Survival situations can happen when you least expect it, or in places where such a thing doesn’t make sense. Even your regular run or evening walk can turn dangerous, and a simple survival kit can make all the difference.

These items are lightweight, easily-carried and could save your life if you're injured while running. From left: handwarmers, cell phone, flashlight, knife, Boy Scout flint stick, whistle, and firestarter.

by Leon Pantenburg

Maybe you’ve gotten into the habit  of taking a run in the same urban area every evening. Then, one evening, the endorphins kick in, and you decide to double the usual mileage. As darkness approaches, you realize you have to get back to the car before it gets really dark. You slip, twist your ankle and can’t move.

Or you might decide to go for a walk and just take off without thinking to tell someone where you went. You’re strolling along, relaxing and enjoying the iPod, and letting the stress from the office dissipate. Then, as it starts to get dark, you realize you’ve taken a wrong turn and are lost. And pretty soon, it will be pitch dark, and you can’t see the path.

Maybe you have your routine down, and are so set in the pattern that you don’t consider the potential danger. After all, you don’t  go that far from your home, and this isn’t some wilderness area…

A similar situation happened to Bend, Oregon resident Karen Johnson. (Click on highlighted word to read Johnson’s complete story.)  She nearly died of hypothermia after slipping on the ice and  breaking her leg. The area she was running in was a popular, well-used trail. But when Johnson was injured, there was no one around. Only prior preparations, her survival equipment, and being very, very lucky saved her.

Here’s a few tips on what survival equipment to take, and the links to find them,  on a run or an evening walk. These items are lightweight, take up little space and can easily be fitted into a fanny pack or jacket pocket.

• Leave a note or verbal message about where you’re going and when you’ll be back: Even if you’re only expecting to be gone for a little while, nobody will know where to look for you. They might think you went to a movie, the library or some place where you had to shut off your cell phone.
• STOP: Stop, Think, Observe, Plan. This survival mindset exercise applies to every survival situation. Know how to use it.
• Cell phone: You can call for help if you need to. Even if you can’t get coverage, leave your phone on. The pings to your phone from the nearest cell tower can be traced.
• Small flashlight: If you end up out after dark, the flashlight can help you get safety out of the dark places. Not to mention, the psychological boost it can provide if you have to stay in one place and wait for help.
• Whistle:A whistle carries further than your voice, and won’t give out. You
  

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  can signal for help more effectively, and sometimes a whistle works to scare off potential bad guys.

• Flint stick or lighter and firestarter: If you’re injured, you may be able to build a fire for warmth, signaling and as a morale boost. It will help you stay in one place so you can be rescued. Strike It, Matchless Firestarter
• Small knife: I carry a Swiss Army knife Classic everywhere. The blade can be used to strike sparks of a flint stick, whittle kindling,  or cut string. The tweezers, scissors, toothpick and file also have multiple uses. Victorinox Swiss Army Classic Pocket Knife
• Lanyard: Combine everything together on a lanyard so you can wear it around your neck or tie it to your clothing. If the gear is tied to you, it won’t be lost.
• Handwarmers: Even if the weather is warm, a runner will cool rapidly if he can’t move. The handwarmers can be placed on the chest or torso to keep the vital areas warm. HeatMax Hot Hands 2 Handwarmer (40 pairs)
• Water: Hydration is always a good idea. If the water gets too heavy, you can always drink it, or pour it out. Platypus Sport Bottle

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Leon Pantenburg at Smith Rock State Park

A woman sprained her ankle at dusk, in the middle of a forested urban park on a routine evening winter run and almost froze to death. A car got stuck in the snow on a rural road only a few miles from a major highway and the driver died of hypothermia and dehydration.  A man took a day-hike on a well known trail, got lost and was never seen again.  These avoidable tragedies happen all the time.

Most people never think about the need to survive anything. But you, the average person, could easily be one slip, journey, natural disaster or crash away from real trouble.

This website, written by Leon Pantenburg, is about proven and tested common sense survival techniques that anyone should learn whether living in a major metropolitan region or recreating in the wilderness.

• Using your common sense to survive any unexpected calamity can turn a dangerous situation into a mere inconvenience.
•  Pack and easily carry the right tools with the confidence to know how to use them and you and your family will survive any emergency.
• Check out the categories on the left hand side of this page to learn how to be completely prepared for anything that life throws at you.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

The older couple at the Swampy Lakes trailhead, a few miles outside Bend, Oregon,  didn’t have any maps or survival gear at all, were unsure how to put on their snowshoes and were reluctant to take the firestarter and matches I offered them. From their inadequate clothing and  lack of preparation, it was obvious they were tourists visiting Central Oregon and had no clue of the potential danger.

In 2006, less than six miles from where they stood, a veteran snowmobiler had died when an unexpected blizzard had blown in.

Click here to visit Peter Kummerfeldt's website!

“We’re not going to do any of that survival stuff,” the woman said. “We’re only going out for a little while.”  – Leon

by Peter Kummerfeldt

Many things get people in trouble when they venture into the outdoors, including lack of preparedness, not paying attention to the weather, accidents etc. More commonly, it is the  attitude toward our safety that is the precursor to a life threatening event occurring.

How many times have you said to yourself or have heard others say, I am just, as in I am just going to walk up the ridge and see if I can see a deer, or I am just going to be out for fifteen minutes,” or perhaps “I am just going to run down to the store.”

I believe these three little words I am just get more people into trouble than any other three little words I can think of!

Most commonly you don’t verbalize these words out loud, but say them to yourself, silently ─ which is even more dangerous. Many times you are not even conscious of your decision to leave your gear behind. Unconsciously you already have made the decision to leave it because I am just…  When spoken out loud there always is the chance that someone, upon hearing you say, I am just will step in and remind you of the importance of always taking your emergency clothing and equipment with you ─ even though the possibility of having to spend an unplanned night out is remote.

When nothing looks familiar, and every direction seems to be the same, STOP and think about what to do next!

 It is easy to convince yourself that nothing life threatening will happen ─ after all you are “just…”   When you use the word “just,” you are convincing yourself that the weather will remain pleasant, that no accident will happen, that you will not get lost, or that you will be able to get back before dark!

You are saying to yourself that you don’t need to carry your daypack with your emergency gear and warm clothing because you won’t need it ─ you are “just…”

It also is easy to rationalize away the need to always carry your backup clothing and emergency equipment. As the years ago by, one hunting season follows another, and you have yet to spend that unplanned night out, the temptation to reduce the weight of the daypack you are carrying by leaving your survival kit at home, can be very attractive.

As you look to the mountains in anticipation of having to ascend on foot and hunt at higher altitudes, it is natural to want to lighten your load and leave behind those pieces of equipment that you have seldom, if ever, used.  Sometimes it is “space” or the lack of it, which causes you to decide to leave items behind that you should take.

Most often, it’s the short trips that get you in trouble!  After all, I was just…  You get complacent.  Nothing life threatening ever has happened in the past and so it is easy to  convince yourself that it won’t happen in the future and if it does you can handle it ─ whatever “it” is!   Ignoring the possibility of finding yourself in a survival situation is like playing Russian roulette.  Falling victim to the I am just… syndrome is like playing Russian roulette with five out of six chambers loaded!

 History is replete with examples of those finding themselves in trouble who, after being rescued from some horrendous situation, said I was just…

This trash can liner can provide a quick emergency shelter. (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

Several years ago in Oregon an older man left his camp one evening ─ he was just going to walk down to the end of the ridge and see if he could spot an elk.  The following morning was the opening day of elk season.  He never returned and despite an extensive search he was not found alive.

Ten days later his body, partially buried under snow, was discovered by other hunters.  His emergency gear consisted of a .357 Magnum pistol and thirty seven rounds of ammunition, which he had used to try to signal his hunting partners.

Thirty-six of the thirty-seven cartridges had been fired, but were never heard by either his partners or those that searched for him.  He had tried to shelter himself by drawing two log ends together and laying slabs of bark on top of the logs to provide a crude roof.  His clothing, a mixture of cotton and wool, failed to provide the protection he needed from the environmental conditions he encountered.

Physiologically he died from hypothermia, but it also could be said that he died because he had rationalized away the need to carry any additional emergency gear.

Equipment that might have prevented the situation from developing in the first place – a map, compass or a GPS Receiver.  Equipment that he could have used to increase his protection from cold temperatures, precipitation and wind-chill.  Equipment that he could have used to attract the attention of the rescuers that were looking for him – a mirror, whistle, survival radio or 406 MHz emergency beacon.

He was “just going to walk to the end of the ridge, look for an elk and then return to camp!

The words “I am just” when spoken out loud or silently should be considered a red flag warning!

When you say them yourself or hear others say them ─ STOP!  The trap is being set! Continuing on only will spring the trap and once you are in it, there may be no escape.   Without adequate clothing, without basic survival equipment (reliable fire starting devices, waterproof, windproof sheltering materials, a signal mirror and whistle), without the ability to build a fire or signal to others, survival depends on an individuals tenacity to live, their ability to improvise what they need and luck – sometimes that’s not enough!

As you contemplate what you should have with you as you begin a trip – even a short one, don’t use the words I am just…

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness survival for more than 40 years, all over the world in different environments.

School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Click here to visit Peter Kummerfeldt's website!

In a survival situation, be it urban or wilderness, your gear alone will not save you. YOU must save yourself. There are three major areas a survivor must be prepared in, before you start being concerned about accumulating equipment!

In this article, survival Expert Peter Kummerfeldt takes you through a survival sequence.

by Peter Kummerfeldt

One of the most important lessons I learned during my survival career is: “Those who are prepared to survive an emergency usually will, and those who are not prepared probably won’t!”

We don’t want to admit we might be the one faced with a life or death situation or some other equally disagreeable circumstance.

Denial leads the list of the coping methods that people use — we deny anything bad is ever going to happen.  It’s often easier to deny than to prepare for a difficult situation and, as a result, we find ourselves totally unprepared when disaster strikes.

It’s easy to say “I’ll assemble a survival kit tomorrow.” It’s easy to rationalize – “I don’t have the money to buy a better rain jacket,” or “I’ll never be in a survival situation. What do I need a survival kit for?”  It’s easy to think that it will always be someone else that ends up in a survival situation.

Consequently the vast majority of people find themselves facing a cold night out without adequate clothing, without basic survival equipment and without having practiced building a fire, erecting a shelter or signaling for help.

To prepare, potential survivors need to consider three areas: Physical, mental and spiritual preparation.
Physical preparation includes careful selection of  your clothing, equipping yourself for an unplanned night out and getting in physical shape.

“Dress to survive – not just to arrive!

What you wear may be adequate for the work commute, but will it keep you warm if you have to spend the night in the ditch when the car skids off the road?  How much protection will your T-shirt and shorts provide if you are caught out in a late summer thunderstorm?
Becoming lost, is probably the most common way that people end up in a survival situation. “Surviving” places a premium on the clothing worn.

Both of these 100% cotton garments would keep you warm until they got wet. Then, this clothing can become dangerous to wear! (Pantenburg photo)

Cotton Kills! During the colder, wetter times of the year, dressing properly begins by getting rid of your cotton underwear and switching to synthetics (polypropylene, polyester, or Capilene.) Cotton absorbs the moisture your body produces and holds it against your skin causing heat to be constantly conducted away. You will never be warm!

The synthetics are hydrophobic (water hating) and facilitate the movement of water vapor away from your body.  Other underwear fabrics include wool and silk.  Some very good “non-itchy” wool thermal underwear is now available.  Silk, because it is a natural fiber, tends to absorb and hold water.  It is also not as durable as the synthetic fabrics.

The next layer, the mid layer, serves to facilitate the movement of water vapor out to the environment and to trap “dead air” around you to keep you warm. Once again, synthetics work best – the piles and fleeces, with wool coming in a close second.

Under very cold conditions, an additional insulation layer may be needed. The more “dead air” you trap the warmer you will be. Many insulating materials are available to choose from, both synthetic and natural. I choose synthetics primarily because, unlike down, the synthetic insulators do not collapse when wet.

The outer layer may be the most important.  It must keep the inner layers dry and keep the wind out.  If either moisture or wind penetrates the insulation layers, heat will be lost quickly.  Studies have shown that in windy situations, a good outer shell can increase warmth by as much as 50 degrees. Put another way, a good windproof outer layer decreases the amount of insulation needed to keep you warm.

The objective is to use the fewest layers of clothing that will keep you warm when you are inactive. Activity generates substantial amounts of body heat and reduces the need for multiple layers of clothing.  On the other hand, inactivity drives the need to insulate yourself from the environment and to conserve whatever heat your body is producing – very important in a survival situation!

Special attention should be paid to protecting your head and your hands. If your head is not protected as much as 75 percent of your total body heat production can be lost!  Hands suffer quickly when exposed to cool-to-cold conditions. Fine motor skills, the ability to touch finger to thumb, are lost quickly.

This photo demonstrates how a trash bag can be used as a quick, effective emergency shelter. (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

Could you zip up your jacket if your fingers are frozen?  Could you tie your bootlaces? Gloves and mittens are an important part of your outdoor clothing.

Equipping yourself to spend a night out is the next step.

There are those who advocate construction of survival shelters built from natural materials.  I disagree.

For the average, inexperienced person, building a windproof, waterproof shelter from sticks, boughs, bark and other natural materials may be impossible!

Shelters built from natural materials take hours to build, require cutting tools and adequate supplies of suitable materials, and, most importantly, call for an “able” survivor — one who is uninjured!

Seldom can all of these criteria be met and, for lack of shelter, the survivor ends up spending a very uncomfortable night or two out.  Additionally, inexperienced people will often wait until the sun is about to set or the storm is about to break before they recognize the need for an emergency shelter!

A vital part of your survival equipment is a waterproof, windproof, heavy-duty, plastic bag that you can crawl into!  Alternatively, carry a sturdy tarp or piece of plastic that can be quickly erected to create a lean-to or pup tent style of shelter.

Two plastic match containers have been taped together. One holds cotton balls and petroleum jelly, and the other carries REI Stormproof matches. A Boy Scout Hot Spark is taped to the kit.

The ability to ignite a fire may also be critical to your survival.   Once again, relying on improvised means i.e., rubbing sticks together, is an invitation to disaster!

Because of injury or loss of finger dexterity the usual methods of starting a fire may become very difficult.  How do you strike a match if you only have the use of one hand?  Could you still “flick your BIC” if your fingers are cold and stiff?  It can be done but it may not be easy.

Equip yourself with good matches and a metal match.  Fill a screw-top match case with cotton balls that have been saturated in petroleum jelly – it makes great tinder, can be ignited with either the match or a spark from the metal match and burns for a long time.

The duration of your survival situation hinges on two questions.  Did you file a flight plan?  Do you have any signaling equipment with you with which to attract attention? Always tell someone reliable where you’re going and when you’re going to be back.  Include in your survival kit a good plastic whistle and a signal mirror (glass or a good plastic one)

Improving your physical fitness should be part of the physical preparations you make.  People in good physical shape are less likely to injure themselves. Physically fit survivors  injured in an accident will fare better than those who are not in good shape.

Preparing yourself mentally is as important, if not more so, than preparing yourself physically.

If you can’t visualize situations you might find yourself in, how  will you prepare for them?

What are you afraid of? Confront that fear, and familiarity will make it go away!

What scares you about having to spend an unplanned night out?  Is it the fear of predatory animals? Starving to death? Dying from hypothermia? Isolation?

We all have fears. Unfortunately many are based on stories we were told,  TV programs, or on books we read.  Good entertainment, perhaps, but often poor sources of reliable information  to base our decisions and actions.

Make a list of your fears and apprehensions then contact the “experts” and find out the truth. In most instances, the truth is very different from the myth and, as a good friend of mine says: “When you remove the mystery, you’ll remove the fear!”

Spiritual preparation is the final step.  After interviewing many survivors and prisoners-of-war and after reading the accounts of many other survivors,  it is clear: “There are no non-believers in survival situations!”

Survivors may have started the experience without any strong beliefs one way or the other, but inevitably, at some point these survivors turned to a greater power for additional help.

As Doug Ritter of Equipped to Survive (www.equipped.com) says:

“If you are adequately clothed, if you have equipped yourself and if you have practiced your survival skills, a night or two out should not a be a life threatening experience.  On the other hand if you are not clothed adequately, do not have any emergency gear and have never practiced your survival skills whether you survive or not will depend on your will to survive, your ability to improvise, and LUCK.”

I don’t know about you – I want to be clothed, equipped and practiced!

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

SurvivalCommonSense.com was featured on the Survival Mom Radio show on Thursday, July 14.

The g uests were Leon Pantenburg and Linda Dixon.  Leon shared ideas for easy and safe outdoor/campsite cooking using foil.

All you need to make a foil dinner is aluminum foil, food and a heat source.

Linda is the author of “Just Dutch It!” and discussed using a Dutch oven to make all types of delicious foods.

Click here to hear the Survival Mom Show interviews!

Here are the posts that Leon referred to during the discussion:

How to cook with foil wraps over a campfire

How to cook trout (or other fish) in foil over a campfire

How to make a Dutch oven survival kit

To see more off-grid survival recipes, click here.

Click here to check out these survival recipes that use storage food!

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

This hand-written letter refers to a Bend “Bulletin” story I wrote on cooking trout that featured three recipes from different parts of the country. (The story has been re-written and modified for this format and audience, but the initial facts under contention are the same.)

“Leon
You don’t know jacks### (original word was spelled out, it is edited in this instance because of the family audience) about cookin’ (SIC) trout. You never cook it in oil, use butter You don’t season the crap out of it – it’s too delicate – forget the Cajun unless you hate trout. Forget the egg, a rinsed fish will hold all the flour/cornmeal you need
“The idea is to taste “trout” not everything on the shelf.”
Joe (As always happens with hate mail, people will muster the courage to write a complaint, but not to sign it or include a return address or phone number. And Joe wasn’t finished.)
“P.S. Oh yea, the hospital and cemetery are just jammed with folks from eatin (SIC) “bacteriaized” (SIC) trout off a stringer!!
“Jerk.
“Go back where you came from.”

To make up your own opinion about this controversial topic, read on!

Survival food is sustenance that can be made easily during a survival or emergency situation using mainly simple, long-term storage food items, cooked outdoors, using off-the-grid methods.

Does your area have stocked fishing ponds for kids? Here is a great fishing and cooking method to “hook” the youngsters!

While catch-and-release is a good philosophy and sound resource management, some areas are stocked specifically so anglers can keep and eat some. And with the right recipe,

Here is the start of a tasty survival meal!

cooking trout or various panfish can produce delectable, simple dishes loved by kids and adults.

by Leon Pantenburg

Where I live in Central Oregon, pan-sized trout are stocked in several area ponds, for the sole purpose of getting kids interested in fishing. And it really works!

All of my kids, and several of the neighbors’ kids, got started fishing at nearby Shevlin Park’s stocked trout pond. A standard kid fishing rig of a push-button reel, a lightweight fishing rod, bright-colored mono-filament line and orange-colored PowerBait is a great, virtually foolproof outfit that gets the kids catching fish almost immediately. (There are bound to be fool-proof kid setups for your area – just check at the local sporting goods store!)

Generally, if Shevlin Pond had been recently stocked, and the fish were biting, each child would have a limit of two fish, which we would bring home to clean and cook. These trout are usually between 8 and 10 inches long, a perfect size for a skillet or large pan.

These trout wraps are just off the grill.

Kids learn quickly how to clean fish. Its one of those tasks that goes with the pleasure of catching them. Cleaning small trout is simple: Just chop off the head with a large, sharp knife (unless the recipe specifies otherwise) and gut the fish. Remove the entrails, wash with water and wipe down with a paper towel. (Obviously, the age of the youngster will determine how much of this process they get to participate in!)

Great-tasting fish starts as soon as they’re caught. Here are some tips from “Fish Alaska” magazine to help make those fish as good to eat as they are fun to catch:

• Fish flesh is very perishable, so keep fish alive as long as possible, and out of direct sunlight. A metal link basket or live box is best. A stringer can damage the flesh and increase chances of bacterial contamination. I usually take along a large cooler about half-full of ice, and toss the fish in there.
• Clean the fish as soon as possible, because time and heat can rob freshness and flavor. Gut and lightly rinse your fish to remove blood and bacteria. This will help prevent spoilage and will keep any parasites from migrating into the flesh of the fish. If making fillets, rinse the fish in clean cold water to remove blood, bacteria and enzymes.
• If the fish have been frozen, thaw fillets in the refrigerator, in the microwave or under cold running water. Food defrosted in the microwave should be cooked immediately. Thawed fish should be used within one to two days.
• Moist-heat cooking methods are unnecessary. Methods that develop flavor, such as broiling, baking or frying, are preferred. Cook fish until it flakes with a fork. Undercooking fish can be risky, while overcooking can result in a tough, bland-tasting dish.

Follow these simple “Survival Food” suggestions and you should end up with a tasty food memory to add to those other great memories of fishing with the kids.

Trout Foil Wraps

1 lg square of aluminum foil (about 24-by-24 inches)

No fuss, no cleanup mess and delicious!

Salt, pepper and favorite seasonings

2 lemon slices

Butter

Small trout, head removed

Place the aluminum foil on a flat surface and put the trout on top. Sprinkle the fish, inside and out with salt, pepper and seasonings. Put lemon slices on top and a couple pats of butter. Wrap tightly.

Place on hot grill or directly onto the coals of a campfire. Cook about 5 to 8 minutes on one side, and then turn. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque and flakes easily.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Click here to visit Peter Kummerfelt's website!

I met survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt during one of his “Myths of Survival” presentations at the Central Oregon Sportsmans Show several years ago. With no idea of who this guy was, or his abilities, I sat in on the seminar out of curiosity.

At the end of the hour-long session, I followed Peter back to his booth and plied him with questions. That night, I went home and threw away several items that had been part of my backcountry survival gear for years. Peter is the epitome of common sense survival, and he speaks from decades of experience. Here is one of his best presentations! – Leon

by Peter Kummerfeldt

Much of the information available to people who want to learn more about survival and surviving is based on material that is outdated and in some cases, totally incorrect. Unfortunately, early outdoor writers created a problem for those  interested in learning how to survive a wilderness emergency today.  Techniques and procedures that were once state-of-the-art are no longer valid.  Some of what was once thought of as an appropriate method is now not only inappropriate, but in some cases, dangerous.

The times have changed.  The needs of a recreationist who gets lost today are different from the needs of the mountainmen who trapped beaver in the American west and lived off the land while doing so.  The individual who gets in trouble today is unlikely to have devoted sufficient time to practicing survival skills; is unlikely to have clothed and equipped him or herself adequately; and, consequently, is unlikely to be able to spend a night out without great discomfort.  Skills that were once second nature can no longer be counted on when difficulties arise.  Even a once commonplace skill, such as striking a match to light a fire, is no longer commonplace.

If you were to open some of the currently available “how-to-survive” books you would find techniques and procedures that date back to those who survived by manufacturing what they needed from the resources on hand.

The question is “How appropriate are these techniques and procedures today?”In many cases they are not!   However, despite the passing of time, the fact that the advice given is still in printed form, implies that the information must still be valid.

In many cases it is not!

New and better procedures have developed.  New equipment is available.The result of all of this misinformation is that inexperienced people who find themselves in trouble today still believe that they can rub sticks together and start a fire.  They believe that a waterproof, wind proof shelter can be built from natural materials.  They believe that they can live off the land until they are rescued.  It must be so – it’s in the book!

Many current, popular outdoor press writers perpetuate the problem.  Much of the rubbish that is published would never be published if the writer (or the editor) first went out and tested the procedures they write about.  Instead they go to their bookshelf, remove a survival or woods lore book written fifty years ago, extract from it some procedure used by Jim Bridger to build a fire and present it once again as if the procedure is still valid today.  Sometimes it is, but most often it isn’t.

More confusion results from the contemporary experiences of those who survived traumatic incidents.  They quickly become the newest “survival expert!”  They survived, therefore, what they did to survive must be valid!  Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.  Sometimes, people survive despite what they did.  They got lucky!

Many myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings still exist today. As a result, the inexperienced  person who, when confronted with a night out in the bush, experiences unnecessary discomfort, hardship, injury and sometimes death because of their reliance on antiquated information.

The following is a short discussion of some of the more blatant myths and misconceptions commonly found in print today.

Firecraft: Building and maintaining a fire is fundamental to surviving. Were you to believe the advice given in most survival literature, producing heat and light is easy.  Simply rub sticks together and – Presto! – you have fire.  Nothing can be further from the truth.

Without considerable practice and prior preparation producing fire by rubbing sticks together is impossible!  Even with practice and preparation starting a fire by rubbing sticks together can be very difficult! When rubbing sticks together was the primary way to produce a fire, the necessary pieces were carried by the user, much as we today would carry a BIC lighter or a match.

The use of a magnifying lens is another fire starting method that is more myth than reality.  The writers of the articles would have you believe that tinder can be ignited using the lens from your eye glasses.  Or that you can remove the glass lenses from your camera or binocular and then using the lens, focus a beam of sunlight onto the tinder until it ignites.

The writers talk of “shaving and shaping a piece of ice into a lens” and then using it to ignite the tinder!  This begs the question: “When do you need a fire?”  Not on a bright sunny day in the middle of summer, but on a cold wintry day when the sun is low on the southern horizon or as the sun is about to set or the storm about to break and your spouse or child is dying from hypothermia!

Carrying a magnifying glass to start a fire makes no sense when there are other much more reliable devices that can be depended on.

Cigarette lighters have been often touted as a piece of equipment that should be carried in your survival kit.  Cigarette lighters are difficult to light when your hands have lost their dexterity, they do not perform well under cold conditions or at higher altitudes and if dropped into a fire accidentally, they explode sending shrapnel in every direction!

Matches come in many forms and to the unknowing they may all look alike.  Another trap!  What do the words “safety,” “strike anywhere,” “stormproof,” and “waterproof” really mean?

Two plastic match containers have been taped together. One holds cotton balls and petroleum jelly, and the other carries REI Stormproof matches. A Boy Scout Hot Spark is taped to the kit.

In each case there are significant survival ramifications!

“Safety” means the match can only be ignited using the striker on the side of the box from which the match was removed – they may not work on the striker of another  box!

The words “strike anywhere” would lead us to believe that the match could be literally “struck anywhere!  Nothing could be further from the truth.  While these matches do not need the matchbox striker to be ignited, finding a suitable substitute is not always possible

“Stormproof” matches are less susceptible to wind and water than other matches but are often hard to light and quickly wear out the matchbox striking surface.

“Waterproof” matches are coated with a lacquer-like material which must be worn through before the striking surface of the matchbox comes in contact with flammable material on the match head.  Every time a match head is scraped across the striking surface, the lacquer is deposited on that striking surface and will eventually (before you run out of matches) so contaminate the surface that other matches will not light.

Sheltering: Confusion exists about the kinds of shelters built to protect those that ventured in the outdoors to hunt, fish, backpack etc.  and those needed by a survivor.

This trash can liner can provide a quick emergency shelter. (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

Most survivors first become aware of the need for shelter as it begins to rain or as the sun  sets over the western horizon.  Most survivors are dehydrated and possibly hypothermic as they begin their survival experience! Some are injured.

Could they build a lean-to or debris hut?  I doubt it!

Building a shelter from natural materials is possible if time allows, if there are plenty of natural materials available, if the survivor has practiced building an emergency shelter previously; if cutting tools (knife or saw) are available and if the survivor is uninjured!

But lacking time, skill, natural resources, tools and the use of both hands building a windproof, waterproof shelter from natural materials becomes impossible.

It is wiser to carry waterproof material with you. Carry large plastic bags or tarps that you can crawl into or crawl under to protect yourself rather than trying to build one of the many survival shelters shown in the books.

Bags or blankets made from Mylar plastic are the most commonly carried survival shelter material and the most useless in an emergency! (Editor’s note: I had carried two Mylar blankets for years – they were among the equipment I trashed!)

This material is difficult to remove from the container!  Mylar plastic bags and blankets are difficult to unfold; (especially if you were injured and only have the use of one hand) The blankets are generally too small to adequately protect an adult; two hands are required to hold the blanket around you; Mylar plastic is very noisy when the material is pulled over your head (you can’t hear the rescuers) and  tears very easily when  nicked or  punctured.

Signaling: In addition to staying alive, a survivor’s greatest need is to be rescued as quickly as possible and to do that they must be able to indicate to others that they are in trouble and need help.

Once again the books, manuals and magazine articles are full of nonsense.  Three fires placed in a triangle, wetting a slab of wood to form a reflective surface and other labor intensive, less-than-effective procedures are commonly featured in survival literature.  With the equipment available today, inexpensive, effective devices are available with which to signal.

Survival medicine: Defined as the medicine that survivors would administer to themselves or to others that were with them, survival medicine is another area where many myths, misconceptions and misunderstanding exist.

Unlike the medical community, who are required to attend Continual Medical Education training annually,  those who recreate or work in the outdoors have no such requirement.  Their knowledge of medicine and medical practice is based on first aid courses they may have taken and once again on what they read in the popular outdoor press – which may or may not be current.

For example,  there are many who still believe that “cut and suck” is the standard treatment for snakebite! (Editor’s note: My snakebite kit also was trashed!) Some still think that the treatment for a frostbite injury is to rub the frozen tissue with snow!  Still others are reluctant to render aid to a lightning strike victim for fear that they will be electrocuted when they touch the victim!

Much confusion exists over how long water should be boiled before it can be consumed safely!  The treatment of hypothermia is another area where the knowledge of the non-medical community lags far behind the current standards of practice as advocated by the Wilderness Medical Society.  Remember – you may be the patient and your own doc!

To survive an emergency is difficult but not impossible if the survivor is prepared.  That preparation must be based on good information, selecting your clothing  and equipment carefully and practicing your survival skills.

Select your “experts” carefully. Read widely and compare the recommendations that are given.  What worked for one may or may not work for you.

Select procedures and techniques that work under a wide variety of conditions – procedures and techniques that work for you.  Just because you are told something works, don’t accept it until you have tested it in the field.

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness survival for more than 40 years, all over the world, in different environments.

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created Outdoorsafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions .

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

I was the guest on Destiny Survival Radio  show Thursday.  The discussion was about starting out camping, what gear to look for, and how to use that gear for prepping and wilderness survival.

A tarp shelter can be a valuable addition to any camp.

“How do I get started?”

That seems to be the most frequent question asked by newcomers to the prepping and survival scene. And for many,  where to start buying camping gear, when you have no equipment  or camping experience, can be a daunting prospect.

Here is a discussion about what gear to buy, what properties to look for in sleeping bags and tents, ways to carry water, and what kinds of food to pack in your survival kit.

We also talked about tarp shelters, and why it is important to know how to make and use one!

To listen to the interview, click here.

For tips on survival recipes and off-grid cooking, click here!

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Write a note to let people know where you went, before you left.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

by Mark Henderson, science editor

“Times Online” Aug. 21, 2009

It has long been a staple of adventure stories: the hero, lost in the wilderness, painstakingly tries to find his way back to civilization only to stumble across his own tracks and discover that he has been walking in circles.

When nothing looks familiar, and every direction seems to be the same, STOP and think about what to do next!

Now the popular belief that people in unfamiliar surroundings tend to walk round in circles has been confirmed by scientists.

Experiments in a German forest and the Sahara desert in Tunisia have shown that lost people double back on themselves without meaning to unless they have a marker, such as the Sun or Moon, to guide their way.

“The stories about people who end up walking in circles when lost are true,” said Jan Souman, of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, who led the research.

“People cannot walk in a straight line if they do not have absolute references, such as a tower or a mountain in the distance, or the Sun or Moon, and often end up walking in circles.”

The scientists, whose work is published in the journal Current Biology, also debunked a popular explanation that has been advanced to explain walking in circles.

It has been suggested that people might veer in one direction because one leg is slightly longer or stronger than the other. Over time such small differences could cause somebody to walk in a circle.

The new research, however, in which people were blindfolded and asked to walk in a straight line, found that while they ultimately walked in circles, they did not do so reliably in any particular direction. The subjects sometimes veered left and sometimes right, which would not happen if differential stride length or power was a factor.

Dr. Souman said that it was more likely that circular walking patterns tended to emerge from increasing uncertainty about direction. “Small random errors in the various sensory signals that provide information about walking direction add up over time, making what a person perceives to be straight ahead drift away from the true straight ahead direction,” he said.

In the study the research team took six volunteers to the Bienwald forest, in southern Germany, and asked them to walk in as straight a line as they could while their progress was monitored using GPS devices. Four volunteers walked on a cloudy day when the Sun was hidden and two in bright sunshine.

The four who walked under clouds all moved in circles and three of them crossed their own paths repeatedly without noticing. The two volunteers who were able to see the Sun walked in straight lines, except for 15 minutes when it was obscured by cloud.

A similar pattern occurred when three other volunteers were tested in the Sahara desert in southern Tunisia.

Two volunteers, who walked during the day and could see the Sun, veered off course but did not walk in circles. The third, who walked at night, kept to a straight line when the Moon was visible but doubled back on himself when it disappeared behind clouds.

The team is planning to investigate the phenomenon further in the laboratory by asking volunteers to walk through a virtual-reality forest on a specially designed treadmill.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

“What am I preparing for?”  As I see it there are five broad categories that capture most situations where a person may have to “survive” until rescued or until the weather conditions improve and the individual can rescue themselves.

Winter weather presents challenges to drivers. Make sure you have a winter survival kit in your car!

The categories are: Becoming lost, being caught out after dark, becoming stranded, becoming ill or injured and unable to proceed and bad weather that makes continuing on dangerous.

This article will look at the third of these situations, “stranded.”

By Peter Kummerfeldt

The very word “stranded” brings to mind the story of Robinson Crusoe’s lengthy stay on his tropical island or the plight of the Donner Party.  Or the experiences of the Uruguayan rugby team who survived a crash landing in the Andes as told in Piers Paul Read’s book “Alive” also come to mind.

If the truth be told, you can become stranded in far less exotic places than the South Pacific, the Andes or the Sierra Mountains of California.  You can become stranded, and find yourself having to survive, in the woodlot behind your home.  You can become stranded when driving to work or as a result of many other scenarios where suddenly you are unable to continue – or to return to safety.

Weather,  the onset of darkness, mechanical breakdown or other accidents can all result in your having to utilize survival skills and procedures to insure that you see the light of the next day.

A winter storm can make travel particularly dangerous. Make a vehicle survival kit, and let someone know when you left, and your expected arrival!

morning after working the night shift to drive home. A few minutes later, she was stuck in a snowdrift on an isolated country lane unable to proceed.  Some forty-four hours later she was finally found and rescued.

Her advice to others: “It can happen to anyone. Make sure you’re equipped. Stay with your vehicle. Tell someone where you’re going!”

Karen survived becoming stranded because she followed her own advice, believed she would be rescued, didn’t panic,  and she survived!

Unless you have experienced the emotions of finding yourself stranded a long way from help it is difficult to explain in words: The gut wrenching fear felt when you realize you can’t get back, you’re cut-off, you’re alone without anyone to help… YOU MIGHT DIE!

Let’s look at “becoming stranded” objectively, find  the problems faced by the victim and then identify some practical solutions to those problems.

WEATHER

Most commonly,  the onset of inclement weather strands people.  Motorists are stranded in their cars on the highways when driving conditions become too dangerous to continue – or more commonly they continue driving until an accident happens.

Those recreating outdoors suddenly find themselves unable to return home because the snow gets too deep, the water in the river rises and crossing becomes too risky, or fog obscures the landmarks and the navigation becomes impossible.

It is often weather that causes an aircraft to crash land or ditch – particularly light aircraft and helicopters!

A tornado could destroy roads and bridges and strand people on the disaster scene.

It is the weather, or more accurately, the lack of awareness of how quickly that the weather can change, that    precipitates a person into a survival situation!

One moment the sun is out and hiking in shorts and T-shirt is appropriate and moments later the sun goes behind a cloud, it begins to rain, the wind velocity increases a few miles per hour, the temperature plummets and now the victim is in a situation from which they may not recover.

Never assume anything. As Lefty Kreh, the well known author and fisherman once said: “It’s always going to be colder than they tell you.  It’s going to be windier than it should be for the time of year and it’s going to rain more than you expect it to so be prepared for anything.”

 Select the kinds of clothing that will keep you warm and dry and will keep the wind out. With good clothing the need for a fire and even the need for additional shelter may not be necessary.

MECHANICAL FAILURE.

Unfortunately most people have an unfounded faith in their vehicles ability to perform forever!

• It should be a given that if man made it, it can and will break down!
• It should also be a given that if it’s likely to fail, steps should be taken to be able to fix the problem.
• At  the very least you should be able to contact others for help in the event you become stranded.

When traveling to places where help is a long way off, prepare your vehicle accordingly.  Often the malfunction is not something catastrophic.  It’s usually the failure of some part that, had the operator performed a simple visual check; the situation could have been prevented.

Simple steps like checking the fluid levels (all fluid levels, not just the oil), checking air pressure in the tires; checking the condition of belts and hoses is often all it takes to complete an uneventful trip. While it may not be possible to eliminate all mechanical failure, it is possible to minimize the likelihood of becoming stranded because of mechanical malfunction by thoroughly inspecting your vehicle before a trip and equipping it with sufficient emergency gear to keep the occupants safe until found.

MISCOMMUNICATION.

As the pilot flew back to Fairbanks  after dropping my sheep hunting partner and I off, I was left with some misgivings regarding his understanding of when we were to be picked up.  My misgivings became reality ten days later when our ride home failed to show up.

While waiting for the overdue transportation strange thoughts occurred.  Such as: I wonder if the plane that dropped us off crashed on its way back to base. I wonder if the pilot told anyone else where he had taken us. I wonder if anyone will come looking for us!

Several days passed before we finally heard the drone of the Super Cub, our ride home, coming across the tundra.  In this instance it was confusion between “picking us up ten days later” and “picking us up on the 10^th” that led to the miscommunication.

Had we not planned on “weather days” and a delayed pickup, our hunting trip might have become a survival experience. Critical communications should be written down not verbally communicated!  Plan for delays.

CRASHES (car, plane, boat, snow machine, motorbike, etc.)

The problem with modern transportation is that in a very short period time you can find yourself a long way from help after an accident.  In a couple of hours an ATV traveling at 12 mph can put you 24 miles from the trail head. How long will it take you to walk 24 miles? You can find yourself many miles from the marina when the boat that you were speeding across the lake in collides with a semi-sunken log and sinks.  How far can you swim?   A light aircraft flying at 100 mph places you even further back in the wilderness – usually too far to walk out.  Regardless of the mode of transportation you are now a long way from home – you are stranded and must survive until rescue arrives. Will you be able to survive until you are found and rescued?

DARKNESSSuffice it to say that once the sun sets a person can be just as stranded as they are when their car breaks down miles from sources of assistance.  Traveling on foot at night is not generally recommended for all the reasons previously discussed.  Stay put and wait for the sun to come up and then decide what should be done.

Becoming stranded is not the end of the world!  If you have told others of your travel plans they will become worried when you don’t show up and will initiate the rescue process by contacting the authorities.  As the one who is stranded your job is to keep yourself alive until they show up.

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades.Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of “Surviving a Wilderness Emergency” and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com