Water: Have a metal canteen with a metal cap so that you can put it on coals to boil and sanitize any water and the canteen. Only use coals and not flames, so that it doesn't oxidize.
Meat: Have a gun for animals, and a Hawaiian sling for fish, and a net for small things(birds drag their beaks through the water while in flight for tiny fish). In certain areas and times of year, you can have all the birds you can eat, for free, if you have a gun. Not to mention bigger animals. And get a book on animal tracking to be a better hunter.
Fruit and veggies: Native plants that grow and seed and water themselves. This is if you have lots of land to pick from and the plants and trees are already existent on the property. Get books in the nature section of the bookstore on "edible and medicinal plants" "mushrooms" "edible marine life"
Fire: Hardwood for long lasting huge fire, and soft wood in small pieces, as kindling to get it started. Also have alcohol and tinder(char cloth, or tree sap, cut a tree and wait for the sap to run) and a firesteel to start it, or a lighter to start out with, until it runs out of fuel. Page size fresnel lens for fire starting on sunny days. Have fresnel lens for daytime and firesteel for nighttime and a lighter for emergencies.
Alcohol: Good for antibacterial wound treatment along with cloth or tape bandage. Good for cleaning clothes. Good for washing hands. Good for lighter fluid and candles. Just distill the alcohol from rotten fruit juice, and a simple solar distiller.
Shelter: Stone walls, wood roof, and tarp to water proof it.
Air conditioning: Wet shirt, wind, shade
Heating: fire, proper clothing.
Light: Have 2 crank rechargeable flashlights(1 for backup) and velcro it to a .50 cent baseball hat to become a head lamp. Until the battery goes bad and you need to buy a new one.
Vehicle: Powered by ultra capacitor for any environment, and no maintenance, won't break. But remember: If you don't have a schedule to keep anymore, and you don't need to travel long distances, you don't need a vehicle. Just use legs and a paddle.
Clothes: Get artificial fibers like nylon, polyester, acrylic, so that it is non absorbant of water for easier cleaning. Then put the clothes in a bucket of soapy water and agitate it with a plunger. When you run out of soap you may need to make alcohol and just wipe down your clothes with an alcohol soaked rag, to clean them.
Cooking: On the fire or coal BBQ, or a rocket stove. Smoke your meat to preserve it, so that you don't require a fridge.
Bathroom: On a big piece of land just go outside and bury it to not smell it. Or go in a different spot every day. Grow your own TP tree of the right kinds of leaves for the job.
Shower: Use alcohol and rag.
Weather: Have an all in one barometer/hygrometer/thermometer. Or if you have a boat you need a weather radio that lets you know when to move.
Communication: If you don't feel safe without communication, get a ham radio and you'll never have to pay a phone bill and be able to talk long distance, hopefully to family or friends. This is what the police use.
Navigation: GPS is good for now, just turn it on whenever you're unsure where you are. Don't get it wet though.
Protection: Have a gun if you live in an area with large dangerous animals.
Rope tying knowledge: It's good to know how to tie knots for camping, look to "Youtube" under "Camping knots".It's good read up on most knots because you never know when they'll come in handy. The knots that will be used regularly are the snare knot, and a truckers hitch and a falconer's knot for the tarp, half hitch(Useful in many ways, easilly remembered by"around and through"), anchor bend or the two half, constrictor knot(a variation of the clove hitch exept you make one of the free ends of rope go through one of the 2 half hitches that the clovehitch is comprized of), prussik knot(fot climbing), sheet bend(for tieing 2 ropes of differing diameter's together, clove hitch, tension/taughtline hitch, Bowline(one of the most useful, and easilly remembered by first making a bite in the rope, and then:"The rabbit goes out the hole, around the tree, and then back into the hole"). Feel free to improvise when making knots, and even to invent your own knots. Also the clinch knot for fishing, or the uni knot for tying the tippet onto the leader for fly fishing, have a different leader for each type of fish. The figure 8. And the figure 8 on a bite.
Survival clip carabeener contents: File and sharpening stone, crank rechargeable flashlight, lighter with keychain holder, firesteel, good multitool/swiss army knife.
Survival backpack contents: Rope, knife, char cloth/paper(or cotton) holder and maker, backup flashlight, hat, canteen, tarp, hammock tent and straps, sleeping bag, TP, GPS, notebook, gel pen, gun, spear. And whatever extra fun devices you want.
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Extra info for if you don't have the above equipment.
Remember the sacred order:
- Shelter (sometimes can only survive hours without shelter)
- Water (brain damage occurs after only a day without water)
- Fire (contributes to all 3 other priorities)
- Food (can easily survive 2 weeks without any food)
Start fire using the bow drill method. Then boil water in a log that you burned out the center of, with coals from the fire, inch by inch by burning then scraping.(should only take 2 hours). Then heat up some rocks in the fire and put them in the hollowed out log filled with water to boil the water. Also when wood is damp make feather sticks with a knife to use the dry inside.
When animals attack they go for what's in front of them first. So stick something out in front of you that you don't care if it gets bitten. For a weapon have a stick with a knife on it. But if you don't have a knife then sharpen the stick on a rock or in the fire. This will put some distance between you and the animal, and if they lunge at you then put the stick between the ground and their heart and hopefully their weight will make them impale themselves.
For shelter use the debris shelter method. The thicker you pile on the debris onto the shelter the more insulated it will be. 4 foot thick can keep you comfortable at 40 below temperatures. And 2 foot thick can keep you warm at 32 degree temps.
You can make a chair out of a cloth bag and 3 sticks.
Always dry off your clothes right away if they ever get wet. Do this with a fire and the clothes or shoes suspended above the fire with twigs or rope. You can freeze to death at 50 degree temps in the wind, if you're wet.
Learn survival navigation. Finding south with a watch between the hour hand and 12:00 in the northern hemisphere, when you have the hour hand pointing at the sun. Also if you don't have a watch you can find the east and west line on a sunny day by just putting a stick in the ground for 20 minutes or so, marking the top of the shadow with a stone at the beginning and end of the 20 minutes(This has to be done on a flat surface). Useful Layman Fact: The sun is always in the southern part of the sky, if you're in the northern hemisphere.
For rope when you have none. You can dig up the roots of trees which are everywhere. Just use a hook like tool and drag it through the ground until you run into a thick enough root then pull it out of the ground carefully to not break it. Or you can make rope out of nettle stem skins or the fiber of plants that have been crushed and pounded with a stone or stick, and then left to dry in the sun, or scrape away the mushy stuff(this is how hemp fiber is made). Some other plants are the dog bean or castor bean plants(being the strongest and doesn't decompose) or milk weed being good for cordage. But some plants are poisonous so if they make a rash then avoid them or know more about them to know how to utilize safely. You can also peal the bark off of some small trees after getting it started with a knife. To make these plant fibers into cord you want to do the twist away pull back method. But the leg roll method is faster. You can use any type of fiber or cordage and as long as it's thick enough you can hang from it.
TP: Do the arm rub test on different types of leaves to choose one that doesn't create rash.
Washing self and clothing and antibacterial ointment is all found with knowledge of medicinal plants.
Catching food can be done many ways. By making your own fish net given enough time. hobo fishing is done with just a stick or can with string around it and a fishing lure. A bow and arrow can be made quickly with a sharpened stick as the arrow and feathering on the back and a notch on the back. And a bow stick bent between the legs and string tied to each end with a simple half hitch. Refining it can come later. You can also make a Hawaiian sling if you have any kind of elastic and put a fish gig on the end. Or you can set snare traps with your animal tracking skills for squirrels or rabbits. Or deadfalls, or other traps for bugs or big animals. or trigger traps with bait for squirrels or mice. Or just have a stick to hit things or stab things with. But you may just gather food with your knowledge of edible plants and mushrooms and nuts(roast them or boil them for taste). Make a fishing lure in the shape of an oval and put bait around it.
Making a knife: Use flint knapping using a deer antler or rough thinner rock for pressure flaking and a stone for percussion flaking. And a rough stone for abrading to flatten edges.
But in the end if you ever actually feel like you are ruffing it, then that just means that you're doing things wrong. When camping or hiking or surviving, it is a choice to be cold, or wet or uncomfortable at all, because with knowledge you can avoid all of that out in the wilderness anywhere. Our greatest strength is our knowledge.
