The more skills you learn, the more self-sufficient you become and the better your chances of survival. We’ll go over some basic survival skills and show you how to use them to protect yourself and your loved ones in a disaster.
When you are on your own without the safety net of a functioning society, these are the characteristics and basic survival skills you must master to succeed.
– Maintain a positive mental attitude.
– Find, purify, and filter water
– Look for or construct a shelter.
– Food should be obtained and prepared.
– Be able to start a fire consistently.
– Positivity in Thought
This is more important than the others because when you rely on your ability to wring survival from your surroundings, you’re done once you give up hope. There are many incredible stories of people who have survived avalanches, fires, floods, and being isolated for extended periods by having an unwavering will to survive.
They are ordinary people who refuse to accept defeat. Maintaining a positive mental attitude will give you the strength to never give up on yourself, regardless of the circumstances.
Here are some ideas for instilling this mindset:
Set daily or even hourly goals for yourself, such as reaching the next ridge or obtaining a meal from your surroundings. Make sure they are attainable and goal-oriented. Every step you take will give you a psychological boost and boost your confidence in your basic survival skills.
Focus on what you can change – If a significant disaster has struck, focusing on the injustice of the resulting situation or the loss will not help you. However, concentrating on building a shelter or staying dry will be highly beneficial.
Concentrating your efforts on improving your situation will benefit you in the long and short run. Ignore the big picture and focus solely on improving your current situation.
Maintaining hydration and nutrition will provide you with the energy to persevere in the face of adversity. A steady supply of water and food is critical. You won’t be looking to eat every day, but meeting your essential calorie and hydration needs will be enough to keep you going.
Aiming for 2400-3600 calories per day is a good starting point. Furthermore, if this requirement is met, you can focus more on your recovery efforts or getting help.
Be outwardly positive – positivity breeds positivity. Showing fellow survivors that you have a positive mental attitude will prevent the group from being dragged down by the stress of the disaster. Be the seed that sprouts into higher team morale.
Water
Aside from your own internal fortitude, water is the most important resource you will require. Finding it and knowing how to prepare it for consumption are two of the most important basic survival skills you can learn.
Understand how to spot signs of water. This could include looking at where plants are growing, where the terrain slopes or contours into a natural water trap, or observing animal movements to determine where they get their water.
If you can map a route as part of your bug-out plan, identifying likely water sources along the way will be a huge help.
Water must be treated before it can be consumed.
Drinking contaminated water can be deadly.
Filtration entails passing water through excellent membranes to remove particles and some pathogens. Even the most sophisticated filters may not be able to catch all viruses.
Purification is water treatment with chemicals such as iodine or UV light sources. This kills all pathogens but does not remove particles.
Boiling is a form of purification because it kills all pathogens but does not remove particles. To sterilize water, bring it to a full boil for at least 1 minute.
Because the benefits of filtration and purification differ, it is recommended that a combination of the two be used to ensure water safety. The simplest method is to pour water through a cloth and then boil it.
However, a better method is to pass it through a filter device before purifying it with Steripen tablets. These items should be considered must-haves for any list of bug-out bag necessities.
Capable Of Harvesting Rainfall
Use a Solar Still – You can buy one or make one out of your survival gear. A Solar Still uses the sun’s heat to evaporate the liquid and recapture it as clean water.
Recognize how much water you require – A person can go 72 hours without water. It is recommended, however, that an active person consume 75 percent of their body weight in ounces per day. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink approximately 113 ounces (3.31 liters) of water daily.
Food
Hiking with your Bug Out Bag full of survival gear will burn 400-500 calories in an hour. It is critical to keep your body fueled for it to function as an efficient machine.
First and foremost, ration the food you have with you. You’re more concerned with survival than with feasting. When you’re hungry, eat small portions but don’t overdo it.
Complement your rations with foraged food from the environment. This means you’ll have to learn what edible plants are in the area and how to pick them. Find out where these plants grow as well. Is there a specific berry that grows near water holes? Does a high-calorie plant prefer to grow in the shade?
Learn about these aspects to determine where to look for nutrients. Some plants are only edible after they have been cooked or boiled; learn what you need to do with your local flora to make it palatable. Additionally, know what foods are hazardous or poisonous to consume to avoid becoming ill!
Learn about the animals that live in your area. This includes potential predators to avoid as well as prey to seek. Discover the habitats of these animals. Is there a specific fish that enjoys eddies and whirlpools? To find them, look for them in these areas.
Is there an animal in your area that likes to eat a specific plant? It would be beneficial to place snares near these plants. Learn how to prepare these animals for cooking as well. Skinning and butchering animals, as well as filleting fish, are all part of the job.
Shelters for Survival
As part of their bug-out bag essentials, a well-prepared person will have a means of protecting themselves from the elements. On the other hand, a prepared person will have learned survival shelter building as one of their basic survival skills.
A survival shelter does not need to be complicated or fancy, but it should keep rain/snow out, heat in, and be quickly cobbled together from readily available materials.
Most anything can be used to build a survival shelter, including debris from collapsed buildings, brush, animal hides, or a tarp or poncho.
When developing your bug-out bag contents list, consider bringing a paracord and a survival saw or hatchet, as these can be your best friends when constructing a shelter. You can quickly create a survival shelter out of almost anything with these items.
If you don’t have a paracord, zip ties, duct tape, or other binding material, you can make primitive rope out of strips of tree bark, small green saplings, branches, and vines.
A simple survival shelter could be erected with a frame out of long rigid materials such as tree branches or 2x4s and covered with a poncho or tarp.
If you can’t use a poncho or tarp, layer brush on the frame sloping away from the ground to insulate for warmth and keep moisture out.
Fire
When in a survival situation, fire can provide a variety of benefits, and both building and maintaining one are essential basic survival skills. A fire will boost your morale by providing heat and light and allowing you to purify water and cook food.
To start a fire, you must first provide it with air, fuel, and an ignition source.
Air – Because fire consumes air voraciously, it is critical to construct it so that air can flow into the combustion. Don’t suffocate a fire by pouring too much fuel on it.
Fuel – This is what burns in a fire and can be obtained from various sources. If a branch or stick snaps cleanly, it’s dry and ready to burn. Even if it bends and splinters, it remains green and will smoke and suffocate a fire.
Ignition Source – This can be a lighter, matches, or a portable fire starter. If these items cannot be found, you should learn more primitive means of fire as one of your basic survival skills.
A fire is constructed by stacking increasingly more significant pieces of wood on top of one another. You begin with tinder, which is small, dry, and quickly catches fire. Tree bark, dryer lint, coconut husk, and pine needles are all examples of fuel. From tinder, you progress to kindling typically twigs the size of your little finger.
Then there’s fuel wood, which comes in sizes as small as your thumb. Gradually add more wood until a fire is large enough to ignite logs. In a fire pit, these logs will produce most of the coals.
Learn how to cook with fire. Cooking with coals is more efficient than cooking with a naked flame. Instead of having some parts seared and the inside raw, use coals to produce a more even heat and control the rate at which your food cooks. On the other hand, a naked flame is better at boiling water.
The most common types of fire structures are Teepee and Log Cabin.
A Dakota Fire Pit is another type that is less common but more efficient than these.
No doubt learning basic survival skills will increase your chances of survival significantly. Investing time to teach these basic survival skills will help you be better prepared and provide for yourself and your family when disaster strikes.
