All posts by Claude Aultman

18Mar/20

5 Reasons To Learn Survival Techniques

Survival Techniques

Lighting fires, building weapons, building shelters, testing knives, sleeping in tents, riding hammocks, eating hot in the bush … who does not like to do all this! Escape your routine for a few days and explore a nearby forest. You will be amazed at yourself! Here are 5 Reasons you should learn survival techniques:

Reason # 5: Personal Challenges

Learning survival techniques is challenging. No one ever said it was easy. Survival skills need practice and determination. Perfecting skills like lighting a fire can be frustrating and take hours of practice. However, the reward of learning all these techniques is that someday they can save your life. This personal challenge is not only an immense sense of accomplishment but also a deep sense of peace and self-confidence.

Reason # 4: Mother Nature is unforgiving 

The best we can do is prepared to deal with the aftermath. Surviving the fury of Mother Nature is just the first step. Mitigating the chaos that comes next is when your survival skills – shelter, water, fire and food – are really put to the test.

Reason # 3: Everything man-made can fail (and will fail)

Planes crash, dams explode, nuclear power plants merge, gas pipelines explode, power grids fail … and the list goes on and on. Survival techniques prepare us for when the time of inevitability arrives when everything man-made on which we depend fails. Knowing does not take place, your knowledge will always go with you no matter where you are or where you are going. Your knowledge does not need an electrical source or a mobile phone. They do not depend on gasoline or batteries. They are there for when you need them regardless of the circumstances.

Reason # 2: Invest in yourself

Learning survival techniques is an investment of time, and often money. But more importantly, it is an investment in yourself. You are your most valuable resource. Don’t underestimate the strength in you. You are unique and incredible. Take the plunge and spend a little time and a little money learning survival techniques that can change your life. Knowledge is power.

Reason # 1: Sooner or later you will need survival techniques

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States) began declaring large-scale disasters in 1953. That year they declared 13 disasters. In 2011 they declared 99. Statistically, major disasters are increasing in frequency and violence every year. Terrible things happen to good people. Every day there is someone who suddenly finds himself in a survival scenario where he must trust his knowledge and resources to survive. Plane accidents, cars without gasoline, devastating fires, fierce hurricanes, collapsed bridges … people who are forced to survive after the consequences of some fatality. We live in world madness, and you must be prepared for what happens. Thinking that “it will never happen to me” is not an intelligent thought.…

17Mar/20

Basic Tools For Shelter Construction

Shelter Construction

Summer is just around the corner, and for many adventurers and nature lovers, this means going back to enjoying some exciting escapes outdoors, either as a day of hiking, or camping in the mountains during a weekend. But, would you dare to go deep into nature and spend several summer nights without your sleeping bag or your tent? Below we encourage you to do so, revealing some useful tools so that you can build your own emergency shelter.

As you already know, food, water and shelter are the three basic pillars that every survivor facing a scenario of chaos should have in mind. The refuge will give you protection and shelter from the inclement weather, it will keep you dry and warm, and it will also protect you from a possible attack by those beasts that inhabit Mother Nature. So finding or providing yourself with an appropriate shelter can make the difference between living or dying in a survival situation. Therefore, no matter what the circumstances: you must always be prepared to detect or build a survival shelter for yourself and your loved ones.

It is highly likely that once you have reached this point you have already taken good note of the utensils and tools that you will need to shape any of the five suggested survival shelters. Even so, it does not hurt to formulate a small inventory that reminds us what basic utensils can not be missing in our outdoor backpack:

  • Survivalknife: this fixed blade knife will serve to cut the rope and small branches. It will also help us remove the bark of the logs and clean the trunks and sticks that we use to shape our refuge from small edges and twigs.
  • Multi-tool: it will serve to cut small twigs, leave the corners of the trunks and sticks clean of chips so that the canvas does not break, as well as to loosen the knots that we have made with the rope.
  • Survival axe: this tool will allow us to carry out large tasks of debranching and cutting wood, as well as cutting small logs with less effort than with the knife.
  • Folding shovel: ideal for cleaning the land where we are going to build the shelter, grouping the branches, leaves and snow to shape the heated shelter, equalize the ground level was to support the bases of the structure and dig to create the dugout.
  • Tent or survival poncho: you can use it as a canvas for the roof or the door of your refuge, or you can throw it on top to maintain your body temperature.
  • Survival blanket or bag: same characteristics and uses as the survival tent.
  • Ropes: essential to hold and secure the stick and branch structures of our emergency shelter. They can also be used to hang the survival tent, tying it between two trees, or to hang food and other equipment out of the reach of small animals.
  • Flanges: perfect for creating the grid of the shed, allowing to hold smaller sticks closer.
  • Work gloves: they will protect your hands from possible cuts or injuries while handling the tools and materials necessary for the construction of the shelter.
  • Lighter or fire source: it will allow you to burn the ends of the rope in order to prevent it from fraying.
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16Mar/20

Five Myths Or False Beliefs Related To Survival

Survival Myths

Below, we list a list of these ten survival myths; we hope that if you have ever received this same misinformation, even from your own family, this list and its recommendations can be of some help.

Myth # 1: If you are lost in the desert, you can get water from a cactus.

The truth is that if you find cactus in the middle of the desert, the most probable thing is that the only thing you can get from this plant, apart from pricking yourself, are a few drops of water. Look for small streams, rocky depressions where morning dew can deposit, or the desired Oasis is surely a better plan.

Myth # 2: In an earthquake, the the safest place to take refuge is to get under a door frame

This myth has a variant, which says that in the middle of an earthquake we can look for what is known as a ‘triangle of life’, that is, look for a bulky object and curl up next to it, so that in case it receives an impact, for example from the ceiling or from a wall, compress slightly and create a void or a hole next to it. The first myth only came into being when the houses were made of very weak materials and the door frames were made of wood. However, in most modern buildings today, this has changed, and the door frame is precisely one of the weakest points of any home.

Myth # 3: If a poisonous snake bites you, suck the poison.

In this case, it would be to make an X-shaped cut right in the area of ​​the bite in order to remove the poison. Either way, they are both bogus, since you will never be able to cut or suck the venom so fast as to stop the venom from spreading through your bloodstream. In addition, putting the poison in your mouth could even be harmful, since if you had a wound on the lips or gums, it would end up becoming another new source of entry of the poison into your body. Always try to keep the area where you have been bitten below the heart line and try to maintain a certain moderate physical activity, such as moving to your vehicle to go to the nearest medical centre in search of the necessary antidote.

Myth # 4: If an electrical fire occurs in your home, disconnect the device that caused it immediately.

Trying to disconnect that device that is causing the fire or trying to put out the fire with a water can be the best and fastest way to die from electrocution. If the electrical device is broken, overheated, or sparks or smoke is jumping, all you have to do is go to your electrical panel and turn off the automatic safety controller.

Myth # 5: If you get stuck in a frozen place you can eat snow or ice to survive

Eating snow or ice in handfuls will cause your body temperature to drop, consume more energy than necessary, and could also make you feel bad if that snow was contaminated. It is also a false myth that alcohol helps us to warm up in a climate of extreme cold, even though it comes from the barrel that carries an affable Saint Bernard around his neck.

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