Posts Tagged wilderness survival
5 fire building tips
Whether your at the deer lease, building a fire in your bar-b-q pit, or lost in the wilderness, building a fire is a skill that must be mastered. There is a difference in knowing how to build a fire with a lighter and charcoal lighter fluid, and knowing how to build a fire just before sundown when your lost in the woods.
1) Alcohol prep pads – These are the things that the nurse uses to clean your skin right before you get a shot. Their good for cleaning wounds and starting fires. The alcohol content allows the vapors to burn before the cloth of the pad to burn, so you might get a couple of minutes of burn time out of 1 pad. Their lightweight, easy to use, easy to light, and multi-purpose items.
2) Pencil and pencil sharpener – Not as easy to light as the alcohol prep pad, but will help you get a fir built. Use the pencil to write with, just as leaving notes at the truck before you head out on a hiking trip, and use the sharpener to get wood shavings to help build a fire.
3) Dip your matches – Even though a lot of people recommend dipping your matches in wax, I do not like doing that. The wax coating makes the match difficult to strike, and in some cases the match head might just snap off instead of lighting. Waterproof finger nail polish will give you a thin water proof coating that is easier to remove then wax.
4) Bow and Drill – Might take you a long time to build a fire, but if it was good enough for primitive man, its good enough for you.
5) Magnifying glass – May only work when the sun is out, but its good for looking at splinters. Being able to look at small splinters and start fires makes the magnifying glass a dual purpose item.
Comments – Post your comments in this forum thread about fire building tips.
Wilderness survival quiz on snake bites
Lets say that your hiking along, you dont see this snake on the trail, step on it and your bitten – what do you do? Your a couple of miles from the trail head, your out of cell phone range, what should you do in this type of situation?
This picture and video were tank in East Texas, just a few miles north of Beaumont, and during the month of September, 2009. The snake was left unharmed and was not injured in anyway.
My son, step son, and I were hiking along a nice clear stream that flows year round. When we stopped for a break, I walked up on top on a sand bar only to see this snake coiled up.
After filming a video and taking some pictures, we loaded up our packs and moved on down the stream.
Post your comments in the snake bite first aid thread of the wilderness survival forums.
Food sources in streams and creeks
If your in a wilderness survival situation, keep in mind that everything in the world needs water. So if you come across a creek, stream, pool of water, pond, lake or river, chances are your gonna be able to find some kind of food source.
immature muscadine grape
A couple of days ago my kids and I (Kevin) went on a fishing trip on local creek. While we were there I noticed some Muscadine grapes hanging over the creek. Its been awhile since I have seen these grapes – I see the vines all the time but you have to catch the grapes at just the right time of year. When the grapes are ready to eat they will turn a bright purple color.
When the grape is a bright green colors, its no ready to eat and will have an unpleasant bitter taste to eat. As the grape turns a purple color, the bitterness will slowly go away. So if the grape is mostly purple and a little green, the bitter taste will not be too bad. But its best to eat the grapes when they are a deep purple color.
Warning about eating food you find in the wilderness: Unless you are 100% sure what it is – DO NOT EAT IT! There is no need in risking your health or even your life on eating something. Some plants are poisonous and can make you very sick. So ff there is any doubt of what it is – DO NOT EAT IT! Its not worth it.
The only reason why I ate the grapes in the video, is because I was raised in the area and have known what Muscadine grapes are since I was a child.
Wilderness survival quiz ID these things in the water
 wilderness-survival |
This should be a pretty simple question, even for a 5 year old. This picture and the video was filmed on a rock flat where the overflow from a stream goes. Meaning, when the stream overflows, the water runs over this rock flat. When the water recedes there are these pools of water.
Inside one of these pools of water are some things that were swimming around. They were about 1/2 inch long, had a head and a tail. For the most part they were just sitting still, but when I moved around, they started swimming. Maybe I scared them? |
To help out, here is some geographical information.
Location: East Texas
Date: July 18, 2009
What are the things in the water, what can you do with them, are they edible,,, just post whatever you want in the forums.
Post your comments in this thread of the wilderness survival forum.
Survival quiz finding water in the wilderness
The question is, how do you find water in the wilderness? In the following video example there is a dried up creek bed with evidence that water had been there – such as small pools and discolored sand.
The video was taken in East Texas, just north of Jasper. Over the past month the lack of rain fall has pushed the area into drought conditions. Creeks and streams that normally flow all year long have dried up. Hikers and campers that were depending on those creeks as a water source are going to be sorely surprised to find them dried up.
Post your comments in the finding water in dried up creek beds thread of the survivalist forum.
Wilderness survival books
Wilderness Survival
A new wilderness survival books section has been added to online store lineup. These are the kinds of books that every hiker, camping or even day hikers should include in their pack. Whether your trip is 1 day or a week long excursion – its always good to have a book on wilderness survival in your pack. Some people may say “why do I need one of those books for?” Besides covering topics such as first aid, navigation, wild foods, and shelter building, these books also discuss a wide range of other topics.
I (Kevin) personally recommend the SAS Survival Guide and the US Army Survival Manual. Both of those survival books are an excellent source of information.
Visit the wilderness survival forum
Ray Mears builds a shelter in the rainforest
In this video, Ray Mears builds a shelter in the jungles of a rainforest. Special thanks goes to the BBC for posting this video on youtube. Be sure to visit the official Ray Mears website.
Woods shock the silent killer
Woods shock refers to a persons mental state after the realization that they are lost. Its the effect of taking someone from their normal environment, and putting them into a situation where they do not have the slightest idea where they are at. The degree, or level of woods shock varies from person to person. The effects range from fear to all out panic.
Living in a city, people have streets, and street names to keep them oriented. We know where we are at because this street connects to that street, and so on. When a person has been raised in the city or town environment, they become accustomed to knowing the street layout and how to get from one place to another.
In the wilderness, there are no street signs, or names of roads. This lack of normal guidance (no street or roads) has certain profound psychological effects on people that become lost in the wilderness.
Very little research has been done on “woods shock” as it can only be studied when a person is lost. When the search and rescue team finds the person, the woods shock goes away and the person returns to their normal mental state.
Children who have been lost in the woods overnight, were rarely able to describe anything about their experience. The children simply could not put their experience into words. The children that are able to describe being lost, said they hid from monsters at night (remember these “monsters” for later in this article). Adults who spent the night lost in the woods, described hearing wild dogs, coyotes or even wolves. Adults said they heard sounds that came from a type of K9, even though there were none in the area. Some adults also described frequently hearing voices in the night.
Sometimes the lost person mistakes the rescue dogs for wolves and will hide from the search and rescue teams. So that might explain some of what the lost people heard. Children will see lights and voices in the night (which is really the search and rescue teams with flashlights calling the childs name), the children will sometimes think that the lights and voices are monsters and will hide from the rescue teams. In the childs mind they are seeing “monsters” in the dark, but in reality its the search and rescue parties.
Even though there are several levels of “Woods Shock”, only three are going to be discussed.
Ray Mears cooks a fish stew
Pretty interesting video about fishing and cooking with wild plants. One thing I really like about Ray Mears is his voice and the way he talks. While speaking, he stays at a steady pace, does not get in a hurry, and keeps his tone about the same.
The second part of the video talks about bears in the Rocky Mountains.
Survival Quiz – ID these tracks.
This tracks were found along a shallow creek in East Texas. What kind of tracks do you think they are?
Location: East Texas, just north of Beaumont
Date: January 18th, 2008
 Animal Track |
If you wish to comment on this article, visit this thread in the wilderness survival forum.