Wilderness Survival

A life or death survival situation is not a scenario that crosses people’s mind very often, but acquiring some basic survival skills could save lives. Survival skills include a range of situations from lost while hiking, to a plane crash, and even to the dreaded zombie apocalypse. Ever since people have been going into the woods there have been people getting lost, and ever since people have been getting lost there has been a need for survival skills. The art of survival has been studied, tested, and even put on television in shows like “Survivorman”, “Man Vs Wild”, and “Dual Survival”. The skillfulness crucial for wilderness survival is easily learned, and gives everyone a fighting chance if a life or death survival circumstance occurs. Basic wilderness survival skills separate into three groups: water, fire, and finally, escape.

Water is a deciding factor between life and death throughout a survival situation. One of the biggest killers in the wild is lack of water, or dehydration. Dehydration is detected by thirst, little to no sweat, no urination, and exhaustion. Devoid of water, a person dies from dehydration in within three to five days, but in an unforgiving survival situation the time before death is reduced due burdens on the body. Water is challenging to acquire; however, it is straightforward to do with basic knowledge of how water flows, geological features, and how some plants retain water (Muma 3). All plants require water, and the majority store water inside themselves; this element alone could give people a sufficient amount of water to survive. If chewed on, almost any green plant or leaf will produce water (Muma 9). Erik Falk said, “Water is very rarely drinkable in the wild, so some kind of purification is neces...

... middle of paper ...

...aybe not even once in a lifetime, but when it is extraordinarily easy to learn simple skills to save themselves people should learn them. If given the chance to learn a skill to potentially save a life the intelligent thing to do would be to learn it. The opportunity to prepare to escape death is more than adequate motivation to gain knowledge of some fundamental and exceptionally useful skills.

Works Cited

Tscherne, Rick. "Army Ranger Rick's Outdoor Survival Tips." Outdoor Survival Tips at Survival Outdoor Skills. 2014 Web. 06 Jan. 2014.

Muma, Walter. "Wilderness Survival." Wilderness Survival. 2013 Web. 06 Jan. 2014.

“Wilderness Survival: Free Info Covering All Aspects of Survival.” 2014 Web. 06 Jan. 2014.

Falk, Erik. "Wilderness Survival Skills for Safe Wilderness Travel." Wilderness Survival Skills for Safe Wilderness Travel. N.p., 2013. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.