{"id":354,"date":"2017-12-22T22:06:36","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T22:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/?p=354"},"modified":"2017-12-07T22:10:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T22:10:04","slug":"10-wilderness-survival-tips-everyone-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/354\/10-wilderness-survival-tips-everyone-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Wilderness Survival Tips Everyone Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s nothing like exploring the Great Outdoors. But what if you find yourself in a wilderness survival situation? Knowing some essential survival tips can keep you safe until you make your way back to civilization.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s easier than you may think to get lost in a wilderness area. Many people get lost or stranded during camping trips and hikes every year.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you&#8217;re not an avid outdoor person, it&#8217;s best to know how to avoid danger and keep yourself safe should the circumstance arise. Read on for 10 essential wilderness survival tips everyone should know.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Tell Someone Your Plans<\/h2>\n<p>This is an excellent preventative measure that will ensure that someone will be aware and send for help if you&#8217;re missing.<\/p>\n<p>Tell friends, family, or coworkers if you&#8217;re making plans to go on an outdoor adventure or hike. Be sure to give them a good idea of where you&#8217;ll be and how long you intend to be gone.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Check Your Attitude<\/h2>\n<p>This may not be immediately obvious, but in a survival situation, your outlook influences your actions. While it&#8217;s tempting to panic or fall into despair, understand that these emotions will not keep you safe.<\/p>\n<p>A positive attitude, even <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/179\/failure-the-first-of-the-steps-to-success\/\">after failure<\/a>, helps you keep a clear head so that your mental energies can be used for thinking creatively and adapting to unexpected challenges.<\/p>\n<p>A positive outlook influences more than just your thought processes. Those with a positive, determined attitude tend to recover from illness and injury faster than those who see situations in a negative light.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Take Inventory of What You Have<\/h2>\n<p>In a wilderness survival situation, everything you have on you has the potential to become a tool, shelter, first aid material, or some other survival essential.<\/p>\n<p>Everything from clothing to shoelaces may help you to fashion something that could keep you fed, filter your water, keep you sheltered, or save your life.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Know How to Get Safe Water<\/h2>\n<p>Water is essential for survival. We can go much longer without food than we can without fluids.<\/p>\n<p>The length of time you can <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/how-many-days-can-you-survive-without-water-2014-5\">survive without water<\/a> depends on the environment you&#8217;re in and the type of activity you&#8217;re doing. A person can survive from two days to a week without water in a fairly stable environment. The average is from three to four days.<\/p>\n<p>This is in an ideal situation. If you&#8217;re in an extremely hot area or are moving a lot, you can dehydrate much more quickly. It&#8217;s essential to know how and where to find water.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re fortunate enough to be near a body of water, it&#8217;s important to remember that boiling water for a minute kills pathogens that could make you sick. If you have a filter or treatment chemicals, you can use these.<\/p>\n<p>There are other ways to find or obtain water. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Building a rain collector<\/li>\n<li>Filtering water from mud with clothing<\/li>\n<li>Collecting condensation and dew<\/li>\n<li>Eating plants with high water volume, such as succulents<\/li>\n<li>Following converging animals tracks to see if they lead to a water source<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Water is top priority in a survival situation. Make sure you have some sort of source as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<h2>5. Know How to Find Food Sources<\/h2>\n<p>While you&#8217;ll be able to survive on your body&#8217;s stores for quite a while, you still need to find acceptable food sources in case you need them later.<\/p>\n<p>Take the time to learn about the native plants and fruits growing in the area you know you&#8217;ll be visiting. Having prior knowledge will make it less likely that you&#8217;ll eat something poisonous.<\/p>\n<p>Also, you&#8217;ll need to make peace with eating strange foods you otherwise wouldn&#8217;t. This includes various insects, seeds, vegetation, and eggs. Trapping small animals may be necessary in some cases when there&#8217;s nothing else.<\/p>\n<h2>6. Know How to Find or Make Shelter<\/h2>\n<p>You&#8217;ve got to have protection from the elements in a wilderness survival situation. Whether there&#8217;s rain, snow, or blazing sun, your ability to stay alive will depend on how well you&#8217;re sheltered.<\/p>\n<p>Pay attention to your surroundings and take advantage of areas or materials that will offer protection, such as caves and rock overhangs. If there&#8217;s no place already, you can gather limbs, twigs, and leaves to make a simple structure that can offer shade and wind protection.<\/p>\n<h2>7. Be Able to Start a Fire Without Matches<\/h2>\n<p>You won&#8217;t always have access to matches or a lighter. Even if you do, the weather sometimes makes it impossible to use them. It&#8217;s helpful to know how to start a fire without these items.<\/p>\n<p>There are several methods you can become familiar with, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The hand drill method<\/li>\n<li>The bow drill method<\/li>\n<li>The fire plow method<\/li>\n<li>Using a flint and steel set<\/li>\n<li>Lens-based methods, with a lens you have on hand or one <a href=\"http:\/\/www.primitiveways.com\/fire_from_ice.html\">carved from ice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of these methods are somewhat difficult to master, but worth the effort when you&#8217;re in a rough spot.<\/p>\n<h2>8. Always Keep a Good Tool On Hand<\/h2>\n<p>This is another preventative step that can make a huge difference in your survival chances. The right tool can help you find food, make a shelter, protect yourself, and even make more tools.<\/p>\n<p>The most basic tool would be a pocket knife. A multi-tool, which usually includes a knife, a screwdriver, a file, a mini saw, and other accessories, is also an excellent pick. Hatchets and handheld spears are great as well.<\/p>\n<h2>9. Know How to Signal For Help<\/h2>\n<p>Being able to put out a signal could make or break your rescue. In many wilderness situations, visibility is low and a good signal is the only way you&#8217;ll be found.<\/p>\n<p>There are tools made specifically for signal use such as a signal mirror or flares, but if you don&#8217;t have these, you can use fire, smoke, or spell out &#8220;HELP&#8221; or &#8220;SOS&#8221; with rocks or large, heavy sticks.<\/p>\n<h2>10. Navigate Using Your Surroundings<\/h2>\n<p>You may not have <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/145\/how-to-use-a-map-and-compass\/\">a map or a compass<\/a> on hand if you become lost. You can look to your surroundings to guide you along.<\/p>\n<p>Be mindful of your surroundings, noting any recognizable landmarks, mountains, rivers, or streams. This way you&#8217;ll know if you&#8217;re going in circles and you&#8217;ll have a better chance of finding roads and pathways.<\/p>\n<p>With a little knowledge and observation, the stars can serve as a directional guide as well.<\/p>\n<h2>Wilderness Survival Skills Keep You Alive<\/h2>\n<p>You never know when you&#8217;ll find yourself lost or stranded in the wilderness. Keep these essential tips in mind on your next excursion.<\/p>\n<p>For more useful information and share-worthy articles, <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/\">explore UpGifs<\/a> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s nothing like exploring the Great Outdoors. But what if you find yourself in a wilderness survival situation? Knowing some essential survival tips can keep you safe until you make&hellip; <span class=\"read-more-span\"><a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/354\/10-wilderness-survival-tips-everyone-should-know\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;10 Wilderness Survival Tips Everyone Should Know&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"genericon genericon-next\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions\/356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}