| Beyond the ten essentials... |
1. Multibladed knife: the Leatherman Wave and the Swiss Army Huntsman are two examples of good survival knives. (the saw blade being a major factor). Avoid cheap imitations. 2. Magnesium metal-match: hundreds of opportunities to start that life saving fire are available with this space-age metal even if it gets wet. 3.Firestarter: my axiom has always been that a fire is the most difficult to build when you need one the most! To insure success I carry either pitchwood (fatwood) or birch bark. Both are great for starting and maintaining fires in wet conditions. 4.Plastic bags: 60 gallon clear garbage bags are ideal for making an emergency shelter in the wet regions, as well as making water in the desert regions. Three or four will fit easily in your back pocket. 5.Parachute cord: 50-100 feet of seven-strand, 550 pound tensil strength parachute cord is unmatched in versatility. Make sure you are getting the type with seven strands of inner-cord inside of a casing 6. Signal mirror: a 2"x3" Air Force style signal mirror was responsible for more rescues in the twentieth century than any other device. They have been seen by search planes as far away as 100 miles at sea. 7. Zip-ties: I have been experimenting with a natural shelter for several years that I believe is the ideal survival shelter. Not until I joined the poles together with zip-ties was it feasible to expect that a relatively untrained person would actually attempt building this shelter. Now it can be considered a bonafide survival shelter. About 50 zip ties should be enough to build one. 8. Snare wire: 25'-40' of 22-28 gauge copper wire. The trick to surviving longer than 48 hours is to minimize your energy output while at the same time maximizing your caloric input. While teaching winter survival in the Alaskan Interior I was able to snare 6 rabbits in one evening using only simple loop snares. 9. Surgical tubing: 3' of tubing has allowed me to make sling-shots and spear-guns. Several meals resulted from having this in my kit. Also, it can be used for medical emergencies and as a drinking straw in solar stills and transpiration bags. 10. Duct tape: a small roll of this stuff will increase your creativity tremendously, e.g. it will allow me to put up an emergency shelter in a matter of minutes. A small roll of electricians tape would also be advisable. 11.Fish hooks: Several small hooks with leader attached will give you plenty of opportunities to add both fish and fowl to your menu without expending critical energy in the process. VIEW THESE ITEMS |
| Keep your survival kit well stocked! |
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| metal-match |
| pitch wood |