Wilderness Survival and Bushcraft

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  I will start off on what is called a PSK or personal survival kit. I always teach along the lines of the 8 necessities of a survival situation to build your kit. I then use the rule of threes to help put more perspective and to prioritize a survival situation.

The Eight necessities are as follows:

1. First Aid

2. Shelter

3. Fire

4. Water

5. Food 

6. Navigation

7. Signaling

8. Rescue

These are the most important things to follow in a survival situation. Your kit should be constructed to follow this list. You constructed kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. It is all completely up to you. I will go over the contents a little later.

  The rule of threes is also very important to learn and follow while in a survival situation. These will prioritize, clarify, and once you learn how to use all the contents of your kit will, help you to effectively use your kit.

Remember the rule of threes. These are

3 seconds if you panic

3 minutes with out air

3 hours of exposure

3 days with out water

3 weeks with out food

  These rules are set in stone. What do they mean exactly? Well lets break them down.

  You have three seconds to live if you panic. This means keep a level head and stay calm. When panic sets in you  begin to breath heavier, your heart rate will climb, and your adrenaline begins to pump. Your body goes into the natural fight or flight response. When this happens your thinking becomes clouded and unclear. It is extremely important to keep this under control. Panicking in a survival situation is a death sentence. By running around with out a clear head you can easily fall and cause severe injury or even death.

  3 minutes with out air. This means anything that will stop your breathing or cause asphyxiation. None the less this will cause death. An example of this happening is drowning or carbon monoxide poisoning or smoke inhalation. All of these are very possible in a survival situation.

 3 hours of exposure. This means becoming overcome by the elements with no precautions or shelter. Whether it be heat or cold being unprotected in the elements will take your life in three hours. Remember the clothing you are wearing is your first line of shelter.

  3 days with out water. This can be slightly longer or drastically shorter. Depending on the amount of activity, your physical condition, and the amount of fluid (water) you drink is a huge factor in this. Just because it is cold doesn't mean your water requirements are any different than if it were hot.

  3 weeks with out food. Food although still very important is the least important in a survival situation. It is important to eat to keep your energy level up it is imperative to have water first, eating and digestion use up valuable water from your body. Eating with no water will further dehydrate you.

  Using the rule of threes in conjunction with the eight necessities will put you survival situation into perspective and show you what equipment to use and when to use it. Lets get back to the kit contents.

  Above all you will need a knife. A good sturdy, full tang blade is the single most important piece of gear you will carry. Your kit is useless with out a knife. Everything you do in a survival situation requires the use of a knife. Don't skimp on the quality of your knife either, you get what you pay for. This is looked at as a life insurance policy, you life should be well worth what you would pay for a knife. I am also not too big on pocket knives. The reason being that there are moving parts. Moving parts break (regardless of the knife) a folding blade will break.

  There are many first aid kits on the market, some great, some not so great. It depends on the manufacture of the kit as to the quality. When buying one make sure you do your research and buy a quality kit. You can in fact build your own kit based on your needs and requirements. Myself I am for building my own. Buy opting to build your own you can add high quality material and items that may not be found in a commercially built kit.

  Shelter can be made on site from natural materials or carried with you in the form of a pre-made shelter. Regardless of its design it needs to be sturdy. Do not go for a small plastic tube tent that will rip and tear with the first gust of wind. I personally go for parachute material or the rain fly off an old tent. Believe it or not I have found these to be the lightest, strongest, and most versatile material to carry. This material will also roll and fold to fit in just about any kit. Try it and you will never pack around that cheap crap ever again. Always carry cord as well. My personal preference for cord is 550 cord. The outer sheath gives you great shelter lashing as well as cord for other projects. The seven inner stands make great line for fishing or even trapping.

  Depending on your fire lighting preference there are thousands of fire starters on the market. What ever design you choose to use and pack with you make sure you carry more than one. This will extend the life of any other equipment you are carrying. This is also good incase you loose one or two.

  Water is heavy, remember that. The daily requirement is 1 gallon per person per day under average conditions. The higher the exertion and temperature the more you will need. There are several brands of retort water pouches on the market they are pretty much all good that I have found so far. These are emergency water rations ( I hate the word ration when it comes to water) They are not intended for your full daily water needs but to be used as a supplement to the water you already have. You should also consider carrying alternate ways of obtaining water. Zip lock bags, clear trash bags or drum liners, and plastic sheeting. These will help with obtaining and transporting water as well. It is also very important to take water purification in to consideration. I prefer Iodine myself as well as a backpackers filter.

  Food can be carried with you as well whether it is a military MRE or a freeze dried ration found at most sporting good stores. These are light with in reason, with a pricy drawback. You should also think of ways to supplement your food supply.  Learn some basic edible plants in the area were you will be traveling. Also carry alternate methods of obtaining food. A small fishing kit can go a long way, not only catching fish but birds and other small animals as well. G.I. trip wire is great to carry as well. This makes decent but light weight snare wire.

  When choosing a compass for navigation choose a compass that is of high quality. After you have chosen your compass buy two of them. This will keep you from not trusting your compass. This happens often, you can actually get to where you don't believe you own compass. By using two you will be able to easily get past this problem. The simple reassurance that both compasses cant be wrong is definitely helpful. I personally stay away from digital compasses as well as GPS. Simply because technology will fail when you need it most. Trust me it will happen.  

  Signaling is an important skill to learn as well. This is to attract the attention of would be rescuers. There are many ways to signal for rescue. In the desert southwest I strongly advise against signal fires and flairs. We have had our problems in the past with these methods. One of witch is the famous Rodeo Chediski fire. My preference for signaling is the U.S. government issued signal mirror. There are also ways of signaling for rescue at night. U.S. government issued strobe lights are very affective. When rescuers are close and moving in on the ground whistles are affective for getting their attention.

 Finally there is rescue. This is what happens when you have done everything right, you get to go home alive. Effective education, physical conditioning, and the proper mental attitude will help insure your survival. 

                                                Water from a wild grape vine

                                                          Building a solar still

                           Using the Dakota hole to cook grasshoppers and crawdads

                                      Magnesium fire starter and the strike force

                                                  A bow made from tent poles

                                                                       Ka-Bar