A camping trip can turn into a survival situation quickly. A trail goes missing, a car breaks down on a lightly traveled road, a group gets separated. These skills aren’t only for preppers. Anyone who goes outdoors, or who drives a long empty road, benefits from knowing them.
The skills below are the basics: signaling, water, fire, food, mindset, first aid, shelter, navigation, knots, cooking, self-defense and firearms. Each section pairs the standard approach with a few field improvisations. Practice them before you need them. Reading about a bow drill is not the same as getting an ember with one.
1. Send a survival signal #
Even a skilled survivor ultimately needs rescue, and rescuers need to find you and understand that you are in trouble. The traditional distress signal is three of anything. Three fires in a triangle, visible to an aircraft overhead, will be read as a call for help. Three whistle blasts do the same on the ground, which is a good reason to carry a whistle. If you don’t have one, you can improvise by whistling through an acorn cap.
Two other methods work well when you have time to set them up:
- Signal fire. Build it somewhere open and visible, like a hilltop or a forest clearing. It isn’t the flame that gets noticed, it’s the smoke rising in the sky.
- Mirror signal. A flash from a mirror can be seen for miles, wherever you are. Sweep the reflection back and forth toward your target.
Used properly, these get you seen. If not immediately, then someone who sees you will send help or inform the authorities.
2. Find and purify water #
You won’t last long without water, and dehydration arrives sooner in hot country. A person can survive only about three days without it, so locate a source early and keep a backup supply until you do. Fill durable bottles every time you pass a river or lake. A reasonable target is around 2 liters a day, adjusted to how much you’re sweating and working.
Rainwater is one source, and following water downhill is another. Maps can help here more than guesswork, because water on a map is water you can plan toward. Whatever you find, treat it as unsafe. Rivers, lakes and puddles carry bacteria and other germs unless you sterilize them. Strain out sediment through a cloth, then boil the water. A one-minute boil is the number the original guidance used.
A field filter uses gravity and a cloth strip. Put the container of dirty water higher than an empty one, and run a strip of cloth, or a kitchen towel, so it sits in both. The cloth carries water across and leaves the worst of the dirt behind. It’s slow, but it works when nothing else is available. Remember that it strains; it doesn’t disinfect, so boil afterward.
3. Start and tend a fire #
Dehydration and hypothermia are the two most dangerous threats to your survival, and a fire helps with both. It warms you, boils your water, cooks your food and signals for help. You should be able to start one without a lighter, ferro rod or matches. Sticks are the easiest route. The common friction methods are the bow drill, hand drill and fire plow, and you should learn and practice them early.
Tending matters as much as starting. Gather dry material first: tinder to catch, kindling to build, then larger fuel. Wet weather makes this harder, so look for dead, dry wood under cover. If matches are what you have, keep them in a waterproof container or a zip bag; matches that have been rained or snowed on may not light.
Three improvised sparks show up in the survival literature. Both involve electricity and both can hurt you if you’re careless:
- Steel wool and a battery. Touch fine steel wool to the terminals of a battery and it glows and ignites. Transfer it quickly to a kindling pile and blow on it gently. This only works if you have spare batteries, steel wool and dry tinder.
- Foil or gum wrapper and an AA battery. Survival instructor Creek Stewart recommends short-circuiting a battery this way. Fold the wrapper to narrow its middle, and touch each end to a battery terminal. The narrow part heats up and ignites, giving you enough of a spark for a tinder bundle.
- Jumper cables and a pencil. Expose the graphite core of a lead pencil, clip one jumper cable to it and the other to a car battery, and the pencil will glow and ignite. It’s a real hack and a hazardous one. Handle the cables carefully, keep clear of the battery, and set it up where a fire is safe.
Campfires are also a major cause of unregulated forest fires. Clear the ground around it, keep it small, and put it out completely.
4. Find food #
People have been found alive after weeks in the wilderness, some barely functional and some surprisingly strong. The difference was often that the second group knew how to source food. Edible plants are the best option, but only if you know which plants and herbs are safe, because many are toxic. Learn the local ones before you go. In North America, for example, avoid poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac. Hunting or fishing is possible too, though harder.
Fish are far easier to catch than birds or small animals. A hook can be improvised from the tab of a soda can, or from well-carved wood: a sharp stick with two pointed ends works as a gauge hook. Make a small hole with your knife to attach the line.
You don’t need much food to survive a few days, but you do need enough energy to carry out the other skills on this list. Don’t eat anything you can’t identify.
5. Keep the right mindset #
Panic is the real killer in many emergencies. People who panic stop making rational decisions, and every other skill here depends on thinking clearly. Control your breathing. Cultivate composure and self-confidence, and believe you can get through this. The U.S. military field manual says survival is a “decision,” and that’s accurate.
Staying calm allows you to assess the situation. Talk to experienced survivors and let them teach you how they think, in addition to what they do.
6. Handle basic first aid #
Injury lowers your chances of survival, and you may not have anyone with you to help. Learn to treat yourself. Learn to use your kit too.
- Minor cuts. If bleeding is minimal, apply direct pressure with your thumb until it stops.
- Low-degree burns. Cool the burn with water, cover it with a dressing, stay hydrated, and take a painkiller such as ibuprofen if you have one.
- Sprains. Use RICE: rest, ice or cool, compress, elevate. Wrapping with a t-shirt sleeve will compress, and elevation improves blood flow and eases pain.
- Dislocations and fractures. Don’t force a joint back in without training; get it supported and get help. For a fracture, splint with a couple of sticks tied on with shoelaces to hold the bone steady.
7. Build a shelter #
Away from home you’re exposed to weather and animals. Most deaths in survival situations come from hypothermia, which is avoidable. If you didn’t carry a tent, use standing trees, branches, leaves and other vegetation to build one.
Site it on flat, well-drained, dry ground, close to a body of water but not right beside it. Stay out of valleys and out of the path of surface runoff. Insulate it well. In an emergency with no building experience, look for existing cover:
- Get inside a cave for protection from rain and wind.
- Use boulders and large logs as the base of a wall.
- Take cover under large trees.
- Use hollow trees as a sleeping burrow.
In cold climates, find a small crevice such as a rock overhang, cave or tree canopy if you can. If not, stack limbs and branches, fill the gaps, and throw leaves, needles and moss over the outside for natural insulation. In snow, dig and pile snow in layers to make a snow shelter. In heat, shade is the first priority. A lean-to, with logs stacked against a tree at about 45 degrees and small leafy branches filling the gaps, gives shade and sheds rain. Choose a place away from mosquitoes, ticks and other insects.
8. Navigate without a map #
If no one comes, you may need to walk out. As long as you know the direction of any civilization, you can find help. Always carry a compass, but learn the alternatives for when you don’t have it.
- Stick and shadow. Push a long stick into the ground in an open area. Mark where the tip of its shadow falls, wait a while, and mark it again. A line between the marks runs east to west, because the sun moves that way, and from there you can work out north and south.
- Analog watch. Point the hour hand at the sun. The midpoint between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock mark is the north-south line. At 3 pm, for instance, the midpoint falls between the 1 and 2. This works in the northern hemisphere.
- Polaris. At night, find the North Star at the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. Facing it, you face true north.
- Crescent moon. Draw a line connecting the horns of a crescent moon down to the horizon. It gives a rough southerly bearing.
9. Know your knots #
Survival involves a lot of tying: shelter frames, repairs, hanging gear, holding things up. Each knot has its own use, and you should learn a handful well rather than many badly. Paracord is especially useful for practice.
10. Cook what you catch #
If you’re stranded with nothing to eat, knowing how to cook what you catch or gather makes a real difference. Start your fire from whatever materials are available, and don’t use lighter fluid in an emergency; it’s dangerous and wasteful. Build the fire from scratch with friction methods if you must. In dry weather, tinder and twigs should be easy to find. If it’s cloudy or raining and you have nothing to start a fire with, build a fire reflector, and concentrate on finding dry fuel.
11. Be able to defend yourself #
If you’re stranded or caught up in a disaster, being able to fight is essential. Martial arts build strength, endurance, discipline and focus along with the moves themselves. Even if your plan is to avoid conflict and hide until rescue, knowing some basic moves, and having the willpower to use them, can get you out of a dangerous situation.
12. Learn to shoot #
Firearms are useful for hunting and for protection against wildlife, and they can help in an emergency. As long as you have basic knowledge, learning to shoot isn’t hard or time-consuming. Know your firearm thoroughly before heading into nature, so you can use it correctly and quickly when it matters. Follow local law and basic safety rules every time.
Where to start #
There are tens, maybe hundreds, of skills that could help in the wilderness. These are the ones that cover the things most likely to kill you: exposure, thirst, injury and panic. Disasters don’t choose who they hit, so everyone should learn them early. Pick one this weekend. Build a fire without a lighter, or find north without a compass, and do it again until it is boring.
Related reading: the full survival skills guide; What to pack in a wilderness survival kit; Wilderness Survival Kit List: A Complete Checklist.