Finding yourself in unexpected extreme conditions in the wild, a person faces a number of survival factors. 50-70% of survivors find themselves in a state of panic, in 15-25% the extreme situation causes hysterics, and only the remaining 10-25% are capable of taking adequate and active actions towards their survival.
The outcome of survival is influenced by factors such as pain, thirst, cold, heat, hunger, overwork, and stress. Let's look at each factor in more detail.
Pain is a protective reaction to external influences on the body, and a person is able to cope with very strong painful sensations, concentrating on
survival goals.
Hunger- this is one of the significant survival factors in extreme situations. With complete starvation, when nutrients and calories do not enter the body at all, but there are water reserves, the body switches to consuming internal resources - protein in the muscles, fat, glycogen in the liver and muscles.
It is estimated that the average person weighing 70 kg has 15 kg of body fat, which corresponds to 135 thousand kcal, 6 kg of protein in the muscles - 25 thousand kcal, 0.15 kg of glycogen in the muscles and 0.075 kg of glycogen in the liver in total gives a little less than 1 thousand kcal. In general, it turns out to be about 160 thousand kcal, of which no more than 40% can be consumed without threat to life, which is approximately 64 thousand kcal. Now you can calculate how many days of autonomous existence this energy reserve will last.
To maintain vital functions, the body needs 1 kcal per hour per kilogram of weight, which is 70 kcal/hour for the whole body. You will need 1700 kcal per day.
With such energy consumption, our reserve should be enough for 37-40 days. An impressive figure, but this is in absolute rest mode, when you don’t even have to get up to go to the toilet, any movements will mercilessly reduce your energy reserves.
Once in extreme conditions in the wild, a person needs to do the necessary physical work, stand guard in the camp, and build a shelter for protection from bad weather.
For example, walking at a speed of 4 km/h requires 200 kcal/h from the body, and at a speed of 5 km/h it requires 300 kcal/h. Survival factors such as stress, fear, and loneliness also contribute. Any moral experience also requires its own calories. A hungry, weakened person is more susceptible to illness, and it is more difficult for him to keep warm.
Together, all these factors reduce the period of time for which our calorie reserve will last to 20-25 days with a reasonable approach.
This indicator is also influenced by the gender and age of the person. Older people tolerate hunger more easily due to lower metabolism. In young people it is 18-20% higher. Women tolerate hunger better than men. So, the first to die are boys aged 14-18 years, then young men, then girls, women
and older people may go without food the longest. These are statistics from the siege of Leningrad.
It is worth noting that these are only averages. Even people of similar size, gender and age have different calorie needs. Losing 30-40% of the initial weight, as a rule, leads to the death of a person.
The main stages of fasting under autonomous conditions. The initial period lasts 2-4 days, and is characterized by a very strong feeling of hunger, a feeling of nausea and dizziness. Constant thoughts about food. During this period, the body loses about 1 kg of weight every day. Further, the feeling of hunger decreases, irritability, apathy, drowsiness increase, and sleep worsens.
Hunger, as a factor that greatly influences human survival, is, as a rule, rarely the cause of human death. Hunger enhances the effect of other factors.
Statistics of such cases show that people in extreme natural conditions often died, having an adequate supply of food.
Conclusion: if you do not have a supply of food and/or the terrain where you are does not allow you to get food, and they are searching for you, it is better to adhere to passive survival tactics, do not go far from the camp, save your energy resources, lie down more, perform only the most necessary physical work. In general, correlate the energy expended with the benefits of the actions performed and remember that every calorie counts.
Heat. Next survival factor in natural conditions is heat. The human body consists of almost 60% water, with bones 25%, and the brain 80%, so it is the first to suffer from a lack of water in the body. For the body, it is necessary to observe the correct regime of water consumption - an excess of water loads the heart, kidneys, and washes salts out of the body. Lack of water leads to weight loss, loss of strength, and thickening of the blood, which puts strain on the heart, since it is difficult for it to pump thick blood through the vessels. Because the brain is the most important body, and at the same time sensitive to loss of water; when there is a lack of it, it begins to absorb fluid from the cells. Up to 5% of the fluid sucked from the cells passes without consequences for the body, and 15% already leads to the possible death of the body. Therefore, lack of water, as a survival factor, is much more dangerous than lack of food.
Under normal temperature conditions, the rate of water consumption is 2.5-3 liters per day along with tea, juices, soups, etc. One of the signs of a lack of water is a decrease in salivation, and the appearance of the initial feeling is often perceived as severe thirst, although there is no dehydration yet. A person begins to drink a lot of water, which, combined with physical activity, leads to heavy sweating, which leads to even greater removal of fluid from the body, which again leads to the need to drink water. This process is accompanied by weakness and loss of strength. If you have to do physical work in hot conditions, drink water in small sips at short intervals, since water is absorbed only after 10-15 minutes until it enters the stomach. Sometimes you can suck on a sour candy, which will cause salivation, which in turn will reduce the feeling of thirst.
With increased sweating, salts are actively washed out of the body, for which you need to drink lightly salted water at the rate of 0.5 -1 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Survival in a sultry desert is more difficult than survival in the Arctic, since a person has several ways to protect himself from the cold - shelter, warm clothes, high-calorie food, heating. In the desert, the main factor for survival is the availability of water.
Cold is another factor influencing survival. According to statistics, 10-15% of tourists die from the cold. When protecting against the cold, it is important to take into account not only the air temperature itself, but also air humidity and wind speed. In areas with low temperatures and dry air, frosts are tolerated much more easily than in Primorye regions where air humidity is higher.
But the greatest contribution to the perception of low temperatures is made by wind. For example, at an air temperature of -3°C and a wind speed of 10 m/s, the total effect on the body will be as if the temperature was -20°C. With the same wind speed and -10°C, the total impact will be -30°C. At -15°C the impact will be -36°C, and at -25°C the same wind speed will be -50°C. With a wind of 18 m/s and an air temperature of -45°C, the effect on the body will be the same as at -90°C.
Therefore, survival in areas with low temperatures implies the immediate construction of a good shelter from the wind and cold, since the survival time in strong winds can be no more than a few hours. Warm clothing can protect from the cold for a period sufficient to build a shelter. It is better to dress in layers. There is an air gap between the layers of clothing, so 2-3 thin sweaters warm much better than one thick one. It is also necessary to take care of your shoes, since 9 out of 10 frostbites occur on the extremities.
Fear is another survival factor in extreme natural conditions. Fear is a natural reaction to a threat to life and health, and it is impossible to say unequivocally that fear harms or promotes survival; it all depends on the specific situation. Each person's behavioral reaction to fear is different, and it can be divided into several types - passive type, active and reasonable.
With the passive type, when encountering danger, a person falls into a stupor, makes meaningless movements, and sometimes faints. With the exception of certain situations, such as when encountering a snake, the passive type often leads to death. The active type of behavior is characterized by an instant reaction to danger, for example, when a person bounces off a falling stone. This type of survival is often useful in solo survival; in collective survival, this type of behavior can be dangerous for the rest of the group, for example, when a person jumping away from danger can cause a rockfall or avalanche.
The active type also manifests itself in drowning people, who unconsciously grab and drown others for the sake of their survival. This type of survival is based on unconditioned reflexes.
The reasonable type is characteristic of trained people who are able to think sensibly in extreme conditions. Such people instantly assess the situation and make the right decisions.
During crashes, in poorly prepared groups, mass panic occurs, which is dangerous due to its rapid growth. In close-knit groups, where there is a clear hierarchy and leader, such manifestations of panic are much lower. To reduce panic, the leader must give clear instructions to each group member so that there is no time to realize the gravity of the situation. The army principle is good here - “whatever the soldier does, as long as”
During long-term survival, when the prospects are not clear, a person often loses faith in salvation, becomes depressed, and becomes passive, although he does the necessary work, but without initiative. With further development of this depressive state manifestations of hysterics and suicide attempts are possible. Or, on the contrary, a person may be in constant mental stress, he exhibits excessive fear for his life, fear of animals and insects, fear of drinking water from reservoirs. Constant mental stress quickly depletes strength, leads to breakdowns and mistakes in behavior.
In general, fear, to varying degrees, is a kind of limiter that prevents the body from being subjected to death. Also, you shouldn’t try your best to overcome fear; for example, if one of the group members is terrified of heights, it’s better to take a route where there are no peaks or ridges.
Overwork- this is permanent survival factor in extreme natural conditions, manifested due to physical and moral stress. For his survival, a person needs to get food, build shelters, prepare firewood for a fire, etc. - and all this without a special tool, with a constant lack of calories in the body. Overwork is also affected by constant lack of sleep, fear, and unfavorable weather conditions. In such conditions, every new day is more and more difficult. For example, in the first hours of survival, a temperature of -15°C is more easily tolerated than 0°C after a few days.
Overwork reduces performance and reaction to danger, the will to survive. To prevent overwork, it is necessary to rest in a timely manner when fatigue occurs. Perform the work in parts with short breaks. In such a situation, you cannot work all the way, you must remember that you have a limited margin of safety, and it cannot be wasted in the first hours, since it is unknown how much longer you will have to survive. Important tasks such as building shelters must be done long before dark, so as not to rush with all your might.
It is also necessary to take care of the comfort of night sleep, since only in sleep a person restores his strength to the maximum, and if you get up all night to a poorly organized fire so as not to freeze, or toss and turn because of an uncomfortable bed, there will be little use from a night’s sleep, which will only make you feel even more tired.
Loneliness in case of individual survival, it greatly influences its outcome, not only because of the psychological component, but also because of the physical one - you have to do everything yourself, there is no way to share responsibilities. A person alone with himself is more susceptible to stress and depression. To reduce this negative effect, it is better to occupy yourself with some kind of activity every minute. Many people in such a situation begin to talk with objects or with imaginary interlocutors, and this method can help in solitary survival.
Overall different survival factors are closely interrelated - when the influence of one factor increases, the influence of other factors increases.
The art of survival
Survival in extreme natural conditions
Modern man, with very rare exceptions, lives in conditions of civilization, that is, in crowded settlements, equipped with a variety of technical devices, with supplies of food, medicine, fuel, building materials and other means of subsistence.
Therefore, finding himself alone with wild or semi-wild nature as a result of all kinds of disasters, he finds himself in a situation that threatens his physical existence. Of course, military intelligence officers go behind enemy lines with weapons in hand, carrying with them a supply of food, medicine, various instruments and other means. However, it may happen that all the equipment will be lost (lost, destroyed, used up), and only one or two people from the group will be left. To survive, they must act according to science.
The science of survival is a set of techniques and methods aimed at overcoming extreme situations in natural conditions without harm to health (or with minimal damage). This applied discipline includes terrain navigation without a map or instruments; construction of shelters for shelter from bad weather; obtaining water and fire; hunting and fishing using homemade devices; eating wild plants; healing wounds and illnesses without the help of a doctor; providing yourself with various useful devices, etc.
Providing water
Water is necessary for humans to maintain normal life. Water makes up 65% of the human body weight.
When the body is dehydrated, severe disorders can occur: body weight decreases sharply, blood volume decreases and it becomes more viscous. At the same time, the load on the heart increases, associated with greater efforts to promote thick blood, and the secretions of the digestive glands decrease. It should be noted that a person almost does not notice dehydration of the body if it does not exceed 5% of body weight, although already when approaching this value, performance begins to noticeably decrease. If water loss exceeds 10%, then irreversible changes may occur in the body. An increase in water deficiency to 20-25% leads to death.
While moving, drink water under one important condition: follow a reasonable dosage and regimen. Thus, during the transition, replenishment of water reserves in the body ("shock" refueling) should be done at large rest stops. Here, depending on the weather, load, pace of movement, the nature of the path, that is, on the amount of water excreted through sweat in this area, it is recommended to drink 250-500 ml of water. At short rests you can drink 100-200 ml of water. Directly when moving along the route, during short stops due to the particular difficulty of the section being overcome, it is allowed, in the presence of easily accessible water (stream, thermos), to take a sip or two of liquid or rinse the mouth and throat with acidified water.
It should be borne in mind that with significant fatigue, the secretion of the salivary glands is sharply inhibited, resulting in dryness of the oral mucosa, the thickness of saliva increases, which makes it difficult to swallow, that is, a feeling of false thirst appears. To eliminate it, salivation should be increased by stimulating the corresponding glands with products containing various organic acids (malic, citric, cranberry). A mint or sour candy (lollipops, caramel), a slice of dried apricots or prunes satisfies this thirst well.
To quench your thirst, it is good to use lightly salted water. At the same time, the body tissues are enriched with necessary salts. Salting water, especially snow water, at the rate of 0.5-1.0 g of salt per liter of water has almost no taste. It should be borne in mind that with great fatigue, a person’s sense of taste becomes dull. In this state, even more salt will not cause discomfort.
Dangers associated with drinking water that is not potable
No matter how thirsty you are, do not drink water that is undrinkable. Waterborne diseases are the most dangerous during the struggle for survival. Unfit for drinking water is rife with disease-causing organisms.
Avoid drinking raw water (except spring water or from clean streams in highlands), especially from bodies of standing water, or downstream from populated areas. Water from a river, canal, or some reservoir must be disinfected. The most reliable way is boiling (8-10 minutes). If the liquid is taken from a suspicious or heavily contaminated source (which is allowed only in extreme cases), it should boil for half an hour. You can disinfect water with aluminum alum (a pinch in a bucket), crystals of potassium permanganate (until the water turns very faintly pink and let it stand for an hour), pantocid tablets - dissolve 1-2 tablets in 1 liter of water and leave for 30 minutes. If the water is heavily polluted, the dose of panthocide must be doubled. At the same time, the turbidity settles to the bottom, the water brightens. A 5% solution of iodine tincture is also suitable for disinfection: 2-3 drops per 1 liter of water, mix well and let stand for an hour.
In the middle zone, to sterilize water, you can take young branches of spruce, pine, fir, cedar or common juniper at the rate of 100-200 grams per bucket of water and boil them for 30-40 minutes. Then throw in a few pieces of alder, oak, willow or birch bark, boil for another 10-15 minutes, and let cool. After the branches and bark are removed from the container, a brown, poorly soluble sediment will appear at the bottom. It is drained and water cannot be consumed with it.
For similar purposes, the grass of feather grass, tumbleweed, yarrow or field violet is suitable at the rate of 200-300 grams per bucket with boiling for 20-30 minutes.
However, using the methods mentioned above cannot purify water from toxic chemicals and chemical fertilizers. By drinking water that is not suitable for drinking, you can get dysentery, cholera, typhus, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, or swallow a leech.
Cloudy, stagnant and polluted water
If the scouts examined all the water sources and were still left without water, they would have to drink water from reservoirs with muddy and stagnant water, even if it had an odor.
To clean cloudy water you need to:
- pass water through a container filled with sand, charcoal and fine gravel.
- then boil the water for 10 minutes. Let the water sit for 45 minutes, after which you can drink it.
Detection of water sources
If there are no open bodies of water nearby, dig into the ground in search of groundwater (water from rains and melting snow that has soaked into the soil). The groundwater level and water supply depend on the terrain and the nature of the soil.
Rocky soil. Look for springs and keys. In limestone soil there are more springs and they are larger. Since limestones dissolve easily, groundwater forms depressions in them. Try to find springs in these depressions.
Keys should be found in places where a dry canyon passes through a layer of porous sandstone.
Look in rocky areas green grass on the slopes of the mountains. Dig a hole where the grass is greenest and wait until water begins to seep through.
Loose soil. Loose soil usually contains more water and is easier to find than rocky soil. Look for groundwater at the lowest points in valleys or where slopes meet a valley, as this is where the water table is closest to the surface.
Before you dig, look around for signs of water. Dig in a valley below a steep slope or in areas densely covered with grass, where there may have been a spring during the rainy season. In forests growing in lowlands, along sea coasts and in river valleys, the groundwater level is close to the surface. Even a small hole usually becomes a good source of water.
Precipitation water accumulates above the groundwater level and forms streams, ponds and swamps. Consider this water contaminated and dangerous.
Sea coast. Water can be found in the dunes above the coast or on the coast itself. Carefully inspect the depressions between the dunes to see if there is water there. If the sand is wet, dig a hole in the sand at low tide 100 meters above the high water mark at high tide. The water may taste salty, but it is safe. Pass it through a sand filter.
Don't drink sea water. The salt concentration is too high. When drinking such water, there will be a loss of fluid from the body tissues. You can drink juice squeezed from fish.
Desert or steppe. First, look for signs of water in these areas. These include: the direction of flight of birds, the location of vegetation, and the converging directions of animal trails.
Cattails, willows, elderberries, rushes and solyanka grow only in places where groundwater comes close to the surface. Find these plants and dig in that place.
Desert inhabitants know about the location of non-drying open sources of water in the lowlands. They cover them in a variety of ways, so look under brush piles and other hidden places.
On a bright night, collect dew using a handkerchief as a sponge. With heavy dew, you can collect about 0.5 liters of water per hour.
Mountains. Dig in dry river beds, as there is often water underneath the gravel. In snowy fields, place the snow in a container and place it in the sun, away from the wind.
"Distillation" of water
The water we use in everyday life comes mainly from the ground. Wells are constructed to obtain groundwater. The "distillation" device serves the same purpose. The sun's heat raises the temperature of the air and the plastic-covered soil until the air becomes saturated with moisture and can no longer hold water vapor. The steam then begins to condense into tiny droplets on the inside of the plastic because it is cooler than the moist air underneath. The droplets slowly flow down the plastic and fall into the bucket.
Since the heat for this “distillation” device comes from the sun, it would seem that with the onset of darkness the production of water would cease. However, after sunset the plastic cools quickly while the soil temperature remains relatively high. Therefore, the steam continues to condense on the surface of the plastic. From four o'clock in the evening to eight o'clock in the morning you can get one and a half times more water than all day.
Don't expect to be able to drink water right away. It will take at least 24 hours to collect 0.5 liters of moisture; however, you can get even a liter or more. The "distillation" device can also become a source of food. A bucket of water attracts snakes and small animals that crawl onto the plastic and cannot get out.
Providing fire
Fire is needed for warmth, drying clothes, signaling, cooking and disinfecting water by boiling. Your chances of survival increase or decrease depending on whether you can start a fire when required.
A fire needs to be lit skillfully; there are many different ways to light a fire. Often a fire produces little heat but a lot of smoke, when it should produce a lot of heat and be invisible from a distance. The writer E. Seton-Thompson said well about the ability to make fires:
"...the best test of the ability to live in the forest is lighting a fire. There are a dozen good reception and a thousand bad ones. A person who can light 30 fires within 30 consecutive days and use only 30 matches or 30 sparks from a flint and steel to do this deserves the title of forest dweller..."
If you have matches, you can start a fire in any weather. Always carry a supply of matches with you in a waterproof case. To prevent them from getting wet, you need to dip each match in melted wax or paraffin and, when they dry, put them in a sleeve and seal with a stopper.
A small fire is easier to build and maintain than a large one. Several small fires placed around will provide more warmth in cold weather than one large one.
Choose a place for the fire carefully so that the forest or dry grass does not catch fire. If you have to make a fire on wet soil or snow, first lay a layer of logs or stones. Protect the fire from the wind with a reflector. This will direct the heat in the desired direction.
There are different ways to make a fire for different purposes.
A “well” fire (logs stacked in a log house) produces a low and wide flame.
A “star” fire (made from thick logs arranged at the ends in the shape of a star) is good for maintaining a fire for a long time without constantly adding branches. Such a fire is indispensable at night: you just need to move the logs towards the center from time to time.
A “taiga” fire made of two logs laid one on top of the other burns for 9-10 hours, requires little maintenance and is most suitable for constructing between large double-sided barriers. It is made from two dry resinous logs with a diameter of 25-30 cm, hewn to one edge and deeply notched along the edge with an ax. The logs are placed one on top of the other with hewn sides with chips and shavings placed between them and fired along the entire length; A thicker log is placed from below, since the log from below burns faster.
A “hunting” fire of three logs on a lining burns for 6-8 hours without special care (you only need to periodically move forward and bring the burning ends of the logs closer together) and is suitable for small one-sided barriers.
The Polynesian fire ("hole") is invisible and produces a lot of coals and ash. For such a fire, they dig a hole, line its walls with logs (or stones), and make a fire at the bottom. If possible, a place for it should be chosen under an overhanging rock or a dense tree crown - in this case it will be invisible not only from the sides, but also from above. In the absence of natural camouflage, such a fire can be easily covered from above with tree branches or a piece of tin. A pit fire does not require a lot of wood. To ensure that the wood in the fire burns well and does not smoke, you need to dig another hole nearby with a narrow channel to the fire for air access.
Bonfire "hearth". In the mountains, where it is difficult to dig a hole, you need to make a fireplace out of stones, leaving a hole on the windward side for air flow.
A Nodya fire is lit when long-term heating is required. To do this you need thick, even logs. Two of them are placed side by side on the ground, grooves are made in the logs facing inward, kindling is placed between them (the coals of another fire are best) and pressed on top with a third log. “Nodya” flares up gradually, burning with a hot flame (and evenly) for several hours. The heat can be adjusted by spreading or moving the lower logs.
Use dead wood and dried branches as fuel. Use mostly birch, alder, pine and spruce wood in the fire. Aspen, larch, rowan, and bird cherry give little heat. Beware of putting fresh pine needles into the fire: they give off thick smoke. Dry pine needles produce a lot of sparks, which can set nearby things and even trees on fire. IN rainy weather inner part a fallen tree trunk can yield dry wood. In areas where there is no forest, use grass, dried animal droppings, and sometimes oil shale or peat lying on the surface.
To start a fire, use fast-burning kindling, such as dry wood chips, pine twigs and branches, dry grass, lichen, ferns, plant and bird fluff, and dry, porous strings of puffball mushrooms, which, by the way, are edible. Plane shavings from dry wood before starting a fire. One of the best and most common kindling materials is rotten wood, completely rotten pieces of logs and trees. Dry rot can also be found in rainy weather by removing wet pieces with a knife, stick or hands. Even in the rain, tree resin in pine bark or dry stumps can easily catch fire. The loose bark of a living birch also contains resinous substances and easily flares up. Stack this kindling in a tent or between logs.
Regulate the fire properly. Protect the coals from the wind. Maintaining a fire requires less effort than starting a new one. The fire should be extinguished at night, but in order not to waste time and matches on starting it in the morning, cover the coals with ash. In the morning they will still smolder, and you can easily fan the fire.
Ways to make fire without matches
Tinder. Prepare some very dry tinder before starting a fire without matches. After preparing it, protect the tinder from wind and dampness. The best tinders are rotten tinder, cloth lint, finely crushed dry bark, dry powdered wood, birds' nests, fuzzy plant material, and wood dust produced by insects, which can be found under the bark of dead trees. To preserve your tinder for later use, store it in a waterproof container.
Sun and glass. The lens of a camera, binoculars, telescope, or hand-held flashlight can be used to focus the sun's rays on the tinder.
Steel wire. The method is to quickly pull a piece of steel wire over a wooden block; the wire heats up, and it can ignite gunpowder, photographic film, and other flammable materials.
Flints and steel. This is the best way to light completely dry tinder if you don't have matches. Flint can be replaced with a piece of hard stone. Hold the flint as close to the tinder as possible and hit it with a knife blade or other small piece of steel. Strike so that the sparks hit the very middle of the tinder. When the tinder begins to smolder, carefully fan it to a flame. Add fuel to the tinder little by little, or transfer the burning tinder to the fuel stored for the fire. If you can't get a spark from one stone, try another.
If you have cartridges, then prepare a pile of dry plants and branches in a place sheltered from the wind to start a fire. Place several cartridges of gunpowder at the base of the pile. Take two stones and pour gunpowder on one of them. Then quickly rub the stones together over the powder at the base of the pile. Friction will ignite the gunpowder on the stone and, in turn, the kindling gunpowder.
Fire for cooking food
A small fire in a hole or a homemade stove is the best fireplace for cooking. Portable oven made from tin can, will help you use fuel economically and is especially convenient in winter.
The fireplace in the ground has one or more vents on the windward side. They create draft for the fire over which food is cooked, much like a stove with a chimney. If strict camouflage is required, this method of starting a fire is most suitable, as it significantly reduces smoke and flames, as well as the effects of strong winds.
Weather prediction
In order to plan your actions in advance, you need to be able to predict weather conditions for the near future. The weather or its changes can be predicted using various local characteristics. There are many such signs. These are optical phenomena in the atmosphere, the nature of clouds, air temperature, wind direction, the behavior of animals, birds, insects, plants and many other signs. The more signs that confirm the same weather condition, the more accurate the forecast.
To determine the weather, you can use the simplest devices. One of them was prepared by nature itself - dried feather grass. It reacts sensitively to all changes in the atmosphere; in clear weather, its panicle curls into a spiral, and when air humidity increases, it straightens.
If necessary, you can make a homemade barometer. To do this, you need to cut off a small part (10-15 cm) of the trunk of a young spruce along with a branch and remove the bark. The trunk is fixed motionless, and the branch remains free. The branch will respond to changes in weather by lowering the end before rain and raising it up before clear weather. The amplitude of movement of a branch depends on its length; with a length of 3040 cm, it can reach 10-15 cm. Having studied the abilities of the branch, you need to make notes near its end “clear”, “variable”, “cloudy” and use it as an ordinary barometer.
Signs of clear weather persistence:
- blood pressure continuously increases or remains consistently high for several days;
- air temperature maintains a stable diurnal pattern: in summer it is hot during the day, cool at night; in winter - severe frost at night, the frost weakens during the day, and intensifies again in the evening;
- the wind also maintains a stable diurnal cycle: calm at night, the wind intensifies during the day, and subsides in the evening, the smoke rises in a column;
- there is no cloudiness or ragged cumulus clouds move in the direction of the surface wind, disappearing in the evening;
- the night is clear, the sky is dotted with stars, the moon is bright, the dawn is golden or pale pink;
- heavy dew falls at night (frost in winter); in the morning heavy fog, disappearing after sunrise;
- frogs croak loudly;
- swallows fly high, seagulls sit on the water, forest birds sing loudly;
- ants are highly active; there are abundant cobwebs on the grass and bushes; midges curl around the pillar"; - the flowers of the plants are wide open; - the coals in the fire are quickly covered with ash.
Signs of a change from clear weather to cloudy:
- the pressure decreases and the faster, the more accurate the sign;
- air temperature rises in winter, and in summer the difference between day and night temperatures decreases;
- the wind intensifies, changes direction, daily fluctuations weaken or disappear completely; smoke spreads across the ground;
- cloudiness increases, cirrus or cumulus tower-shaped clouds appear; the movement of clouds does not coincide with the direction of the surface wind;
- the sun sets behind the clouds, the dawn is red, at night the stars and moon are not visible or there is a crown around them;
- there is no dew at night, the fog does not dissipate with sunrise;
- the frogs are silent;
- swallows fly above the ground, seagulls gather on the shore and bathe in dust, sounds forest birds Can not hear;
- ants hide in anthills, insects are not visible in the air or on plants, bees return to their hives, worms crawl to the surface of the earth;
- the flowers of the plants are closing, droplets of water are visible in the axils of the leaves; plant odors intensify;
- the coals of the fire smolder brightly, the salt becomes damp.
Signs of persistent inclement weather:
- blood pressure is low and does not change during the day;
- air temperature is constant with a small daily amplitude;
- the wind direction does not change, the speed remains significant;
- the sky is completely covered with stratus and nimbostratus clouds;
- at night the moon and stars, but during the day the sun is not visible;
- precipitation (snow or rain) is moderate, continuous over a long period of time, or heavy, occurring intermittently;
- animals, birds and insects hide in shelters;
- plant inflorescences are closed and drooping.
Signs of a change from inclement weather to clear:
- pressure rises;
- air temperature decreases;
- the direction of the wind changes, its speed decreases;
- gaps form in stratus clouds, cirrus clouds appear, which disappear in the evening;
- precipitation increases at times; when it rains, a rainbow appears;
- birds land on the ground, their sounds are heard in the forest;
- spiders descend on their web in the evening, mosquitoes and midges appear; bees fly out to collect honey;
- fern leaves curl down, plant inflorescences open.
In addition to these signs, there are many others that correspond only to certain areas of the area. They must be studied and memorized for use both in extreme conditions and in everyday life.
Equipment for shelters from bad weather
Safe, complete rest in conditions of autonomous existence is possible only in an equipped shelter. When selecting a shelter location, factors such as protection from wind and cold, proximity to fuel and water, absence of insects, and inaccessibility to predatory animals and poisonous snakes are taken into account. At the same time, it must allow surveillance of approaches and airspace.
The type of shelter depends on the funds available and time available. However, in any case, it must solve the main task - to shelter people from unfavorable weather conditions and retain the heat of the fire and the human body. In this regard, the shelter should be small, waterproof and windproof. It is also necessary to provide adequate ventilation in the shelter so as not to suffocate from the accumulation of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. The presence of carbon monoxide in the shelter is indicated by the bluish color of the flame on the coals of the fire, an accumulation of carbon dioxide- yellowish flame color.
When staying in one place for a short time (up to 7-10 days), scouts build simple shelters (huts, sheds, tents), set up tents, and use caves. Shelters must be camouflaged and provide quick and covert escape in case of detection by the enemy.
For the construction and equipment of temporary shelters, local materials, raincoats, and parachutes are used. Raincoat tents are used to construct tents and awnings.
A tent for one person is made from one set of raincoats. The panel is supported on one side by a stand and guy rope and secured in all corners with pins. A camping tent for six people with a dug pit is equipped with five sets of raincoats in the following order:
- a rectangular pit is dug up, measuring 2.5 x 3.3 m at the bottom, 0.6 m deep, with a backfill of excavated earth along the edges 0.3 m high; a hole 1.3 m wide is torn off on the short side;
- five panels are sewn together with three ropes so that there are two panels on one side and three on the other; one outer panel serves to close the hole;
- the sewn tent is installed above the pit on racks reinforced with guy wires; The edges of the mantling are secured at the corners and in the middle with the ends of the lacing ropes to the pins.
A camping tent for six people installed on the surface of the ground is made from six sets of raincoats in the following order:
- the four panels of the gable part of the tent are sewn together with two ropes, and the remaining two panels folded in triangles, forming the ends of the tent, are also laced to it; the panel at the entrance end is made folding, lacing only one of its edges;
- lift the sewn tent onto three assembled posts and strengthen the outermost ones with guy ropes;
- stretch the tent and tie it with the ends of lacing ropes and pegs.
In hot areas, simple canopies can be built from a raincoat tent that will protect from the scorching rays of the sun and at the same time be well ventilated. In hot weather, it is not recommended to rest in deep holes or depressions where there is no free air ventilation. You should not stay in ruins, near duvals, or in caves - in such places there are usually many ticks, the bite of which can cause infection.
It is not difficult to arrange and camouflage a shelter in the forest, both in winter and in winter. summer time. Huts and shelters are built from branches, poles, and fallen trees.
If possible, canopy barriers are installed near trees, using them as supports for the frame. On the trees, a horizontal purlin from the knurling is strengthened, inclined poles are supported on it at a distance of 1 m from one another, and a transverse lathing is laid. In the absence of trees, the frame of the canopy is supported by trestles tied together from poles. The canopy is covered with branches, reeds, straw or panels of raincoats.
Huts are better than barriers, protect from bad weather, provide more amenities for recreation, and are erected at sites lasting more than a day. Huts are made from poles, skis, branches and brushwood. They come in gable and conical types. Cone-shaped ones are most suitable for winter, since fires can be made in them.
A gable hut is arranged like this:
- on the cleared site, two parallel grooves 5 m long are torn off at a distance of 5 m from one another;
- two rectangular frames are connected from poles with dimensions in the axes of the outer poles 4.5 x 3 m, a lathing is arranged and, for rigidity, each frame is fastened from the inside with a diagonal tie;
- install the frames with their long sides in open grooves and, tilting them one towards the other, connect them at the top, forming a ridge;
- the grooves are filled with earth, and a pole is placed on the ridge, fastening the roofing material along the sheathing of the frames with pressure poles placed obliquely to ensure water drainage;
- seal the ends of the hut with wattle fence, leaving an entrance opening in one of them;
- the lower part of the hut is sprinkled with earth, the opening is covered with a raincoat;
- equip places for rest, lining them with straw, spruce branches, and small branches.
- A conical hut of poles and brushwood is arranged in this order:
- on a cleared area, draw a circle with a radius of 3 m on it, at equal distances from one another, dig holes for installing the lower ends of the hut poles;
- prepare 15-20 poles 4.5-5 m long, 6-7 m thick (at the thin end) and make a circular notch on each of them 5-6 cm from the top;
- the prepared poles are laid along radii with their tops towards the center and tied with a rope along the notches, forming a rope ring with gaps between the poles of 5-6 cm;
- the tied poles are simultaneously raised so that their lower ends become holes in the circle, and the rope ring assumes a horizontal position;
- simultaneously rotate the poles in one direction so that a neck is formed at the top and the frame is in a stable position;
- the poles are braided with branches or brushwood and a covering of branches or a parachute is arranged over this crate; in winter, the bottom of the hut is covered with snow to a height of 1 m;
- equip beds from brushwood and branches and cover the entrance with a raincoat;
- a hole for a fire is dug in the center of the hut; To prevent the fire from smoking, arrange a supply of outside air to the hole by digging a 20 x 20 cm groove for this; the groove is covered with brushwood, over which turf or soil is laid.
Snow caves and pits can serve as a good short-term shelter that at the same time provides good camouflage. To create a cave, a tunnel about 1 m long is dug in a snowdrift, which is then expanded to the sides. The entrance to the cave is closed with a snow block or a raincoat. The pits are covered with a frame of poles or raincoats (tarpaulins) and filled with snow.
Without setting up huts and huts, you can organize an overnight stay in a hunting way. To do this, you need to clear away the snow, make a fire and warm the ground well. After this, move the fire to the side, lay branches on the heated ground coniferous trees, moss, soft equipment and cover with a raincoat on top. You should pack up dressed, in a tight group, covered with a tarpaulin or raincoat.
When choosing shelter sites in the mountains, you need to take into account the possibility of avalanches, rockfalls, rain flows, etc. When installing a mountain tent, a windproof wall is laid out from snow blocks.
In damp swampy areas, a temporary shelter for rest is arranged in such a way that its floor (resting place) is 40-60 cm above the level of the swamp.
The types of shelters considered can only be equipped by a group of people; their construction requires a significant amount of time. For a person left alone, shelters that are easier to construct are required. To this end, he must make maximum use of the terrain and vegetation.
To create a simple shelter, you can use a wind-fallen tree with a dense crown. To enhance protection from rain and wind, you need to additionally cover it with bark or spruce branches. You can quickly build shelters using small poles and tree branches using inversions and thick tree trunks.
With the help of a raincoat tent you can build a kind of sleeping bag. To do this, you need to dig a small hole in the ground, lay a layer of spruce branches on the bottom, and cover it with a cloth on top. Lie down in the resulting bed, cover yourself with the other half of the raincoat and bury yourself with earth. Even in cold weather, this shelter allows you to fully relax, as it retains the heat of the human body well.
If there are predatory animals or poisonous snakes in the area, you can equip a shelter on the branches of a tree for a safe rest. In order to protect yourself from falling while sleeping, you need to tie yourself to a tree trunk.
You can also use a raincoat tent as a bed, stretching it between the trees in the form of a hammock; instead of a feather bed, you need to throw dry leaves or grass inside it.
Providing products
During fasting, the body's adaptive reactions are expressed primarily in a reduction in energy consumption and a decrease in metabolic rate. Deprived of externally supplied nutrition, the body, after appropriate restructuring, begins to consume its internal tissue reserves. They are big enough. So, with a weight of 70 kg, a person has about 15 kg of fat fiber.
Before the death of the organism occurs, it can use up 40-45% of these reserves. Tissue reserves should be enough for 37-42 days of complete fasting at rest. But the task is to reach the goal. Walking is work. It requires costs three times more than at rest, which means that tissue reserves will last for 13-20 days. This is only possible if a person knows how to control his body under conditions of fasting. It's better to get up early and go to bed early. Be sure to light a fire. This and warm water, and a warm place to sleep, and dry clothes. All this is very important, since the feeling of thermal discomfort during fasting is more pronounced.
You should know that hunger will be most painfully felt only in the first 3-5 days, during which the body adapts to feeding on its own tissue reserves (so-called endogenous nutrition). It is noted that the main loss of body weight during fasting occurs on the first and second days, and in areas with a hot climate the amount of loss is higher than in areas with temperate climate. Already on the fourth and fifth days, health begins to improve, the feeling of physical weakness gives way to some general elation, even vigor.
If you find yourself alone in a deserted area, follow following rules:
Consider the entire supply of food and water you have. Try to at least roughly determine how long you will have to be alone. Divide the food supply: two thirds for the first half of loneliness and one third for the second.
Plan to have one large meal each day, and if possible, eat something hot. Cooking makes food safer, more digestible, and more tasty. In addition, you can relax while cooking. Always be on the lookout for anything edible. With few exceptions, anything that grows on the ground, walks on it, crawls or swims on it is a possible source of food. Learn to exist at the expense of nature itself.
Chew everything much longer than usual for better digestion and absorption of food.
Plant food
Although plant foods do not provide a complete composition of nutrients, they can maintain strength even in the Arctic, where the calorie content of meat is special meaning.
Wild plants. In the forest, tundra, and desert you can find many wild edible plants. Some of them are ubiquitous, others have a precise geographical address. Various parts of plants are eaten as food: fruits, roots, bulbs, young shoots, stems, leaves, buds, flowers, nuts.
Plants that birds and animals eat are generally safe to eat. However, it is rare to find plants in which all parts are edible. Most of them have only one or a few parts suitable for eating or quenching thirst.
Cultivated plants. Even after harvesting vegetables and grain, the fields remain a rich source of food. In temperate Europe and Asia, look for fields where potatoes, grains, turnips, or peas were grown.
If you find a potato field, look for any potatoes left in the ground after harvesting. Eat potatoes raw or boiled, but peel them first.
Look for fields where turnips, rutabaga, carrots, beets and radishes are still in the ground after harvest. They can be eaten raw or cooked. However, vegetables should always be cleaned before consumption to eliminate the dangers associated with exposure to fertilizers.
Once in abandoned grain fields, look for areas with fallen ears. Eat grains raw, cooked or lightly toasted.
Food of animal origin
Animal food is more nutritious than plant food, but it is more difficult to obtain. Knowing which animals are edible, where they live, and how to catch them increases your chances of survival.
In some countries of the world, grasshoppers, smooth caterpillars, larvae and pupae of bark beetles, spiders and ants, and snails are considered a delicacy. All these insects, caterpillars and larvae are not only edible, but also quite high in calories, as they contain nutrients and vitamins. There may come a time when there will be no choice, and you will have to eat such insects. In this case, keep in mind that they will be much tastier if they are dried over a fire or cooked fried, baked or stewed. They eat mainly the belly and chest, removing the wings, legs, and head. It is not recommended to eat hairy caterpillars, adult butterflies, beetles, or terrestrial mollusks without shells.
Freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and streams are a rich source of food. They contain more living organisms in a smaller area than on the shore, and they are easier to catch. In coastal waters or around such bodies of water you can catch fish and animals such as frogs, snakes, and crayfish.
Fish
Perhaps of all the animals that live in or around freshwater bodies, fish are the most difficult to catch. But if you are patient and know where, when and how to fish, you can catch them with the simplest of tools.
When to fish. It is difficult to determine the best time to fish because different species of fish feed at different times. As a rule, you should fish at dawn or just after sunset, when a thunderstorm is approaching, at night during a full moon, or when the moon is waning. “Playing” fish and jumping juveniles also indicate that the fish is out to feed.
Where to fish. Choosing a location for fishing depends on the body of water and time of day. In fast-flowing rivers during the hottest part of the day, it is better to fish in a deep backwater, below the riffle. At sunset or early morning, run your bait downstream in areas where there are submerged logs, steep banks or bushes protruding above the water. On the lake in the summer heat, fish in deep places, as the fish seek coolness in deep water. In the evening or early summer morning, it is better to fish in shallow water, where the fish come out to feed. In spring and late autumn, it is better to fish near the shore of the lake, in shallow places, since there the fish either stand or are looking for warm water.
Profit. As a rule, fish bite on bait from the same reservoir. Look for crayfish, eggs, and fry in the water near the shore, and worms and insects on the shore. If you catch a fish, check its stomach to see what it eats, and then try using the same bait. You can use fish intestines and eyes as bait if all other methods fail. When using worms, place them on the entire hook. When hooking the fry, insert the hook through the body of the fish, under the ridge at the base dorsal fin. Be careful not to damage the fry's spine.
Improvised devices for fishing. If you don't have hooks, make them from nails, pins, bones, or hardwood.
Strong wood can be made from tree bast or fabric fibers. Using wood bast, tie the ends of two strands together and secure them securely.
Take a strand in each hand and twist them clockwise while twisting them together counterclockwise. If necessary, tie several of these threads together to lengthen the line. If you have parachute lines, use them for fishing line. Small carnations can also come in handy.
It may happen that despite a well-made line and suitable bait, you will not catch a single fish. Don't be discouraged as there are other fishing methods that can be more productive.
Change over. Using a fixed line, you can fish if you have time to stay by the lake or river longer. Tie several hooks to the line, bait the line, and attach the line to a branch hanging over the water that will bend if the hook is caught by a fish. The seine can be left in the water for the entire period of time during which you will be in the area. Check periodically to see if the fish need to be removed and the bait on the hooks needs to be replaced.
The best hook for saddle stitching is the so-called “unfolding pin”. Insert it into a piece of bait. After the fish swallows the bait, the pin becomes cross and gets stuck in the stomach, keeping the fish on the line.
Fishing with lures. To catch fish using this method you need: a flexible reed or pole 23 m long, a hook, a piece of shiny metal in the shape of an ordinary spoon, a piece of meat or fish intestines, a line approximately 25 cm long. Attach the hook to the end of a short line exactly under the spoon and tie it to the line towards the end of the pole. Having chosen a fishing spot near thickets of river grass or lilies, dangle the hook and spoon under the water near the surface. Splash the end of the pole into the water from time to time to attract attention to the bait. large fish. This method is especially effective at night.
Catching fish with your hands. This method is good to use in small rivers with steep banks or in small ponds formed after a flood. Place your hands in the water and let them get used to the temperature of the water. Slowly move your hands under the protruding bank above the water, keeping them as close to the bottom as possible. Move your fingers slightly until you touch the fish. Then carefully move your hands along the belly of the fish until you reach the gills. Grab it firmly behind the gills.
Fishing in cloudy water. Small, isolated bodies of water formed after a flood usually abound in fish. Lift the silt from the bottom with your feet or a stick, and the fish will begin to search clean water on a surface. Then throw it out of the water onto the shore with your hands or knock it out with a stick.
Fishing with a net. There are usually a lot of fish along the shores of lakes and rivers, as well as in their tributaries. However, it is too small to be caught with a hook, but large enough to be caught with a net. Select a young tree that is shaped like a slingshot and make a round net frame out of it. To tighten the bottom of the frame, baste or tie an undershirt to it, or use a fabric-like material. Use this device to draw water against the current near rocks and in creeks.
Traps. This method is suitable for fishing in both fresh and salt water, especially if the fish move in schools. In lakes and large rivers, fish usually move closer to the shore and shallow water in the morning and evening. Sea fish, moving in large schools, regularly approaches the shore with the tide and often moves parallel to the shore, heading for obstacles in the water.
If you are on the seashore, choose a place for the trap during high tide and build it during low tide. While among the rocks, use the natural creeks between them for this purpose. On a sandy shore, use shallows and depressions between them for traps. Fish downwind.
In small shallow rivers, make a trap by blocking the river with sticks, bushes, stones, leaving a narrow opening in a small pen made of stones or bushes. Drive the fish into the trap. Jam or catch it when it enters shallow water.
On rivers, the best traps are the Venter type. But making them is not so easy.
Fishing with weapons. If you have enough ammo, try shooting at the fish. Aim slightly below the fish at a depth of no more than 1 m.
By exploding a hand grenade or TNT block in a school of fish, you will provide yourself with food for several days. Dry and store fish if you cannot eat it all fresh.
Ice fishing. In winter, fish are caught by making holes in the ice. The hole can be preserved by covering it with bush branches and filling it with loose snow on top.
Fish usually gather in the deep part of the reservoir, so cut holes above the deepest point. Place the device shown in Fig. above each hole. 250. If the flag goes up, remove the fish and change bait.
Take a 1m long pole and a rope long enough to reach the bottom where you are fishing.
Make a small spinner like a spinner out of a tin can or any other piece of shiny metal. Attach the hook to the line, and just above it - a pinwheel. While fishing, move the rod up and down so that the shiny piece of metal vibrates. Fish in places where the bottom forms a cliff, near reed beds or near rocks.
Frogs, newts and salamanders
These small amphibians live around freshwater bodies of water in both warm and temperate climates.
Catch frogs at night, when they are easy to spot by their croaking, and kill them with a stick; catch larger ones with a hook and line. Eat them whole, after removing the skin.
Newts and salamanders can be found under rotten logs or under rocks in the same places where frogs are usually found.
Shellfish
These include invertebrates that live in fresh and salt water: snails, mussels, chitons.
In fresh water, look for clams in shallow areas, especially those with sandy or muddy bottoms. When near the sea, wait for the tide to go out and collect shellfish in the tide pools or in the sand.
Crustaceans
Reptiles
Don't neglect snakes, lizards and turtles as possible food sources.
All of them are edible. Remove their scaly skin and then boil or roast them. Before skinning, hold them over the fire to make skinning easier.
Marine, freshwater, and terrestrial turtles are edible and are found on land and in temperate and tropical waters. Small freshwater turtles can be caught by hand or with a fishing rod. Be careful with the larger and stronger ones as they may bite.
Insects
Beetle larvae, grasshoppers, ants and most other insects are even tasty if cooked properly. They can be prepared for making soup or as a protein supplement to other types of food.
Birds and mammals
All mammals and birds are edible, but are the most difficult prey. So don't forget about the food sources mentioned above even if you are going for larger game.
Hunting animals and birds is not an easy task for the most experienced hunters, so use ambushes. Find a place where animals pass - a path, a watering place or feeding area. Hide nearby, downwind, so that the animals do not smell you. Wait until the animal is within range of your weapon or falls into a trap. Remain absolutely still.
Sneak up to animals against the wind, moving slowly and silently only when they are eating or looking the other way. Freeze in place if the animal is looking in your direction.
Go hunting early in the morning or at dusk, look for signs indicating the presence of animals: tracks, trails, crushed bushes, droppings.
Birds see and hear exceptionally well, but they lack a sense of smell. During nesting, they are less afraid of humans. This makes them easier to catch in the spring and summer. Birds nest on cliffs, in thickets, in swamps and in trees. By observing adult birds, you may discover their chicks or eggs.
Hunting
How to spot the beast. Without some hunting skills, even with a firearm, attempts to catch an animal will be unsuccessful. The secret to a successful hunt is to see the animal before it sees you. Look for signs that indicate the presence of an animal.
A thorough study of tracks and droppings will help determine not only the variety and number of animals, but also their size and direction of movement.
When approaching a mountain ridge, lake, or open area, move slowly, first looking at the area in the distance and then close to you. At a watering hole where there are tracks of animals, hide and wait for the animal to appear, knowing in advance that this may take several hours. The best time for hunting is considered to be early morning and twilight.
Hunting with firearms. If you have a weapon and you see an animal, whistle loudly so that the animal stops and you have a stationary target. When hunting large animals, aim for the neck, chest or head. If you wound an animal and it runs, follow the bloody trail slowly, but persistently. A seriously wounded animal will soon lie down if it is not pursued; Usually he becomes weak and can no longer get up. Approach him slowly and finish him off. Immediately after you shoot a large animal, such as a deer, gut it and drain the blood. Cut out the musk glands located between the hind legs in the groin; Be careful not to rupture the bladder and intestines when removing them.
Catching animals with traps
Know who you're hunting. If you want to be successful, you must first decide what animal you want to catch, think about how it will react and what bait is best to use.
Rats, mice, rabbits and squirrels are easily caught in traps. These small mammals habits are constant, and their habitat is limited. Find a hole or passage, set bait and a trap.
To catch an animal living in a hollow tree, insert a short forked stick into it and rotate it so that the skin of the animal in the hollow can be wrapped around it. When removing the stick from the hollow, hold it tightly.
Smoke the diggers out of their burrows. And as soon as the prey appears, catch it with a loop attached to the end of a long stick.
Place a small fish on a fishing hook and place it on the shore near the water. Perhaps a bird will grab her.
Place snares or traps along the trail at night with fresh tracks or droppings. Install them in places where killed animals were previously butchered. Use their insides as bait. After placing the trap on the path, build barriers on both sides of it. These barriers should be made of dry branches, sticks and dry leaves in the shape of a large V to guide the animal. If an animal moves slightly away from the path and encounters a barrier, it will not jump over it or step on it, but will walk along the barrier and approach the trap. After constructing a barrier, sprinkle the animal's blood or urine around it. This will destroy the human smell. If this is not possible, light a fire and smoke around the area. After this, the animal will not smell the person.
Hanging snare. Tie a sliding loop to the end of the bent sapling. Make the loop so wide that the head of the animal can fit through it, but the body cannot slip through. Build a guardhouse in such a way that the young tree is kept in a bent position. Make the guard very sensitive so that the slightest push of the loop can lower it.
A simple drawstring loop. This simple trap is an important means of survival. It is effective for catching small animals and birds.
Fixed trap. This trap is especially useful for catching rabbits. Tie the loop to a log, tree, or a spear stuck in the ground and place it near a bush or branch.
Trap for catching prey by the leg. This device is suitable for catching small animals and birds. Cover the trap with leaves or grass.
Trap. You can catch medium and large animals in a trap, but use this method only in places where there are a sufficient number of large animals so that it is not in vain to waste time and effort on building a trap. Build a trap near or on an animal trail, near a river. Make sure that the tree that is about to fall passes unobstructed between the vertical posts and that the bait is far enough from the bottom log to ensure that the log falls before the animal pulls its head away.
Take a stone or heavy log and place it at an angle on the guardhouse. Tie a bait to it. When the animal touches the bait, the weight will fall.
Cooking food
Cleaning and cutting up the carcass
Fish. Once you have caught the fish, cut out the gills and large blood vessels near the spine. Scrape off the scales. To gut a fish, cut open the belly and remove the entrails. If you don't skewer the fish, cut off its head. Some fish, such as catfish, do not have scales and must be skinned. Small fish (less than 10 cm) should not be gutted; the scales must be scraped off or the skin removed.
Game. The game must be plucked and boiled with the skin on. After plucking the bird, cut off its head close to the body and remove the entrails. Wash the carcass with clean, fresh water. Leave the neck, liver and heart for stewing. Game is easier to pluck after it has been scalded. Waterfowl are an exception in this regard. It is easier to pluck dry. After the game is cooked, it can be skinned to improve taste qualities. However, in this case, the game partially loses its nutritional value.
Birds that feed on carrion, such as crows, should be boiled for at least 20 minutes to kill germs.
When processing carcasses of small and medium-sized animals, the following rules should be observed:
- hang the carcass head down. Cut the throat and drain the blood into some container. Boil it well. Blood is a valuable source of energy and salt;
- make a circular incision on the knees and elbow joints; make a V-shaped incision in the skin hind limbs and along the stomach to the throat;
- continue the skin incision along the abdomen down to each forelimb;
- make a circular incision in the skin around the genitals;
- remove the skin from top to bottom; The skin of a freshly killed animal is removed like a glove;
- rip open the peritoneum. Wrap the edges of the peritoneum and secure with wooden pins; remove the entrails from the windpipe and above, and remove the genitals by making an appropriate circular cut;
- preserve kidneys, liver and heart. Collect fat from intestines. All parts of the animal carcass are edible, including the soft parts of the head: brain, eyes, tongue. Check for worms or spots in the heart, kidneys, liver and intestines. When processing meat from large animals, there is a risk of contamination. If you have gloves, wear them when cutting up the carcass. They will help avoid infection. If the meat is well cooked, the risk of disease is negligible, even if the animal was sick;
- do not throw away any part of the carcass. Glands, viscera, and genitals can be used as bait in traps and bait for fish;
- when cutting the carcass of large animals, it is sometimes impossible to hang the carcass due to the difficulty of lifting it, but it is necessary to follow the above rules.
Rats and mice. The meat of rats and mice becomes tastier if it is stewed after cooking. These rodents must be skinned, gutted and boiled. Cook for at least 10 minutes after the water boils. Boiled rodent meat can be eaten with dandelion leaves.
Rabbits. Rabbit meat is tasty, but lean. Rabbits are easy to catch and kill. To remove the skin from a rabbit, you need to make an incision in the neck or remove a piece of skin to insert your fingers and remove the skin from top to bottom. To gut the carcass, make a cut in the belly, straighten it and shake it well. Most of the guts will fall out. What is left can be pulled out, and the carcass must be washed.
Other edible animals. All mammals are edible. Dogs, cats, hedgehogs, porcupines, and badgers must be skinned and gutted before cooking. Stew meat with big amount dandelion leaves.
Reptiles. Remove the head and skin. It is better to fry the meat of reptiles.
Cooking methods
After heat treatment, food becomes more tasty and digestible. During food processing, toxins, bacteria and harmful substances contained in animals and plants are destroyed.
Boiling (cooking). If the meat is tough or the food takes a long time to cook, then the best way processing is cooking, after which the meat can be stewed, fried, baked, etc. Boiling appears to be the best method of cooking because cooking preserves the natural juices of the food. The broth obtained during cooking is an excellent nutritious product containing the necessary salts and fats.
Cooking utensils. Any container that holds food and water can be used as a cooking vessel. For example, water can be boiled in a hole made in clay or in a hollow log by lowering hot stones into the water.
Roasting on fire. This is one of quick ways cooking from wild plants and tender meat. Place the meat on a stick and hold it over the smoldering coals. You can use a flyer. When frying, the outside of the meat is covered with a crust, under which the juices are retained.
Light toasting. Some foods, especially nuts and grains, are preferably prepared this way. To do this, place the food in a metal bowl and heat slowly until the food is thoroughly cooked. If you do not have the appropriate utensils, you can use a heated flat stone.
Cooking plant-based foods
To improve the taste of plant foods, they are soaked, boiled or softened with boiling water. The choice of method depends on the circumstances and nature of the food. For example, acorns are crushed, placed on a sieve and scalded with boiling water.
Greenery. Cook the leaves, stems and buds until they are tender. If the food is bitter, change the water several times.
Roots and tubers. They can be boiled, but it is easier to bake them over a fire or stew them. Some roots must be boiled to remove harmful substances.
Nuts. Most nuts can be eaten raw, but some are better crushed and then boiled. Chestnuts are delicious roasted and baked.
Grains and seeds. Grains and seeds become more delicious when lightly toasted, but can be eaten raw. Grains and seeds can be used to make flour.
Juice. Any juice containing sugar can be made into syrup by evaporating the water.
Fruits. Tough, thick-skinned fruits can be eaten baked or fried. However, most fruits are best eaten raw.
Cooking meat food
Before frying or baking meat from an animal larger than a domestic cat, it should be boiled. For cooking fried meat High heat is necessary as low heat makes the meat tough. If the animal is large, cut the carcass into several parts. If the meat is very tough, stew it with vegetables. When searing or baking any meat, use fat whenever possible. When preparing baked meat, place the fat on top so that it melts and runs down the meat.
Small game. Small game and mammal carcasses can be cooked whole or in pieces, but the entrails and genitals must first be removed. Cover large birds with clay and bake. Feathers are also removed along with the clay when you break up the coating. Small game is best cooked because there is less waste with this cooking method. Nuts, berries, grains, roots (bulbs) and greens can add a pleasant taste to food.
Fish. The fish can be fried on a makeshift skewer or baked in leaves or clay. It can also be prepared directly in the heat, using a special structure in the form of a stick on a flyer. All types freshwater fish and other freshwater animals must be butchered very carefully, as they may contain disease-causing organisms.
Reptiles and amphibians. Frogs, small snakes and lizards can be roasted on a stick. It is better to boil large snakes and eels first. Turtles must be boiled until the shell comes off. Chop the meat and mix it with plant tubers and herbs and cook the soup. Salamanders roasted on a stick are edible. Before preparing food from snakes and frogs, remove their skin. The skin of snakes is non-venomous, but removing it improves the taste of the food.
Crustaceans. Crabs, crayfish, shrimp and other crustaceans must be boiled to kill disease-causing organisms. However, they spoil quickly and should be cooked immediately after catching. Crustaceans must be cooked alive by throwing them into boiling water.
Shellfish. They can be boiled or baked in the shell. You can prepare a wonderful stew of snails with herbs or tubers.
Insects. Grasshoppers, cicadas, large caterpillars, ants and other insects are easy to catch. In a pinch they can serve as a food source.
Eggs. Eggs are among the safest food products; they are edible at all stages of embryonic development. Hard-boiled eggs can be stored for several days as a food supply.
Food storage
Creating an emergency food supply is a very important undertaking. It eliminates a person's fear of starving to death. Preparing and storing food is not an easy task. But this is quite feasible if you follow certain rules.
Freezing. In cold climates and winter, preserve food by freezing it.
Drying. Plant products can be dried by wind, sun, air, fire, or a combination of both. The purpose of this treatment is to evaporate the water.
Jerky is made by cutting thin (6 mm) slices of meat and drying them in the wind or over smoke. Place the meat slices on a wooden rack and dry until they are browned and tender. To start a fire, use willow, alder, birch, and poplar, since resinous firewood, such as pine and spruce, makes meat tasteless. You can get good smoke if you close the top holes in a tent or hut. Hang the meat higher and build a smoldering fire under it.
You can smoke meat quickly in the following way: Dig a hole in the ground one meter deep and half a meter wide. Build a small fire at the bottom (use damp branches to create smoke). Place a makeshift wooden grate about 0.75 m from the bottom. Cover the hole with sticks, branches, leaves or anything else. After intensive smoking for one night, the meat will last for about 5-7 days. If you can smoke the meat for two nights, it will be edible for at least 2-4 weeks or even longer. When properly smoked, the meat should look like a dark, brittle, curved stick, and is very tasty and nutritious.
If meat becomes moldy during storage, you need to carefully remove the mold and then rinse it in running water.
Preparation for storing fish and game. To preserve caught fish, they gut it, but do not wash it in water or salt it, but only wipe it dry with grass or a rag. Then, having inserted spacers into the abdomen, the fish is spread out and hung in the wind for 15-20 minutes. Slightly dried carcasses are topped with nettles or fresh (but always dry) sedge.
Fish can also be dried by placing it on hot stones. When the fish is dry, sprinkle salt water on it to season it; Do not attempt to store fish products unless they are properly dried and salted.
To prepare fish for smoking, you need to cut off the head and remove the backbone. Then unroll it and place it on the spit. Thin rods with the bark removed can serve as a skewer.
Berries and wild fruits can be dried in air, sun, wind and fire with or without smoke. Cut the fruit into thin slices and place them in the sun or near a fire.
Hygiene in field conditions
Usually there are no opportunities for washing during a hike or in a temporary shelter. hot water with soap, washing clothes, cutting hair and shaving. However, following certain hygiene rules is strictly necessary.
Firstly, when going on a raid (hiking), you need to cut your hair short, shave off your mustache (if you have one), and trim your fingernails and toenails as short as possible. You must always ensure that your underwear and socks (foot wraps) remain clean and dry. At a minimum, it is necessary to shake out clothes, shoes and underwear every day during rest stops (overnight), air them and dry them. At least wash your hands cold water or wipe them with disinfectants (alcohol, gasoline, potassium permanganate, aftershave cream, etc.). If weather and external conditions permit, be sure to swim in natural reservoirs with clean water or organize washing of limbs with hot water, as well as washing clothes.
Secondly, you should avoid rubbing your feet at all costs. Scuffed feet usually arise from improperly fitting shoes, from walking for a long time in wet shoes, from the inability to wrap a footcloth, from the fact that the toenails are too large and dirty.
It is necessary that the shoes are always dry, worn in, without folds or unevenness inside. When going on a training raid, and even more so on a combat mission, it is better to wear good sneakers than boots. Good, this means durable, with strong lacing (no Velcro!) and high. Each intelligence officer must have at least two pairs of sneakers in his personal property (after all, one cannot expect to purchase them at the expense of the command of a military unit).
Daily skin and toe care is strictly necessary. With sore legs, a scout is no longer a scout, but a burden for other members of the group. In a war, because of such a “disabled person,” everyone could simply die. One of the means of preventing fungal diseases is daily wiping the folds of skin between the toes with a disinfectant solution: 0.5% potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), 2-3% formaldehyde; soap paste, boric acid. You can also sprinkle the folds of the skin with dry tinder fungus, fireweed (fireweed) fluff, and sphagnum moss ground into dust.
Sphagnum moss is widespread in bogs and has a red or yellow tint. It is torn, cleaned of the rough lower parts of the stem, squeezed by hand and air dried. Then they grind it to make it as soft and tender as possible. This moss absorbs moisture well and contains substances that kill the microflora of festering wounds, scratches, and cuts.
If the legs are still worn out, you need to pierce the skin bubbles with liquid with a disinfected needle, squeeze out the liquid with clean hands and, without tearing the skin, lubricate the affected areas with Vishnevsky ointment or syntomycin ointment. Then apply a soft pad-tampon on top and bandage it (or seal it with an adhesive plaster). Bleeding abrasions are treated with potassium permanganate or boric acid, or at worst, triple cologne (slightly diluted with boiled water) and sprinkled with streptocide. Speaking of gaskets. It is advisable to have in your personal first aid kit several feminine hygiene bags, which are available for sale everywhere today. Many samples of such bags are very convenient for use in the field as dressings and tampons. Especially for abrasions on the legs, shoulders or crotch area.
Third, don't forget about your shoulders. The scout has to carry tens of kilograms of cargo: weapons, ammunition, explosives, food, instruments (for example, a radio station or video camera), equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the belts, buckles, backpack, pouches and everything else to the body as carefully as possible. It is advisable to “strengthen” the uniform in the area of the shoulders and neck with special pads on top and linings on the inside (you can hem the women’s pads mentioned above). At every big stop, check the condition of your shoulders. Preventive measures for them are the same as for legs.
Hygiene of clothes and shoes
Footwear should always be carefully maintained, especially when operating in damp climates and in winter. Shoes need to be dried more often, being careful, since if they are dried quickly (over a fire, near a hot stove), they can deteriorate, as well as if wet shoes are left in the cold. In a good way drying involves filling shoes with heated (so that they do not burn) pebbles, sand, and small stones. Shoes can be stuffed with paper, dry hay or moss - this promotes drying and prevents deformation. In extreme cases, it is acceptable to put on damp boots (shoes) over dry socks and foot wraps, but not vice versa.
Regularly lubricate your shoes with a thin layer of shoe polish. Shoe cream can be replaced with unsalted lard, tar, waterfowl (fish) fat, raw soap, and vegetable oil. To obtain tar, you need to heat birch bark in a jar over a fire until the dark liquid is distilled off.
When carrying loads, fill the backpack (satchel) correctly: small objects should be placed towards the back, hard and heavy ones - in the lower half of the satchel. Adjust the straps of the backpack according to your height so that its lower edge (attached weight) is adjacent to the sacrum. A backpack adjusted in this way does not hit the back and does not pull too much on the shoulders. When carrying a heavy load (more than 20 kg), it is necessary to take care of soft pads under the shoulder straps (made of foam rubber, felt, moss, etc.).
In winter, you need to especially carefully monitor the condition of your clothes, keep them dry and protect them from burning. The most common cause of wet clothing is excessive sweating. When it appears, remove excess clothing (be sure to keep the top windproof layer), reduce physical activity, if possible. Uniforms during long-term operations, especially in cold climates, should be dried by hanging them in the upper part of the shelter, after shaking them out. If it is impossible to wash, shake out the laundry and clothes, and then hang them in the open air for 1.5-2 hours. To prevent snow from sticking to your uniform during a blizzard (blizzard) and preventing it from getting wet, it is recommended to wear robes and capes made of parachute fabric over the top. This also provides camouflage.
Remember, that:
- tight-fitting clothing reduces the zone of still air around the body and prevents free blood circulation;
- Sweating is dangerous because it reduces the insulating ability of clothing, saturating the air with moisture. When moisture evaporates, the body cools. Prevent overheating by removing pieces of clothing and unfastening them at the neck, wrists and chest;
- arms and legs cool faster than other parts of the body and should be given more attention. Cover your hands as much as possible. You can warm your hands under your arms, on your inner thighs, or on your chest. Since feet sweat quickly, it is difficult to warm them. It is better to wear larger shoes so that you can wear at least two foot wraps (socks). A warm double sock can be made by placing dry grass, moss or bird feathers between a pair of socks;
- the greatest heat loss occurs in the head area. Never forget a good hat.
- In the subtropics, as well as in the middle zone in swamps and forests in the hot summer, a scout is attacked by hordes of insects (mosquitoes, gadflies, horse flies, flies, wasps, hornets, midges, etc.). Therefore it must have:
- clothing of such strength that it does not tear while moving through dense thickets of bushes and undergrowth;
- net and gloves to protect against insects;
- sleeves and trouser legs that are loose enough to be tucked into gloves and socks;
The mosquito net should be light-colored, because mosquitoes and many other insects are afraid of light colors. They are attracted to dark colors.
In desert and steppe areas, cover your body and head during the day. Wear long pants and a shirt with long sleeves. Cover your neck from the sun with a piece of cloth. If you need to throw away any clothing, keep in mind that the nights in the desert are cold. Clothes should be loose. Take it only in the shade, as even reflected sunlight can cause a burn.
Shake sand and bugs out of your shoes and socks, even if this means making frequent stops.
If you don't have boots, make windings over the boots from any material at hand. To do this, cut two strips 7-10 cm wide and 120 cm long. Wrap them around your feet in a spiral over your existing shoes. This will prevent sand from getting into it.
Don't try to go barefoot. Sand can rub your feet. Additionally, walking barefoot through salt marshes or mud can cause alkaline burns.
To protect your eyes from solar radiation Dark glasses should be worn. In case of their absence (loss), you can make a tape with slits for the eyes from any dense material (for example, from tarpaulin). The edges of the slits can be blackened with soot from the fire, and the ribbon is tied at the back of the head in a knot or secured with ribbons.
Food hygiene
Beware gastrointestinal diseases and disorders. Do not bite your nails or eat food with dirty hands (at a minimum, thoroughly wipe your hands with clean, dry grass or leaves before eating). Don't drink dirty water(it must be boiled or treated with special tablets, and then filtered). Protect food and water from flies and other insects, and promptly remove food scraps and waste. Avoid eating unprocessed and poor-quality foods (undercooked, fried, not washed with hot water, rotten, moldy, fermented, rotten, etc.). Food poisoning, dysentery in the field means the failure of a combat mission and, quite likely, the death of a scout.
Teeth cleaning. Teeth should be brushed with a toothpick and rinsed with water after each meal. And in the evening, getting ready for bed, you should brush your teeth with toothpaste or powder. If there is no paste (powder), you can brush your teeth with crushed charcoal and add dried and crushed mint leaves to it. The best charcoal for cleaning teeth is obtained from linden. A toothbrush can be easily made from spruce, pine branches or from a fresh linden or aspen sprig. Split the stick on one side into small pieces and bend for greater softness.
Medical assistance in the field
In field medicine classes, scouts should learn the following:
- stop bleeding;
- treat wounds;
- reduce dislocations and treat fractures;
- treat bruises, burns, frostbite;
- rescue the drowned and burned;
- neutralize snake bites and poisonous insects;
- treat colds.
A good intelligence officer must have the medical knowledge, skills and abilities to the extent of training a paramedic at a district hospital, dealing with the full range of the most common diseases and injuries. You should always remember that in the field (especially behind enemy lines) no one will help except yourself.
Many people are familiar with the situation when, against the background of physical activity, general weakness suddenly sets in, the legs become “wobbly”, the head begins to spin and one really wants to sit down - these are symptoms of overwork on a hike. Such symptoms occur not only in travelers who make long treks or climbs. So how can you avoid overwork while hiking...
Food in the taiga
What to eat in the taiga? If a person lost in the taiga is haunted by hunting failures, the snares and traps remain empty, and the fish stubbornly refuse to bite, he will have to turn to plant foods...
Survival on the Threshold
Just a couple of weeks ago I returned from Kyrgyzstan, where I happened to see a miracle... perhaps the most unusual of all that I have seen... We walked along the river bank, around the bend the rapids of Gabarit 5 KS began. Several people wearing life jackets and neoprene were walking towards us. They greeted us with a question: “Guys, do you have a gaff? We have a body.” We were confused, because 10 minutes ago we saw how their last two were setting off and there was no sign of trouble...
Help for a drowning man
Helping a drowning person can be effective even if the person has been under water for quite a long time. Even if it does not outwardly show signs of life, it is necessary to immediately remove it, and if necessary, cut the clothes. Clear the victim’s mouth and nose of mud and dirt, pull the tongue so that it protrudes from the mouth. Then you need to carefully remove water from the respiratory tract. To do this, place the victim with his stomach down, turning his head slightly to the side, place a pillow, bolster or bundle of clothing under his chest and stomach, and firmly but calmly press his hands on his back, while simultaneously squeezing the chest from the sides...
Construction of a snow shelter
The open space is blown by all the winds in winter. Low temperature and the wind together, for very a short time can lead to hypothermia, hypothermia and death. That is why, if you find yourself in such conditions, you should first take care of building a shelter. If there are no trees nearby, then only one remains construction material- snow, which, oddly enough, retains heat perfectly...
Starting a fire
Lighting a fire without matches is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Having learned this, you can get out of a difficult situation. The length of your survival depends on your ability to start a fire. In this article we will look at how to start a fire using a knife or any piece of steel. First of all, choose a place to build a fire. It must be sheltered from rain and wind. If you need to make a fire in the snow, then the snow is either cleared from the site of the fire pit within a radius of several meters, or a platform is created from thick logs and stones, on which the fire pit is subsequently built...
How to behave in an avalanche area
The safety rules proposed below are intended for a skier of average fitness, a tourist and climber, or a simple traveler who, on business or for leisure, goes to the mountains in areas with heavy snowfall. Avalanches are the main danger when traveling in the mountains in winter. This danger can be avoided if you know a few simple but reasonable rules and follow them.
Survival in the taiga
There are many cases where people, having gone to the taiga and not having sufficient experience and knowledge of local conditions, easily lost their way and, having lost their bearings, found themselves in distress... How should a person who gets lost in the forest behave? Having lost his orientation, he must immediately stop moving and try to restore it using a compass or using various natural signs. If this is difficult, then you should organize a temporary parking lot in a dry place, which is not easy to do, especially in mossy forests, where the ground is covered with a continuous carpet of sphagnum, which greedily absorbs water...
Survival at sea
...The shore was not visible. I was on the open sea. Even attempts to fly up to the edge of the wave and look at the shore were in vain. Remembering physics, I had to disappoint myself, realizing that the coast was at least 7 km, and if I couldn’t even see the tops of the trees, then it was at least 15 km. It subsequently turned out that the escape route was about 20 km. But at the same time, I had already swam several kilometers on the board that night, albeit at a negative speed. The problem was complicated by a stormy headwind, a steep wave, a broken wrist, cold, periodic cramps, confusion in the direction of movement, absolute fatigue, and lack of fresh water and food. Later it turned out that this was not all the problem...
Water supply
It is known that human body almost 65% consists of water. Water is part of the tissues, without it the normal functioning of the body, the implementation of the metabolic process, and the maintenance of heat balance, removal of metabolic products, etc. Dehydration of the body by just a few percent leads to disruption of its vital functions.
If you find yourself in an extreme situation, especially in the wild, you should always rely on yourself, your strength and endurance, as well as the help of an emergency survival kit. There is another name for it - or NAZ. This set consists of items that will help you start a fire, get food, improve your well-being, and simply hold out for a few days until help arrives. Survival kits come in different configurations. There are special military, rescue or marine NAZs, and there are camping and tourist kits. In any store that sells equipment for hunting, fishing and tourism, you can purchase a standard survival kit. You can make it yourself, taking into account individual wishes for the kit, as well as the duration and conditions of the trip. The main thing is to always take NAZ with you when going into nature, even if the trip lasts three days. It should always be at hand, and it’s even better if there are several of them - you can put one in the car, one in a backpack, put several in your pockets, and hang the smallest one around your neck or put it in your shoes (for this, the NAZ is placed in a small capsule) .
Military survival kit is usually standard for all branches of the military, the differences concern some specific items, for example, for pilots, sailors, astronauts. For example, the NAZ of pilots and crews of aircraft and aircraft includes the following contents:
- Communications and distress signaling
This is a radio station with a battery, an electric torch, a whistle, a signal mirror, signal cartridges, water dye, and a radio beacon.
- Supply of food and water
Canned meat contents, refined sugar, salt, caramel, water.
- Medical kit
Bandage, iodine, adhesive plaster, caffeine tablets, mosquito repellent, pantocid, chloramphenicol, sulfamedizin, promedol, morphine, frying pan packaging.
- Equipment for camp.
Pistol cartridges, compass, hacksaw, wire saw, windproof or waterproof matches, dry fuel, can opener, plastic flask, fishing tackle, filter glasses. Another configuration option may contain a machete knife, a woolen hat, and a supply of ammunition for hunting.
Depending on the terrain over which flights are made, an emergency survival kit may include:
- Skis for snowy terrain.
- Two 1.5 liter canisters of water for waterless areas.
- If flights are made over the sea - a boat or raft with a package of signal water dye, 10 pcs. briquettes for water desalination.
The weight of the NAZ can be from 10 to 18 kg, it depends on the configuration.
In addition, the official NAZ of aircraft crews may include aids– halyard, safety rope, belt. NAZ paratroopers always, among other things, always include a sheathed sharp hunting knife with a comfortable handle.
Forest survival kit
Camping survival kit The set of necessary items for tourists and “survivalists” should be light so that you don’t get tired of carrying them with you, waterproof so that they do not deteriorate in the rain or when crossing a body of water, and also durable for any mechanical influences. A forest survival kit should include:
- Means for lighting a fire: dry fuel, matches, kerosene, lighter, flint. It is better to put several lighters, a flint, and hunting matches. A magnifying glass will help you make a fire without matches using a directed beam of sunlight.
- Knife. You can’t do without this tool in the forest. If you don’t have an ax or saw, you can use it to cut branches for a fire, trim bark, open canned food, and get food. It must be durable, made of hardened steel.
- A small whetstone to sharpen a knife.
- Instant glue. Not every brand can withstand moisture, but it takes up very little space and sometimes saves the situation.
- A multitool is a necessary thing for a “survivalist” in the forest. It does not replace a full-fledged knife, but contains a lot of necessary tools that will be useful for obtaining water and food, building a hut, lighting a fire, and repairing clothes and shoes. These are various mini-screwdrivers, files, scissors, hooks, a corkscrew, etc.
- Means for sending a distress signal: a small flare gun, two bright orange rubber balls, a mirror (this will be needed to send light signals).
- Flashlight with a set of batteries, candle. It is better to use an LED flashlight in a metal case.
- Minimum utensils: pot, bowl. The aluminum pot is lightweight and heats up quickly. It is better to have two dishes - one for food, the second for water.
- The minimum set of medications: bandage, gauze, iodine, plaster, pain reliever, antipyretic, tourniquet, hydrogen peroxide, medicine for heart pain, stomach pain, medications for heartburn and nausea. In addition, you may always need scissors, furatsilin, ethyl alcohol and burn remedy. We must not forget about antibacterial agents, because you can always get hurt and get blood poisoning. If there is an allergy to anything, you need to add antihistamines, as well as individual medicines for existing diseases.
- A simple black lead pencil with a set of bright stickers.
- Potassium permanganate for water filtration or a carbon filter.
When planning a trip to places where poisonous snakes or insects are found, it is necessary to equip your first aid kit with an antidote. This will be unnecessary if there are no snakes where you are going. The main rule of a survival kit is maximum practicality with minimum size.
For survival in the forest in winter, the emergency supply is slightly different in its configuration. Lighters are generally useless in winter. They are being replaced by a chair with a flint; it is advisable that there are a couple of them in the set. Be sure to take a spare set of warm clothes with you, including a hat and shoes. The set must include a tight plastic film measuring two by three meters, or better yet, even larger. In extreme cases, it will help to build a hut and protect from wind or snow. It is better to replace the rope, which can break due to frost, with wire, which can be used to secure the housing. A small sharp shovel or ax is an irreplaceable thing in the winter forest.
How to make a survival kit
There are several rules for assembling a survival kit yourself: firstly, if any item can only perform one function, you can safely leave it at home. Excess weight is absolutely not necessary for either a tourist or a “survivalist.” The same goes for things that you would hate to lose, spoil, etc. When assembling your own survival kit, you should remember that first of all you need things that will come in handy:
- To build a home and heat it;
- Obtaining food and water;
- Maintaining hygiene;
- First aid.
To create a survival kit with your own hands, the first thing you need to do is take care of a suitable container. It should be small, easy to carry, waterproof and durable. You can use a tea or coffee tin box, or a camera case. The second option is more convenient because it has a clasp, a carrying strap, attachment to the belt, and its material protects the contents from water getting inside.
Before making a set, everything is free-flowing and capable of deforming when wet, the contents of the container must be divided into small bags with a plastic zipper. Next comes complete with:
- One of the bags contains medications: streptocide, activated carbon, individual medications, “Zvezdochka” balm, and other medications listed above.
- Small compass (you don't need to pack it).
- Cotton wool, bandage.
- Fishing set: several hooks, a skein of fishing line, wire, sinker.
- Set of needles and thread, pins. They can be placed inside the body of a ballpoint pen and plugged with a stopper.
- Alcohol, hydrogen peroxide
- Small mirror, magnifying glass.
- Multitool knife, stationery.
- Lace
- Hacksaw. The blade can be separated from the handle by inserting it inside. When unfolded, the hacksaw is inserted into the handle and secured with a bolt.
- Batteries
- Kindling materials: flint, tinder, several lighters, paraffin candle.
Emergency survival kit for a hike A rescue capsule is a mini-kit for survival in extreme conditions. It is placed in a special sealed container, which can be worn around the neck or other accessible place. Such a capsule will help a person to escape if he has become separated from the group. You can hold out with it for several days until a way out of the extreme situation is found or until help arrives. Just in case, it is better to have several microcapsules located in different places, this will ensure survival under almost any circumstances. The rescue capsule is usually made the size of a medical syringe or a little more, its composition contains:
- Medicines: sumamed, ketarol, nitroglycerin, aquatabs.
- A sewing needle wrapped in thread.
- Blade from a small knife or scalpel.
- A pair of hunting matches
- Fishing set: 9 pcs. sinkers, hooks, jigs.
- A tube or bag of chili pepper, potassium permanganate, and salt.
- Two banknotes of 500 rubles each.
- Several rubber bands for banknotes.
The outside of the rescue capsule is wrapped with several meters of surgical thread, electrical tape or adhesive tape. A five-meter long fishing line is wound on top.
Many of us are afraid to be left alone with wildlife in complete isolation from society. The main factors of survival in such situations, as is known, are good preparation for extreme environments and simple luck. I present to your attention 7 lucky people who were able to survive after a long isolation.
Roger Chapman and Roger Mallison
76 hours at a depth of 480 meters
A similar, but slightly more impressive incident occurred on August 29, 1973, when Roger Chapman and Roger Mallison rose to the surface from the bottom of the ocean. The submariners were stuck on the sunken bathyscaphe "Pysis III", which lay at the bottom at a depth of 480 meters off the coast of Ireland. After 76 hours spent in an underwater prison, they were found by members of the crew of the rescue ship "John Cabot" and, together with two bathyscaphes, "Pysis" and "Pysis II", pulled the sailors to the surface.
Poon Lim
133 days on a life raft on the high seas
Steward Poon Lim, 25, who was serving on the British merchant ship Merchant, was part of the ship's crew when the ship was hit by a German torpedo in November 1942. When the ship was hit by a shell, Poon jumped overboard and after two hours on the open sea, he was able to find a life raft with fresh water, dry biscuits, flares and a flashlight. Lim saved food by eating two crackers a day and taking six sips of water - two in the morning, two at lunch and two in the evening.
These supplies should have been enough for a month of wandering. About three weeks later, Poon saw the first ship, but the ship's crew did not notice it. Several more ships passed behind him. Desperate Poon Lim began to catch fish using a piece of fishing line and a homemade hook - he caught the first one using the meat of a seagull as bait, which he had previously grabbed on the edge of the raft. To avoid muscle atrophy, the sailor swam around the raft twice a day, but then had to stop exercising so as not to attract sharks.
After 131 days of sailing, Lim, who crossed the Atlantic, noticed a change in the color of the water and the appearance of algae. Two more days later, finding himself, as it turned out later, at the mouth of the Amazon River, Pun saw a small sail on the horizon and a couple of hours later was taken to the nearest hospital.
Natasha Kosorukova
36 days in the taiga
On June 5, 1981, Eric Alekseev’s geological team went on a hike, pitching tents in the Yakut taiga. By the evening, when it was time to go to bed, trainee Natasha Kosorukova was missing from the group of students - the girl did not come the next morning. Kosorukova did not respond to the screams or shots in the air. The squad members decided that the girl most likely just went home, which, of course, was unlikely - all the documents and most of Natasha's belongings remained in the camp.
The emergency was reported to the party headquarters, which was located 50 kilometers from the taiga. Ground teams searched for the girl and tried to find helicopters, but to no avail. The first traces of Kosorukova were discovered only on June 24 - she was moving in the opposite direction from the camp.
On July 8, when the search was about to be stopped, the trackers found new evidence that Natasha was alive. Following the tracks, searchers managed to find the girl only on July 10. Kosorukova was discovered at a distance of 75 kilometers from the established camp - in 36 days the student walked approximately 200 kilometers, winding through the taiga. Contrary to the safety instructions, the girl walked not downstream, but upstream of the stream, which significantly complicated the search work.
In the backpack of the lost geologist trainee, in addition to the crackers that she did not have time to lay out in the camp, there was a box of matches and a magnifying glass, but with their help Kosorukova was able to start a fire only at the end of her wanderings. It probably helped the girl survive in the taiga good health and a relatively warm season.
Larisa Savitskaya
4 days in the forest after a fall from a height of 5220 meters
On August 24, 1981, 20-year-old Larisa Savitskaya and her husband were passengers on board an An-24, which collided with a Tu-116 bomber at an altitude of 5220 meters. After eight minutes of free fall, the girl miraculously survived - her husband died immediately. During the collision, the An-24 broke into two parts - Larisa found herself in the rear of the plane and somehow crawled to the seat to buckle up.
Rescuers rushed to the scene and found Savitskaya alive with numerous fractures of her arms, legs, ribs and spine. The airline paid Larisa only 75 rubles as compensation for physical damage. The first press report about the survivor appeared four years later - the Soviet Sport publication wrote that Savitskaya allegedly tested a homemade aircraft, fell from a height of five kilometers and remained alive.
The girl recalled that, despite her injuries, she was in a state of shock for about three days - not feeling pain, hunger or cold, she called for help, but to no avail. When rescuers arrived at the plane’s fuselage on the fourth day after the disaster, Savitskaya was unconscious and woke up in the hospital.
George Du Prisne
13 days in a Wisconsin cave
Speleologist George Du Prisne was exploring caves American state Wisconsin. During another raid in 1983, he fell off a cliff and ended up in fast current underground river and found himself drawn into an underground cave by a whirlpool. Four days after the incident, rescuers stopped searching.
Having a strong desire to survive, Du Prisn mobilized his strength: he had a flashlight, fresh water and a folding knife. Using a flashlight and a knife, Du Prisn fished in shallow water. To get out of the trap, he unraveled his orange wool sweater, dividing each thread into several thinner ones. He tied them to his paws bats. The marked animals were noticed by residents of a nearby town, who helped George get free.
Georg Heinzl
10 days under rubble in a mine
In July 1998, miner Georg Heinzl was finishing his shift in a coal mine in the small industrial village of Lassing, Austria. However, he was not destined to reach the surface that day: a collapse blocked Georg at a depth of 63 meters. A few hours later, ten other miners went in search of him, trying to clear the rubble, but the rescue team died, being crushed by a new landslide. Search work was carried out for ten days, and Heinzl was found. The miner spent all this time in the dark, with a minimal supply of water, which he stretched out for nine days under the rubble.
Uruguayan national rugby team
72 days in the snowy Andes
The crash of Uruguayan charter flight number 571 with rugby players and their families over the Andes became one of the most, so to speak, media disasters - several films have been made about the tragedy and more than one book has been written. About a third of the passengers died when the plane crashed into a cliff due to heavy clouds, and another eight people were buried under an avalanche that covered the fuselage of the plane. Three crew members died from their injuries. 16 survivors were left with a minimal supply of food, being at an altitude of three and a half thousand meters. In order not to die from the cold, the passengers of the plane took off the clothes from the bodies of the dead. When, after a few days, people became desperate and no rescuers showed up, they began to eat the bodies of their dead comrades.
As it turned out, no one knew about the crash of the flight - only 72 days later, two passengers, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, made a ten-day trek through the mountains, where they found a Chilean farmer who fed them and called rescuers. You can learn about the incredible will to live and all the details of a truly miraculous rescue from the book “Miracle in the Andes” or from the film “Survive” by Frank Marshall, the screenplay of which was written in collaboration with Nando Parrado.
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