The 5 Basic Survival Skills
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Acquiring survival skills is an ongoing process that will last for your entire life. There is always more to learn and experience, which is part of the fun of being a survivor.
As your survival expertise grows the knowledge and abilities you gain are often useful in other areas. For example survivors prepare ahead of time, and they are experts in the art of ingenuity and inventiveness. Excellent attributes for anyone.
The possible environments and situations you could find yourself in are innumerable. Although each situation has its particular requirements for successfully surviving, in the final analysis it is mastery of five basic survival skills that are essential. Proficiency and preparedness in these 5 basic skills will give you the edge and put you on your way toward becoming a talented survivor.
First Basic Survival Skill - Fire
Knowing how to build a fire is the best survival skill you can have. Fire provides warmth, light, and comfort so you get on with the business of survival. Even if you do not have adequate clothing a good fire can allow you to survive in the coldest of environments.
Fire keeps away the creatures that go bump in the night and so you can have the peace of mind and rest you need. And that is not all. Fire will cook your food and purify your water, both excellent attributes when you want to stay healthy when potential disease causing organisms are lurking about. Fire will dry your clothing and even aid in the making of tools and keeping pesky insects at bay.
But even that is not all. Fire and smoke can be used for signaling very long distances.
Always have at least two, and preferably three, ways of making a fire at you immediate disposal. With waterproof matches, a butane lighter, and a magnesium fire starter or Swedish firesteel you should be able to create a fire anytime anywhere no matter how adverse the condtions.
So the lesson here is to learn the art of fire craft. Practice and become an expert. Your ability to create a fire is perhaps the most visible mark of an experienced survivor.
Second Basic Survival Skill - Shelter
Shelter protects your body from the outside elements. This includes heat, cold, rain, snow, the sun, and wind. It also protects you from insects and other creatures that seek to do you harm.
The survival expert has several layers of shelter to think about. The first layer of shelter is the clothing you choose to wear. Your clothing is of vital importance and must be wisely chosen according to the environment you are likely to find yourself in. Be sure to dress in layers in order to maximize your ability to adapt to changing conditions.
The next layer of shelter is the one you may have to build yourself, a lean-to or debris hut perhaps. This is only limited by your inventiveness and ingenuity. If the situation requires, your shelter can be insulated with whatever is at hand for the purpose. Being prepared, you may have a space blanket or tarp with you, in which case creating a shelter should be relatively easy.
Before you are in need of making a survival shelter, be sure to practice and experiment with a variety of materials and survival scenarios on a regular basis. Should the need arise you will be glad you did.
Third Basic Survival Skill - Signaling
Signaling allows you to make contact with people who can rescue you without having to be in actual physical contact with them. There are a variety of ways to signal for help. These include using fire and smoke, flashlights, bright colored clothing and other markers, reflective mirrors, whistles, and Personal Locator Beacons. Three of anything is considered a signal for help: 3 gunshots, 3 blows on a whistle, three sticks in the shape of a triangle.
In a pinch, your ingenuity in devising a way to signal potential help could very well save your life.
Fourth Basic Survival Skill - Food and Water
Whenever you plan an excursion be sure to always bring extra food and water. Having more on hand than you think you need will give you that extra measure of safety should something happened and you have to stay out longer than anticipated.
It is important that you know how to ration your water and food as well as find more in the environment in which you find yourself. You can go without food for a number of days, but living without water for even a few days will cause your efficiency to drop dramatically.
If at all possible, boil any water you find in order to kill disease organisms that may be in even the cleanest looking water. Filtering or chemically treating water is second best.
Fifth Basic Survival Skill - First Aid
Always bring along your first aid kit and a space blanket. Most injuries you are likely to encounter in the wilderness are relatively minor scrapes, cuts, bruises, and burns. Larger injuries are going to need better facilities than that which you have at your disposal, which means you will need outside help.
Panic is your number one enemy when you are in any emergency situation, be it injured, lost, or stranded. What you need in these situations is first aid for the mind.
Think STOP:
Sit
Think
Observe
Plan
Your best defense in any emergency is your ability to think and make correct decisions. Building a fire is often the beginning first aid for the mind. Doing so will keep you busy and provide an uplift from the warmth, light and protection fire provides.
Practice Survival Skills
The expert survival skills and know-how you have accumulated through practice and experience will serve you well. When the real thing comes along, you will be prepared and adept at staying alive. Where others have perished, as a survivor you will know you can make it. And that is a good feeling to be sure.
Arizona
Kenilworth, IL
Austin Texas
wy
Atlanta, Georgia
Pleasant Grove, Utah
Pleasant Grove, Utah
Germany, berlin
Beijing China
Elkhart IN
Roger Mills County Oklahoma
-edited by Survival Topics admin-
Be careful about telling people to ration water. Many people who died in the desert or under very dry conditions were found dead with water in their possession. Drink the water and let your body ration it out. Keep some to wet the mouth and nasal passages.
Signaling is good if you are under normal conditions and expect someone to help. Whistles and a pressurized can with horn attachment on the top are good. Get the horn at Wal Mart in the section that has boating supplies. Do not attrack those who plunder. Starting a fire is easy.
You need to practice starting a fire in a driving rain out of doors; and in a snow storm or after you have complete snow cover on the ground.
You left out one of the most basic skills; map reading, use of a compass and how to traverse open country. Moving across miles of open country side is not like a walk in the a park on concrete. You must have an appreciation of micro-topography; how to read the land looking ahead and pick a route that is accessable and with the least grade for climbing/walking.
The second great mistake in this list is security. Security is a survival skill. Recall what happened during the Katrina catastrophe in New Orleans. If you mastered all the above skills but let security take care of itself... you may became a victim of those who would take what you have.
Third: if you have camping equipment and think you might have to live out of doors using it.. practice... and you MUST practice doing it in the dark.
I am USAF retired; USDA SCS, retired; Peace Coprs Africa; NM Mounted Patrol commissioned police officer; educator USA and foreign private American schools; Minute Man Civil Defense Corps.
Canada
I agree that people will buy survival kits and think that is all they need to survive. What it really takes to be a survivor is knowledge and experience.
For example, it is easy to be an armchair survivor and think you can start a fire any time you want, but when it is cold and everything is wet another thing.
It easy to think you have what it takes to survive in the wilderness but until you actually go out there and do it under adverse conditions you have no idea.
That is why hundreds of people die in wilderness areas every year, even people who thought they were prepared.
St.Helens, Oregon
The most important survival skills are known as the Sacred Order and are (in order of importance): Shelter, Water, Fire, Food.
Shelter is always first because without shelter you will be exposed to the elements which is the easiest way to die in the bush. Remember the first rule for Survival: Conservation of Energy. Water is a close second due to the ever constant threat of dehydration. Fire is next because you need fire to purify water (some water can be collected in the form of dew for example, which does not have to be purified). Food is last because you can live sometimes for weeks without it but not without water. Violate the Sacred Order and you're scavenger bait!
united arab emirates
i find it very interesting just to mind the simple but empowering techniques on how to survive on lifes struggleness on nature & environments.
school 30
This is one of the best survival tips web sites ever.
n,j
These are some of the best survival ideas.
N.Y.
I have no idea about outdoor survival, I'm a city girl. Some of the people who made the comments have some points that made me rethink the order of what this article is talking about. I'm glad that this article gives people some pointers on survival because that is very important.
Australia, Melbourne,Victoria
i think this article teaches alot to secondary students like me
Lac La Biche , Alberta , Canada
In northern Canada we priorize these skills a bit differently; what use is a fire if your in the middle of the frozen tundra. Location of both fire and shelter is critical to your survival. We often use fire as a task to to provide warmth , light and sense of security. We choose to put fire where we will begin the process of building a shelter to sustain heat and protect us from the wind and cold.
Once this accomplished signals are critical. These tasks should be done first. Water hydration is next , food is not even a consideration; he task of finding food is not worth the rewards of the food collected or caught , most time the energy expenditure is greater than the benefits. Body mangement is the key !!! conserve sweat not water !!! Scully.
kalskag alaska
These are some of the best survival skills, thank you for showing them to us!
Small island near the coast of France, called Jersey
I've read so much of the info on this site that I'm in danger of information overload! This really is a great site, but unfortunately there is one thing missing from my perspective:
As I live on an island with very little woodland and even less chance of wild camping, there is no way I can put any of this to any practical use without paying a fortune for the boat or plane to get off the island and another small fortune to get help for my wife to look after the tribal offspring while I go wandering around in the wild lands of North America, or anywhere else for that matter!
You guys in Canada and USA have no idea how frustrated I am - actually maybe you do by now :)
Anway, just make sure you look after your widerness. What did the North American Indian Chief say? "We do not own the land, we are borrowing it from our children" or words to that effect...
If anyone wants to treat me to a week in the wilderness, please drop a note here - hehe ;)
Cheers Ali
Survival Topics: Good post, Ali and thank you for reading Survival Topics. Yes, of course the site is slanted toward wilderness survival in northern North America since that is where I have lived all my life. Still, there are some survival skills used in this area that are applicable anywhere in the world.
And I agree: it is impossible to really own anything in this world, we are only using it for the little time we are here and then passing it on as it was passed to us.
Still stranded...
I agree - survival techniques apply anywhere. They may need small tweaks to apply to the situation but they still apply.
The greatest precedence here in Jersey is swimming, for obvious reasons. Yet annually there are people who are cut off from the tide while low water fishing (not usually locals I must admit) or go out on small boats with bad weather closing in because either they haven't understood or haven't checked. Jersey has the third fastest rising tide in the world (I believe?) so it races up on a spring tide and can cause a a few dramas with it's sheer power and speed. The emergency rescue services don't always find people overboard until, sadly, they wash up on the French coast a couple of weeks later.
On that note, for those that are going out on the sea, lake, river, any water by any means, make sure you have all the prerequisite kit and know how to use it. Just the survival kit won't keep you alive of course, so read up and practice, practice practice - capsize, man overboard, lost navigation etc etc. If you have kids with you, make it fun for them to learn while they go through the drills as it'll make it more probable that they will use the drills without second thought. I'm no expert by any means so seek advice.
All the best for now. Ali
West Virginia
I like this survival website I found it today. I will comment more later, but I like these basic skills for survival.
california
This is some of the best survival skills information I have read. You guys rock!
Semarang Indonesia
Rule of Thumb Number One is tell someone where your going. This way people know where to start looking.
Survival Topics: this is excellent advice and an important supplement to the 5 basic survival skills.
Nice article on the basic survival skills.
NY
Good information for my project. By the way good wilderness survival website!
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Washington DC