So, you’re an outdoor person who goes on wilderness adventures every now and then, you inevitably find yourself in tricky situations which you wouldn’t face in the indoor world, away from the wild. You can tackle such situations by learning some unique skills by watching great survival tv shows. The following are 10 survival tips to ensure your safety.
1. Build A Shelter
You must learn to build a shelter that’ll protect you from heat and cold, thus always carry the items required to build a shelter, like a tarp and ropes. But, in case you get lost, then you’ll have to build a shelter from scratch. In such cases, find trees for support, assemble bamboos, logs, leaves, sticks or anything with which you can build a shelter to keep yourself safe from the surroundings.
2. Find And Store Water
With all the trekking and the walking, you’re bound to get thirsty and you’ll run out of your drinking water. Thus, finding water should be your second most important survival priority. Be aware of the water sources in the area, collect it in your container, and make sure to always purify the water before drinking and storing.
3. Acquire Food
To keep yourself alive, you must find and prepare food. There are several ways to hunt for food in the wild like trapping, hunting, fishing and the ability to identify edible plants. You should also know the method of preparing your acquired food safely and always cook it away from your shelter.
4. Start And Build A Fire
Fire is the most essential element in the wild to keep warm on a cold night, cook food, purify water, to send smoke signals and so on. Typically, a lighter or firestarter to help you build a fire, but you should also be able to start a fire from scratch in case of unexpected situations.
5. Send Survival Signals
In case you get lost or are trapped in a dangerous situation, you could send out signals to attract rescuers. In daylight, collect green vegetation to send a smoke signal up in the air or spell out S.O.S. with branches. At night, however, find the highest altitude spot and light a fire to attract attention.
6. Navigation
Know the area before you go there and draw its map, also carry a GPS device to always stay on the trail and not get lost. In case you do, rely on nature to navigate your way back to safety like the sun, the stars and the rivers.
7. Make A Spear
Having a spear makes it easier to catch a game and fish. But if you don’t have one, you can easily build one. Find a strong branch, carve its end with a knife until it’s pointy and sharp. Then place or cook it over a fire to harden it and remove all the moisture from it.
8. Understand Wildlife
The possibilities of coming face-to-face with a wild animal are low, but it’s still a possibility. Your instinct upon seeing any animal would be to run, but you shouldn’t. Instead, stay calm and slowly make way for the animal to walk away. Also, stay in open areas away from danger-zone waters and carry a pepper spray to repel any bear or deers.
9. Know The Basic Knots
You must know a variety of knots to secure hunting traps, create a shelter, to fish and for so many other life-saving facilities. There are dozens of knots with specific uses, but learning the basic ones like the bowline knot, overhand knot and figure 8 will help you in survival situations.
10. Learn Basic Medical Skills
Finally, you must know you to perform first-aid on you. You’re bound to get burns, wounds, and cuts in the wild and you should be able to treat each of them accordingly. It helps if you learn how to stitch or cauterize wounds.
