How to escape a car that has been submerged under water
About 400 people die each year from drowning inside their own submerged vehicles. Here’s how to escape a car submerged under water. Prepare for impact First, if time permits, prepare yourself for the impact. The total area of an automobile causes enough resistance to the surface of the water…
How to make a compass in the wilderness for daytime navigation
Navigation at night can easily be accomplished via stars and constellations and various other means exist to make a rough estimate of direction, but during the day, to make an accurate assessment of north and south, you must have a compass. Here's how to construct a simple compass in the wild. Components…
How to communicate with Morse code (using visual, audio, and pressure forms of communication)
About Morse Code Morse code (not "Morris code") is a method of transmitting textual messages using a series of patterns. Each text unit in the pattern can be represented (or reproduced) using on-off tones (sound), flashing lights, or clicks representing "dots" and "dashes" (known as dits and dahs). The traditional…
How to use hand and arm signals (visual signaling) to communicate silently
In a military or survival situation where silence must be maintained in order to mask your presence from an enemy, foe, or target, several types of non-verbal communication (visual signals) are available including flags, pyrotechnic, chemical lights, ground-to-air signals, and hand and arm signals. The United States Army Field Manual 21-60 lays out the…
How to read and use a topographic map in a survival situation.
Use of a topographic map in a survival situation Topographic maps describe the shape of the land and can be used (along with a compass) to help you locate natural and man-made features like woodlands, waterways, important buildings, and bridges. The information derived from a topographic map can help you…
Using a magnetic compass and triangulation to calculate the distance of a faraway object.
In the wilderness, it is sometimes useful to be able to calculate the distance to a faraway object. Using a compass and basic trigonometry (don’t worry, we’ll show you how), you can easily estimate the distance to a faraway object. This is possible using principles of geometry and triangulation –…
How to Survive Extreme Weather
Extreme Weather Conditions Whether global warming or a natural cycle of atmospheric change, the worldwide weather patterns have worsened substantially. Global average surface temperature has increased steadily since 1970. Precipitation patterns have changed around the world and after 2,000 years of little change, sea levels have risen by 8 inches with…
Using a Map and Compass
Parts of a Compass Most compasses have markings similar to these: (1) baseplate, (2) glow in the dark pointer, (3) ruler, (4) needle, (5) orienting lines, (6) direction of travel arrow, (7) index line, (8) declination scale, (9) orienting arrow, (10) housing, (11) dial, (12) scales Baseplate: the hard surface…
Look to the sky for your weather forecast – clouds as foretellers of weather.
Clouds: Foretellers of Weather About 200 years ago an Englishman classified clouds according to what they looked like to a person seeing them from the ground. He grouped them into three classes and gave them Latin names: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. These three names, alone and combined with other Latin…
How to use signaling techniques in a survival situation – visual and audio communication methods.
Introduction to signaling techniques One of your first concerns when you find yourself in a survival situation is to communicate with your friends or allies. In a survival situation, you must first get your rescuer's attention, then second, send a message your rescuer understands. Some attention-getters are man-made geometric patterns…
Water Crossings – how to cross deadly water obstacles in a survival situation.
Expedient Water Crossings In a survival situation, you may have to cross a water obstacle. It may be in the form of a river, a stream, a lake, a bog, quicksand, quagmire, or muskeg. Even in the desert, flash floods occur, making streams an obstacle. Whatever the obstacle, you must know…
The complete guide to sea survival – how to survive in the open sea.
Sea survival is perhaps the most difficult survival situation. Short- or long-term survival depends upon rations, equipment available, and your ingenuity. You must be resourceful to survive. Water covers about 75 percent of the earth's surface, with about 70 percent being oceans and seas. You can assume that you will…
Cold weather survival – everything you need to know to survive in a cold environment
Introduction to Cold Weather Survival One of the most difficult survival situations is a cold weather scenario. Remember, cold weather is an adversary that can be as dangerous as anything else you can encounter. Every time you venture into the cold, you are pitting yourself against the elements. With a…
How to survive in tropical habitats.
Introduction to Tropical Survival Most people think of the tropics as a huge and forbidding tropical rain forest through which every step taken must be hacked out, and where every inch of the way is crawling with danger. Actually, over half of the land in the tropics is cultivated in…
How to survive in extreme, hot conditions (desert survival).
To survive and evade in hot, arid or desert areas, you must understand and prepare for the environment you will face. You must determine your equipment needs, the tactics you will use, and how the environment will affect you and your tactics. Your survival will depend upon your knowledge of…
No compass available? Here are other means of determining north/south direction.
Stars can be used for navigation and a compass will provide an accurate assessment of north/south direction, but you can also use nature to determine the general direction in a pinch. Moss, puddles, snow melt patterns, rings in a tree stump, even animal behavior can be used to help you…
How to use the stars for navigation (in northern and southern hemispheres).
In a wilderness survival situation, you can determine direction using “markers” in the sky, constellations and key stars, that point the way North or South. The astronomical objects to use are dependent upon your location – Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Sky (Northern Hemisphere) In the northern hemisphere,…
An easy trick for using the Moon for Navigation.
Because the moon has no light of its own, we can only see it when it reflects the sun's light. As it orbits the earth on its 28-day circuit, the shape of the reflected light varies according to its position. We say there is a new moon or no moon…
How to use the Sun and shadows for navigation.
The earth's relationship to the sun can help you to determine direction (celestial navigation). The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west, but not exactly due east or due west. There is some seasonal variation in the exact direction that the sun sets – the sun…
Cereus Cactus – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Cereus (Cereus species) These cacti are tall and narrow with angled stems and numerous spines. Where to Find: They may be found in true deserts and other dry, open, sunny areas throughout the Caribbean region, Central America, and the western United States. Edible Parts: The fruits are edible, but some…
