How to Survive in the Wilderness

The wilderness can be a wonderful place, full of animals and beautiful sites and sounds. But what if you were trapped there? What if you needed to survive? In this article you will learn some basic survival skills that will help you to stay alive.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Build a shelter. This can be very complicated or very simple, depending where you are. If you happen to be in a desert, then there will be very little for you to work with. Use your clothes, bushes, shrubs, rocks or anything else to help you make a shelter. In the woods, this would be fairly simple. All you need to do is get some wood together and make a sort of lean-to. Then weave pine branches in between pieces of wood to make a sort of protecting wall. Shelter will more than likely keep you alive at night.
2. The next thing you want to do is find a source of water. You can go for 3 weeks without food, but you can only live for 3 days without water. In the woods, look for a stream or lake. In the desert, look around and see if there are any mountains around. That would be a very good place to start because water condenses high up in the desert, along with the fact that mountains have natural dips and shelters in them for you. There may be a pool of water there for you.
3. Find a source of food. Whether this be cactus in the desert, somehow hunting deer or rodents in the forest, or eating fish or berries, this is crucial. Food is probably the thing that will keep you going the most.
4. Another thing that you will want to do is to start a fire, or some sort of heat source. A fire can be like a friend in the wilderness and will also serve to boost your morale. It can be quite valuable for cooking things over too.
5. Start by finding some source of tinder. This could be small twigs, or, better yet, birch bark. Remember, for tinder you want it to be as small as possible. NEVER use leaves for tinder unless absolutely forced to. They just smoke and burn to quickly. The tinder must be small, so if you have twigs, break them into little, tine pieces about the size of your 1/2 your pinky. This should provide a excellent starting source. With birch bark, take the bark and strip it into little tiny pieces that are almost so thin that they are fluff. This will be the best tinder possible.
6. Once you have amassed a store of tinder, work on the kindling wood. These would include medium sized sticks or small logs. Try to stick to the small sticks though. Once you have a very good stock of this, move onto the big logs, sticks or twigs. This will be the main fuel for your fire so make sure that you amass a huge store of it. Now you are ready to start your fire. Arrange the fire so that the tinder is at the bottom, the kindling over it, and the Big logs over that. Make sure to keep plenty of air flow available for the fire.
7. Method 1: Starting a fire with matches, lighter or other man-made product that produces flame. This is the simplest method available. Simply light the tinder and feed the flame small twigs and sticks until the kindling catches fire. Then wait until it is burning nice then add some of the smaller logs. Soon you should have a nice blaze going.
8. Method 2: Starting a fire with a flint and steel. This is a more difficult way of starting a fire. You will need more tinder. Strike the flint and steel so that the sparks hit threw tinder. Once that is burning, feed until you have a nice blaze going.
9. Method 3: Using a water bottle or some other clear substance to star a fire. You will need a clear substance that can hold water. Once you have this, angle the container so that the sun is focused through the water. The beam of light should be resting on the tinder. Once it have started on fire, feed it until you have a nice blaze going.
10. The wilderness can be a dangerous place. Always have a buddy when going into it. If you should ever become trapped in the wilderness, refer to these simple steps to help you survive.

Tips & Warnings

• If your smart, you should be able to survive for quite awhile following these steps.
• Don't go out at night. Many dangerous animals come out at night to hunt.