What Do You Need To Do To Survive.

Your First Priority-The Hierarchy of Survival Needs- is to look after that which is most critically needed-FIRST AID-in that particular situation, at that particular time. the person who is drowning is not apt to be concerned with building a shelter on dry land; and the person who is rapidly bleeding to death needn't be overly concerned about hunting for food or water.

About Shelter or Shelters, Survivor Style.

While in many cases you will not have much time in which to look after all your survival needs, shelter is never your first priority and, probably, not your second, third, or even forth.The most important need for shelter is insulation; between you and the ground, in cold, and, the sun in hot weather—insulation first and breaking the wind second.

If you were to sleep on the cold ground, your body heat would conduct into the ground quickly and you might not wake up because of this rapid heat loss.

If, ground cover is your first shelter consideration, and all you have, available, is a thermal blanket, for example, then wrap in it instead of trying to build a tent out of it for overhead cover. Then add to your shelter with natural cover and/or insulation.

You can spend all day building a roof over your head and then freeze to death lying on the cold ground. Build an elevated bed, if possible, or, at least have ample insulation between you and the ground. Pile up boughs and other vegetation underneath any raised beds to keep the wind from flowing under the platform. Then focus on the roof. In extremely hot weather just reverse the process.

Fire Craft

Fire is may be needed for warmth, water purification, to repel predators and insects, signalling rescue personnel and/or just for morale. Fire might, possibly, be a priority as soon as your shelter is constructed and it is usually a good idea to have one, with ample wood for the night, before it gets dark..

In dry warm climates, anyone can create a fire but it takes a certain skill set and knowledge to start a fire in a wet environment. Unless you have extensive fire starting skills, you would need the means to create fire on your person((smoker or not, always carry a cigarette lighter or mini-torch in your pocket, make sure that it is refillable and has adequate fuel) . You simply cannot begin rubbing two sticks together to create fire unless the conditions are near perfect-not exactly true, but, you do have to have some workable knowledge about it. Wet or damp wood and tinder might not allow a fire to be created this way.

Carry a fire kit that contains magnesium sticks, Ferro rods, waterproof matches and dry tinder. Tinder can be cotton balls saturated with petroleum jelly, which are ideal for damp conditions. Alcohol based hand sanitiser or alcohol wipes can also be used. A spark from flint and metal can ignite tinder that has alcohol applied to it. Carry char cloth, which can also be ignited from a single spark along with dried grasses and/or fatwood (pine resin) and wood curls from seasoned wood.

Rope (Cordage)

Cordage might be needed for shelter building, snares, lashing materials to your pack or body, and for carrying or pulling items.

Making cordage from materials found in the wilderness while, like fire building, maybe harder than some survival manuals, and survival adventure, reality shows, try to make it out to be, can be done by anyone—with basic industrial arts, or, home economics knowledge. Always remember, while cord making can be a fun pass time—you know like stone knapping—it is almost never a necessity(there are other ways of obtaining cordage in any disaster/survival situation-it is seldom, ever a necessity and might be almost impossible to accomplish in cold weather, particularly if there is a good deal of snow as well. But, should you have the time-to waste, persistence might, eventually pay off , provided of course, you have any idea, at all, of what you are really attempting to do—that is succeed at Canada’s national game and--WIN. Certain types of rope, string or twine may be made from plant material as well as animal sinew; and, you are—well maybe-- surrounded by plant materials in a wilderness environment.

Plant materials that are ideal for making cordage include dogbane, milkweed, hemp, flax, bulrushes, cattails, yucca, willow, cedar, tuliptrees (many times mistaken for poplar) and basswood. You can essentially make twine or string from any plant material that can be twisted or plaited.

The fibre of the plant is used and then the individual strands are twisted or braided together. In some cases, a supple vine can be used as is. Grasses can be used by tying the ends of three pieces together to do a simple braid. Larger fronds like those found on cattail or certain cacti can be used to make carrying containers by weaving the fronds into baskets, bowls or even into sleeping mats. To make string from cattail fronds separate the fronds into fibres and twist or braid together.

Clothing and other material can be unravelled and, or cut into strips and twisted together—so may strips of plastic. If, you become stranded in a vehicle, you may have plastic grocery sacks that can be used and even the vehicle wiring can become cordage. The material in car seating can be cut into strips and braided together as well. Do not forget shoelaces and drawstrings on clothing and backpacks.

Food Gathering

Hunting

Always, in any disaster/true survival situation, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, hunt for and gather WATER, and any, available, berries, nuts, vegetation, first and foremost.

To many weekend survivors and urban bushcrafters; those really not at all familiar with Canada’s true national game; humans and grizzly bears, are considered apex predators, living in an environment where they are the biggest animal with no predators that consider them prey because of their size and ferocity; which would mean they are hunters and typically not the hunted.  

A human’s ability to reason and use weaponry along with the capability to control the environment around them is why humans are considered, by most of these people, to be APEX predators. While, of course, again, as usual; neither premise is true- for not many humans normally do any hunting and:

1.   YOU HAVE TO HUNT. But more importantly, you have to know what to hunt for-If you enter the wilderness without hunting or gathering; not necessarily, killing trapping skills, you may very well, probably, go hungry.

2.   While historically, grizzly bears did at one time live in an environment in which they were, arguably, among the top FIVE or so, land animals in size (total bulk), after woods bison, prairie bison, elk (North American moose), and the polar bear of the high-Canadian- arctic. While they might have run up against an odd very large elephant seal, or sea lion; their normal range was too far south for them encounter many walrus.

3.   Grizzly bears are not carnivorous, the only truly carnivorous bear, in the entire world is the (most live in Canada- Churchill is considered, the polar bear capital of the world).

• Nearly five times as many people are STILL, killed or seriously injured each year in North America by bison as by all predators combined.

4.   In any case, being an apex predator does not mean that prey give themselves up to you. Learn hunting skills before you need the skills to provide food for you and your family. Hunters that are desperate rarely do well for obvious reasons and hunters become desperate because of lack of success that stems from lack of training and experience. You do not need to come back to camp more than one time empty handed with hungry mouths staring up at you to understand desperation.

You need certain skills sets, tools, and equipment to hunt successfully. This does not mean you cannot improvise. You are not an apex predator and probably never will be but, hopefully, you do have ability to reason, in other words you may be able to, intelligently, solve some simple, problems.

Hunting Trapping Snaring Small Game

If you do not have a firearm, cross bow or longbow and after most any disaster or in a true survival situation, you won’t; then your chances of bringing down big game are low. This means you have to concentrate on smaller game that can be caught in snares or traps or in some cases brought down by thrown sticks or stones (highly unlikely, considering most “week end, survivor /adventure game players would not have the first clue as to how to go about doing so. Certain birds can be knocked down by stones and hunters in certain parts of the world routinely hunt birds and small mammals with sticks.

Spears can be used as well but success with a spear for most “Survivors” has more to do with luck than knowledge or skill. However, spears can be used by practically anyone to fish with if you stand directly over the fish and plunge straight down while still hanging onto the spear.

Thrown-something you don’t want to be ever doing- spears unless specifically designed, and balanced, (not a “survival” tool) do not have enough thrust behind them.

Snares once set can be considered a passive food-gathering method so set your snares first and then fish or hunt. You simply cannot rely on just one method of capturing game. You have to increase your chances of success by employing multiple methods.

Set snares along game trails that lead to and from water but keep in mind larger predators also use these trails so you will be competing for resources. Trapped animals are an easy meal for larger animals so you have to check your traps often.

A simple snare is nothing more than cordage or wire in a loop with a slipknot. The animal walks into the noose and it tightens as they try to push through. The loop must be sized for the type of game in the area. Too big of a loop and the animal walks through the snare and two small of loop means their head cannot enter the loop.

Tracking

You see tracks in the snow or mud, now what do you do? You are hungry, do you follow the tracks or sit tight and hope another animal comes along because the tracks may indicate a trail that other animals might move along as well.

You should be able to tell right away if it is a trail used by all animals, trails usually lead somewhere, and it is usually to a water source. Multiple tracks of various animals and the age of the tracks would indicate a game trail that has been used for some time.

You have to know to some extent how old the tracks are, if they are days old it will not do you any good to follow them. In a survival situation, you have to balance the effort against what you may gain. If you burn up 2,000 calories in hopes of stumbling upon something then you will likely end up with a deficit at the end of the day.

With a little practise, you can determine fresh tracks from old tracks particularly in snow or mud. Tracks in snow will lose their shape quickly depending on wind and temperature. If you cannot look at the track and see an actual print embedded then it is likely an old track. Older tracks in the snow all tend to look alike and it is difficult to determine if it is a deer, rabbit or even human after a while because of snow melting and from snow that has been blown into the tracks.

Tracks hours old in the mud may, but, do not count on it, begin to crumble at the edges. If, there is sun or breezes, you can easily see where the mud is drying around the rim.

Bent or broken vegetation is another sign an animal or human has passed by. In cold weather, it will be harder to determine how long ago because the vegetation will not likely have sap. Green vegetation will have seepage, a fresh break is easily identified by the fresh sap, and older breaks will be readily evident as well by the effects of weathering. Note the height of the break from the ground to get an idea of the size of the animal.

Grasses that have been trampled will typically begin to spring back after an hour in warm weather but the time it takes depends on how high the grass is. If the grass is, only a few inches high it will spring back into position faster than deeper grass.

****Foraging, Gathering****

Foraging is simply the act of gathering supplies usually food. Edibles to forage for in a wilderness environment include nuts, berries, and edible plants.

Remember, some plants and berries can be toxic to humans sometimes resulting in death if eaten.

There are edible plants however, that are readily identifiable from their pictures such as cattails, arrowroot, and even day lilies growing wild. These plants do not resemble other plants that may be poisonous.

Everyone knows what pine cones look like along with pine trees, or do they. Pine nuts found in pine cones from any tree are edible as well as the inner layer of bark on all pine trees.

Pinion nuts, for example, were a staple of Native Americans diets and the local people often migrated according to the Pinion nut’s growing season.

Berries that are easily identified include blackberries, raspberries and Indian strawberries, which should not be confused with so-called wild strawberries. Strawberries really are not wild berries and if you find the white blossomed berries then they are traditional strawberries and not Indian berries. The white blossomed plants are likely holdouts from a farm that was in the area or birds have carried the seed. Indian strawberries have yellow blossoms and do not taste like a strawberry but they are edible and plentiful if you find a patch.

Foraging must be done regularly because you are competing with birds and other mammals in the area so you need to keep track of the ripening process. Over time, you will know when to begin looking and where to look.©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved.