Survival Techniques

Knowing some basic survival techniques will allow you to overcome a potentially life threatening situation. If you find yourself in an emergency situation knowing to start a fire with your shoestring will provide warmth and the ability to signal rescuers. There are many different views on how many techniques one should know in order to survive an unexpected situation.

The Boy Scouts employ an easy to remember rule when faced with any emergency. The rule they use is S.T.O.P. Which means Stop - before you react, Think - before you respond, Observe - before you make any decision and Plan before taking action.

Survival techniques are not really ranked by priority, but if you find yourself outside during a blizzard, finding or making shelter will become your first priority. If your car breaks down in the desert finding water may need to be your first priority. Regardless of what situation in which you find yourself, you must find or make shelter; find or make water safe to drink; locate food; have the knowledge or tools to start a fire and be able to provide first aid in the event of an injury or sudden illness. The ability to navigate your way out of a dangerous environment or to get yourself to a safe location is also considered important.

Blankets & Shelter - Shelters are the easiest of the survival techniques to master. The materials to create makeshift shelters can be found everywhere. Sticks, leaves, snow, rocks, naturally occurring rock or land formations and caves can all be used to provide or create shelter. Before you leave home, make a small survival kit containing a space blanket and some string and you will always have shelter materials. Nitro Pak has many types of space blankets as well as small compact survival shelters available that can be tucked away in a pocket.

The ability to find or create safe drinking water is a bit more challenging. Dew is a safe source of water but you must know which plants collect the most. These plants may not be available during every season. Grape vines contain lots of sap well into the winter, but you must be able to recognize them with and without leaves. Keeping a McNett Frontier Emergency water filter in your survival kit will make creating safe water from a creek or stream easy. Katadyn Micropur MP1 water purification tablets are even smaller and lighter. Each tablet treats a little over a gallon of water without an iodine aftertaste. Storing a collapsible water container in your survival kit or vehicle ensures that you have a container for your treated water.

Food Until the Garden Grows

Food For EmergenciesFood may be the least of your survival concerns as a person can survive for weeks without food provided that they have water. There will be a slow degradation of a person’s health, response time and their abilities to function properly when food is not available. Learning about edible plants, roots and nuts in areas you frequent will help provide food in an emergency. Keeping dried and packaged foods that have a long shelf life in your survival bag can mean the difference between barely surviving and doing well during a post-disaster situation.

Learning the survival techniques that will allow you to keep yourself warm, safe, dry and fed is the key to overcoming any emergency.