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If you’re caught on the water without a barometer, look for nature’s clues to approaching weather.
 | Survival Q&AYou've got questions, our survival expert's got answers. |
 | Surviving a WildfireEscaping a forest fire demands keen awareness and quick thinking. |
 | Stranded and AloneWhat to do if you become stuck with your vehicle in the middle of nowhere. |
 | Snow and Ice SurvivalIf the winter weather has you trapped, would you be able to make it out alive? |
 | Hurricane GuideOur comprehensive guide will teach you how to stay safe when a hurricane hits. |
 | Flood SurvivalStatistically, floods are the most devastating natural disasters. |
Out of bread? No oven to cook in? The coals of your camp fire can bake up some tasty bread—if you have the secret ingredient to make your dough.
I’ve been whipping up ash cakes for years, and serving them to pleasantly surprised survival students for a while now. Although, it wasn’t always easy. [ Read Full Post ]
A 76-year-old diabetic Colorado man was found alive on Tuesday March 27, after he survived 10 days in the remote Nevada desert by using survival skills he remembered from his Boy Scout days. Regrettably, his friend who had accompanied him on the trip wandered away from the vehicle to look for help, and did not survive, according to the AP.
If this outcome sounds familiar, that’s likely because last week we brought you a story of two friends in a shipwreck situation in the Gulf of Mexico that cost one of them his life. The two stories bears a weird similarity, made stranger by the fact that they occurred within a week of one another. [ Read Full Post ]
A cheerless story comes to us today, of a fight to stay alive in the Gulf of Mexico for two Texas fishermen. For more than 30 hours, best friends Ken Henderson and Ed Coen treaded water after their boat sank at noon last Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
Coen, who was a slender man, began shivering almost immediately after the accident in the cold springtime ocean. Both men were wearing their life jackets, which they strapped together to avoid drifting apart. After failing to swim to a gas well nearby, they kept their morale up as best as they could, hoping for rescue. [ Read Full Post ]
Did you know that one inch of rain falling over a 5-foot by 8-foot tarp would give you almost 25 gallons of rain water? And fresh rain water can be one of your best drinking sources during an emergency or after a disaster, so long as that disaster wasn’t nuclear or chemical.
All you’ll need to make the rain clouds work for you is a tarp, some rope and a large container, like a clean bucket. Tie up two adjacent corners of the tarp to trees or poles. Fix the other two tarp corners to the ground, so that there is a little sag in the middle of the tarp. Place your bucket under the lowest point in the tarp, and then pray for rain. [ Read Full Post ]
For reasons both good and bad, I find myself fascinated by National Geographic’s new television show Doomsday Preppers. This unusual new program gives us a window into the lives, minds and disaster plans of seemingly ordinary people from all around the United States who share one common tie -- they think that disaster will befall the American way of life.
The concerns and fears of these individuals and families range from earthquakes to economic collapse, and from solar-flare-induced power failures to an extreme oil crisis: any of which could lead to the unraveling of society as we know it.
In all honesty, I was dreading the fact that I had to watch the show in order to write this post. Now, I must admit, I am very curious to see the next group of people that come out of obscurity to share their views and their way of life. I do not count myself as a prepper, nor do I think that my head is buried in the sand (or elsewhere). But this show has certainly given me some interesting points to ponder. I’ll give National Geographic this -- the program is nothing, if not... [ Read Full Post ]
I don’t know why leadership is such a frequently overlooked part of survival (and everyday life), but it just is.
Leadership is one of those elements in survival that rarely gets recognized for its importance during an emergency. Having a leader is also an inescapable reality when acting as a group. There will always be an Alpha in charge of the group. Maybe they’re not qualified to hold such a critical position, but they are almost always going to play the role they were born to play. [ Read Full Post ]
A taboo is defined as an act that is forbidden, unacceptable or unhealthy. In the realm of survival, it’s easy to stray into this territory. Pop culture survival books and television shows often demonstrate all kinds of outdoor tricks that are neither acceptable, nor healthy. Which are the worst offenders? Which acts should be taboo?
Here are the top five things I wouldn’t be caught dead doing.
#5 The Universal Edibility Test
This test was devised for the right reasons, but it doesn’t take into account the two worst elements in emergencies (human error and Murphy’s Law). This test has been offered to survival novices as a way to determine if a plant is safe to eat. Through a number of physical trials, you look for negative reactions before you finally ingest the mystery plant. My problem with this test is the fact that the wrong plant could be fatal, and not register a negative reaction before it comes to the eating portion of the test. My advice: If in doubt, DON’T EAT IT! [ Read Full Post ]
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