Survival Tips

FOR A GOOD FIRESTARTER: you can use a Duraflame fireplace log. I broke one into small pieces and it lasted all summer into the fall starting many fires. Just touch a small flame to it and you've got flames-a-plenty.

SNOW SHELTER: The best and quickest and easiest snow shelter I have ever seen and used, that requires no skill or tools to build is this: Stomp out a trench or box or round shaped room in the snow, packing the snow and piling it up around the perimeter using your feet and hands. Next take branches, debris, leaves, or bark (whatever is available), and place over the top for a roof. To further insulate your shelter, you can place snow over this for a thick ceiling. BUT: Make sure you have adequate ventilation and remember that any snow overhead can melt and drip. You do not want to get wet, if your heat sources warm the inside up. For a door you can use any number of things to seal it off: branches, a backpack, clothing, etc. You can line the sleeping area with a browse bed composed of evergreen boughs about 2" - 8" thick.

NATURAL LIGHTER FLUID: In the woods when you are around pine trees look for old stumps, fallen trees, or limbs that have fallen and rotted into a hard core. Scrape into them to see if there is a hard rich golden color. If you have hit the right stuff, it will smell like fresh pine sap, and will not appear in the least bit old or rotted, although it may be taken from the center of a very rotten knot or stump. This is the best fire starting material you will ever run across. Split off a few splinters and set your fire. It will flare as if lighter fluid was dropped on it. It will burn for a good while, but will put off a very black sooty smoke. Carry a few small pieces in you survival gear for those rainy days.

WHENEVER USING ROCKS IN COAL BEDS: reflectors or as boiling rocks, be sure that the rocks are collected from a high and dry area. It may take a little more time to secure good rocks, but the effort is certainly worth it and could save you from a painful accident. Rocks that are collected from a creek bed or in a damp place can hold moisture in them that forces itself out when the rocks are heated. This creates an explosion of incredible force. Not only is it dangerous, (i.e., loss of eye, puncture wound, etc.), but the loud pop sounds like a gunshot and may scare away any wild game you hope to harvest. Nine out of ten accidents in the woods are self-inflicted, so be careful and use your head.

HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING MUCH WATER ?

Dehydration is one of the leading causes of fatigue on the trail. If you feel thirsty you are probably dehydrated already. One of the most convenient ways I found to keep my intake of water up, was to purchase a 2 litre hydration system from M.E.C. For $32.00 you get a leak proof bladder, hose and bite valve. Just fasten the valve on your shoulder strap to have it within easy reach. Youll be amazed at how much you do drink without noticing , and how much better you feel on the trail .I also use a Katadyn Water filter and find the mouth on the bladder is wide enough for me to refill it on the trail.
One extra tip pack a small bag of salted peanuts with you. The salt helps you to retain the water , the fat and protein will give you an energy boost .

THE FOLLOWING ARE POINTERS FOR PREVENTING HYPOTHERMIA, which dulls the brain--the most important key to survival:

Seek and create shelter from cold, wind, snow, and rain.
If possible, retreat to timbered areas for shelter construction and fire.

Use natural shelters: the windless side of ridges, rock croppings, slope depressions, snow blocks, a snow hole at base of standing trees, dense stands of trees, or under downed trees.

Improvise a windbreak or shelter from: stacked rocks or snow blocks, tree trunks, limbs, bark slabs and evergreen boughs, or dig a snow cave or snow trench with a cover.

Use equipment in the emergency equipment list.

Conserve, share, and create warmth.
Conserve body heat by putting on extra clothing. Replace damp undershirt and socks. Place damp wool clothing over dry wool clothing. Loosen boot laces to increase circulation. Place feet with boots on in a pack. Use ensolite pad or evergreen boughs to insulate body from ground. Place hands in armpits or crotch.

Share body heat.
Sit or lie front to back or back to back. Warm hands and feet of injured person or companions.

Create body heat.
Nibble high energy goods--candy, nuts, granola bar. Sip water kept warm with body heat. Use solid fuel hand warmer, igniting both ends of fuel stick, which is good for four hours of heat. Do isometric exercises to stir up body's circulation system.

Build a fire.
Find dry wood--dead lower branches and bark from underside of trees. Look under downed trees and inside dead logs for dry kindling. Wet wood will burn as it dries in a strong fire.

Select a sheltered area, protected from strong winds, as the site for an emergency campfire. Under snow conditions build a fire base first, with large, four-inch diameter or larger pieces of wood (use your wire saw from your Emergency Equipment package). Put fire starter on the base, surround a fire starter with branches to hold kindling above the fire starter, then place a hatchwork of kindling and slightly larger wood on the branches. Light fire starter and blow lightly to help its flame ignite kindling. Add progressively larger wood to the flame area.

Prevent heat loss.
Remember the body loses heat by respiration, evaporation, conduction, radiation, and convection.

To prevent loss by respiration, cover the mouth and nose with loosely woven or knit wool.

To reduce evaporation through excessive perspiration, wear clothes that breathe and are in layers.

To avoid loss by conduction, use the ensolite pad-and/or other cover between the body and a cold, wet surface. This insulation is particularly important if you're already wet.

To prevent loss by radiation, keep the head, hands, and feet covered.

To prevent loss by convection, protect the body from the wind.

Look for hypothermia symptoms.
In stage one, the victim begins shivering, has poor coordination, slurs speech, and shows poor judgment. By stage two, when the body temperature is below 95 degrees, muscular rigidity replaces shivering, and the victim becomes more irrational and needs warmth immediately from external sources and protection from further heat loss. Know that the victim is the LAST to realize s/he's in danger.