Michael Dehoyos is a content marketer and editor at PhD Kingdom and Academic brits as well as a writer at Origin Writings. He assists companies in developing their marketing strategy concepts and contributes to numerous sites and publications. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, wild camping and being at one with nature.
We’ve all considered it at some point: how would I survive if I got lost in the woods? Or stranded on a desert island? Thankfully, for most of us, these survival scenarios are just a flight of fancy, but for anyone going out into the wild regularly, it’s important to develop a wilderness survival plan.
Before The Trip
Wilderness survival should begin before you’ve even left your home. If you know you are going to be in an environment that might require survival skills, it’s much safer to prepare for the worst in advance. This doesn’t mean bringing everything but the kitchen sink, rather bringing a small collection of items that are always useful in a survival setting – a torch, pocket knife, portable battery, some paracord.
Absolutely paramount is to tell someone where you’re going and what you’re doing. If the worst does happen and you’re stranded somewhere in the wilderness you have a far better chance of survival is someone knows where you’re supposed to be and when you’re expected back. That way, if anything seems wrong, they can contact the authorities immediately.
Don’t Panic
If the worst does happen and you find yourself in a wilderness survival scenario, the first and most vital point is to remain calm. It’s not unnatural to panic in emergency scenarios, but it does significantly increase your chance of making mistakes or rushing into important decisions.
Despite what you may feel in the moment, it’s almost always more valuable to STOP: Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan. Take a few moments to stop what you’re doing, breathe, and consider your situation clearly and calmly. Those few seconds could make a huge difference in a survival scenario.
Take Stock
Once you’ve got your emotions under control you can examine your scenario logically and calmly. This is the OP part of the STOP acronym: observing your current situation and creating a plan for how to get out of it. This might mean figuring out where the nearest inhabited area is, or assessing your physical fitness, including any injuries you might have sustained getting into this survival scenario.
At this point it’s essential you take stock of what you have with you in terms of equipment and supplies. Figure out how long the food and water you have on you will last, how you could repurpose any of your equipment for building a shelter or finding food. Francine Dumont, a travel blogger at 1Day2write and Writemyx, has this top tip to share: “At this stage, don’t get rid of anything, no matter how inconsequential it might seem. The novel you brought could be good kindling, your shoelaces could become part of a hunting weapon.”
Establish Essentials: Shelter, Water, Food
The Rolling Stones knew what they were talking about. Once you have a plan of action, the next goal should be finding shelter. This is where your wilderness skills come in handy. Before attempting any truly wild survival activities, learn how to construct a basic lean-to shelter out of foraged materials. There are a whole load of different shelters you could build, but a lean-to is the quickest and, in a pinch, better than nothing at all.
“You might last a while without food, but you can only surive three days without water.” Francis Scott is a lifestyle writer at Britstudent and Nextcoursework with some advice on sourcing water in the wilderness. “Look out for bodies of freshwater and if you can’t find any try making a rain catcher. In either scenario, boil water before you drink it to remove impurities.”
When it comes to food, get creative with your foraging. Hopefully, you’ve done some research on local plants and animals before your trip, in which case you can look out for wild berries and plants that are safe to eat. In the wilderness beggars really can’t be choosers, so be prepared to eat everything from bugs to leaves until you’re safe back in civilization.
Keep On Surviving
This is really only the start of your wilderness survival experience. Depending on your particular scenario you may have to survive for days or even weeks. However, trust that with these basics established you are on your way to getting through this.
