is by doing. While we’re not encouraging you to head out on a camping or hiking trip unprepared, you can practice survival skills in advance. Start with excursions that aren’t too far from civilization and gradually build up your confidence until you can safely stray further from the beaten path.
From packing the right gear for any outdoor excursion to explaining how to treat and dress a wound, Rugged Standard introduces a wide range of skills that can prove helpful in the wilderness. The above survival tips can help you meet basic needs, but you shouldn’t stop here. The more survivalist skills you learn and practice, the better prepared you’ll be in a life-or-death scenario.