In a survival situation, the most important factor is your attitude. Success is determined first by the way you deal with your fears and anxieties. If you are with a group, you will have not only your own mental obstacles to deal with, but also those of the others in your group. Remember, the first defense in a survival situation is to avoid it.
If you find yourself in a survival situation, you must control your fears. Yes, there is danger involved, but if you are to get out of the situation, you must recognize that your wits are what is going to help you, not your fears.
What to do:
--Evaluate your situation. Determine your most immediate needs. Consider whether or not you are in a situation of immediate danger that would further jeopardize your survival situation. If injured, take steps to treat the injury so that other life support factors may be seen to. Consider your immediate situation with regards to rescue--was someone aware of your plans; what date are they expecting you; when can you expect a rescue party?
--Take time to look over your immediate situation and area with regards to shelter, body warmth, water and food. Review the equipment you have and any natural resources in your area. Also, inventory the skills in your group.
--The decision to stay or travel is of utmost importance. After evaluating your chance of rescue, your body needs, and equipment, you must judge whether travel is advisable. If you decide to travel, you must know where you are and what direction to head or you are most likely wasting time and energy and putting yourself further away from any would-be-rescuers. The decision to travel should also be made if your survival needs of shelter, water, and food, can be met at all times and your present physical condition and abilities are sufficient for the challenge.
Considerations for Survival
--Stay calm, think, have a will to survive
--Alert people of your situation by signaling
--Be able to provide warmth
--Be able to construct a shelter
--Find water
--Find food
Signaling
Signaling only does a person good if they are in a location where others may see or hear a signal of distress. Therefore, it is important to place yourself in an open high spot to make being seen easier for would-be rescuers.
One of the best signaling techniques (if you can call it signaling) is to let someone know where you are going, your schedule (if gone multiple days), and day and time you will be returning.
When in need of rescue, by far the best source in Alaska is an airplane flying overhead. There are very few places, especially on the Kenai Peninsula, where airplanes do not fly over on a regular basis.
If you happen to be in a situation where signaling is necessary, here are some basic signaling options:
--use fire--At night the fires should be as bright as possible. In the day, they should be as smoky as possible. Try to create a smoke that contrasts with the environment. If there is snow on the ground, you want black smoke, etc. Also remember that three evenly spaced fires is the international distress signal.
--use mirror--Aircraft pilots will see your flash of the mirror before you can see the aircraft. Therefore, flash the mirror at the sound of the approaching aircraft until you can spot the plane.
--build SOS with logs, write it in the sand, or use some contrast in color from the surrounding to write SOS
--gunfire (3 shots)
--waving arms at nearby aircraft
--light sticks used at night--Make sure you flash the flashlight or light sticks at an airplane overhead. Just seeing a light won't usually catch their attention. But if the light flashes, it may.
Remember, you are trying to make yourself appear "unnatural". You are trying to stick out by being different from your surroundings. If you have to, burn a circle in the dry grass around you, etc.
Fire
Fire is needed for warmth, staying dry, signals, cooking, and purifying water supply. It also helps one to maintain a sense of well-being.
Matches should be an item in every survival kit and it should be on your person at all times. Therefore, building a fire without matches should rarely, if ever, be needed.
Shelter
You need a simple adequate shelter quickly in order to stay dry, warm, protected from the wind, and give the feeling of safety.
--use fallen trees, large rock formations, or build a lean-to as a shelter. When making a lean-to, make it as small as possible to keep in body heat. It should be made out of sticks with a heavy layer of moss for insulation.
--avoid sleeping on the ground. The ground will suck out your body heat.
--use plastic, etc. as a roof to keep out rain
--place fire near opening
--make shelter near water, food supply, and signaling area
Water
When in the survival mode in Alaska, very rarely will finding water be a problem. Finding safe water may be a problem. When determining the drinkability of water, consider the sources in the following order from safest to most unsafe:
--artesian spring (water coming directly from underground)
--glacier runoff
--small running mountain stream (the higher up the mountain the
better)
--large running mountain stream
--river
--lake
--lake full of beavers and various other rodents
Food
--you can survive without food for several weeks
--meat is the best source of protein, plants are sources of carbohydrates and various oils
--if you are short on water, limit the amount of food you eat and try to restrict your diet to carbohydrates. It takes a lot more water to digest protein than carbohydrates.
--thousands of plants are edible, but many do not have any food value. Only a few plants are poisonous.
--roots and underground, fleshy parts, nuts, and fruits are higher in carbohydrates and caloric value than "greens".
--plants are safer cooked than raw
--do not eat mushrooms
--don't be fussy about strange food. Eat that leech.
Other food options include:
--fishing (you should have gear in your survival kit)
--snares to catch rabbits, spruce hens, or ptarmigan
Survival Kit (must be on your person at all times)
Matches (water proof them by dipping in wax or nail polish
Compass
Duct Tape, 10 yds
1-Zip-Loc Plastic Freezer Bags, gallon
Pencil and paper
Knife (should already be in your pocket)
Equipment bag for all of this stuff or possibly a small tin container
Small zip lock bags to divide items in bag
Jolly Rancher Candy
50 ft. fishing line
HD Aluminum Foil
