If you were cut off from civilization, could you survive? What kind of abilities would you need to make it back to civilization? Survival skills are about your ability to be self-sufficient. You might think you’d have no chance in a situation where you must rely on yourself completely, but a little common sense will take you a long way.
The basics to surviving can be summed up in four basic categories:
Affixing your position
Creating shelter
Generating a safe food and water source
Building and maintaining a fire
Affixing Your Position
Understanding how to extrapolate your position is vital to lifesaving survival skills . You have several options allowing you to master this important skill. The first consists of a little common sense planning. Always carrying useful tools such as a compass, map of the area, and even a pocket-sized GPS can make the difference between being lost or found.
What if you find yourself without a navigational tool? By planning today you can educate yourself to distinguish cardinal directions using nature. The position of the sun and the stars can guide you if you take the time to understand how.
Creating Shelter
A shelter is vital to surviving the unexpected. A person experienced in survival skills will tell you as much. Carrying a lightweight and portable shelter-such as a tarp-can come in handy for keeping wind, rain, and snow at bay. Learning how to build a shelter using trees, bushes, and other natural building blocks is smart.
Your clothing is just as important as your shelter building abilities. Cotton is the worst material to wear without extra protection. It soaks up water and provides little protection against winds and varying temperatures. Always having a layer of clothing heavier than initially needed is smart. A windbreaker is akin to a personal shelter.
Food and Water
Basic survival skills include learning what types of foods are safe to eat in the wild. It can be easy to chomp on a poisonous plant if you are clueless to wildlife food safety. Being able to fish or hunt will greatly improve your chances of being self-sustaining. Always having a means to boil water will allow you to cook and procure clean drinking water. Always filter water prior to drinking. Waterborne organisms can easily cause massive dehydration and deadly sickness.
Fire
We can’t always carry around fuel, but we can perfect our fire building survival skills . Learning how to start a fire with friction (rubbing sticks together or sparking rocks) can literally save your life. Fire can protect you from animals, signal help, keep you warm, and be used to cook and boil water for drinking. The benefit of learning how to start a fire without matches, a lighter, or gas is incredibly vital because you turn completely self-sufficient.
Survival skills are a combination of preparation and education. A lot of local wilderness organizations offer classes to teach you the basic skills discussed here. The best plan is to have one. By educating and preparing yourself with simple gear you can turn a potential disaster around.