Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Lesson 3: Survival Skills
Duration: 3: Hours
Students will be able to:
1. Anticipate a problem.
2. Pack a survival kit.
3. Describe the major types of survival shelters.
4. Discuss how to find water.
5. Discuss finding food in the wild.
Suggested Activities:
18.3A Survival Report: Have the students complete a survival report.
18.3B Construct a Temporary Shelter: Take students outside and have them construct a temporary
structure using materials from the school grounds (you may wish to “import” a few items).
18.3C Water Can Demonstration
18.3D Make Your Own Survival Kit
Teaching Outline
I. Self Reliance is survival
A. Know human limitations
B. Know your own level of competence
C. Know your own comfort zone
D. Know how to handle an emergency situation when it arises
E. The philosophy of the survivalist
1. Nature's Priority: take care of the brain first and it will take care of you
a. Survival is a 80% mental, 10% equipment, 10% skills
b. Give the brain mental rest
2. Wilderness native
a. Adapt to the situation and environment
b. Hand to mouth level: comfort takes second seat
c. You may die of exposure if you neglect yourself but you may also die if you baby
yourself
II. Anticipate the problem
A. Where might a problem occur?
B. Pre-plan
C. Prepare for changing weather
D. Inform your friends and relatives at home where you'll be
E. Use Trail Register or leave note on car, check in with rangers
F. Develop a knowledge of first aid
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
III. Plan outdoor travel
A. Plan your day: think about future needs
B. Take along a survival kit:
1. Shelter
2. Fire starter
3. Container for heating fluids
4. Signaling device
5. Knife
6. Medical supplies
7. Compass
8. Extra clothing (wool shirt)
IV. When an emergency occurs: being lost
A. Mental factors affect survival
1. Set your goal: to get back
2. Overcome basic fears and imagination
B. Signal for help
1. Contrast is the key to effective signaling (i.e. dark on light)
2. Signal area
a. A clearing is best
b. Make signal seen from all directions
3. Types of signals (TM p 24)
a. Fire - three fires in equilateral triangle means “help!”
b. Ground to Air - SOS or Letter X
c. Audible - three loud noises of any kind
d. Mirrors - Practice is essential in signaling
e. Colorful flags (clothes)
f. Arrows indicating direction of travel
V. Travel
A. Many survival situations do not require travel; stay put and conserve energy - build
shelter, fire, signal
B. If you determine to travel
1. Take everything possible to save you
2. Stay dry, stay warm
3. Stay on predetermined direction
4. Travel slowly, camp early near water and open area
5. Travel path of least resistance to conserve energy
C. Caution is the watch word in survival travel
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
VI. Improvising Navigational Aids
A. The difference between familiar and unfamiliar is the time you take to observe, hear, and
feel the area
1. Make mental map of travels
2. Note odd sites
B. Establish reference points before traveling
C. Nature provides directional aids
1. Vegetation grows toward the sun
a. Tree foliage denser and flowers are on the south side
b. Tree's growth rings are wider to the south
c. Lichen grows on tree's north side in the shade
2. Natural objects - high points, peaks, valleys
3. Solar system- sun, stars, moon
a. Locate north with the Big & Little Dippers at night
D. Improvising a compass
1. Needle floating on smooth surface
2. Shadow stick compass
3. Watch
VII. Priorities of Body Survival
A. You can live for approximately 3 minutes without air; 3 hours without body shelter under
extreme conditions; 3 days without water; 3 weeks without food
B. You can live for approximately 3 minutes without oxygen
1. When breathing stops:
a. Living cells cannot produce the energy necessary for life
b. Brain cells are damaged.
2. Administer artificial respiration at once
C. Clothing - exposure can kill in less than 3 hours if clothing or shelter isn’t geared to
environmental conditions (TM p 25 & 26)
1. Remember "COLD": Color: Black absorbs heat, white reflects it; Overheated:
ventilate, avoid overheating, perspiration wets fabrics the same as rain; Layer System:
Easy on, easy off layers to help regulate body temperature; Dry: Keep all fabrics dry,
wet clothing loses 90% of its insulation, wool is the only fabric that gives insulating
protection even when wet
2. Wear a hat - the brain receives 20% of the body's blood supply and 25% of the oxygen
intake; the unprotected head radiates a large proportion of the body's heat loss
3. Always dress for the worst weather during a given season; carry an extra wool shirt
D. Shelters (TM p 27 & 28)
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
1. Emergency situations (rain, snow storms) do as local animals do - burrow in or crawl
under foliage
2. Shelter must serve immediate needs of builder, providing minimum body heat loss
and maximum body protection
3. Good shelter site includes:
a. Protection from wind and storms
b. Protection from flash floods, rocks, high tides
c. Freedom of pests, poisonous plants, insects and harmful animals
d. Level ground for bed and fireplaces
e. Availability of materials, shelter and bed
f. Source of firewood
g. Food sources and drinking water
4. Types of shelters
a. Windbreaks; brush; V-shaped
b. Rock shelter wind breaks - above timber line rocky sea coast; U-shaped
c. Lean-to - Use anything available
d. Wickiup - longer to build; more permanent, more serviceable; provides protection
from all sides
e. Sweat Lodge - wickiup covered with thick layer of dirt; very warm shelter
f. Snow caves - dug in snowbank that has a good crust (TM p 28)
g. Caves and mines - Use caution in damp caverns
h. Hot coal bed - heated stones adequately covered provide a warm bed
E. Water: An absolute necessity for life processes; you can die in less than 3 days from
dehydration. (TM p 29)
1. Plan every trip with a surplus of water and salt.
2. Plan to carry water from home in an unbreakable container rather than expect the
spring or creek to be flowing.
3. Pure water is often a problem; always carry iodine or water purification tablets.
4. Always melt snow or ice before consuming to save your body from losing valuable
calories; put a small amount of water in pot to facilitate the melting process.
5. Your body is 80% water; a loss of water equal to 7% of your body’s total weight can
cause dehydration and will be a serious threat to all normal chemical body functions.
6. Ration your sweat, not your water; perspiration is the body’s automatic cooling
system.
7. Digging for water in arid areas is often not worth the effort; often more water is lost in
digging than is gained from the well or solar still.
8. In a real emergency situation, you can locate a water table close to the surface by
digging:
a. At low spots of green vegetation as willows salt grass cattails
b. At the base of cliffs and rocks where an abnormal amount of vegetation is thriving
c. In dry mudholes sinks river beds and bends of river beds
d. Anywhere the ground is damp or muddy
9. Water can be obtained from the soil:
a. A hole dug in damp sink areas allows water to seep in and collect
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
b. Mud wrung in a shirt or other cloth will force out water
c. A solar water still produces pint of water in about 3 hours
10. Water can be collected from air and plants:
a. Barrel cacti
b. Mopping up morning dew with cloth and wringing it into a container (you receive
a quart an hour)
11. Remember: Nothing should be eaten if water is not available. Eating uses up the
body's water reserve.
F. Food
1. You can live for approximately three weeks without food if you have water and
minimize your energy use
a. Food is a great pacifier, but it is not essential in short term survival
b. Stored body fuel (fat) can be converted to usable energy for weeks at a time
c. Often the energy expended in collecting wild foods is greater than the energy
value received once the food is found
d. Wild foods are required for long term survival situations
2. Plant foods are the easiest to gather and often the most nutritious; edible plants differ
greatly with plant life zones and habitats; the following basic tips can be applied in
most situations: (TM p 32)
a. The seeds of grasses, pine and oak trees are safe and nourishing; grind on rock
metal to make flour
b. Tender plant leaves and flowers are usually the best tasting; pick them early in the
morning and eat fresh and raw (when the vitamin content is the highest)
c. Plant roots - generally supply more food value than greens - use digging stick
d. Cambium (inner bark) edible raw, fried, baked, or boiled
e. Blue and black berries, red berries are usually very edible but white berries never are.
f. Avoid all plants having milky sap--except dandelions
g. Never eat wild mushrooms; they have practically no food value and the risk of
picking poisonous ones is too great
h. Needles from, pine, spruce or hemlock trees make excellent tea high in vitamin C
3. Animal Foods
a. Animals are an important source of food for the long term survivalist
l.) Hunt and trap only for survival purposes
2.) Methods for obtaining game are cruel, use only if no other means are present
b. Methods for obtaining small fur bearing animals and game birds
1.) Rocks - poor choice
2.) Throwing stick
3.) Spears and bows and arrows
4.) Snares (TM p 30)
c. Methods for obtaining fish
1.) Hooks carved from bird bones
2.) Fish traps
3.) Spears - 3 prong shaft
d. Methods for obtaining reptiles (snakes, lizards, frogs)
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
1.) Long, flexible, whip type stick
2.) 3 prong shaft (same as fishing); be certain to remove the heads and skin on all
reptiles before eating
e. Insect foods are nourishing and easy to collect
1.) Grasshoppers, crickets, beetles; pick off grass and plants in morning when
they are chilled and dormant; good roasted, served in soups or stews
2.) Ants - good roasted and ground into powder
3.) Grubs and larva - good protein; easily collected under rocks and logs
4.) Water nymphs: underside of stones and grass stems in water
5.) Remember always cook insects to remove parasites
VIII. Building a fire (TM p 31)
A. Important tool for survival: when controlled, provides warmth and dries clothing;
required for cooking, excellent signaling device and lifts morale; uncontrolled it can
destroy everything in its path
B. Fire pit location and construction - Scratch down to mineral earth that is free of forest
duff, grass and roots, to an area approximately 5 to 6 feet in diameter
C. Finding and preparing fuel for fire
1. Fire triangle; fuel-oxygen-heat
2. The larger the wood, the higher the combustion temperature
a. Tinder
b. Kindling
c. Sustaining fuel
D. Starting a fire
1. Match
2. Flint and steel
3. Bow drill
4. Friction
5. Magnifying lens
6. Battery sparks
E. Size of fire
1. Small fire: "keeps you warm by the fire"
2. Large fire: "keeps you warm running for wood"
F. Putting out a fire properly
1. Soak it
2. Smother it with earth
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Laboratory Exercise 3A
Water Can Demonstration
Objectives:
1. Demonstrate heat loss
2. Demonstrate fabric comparisons in relation to heat loss.
3. Demonstrate the effects of wind and water on heat loss.
Materials:
Four 2-gallon metal cans.
Thermometer.
Enough wool fabric to cover 2 cans.
Enough cotton fabric to cover 2 cans.
Plastic bag big enough to hold 1 can.
One piece of foam rubber or styro-foam big enough to form a base for 1 can.
Set-up: (TM p 24)
1. Fill 4 cans with hot water, note temperature.
2. Wet 1 piece of wool, 1 cotton. Cover 1 can with each.
3. Cover 1 can with successive layers of cotton, wool, plastic. Set on insulation.
4. Leave 1 can “naked.”
5. Place all cans in shaded, windy spot outdoors.
Record:
1. Initial water temperature.
2. Outside air temperature.
3. Water temperature in each can at 1-hour intervals.
Put all 4 cans through a sprinkler-simulated rainstorm.
Radiation, convection and conduction remove the heat rapidly and simulate their effect on the
human body under similar conditions.
Compare:
Conclusions:
Different combinations of wet vs. dry, wool vs. cotton, naked vs. protected.
Heat loss is greater when wet and or windy. Wool slows heat loss more than
cotton.
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Exercise 3D
Make Your Own Survival Kit
Survival kit should consist of the following:
1. SHELTER
2. FIRE STARTING KIT
3. CONTAINER FOR HEATING FLUIDS
4. SIGNALING DEVICE
5. CUTTING TOOL
6. MEDICAL SUPPLIES
7. COMPASS
SHELTER
l. A plastic, highly visible tube, 8 feet long by 40 inches flat is probably the best shelter
possible. You can make one by getting two of the largest garbage can bags you can find, cut
the bottoms out of them, and tape them together with good electrical tape. This gives you an
inexpensive plastic tube. Now try it on - it will condense, so open it up and allow the air to
move around as the humidity builds. A tube helps retrain heat. It also protects us from the
wind, cold, and moisture common to the outdoors.
2. Regular l mil or 1.5 mil flat plastic sheet, 8 feet by 7 feet.
3. In desert areas - a space blanket is most helpful and protects from the sun during the day. It is
a fairly good blanket at night.
FIRE
l. At least one hard wax plumbers candle about 4 Inches high. Two are better.
2. Wooden matches, waterproofed with a light coating of paraffin or fingernail polish.
3. A good match box container with a flint bottom is a good item. Add tinder (cotton, tissue,
etc.) to your kit if desired.
4. Heat tabs are good - read cautions about toxic gases.
5. Anything that will burn longer than a match after it is lit from a match, can be considered.
CONTAINER AND INCENTIVE FOR HEATING FLUIDS
l. A couple of tin cans may serve as a container.
2. Aluminum foil - l to 2 feet wide by 2 to 4 feet long is ideal. Wrap kit contents in it. Foil can
also be used to form a container. Foil also serves as a crude reflective signaling device, trail
marker, book mark, etc.
3. For tea, coffee, soups, sugar, honey to add flavor, morale, vitamins, minerals and energy to
your kit. They could make a cold miserable night in the wilderness or in a snowcave much
more tolerable. Plus you gain heat and precious energy.
SIGNALING DEVICE
l. Whistle, shrill type with strong string to be worn around neck.
2. Aluminum foil, reflective signal.
3. Mirror - metal, chromed or brushed. Glass okay, but could be dangerous if it broke.
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
CUTTING TOOL
A small knife with a couple of sharp blades. Some people always carry a knife, so they would
automatically have it along. Keep It sharp - It’s safer, requires less energy to work with, and will
do more things for you.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
l" wide surgical tape (2 to 3 feet); 4 or 5 Band-Aids; 2 safety pins, needle and thread (for sewing
material, not people); salt tablets or salt packages, aspirin; antiseptic ointment; protected razor
blade.
FIRST AID KIT
First aid kit should consist of the following:
Amount
6
3
3
3
4
3
2
1
2
1
1
6
1
1
1
1
3
1
Item & Type
1" Adhesive compress
2"x2" gauze pads
3"x3" gauze pads
4"x4" gauze pads
1/2 sq. yd. plain absorbent gauze
24"x72" plain absorbent gauze
1" gauze roller bandage
2" gauze roller bandage
40" triangular bandage
1/2" roll adhesive tape
scissors, needle, tweezers, thermometer
safety pins
small bottle green soap
small bottle rubbing alcohol
12 aspirin, package salt tablets, 6 antihistamine tablets
small tube hand cream
3"x4" adhesive moleskin sheets
box matches
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Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Being Lost
SIGNALING FOR HELP,
MAKE YOURSELF SEEN
3 FIRES OR 3
Blasts at
regular
intervals
STAMPED IN SNOW OR SAND
Deep-wide &
as large as
possible.
Being lost is not dangerous in itself. . .
IN FACT, with the proper mental attitude, it can really be interesting if time isn’t critical and you are SELF
SUFFICIENT.
THE DANGER IS IN LOSING SELF-CONTROL
DANIEL BOONE said, “I’ve never been lost, though I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Hypothermia
SYMPTOMS:
1st Stage
Intense shivering and very poor muscle coordination.
Failing memory and slow thinking.
2nd Stage
Too late for self help brain won’t function.
3rd Stage
Unconsciousness, low vital signs of life.
EMERGENCY EXPOSURE TREATMENT:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Recognize danger, know the symptoms
Stop, get help.
Shelter victim quickly.
Remove all wet clothes.
Put on dry clothes
Induce hot drinks to . . .
Restore normal body temperature before traveling again.
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Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Water Can Demonstration
To demonstrate:
Heat loss.
Fabric comparisons.
Wind and water effects.
Equipment required:
Four 2-gallon metal cans.
Thermometer.
Enough wool material to cover 2 cans.
Enough cotton material to cover 2 cans.
Plastic bag big enough to hold 1 can.
One piece of foam rubber or styrofoam Wet
big enough to form a base for 1 can.
Wool
Set-up:
Record:
1) Fill 4 cans with hot water, note temperature.
2) Wet 1 piece of wool, 1 cotton. Cover 1 can
with each.
3) Cover 1 can with seccessive layers of
cotton, wool, plastic. Set on insulation.
4) Leave 1 can “naked.”
5) Place all cans in shaded, windy spot outdoors.
1) Initial water temperature.
2) Outside air temperature.
3) Water temperature in each can at 1-hour intervals.
Compare:
Conclusions:
Plastic Bag
Thermometer
Wet
Cotton
Naked
Can
Put all 4 cans through a sprinkler-simulated
rainstorm.
Radiation, convection and conduction
remove the heat rapidly and simulate their
effect on the human body undersimular
conditions.
Different combinations of wet vs. dry, wool vs. cotton, naked vs. protected.
Heat loss is greater when wet and or windy. Wool slows heat loss more than cotton.
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Cotton &
Wool
Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Emergency Shelters
Wind Direction
Rock Windbreak
Lean-to of conifer bows
Use natural materials
as they grow for
maximum rain run-off.
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Wickiup
Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Snow Shelter
Hot Coal Bed
Windbreak
Dry Grass
Ventilation Hole
Bed
10”
Dirt Layer
3” Deep
Snow Cave
(X-section)
Planned or
improvised
insulation
Fire Shelf
Sleeping
Shelf
0 Degrees Outside
Snow
Block
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Hot Rocks
Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Finding Water
or liquid is absolutely necessary for
life processes.
If your body is one quart low on body
liquid, it can upset the body’s:
Finding Water in Arid Areas
Nervous System
Circulatory System
Cooling System
Digestive System
Heating System
LOOK FOR:

l
l
l
IF YOU MUST DIG:
Dig near the bottom of a canyon, base of hills, low
points,
or outside the bend of a creek.
Green Vegetation
Water Holes, Wells
Major Game Trails
Barrel Cacti
If there is no dampness in two feet, then, dig elsewhere .
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Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Small Animal Snares
Set snare on a trail.
To be caught, the
animal must have its
front feet in the
snare.
Lift Pole Snare
Trail
Spring Pole Snare
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Trail
Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Fire Control
ALWAYS clear a good fire circle down to mineral earth to keep the
fire away from the forest.
Sustaining Fuel
Finger-sized Fuel
Kindling
Tinder
Draft
PREPARE EVERYTHING
Before lighting tinder.
Draft
Candle
FIRES must be controlled and PUT OUT.
Soak it throughly, smother it with dirt and test
for persisting heat with your hands.
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NEVER build your fire circle with
porous or water soaked rocks (e.g.
out of a stream).
Forestry and Natural Resources
Unit 18: Outdoor Safety and Survival Skills
Food Gathering and Preparation
A Metate Grinding Stone
Proper Use of Digging Stick
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