Essential Skills for Survival

These are seven essential survival skills that everyone needs to know if your caught out in the middle of nowhere and need to survive.  I will show you how to make a fire in almost every weather, types of shelter, find food and water, dress right for the climate, signal for help, and first aid.

1.Fire 
Fire is a great confidence builder.  It will keep you warm, cook your food, purify water, and keep animals away. But we need to start the fire.  Okay, lets do so.
First you can use matches to start a fire.  Some waterproof camping matches would work well.  Or you could bring a cigarette lighter with you which will light over 1,000 times and will work even when wet.  Flint and steel will also work too.  Using a magnifying glass will work if the sun is shining brightly and overhead.  Move the lens  back and fourth until the sunlight is shining though the lens in a bright, small dot.  This way it won't take long to start a fire.  This will also work with a camera lens in the same way.
Tinder can be small dead twigs, dead grass,  the inner bark of dead trees, dead leaves, and dry evergreen needles.  You can also carry a little bag full of tinder  just in case it rains.

2.Shelter
Now that a fire is built, you will need shelter.
A lean-to shelter would work well.  You find 2 trees that have a good sturdy branch about 6 feet above the ground.  Remove all of the branches near it except one one the same side of each tree.  Find a thick sapling near 10 feet tall and use it to lay across the two branches to form the ridgepole.  Find other saplings (big saplings that have been knocked down will work too) Around 8-10 feet long and lay them on the ridgepole to form the roof.  Then weave flexible twigs and sticks through the roof poles to make the wall or use evergreen branches.
If you brought a tarp with you then you can make an A-frame shelter quite easily.  Simply lean a downed tree against a fork in a tree a couple feet from the ground and put the tarp over it.  Then tie the tarp down on both sides.  If you don't have rope or twine to tie it down then you can use good sized rocks to weigh it down on both sides.

3.Water
Water can be found everywhere on the planet.  If there is a stream close to your campsite then go fetch some water and boil it over a fire for ten minutes to kill all the contamination that the water may contain.  You can use a pot if you brought one or a rock that can hold an amount of water.  However, if you have no choice, then drink the cleanest and coldest water you can find.

4.Food 
Food is accessible even in the most remote areas.  If there is a creek that is big enough or a pond there may well be fish in them.  Fishhooks can be made from animal bones that have been sharpened, nails can be made into fishhooks by bending them, even thorns can be made into hooks.  If you don't have fishing line with you, you can make boot laces into fishing line and a leather belt cut into thin laces will work too.  As I've written down in another article about minnow traps, you can catch those and use them as bait or you can eat them.  Just squeeze them to take the waste matter out of them and you can eat them raw or roasted.
Small game can be caught by making a snare by tying a hangman's noose by tying a loop at one end of a piece of string, wire, cord, or twine and pushing the other end though the loop. When pulled on, this loop will tighten, strangling the animal till the survivor arrives.  The animal will put its head through but won't be able to pull its body through.

5.Clothing
 You need to be ready when you go out into the wilderness to wear the proper clothing for that climate.  And pack for the worst thing that could happen.  You will need the extra clothes to keep you warm and dry.


6.Signaling for help 
If you  need to signal for help.  You can get to a clear area and make an SOS sign with rocks or pine boughs.  SOS, by the way, isn't an abbreviation, it just stands as a distress signal.  A fire can also work well because rescuers can see the smoke.  And if an aircraft is about to fly over you, try to get into an open area and hold both hands up.  This signal means "I need help".  Don't hold up just one because that signal means "I don't need help."  You can use reflective mirrors to get the pilots attention by putting the reflective light inside the cockpit.  Then after you get the pilots attention, (which you can tell after the pilot rocks the plane side to side or after they "nod" the plane) do your two hand signal.
 
7.First Aid
Always bring a first aid kit just in case you need to treat any injuries that might happen.  At least bring along bandages and alcohol swabs to clean cuts.  You can also bring Q-tips and plenty of water purifying tablets if you want them.