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This Skill Will Give You a Chance to Survive in the Wilderness
Survival Institute
Survival Institute

This Skill Will Give You a Chance to Survive in the Wilderness

by
May 2, 2019

Trying to survive out in the wild is a dangerous proposition.

If anything goes wrong, nobody will be swiftly coming to your aid.

And here’s one survival skill you’ll need to give yourself a chance of making it in the wilderness.

One of the most important elements of survival is water.

In terms of priority, it only falls behind breathable air and shelter.

You can only survive three days without water, so it is a cornerstone of survival.

However, when you’re out in the wilderness, there is no faucet, and there is no convenience store fully stocked with bottled water.

If you’re preparing to stay in the wild, make sure you have a healthy stock of water to sustain you.

There are also great items that make drinking in the wild possible, such as the LifeStraw and various filters.

With the LifeStraw, for example,  you can drink directly from streams.

However, emergencies can strike at any moment.

If that happens, you may find yourself short on water.

That’s when your ability to purify water becomes vital to your survival.

Drinking from a stream—even if it looks clear—could be hazardous to your health, because all kinds of bacteria and impurities could be running through it.

If you have a pot and the ability to start a fire, you can boil the water and kill the bacteria from any natural water source.

A clean plastic water bottle is also a good improvisational purification method.

The sun’s ultraviolet rays can eliminate bacteria from the water after about a day of exposure.

Fresh snow and rainwater are safe without boiling and filtration.

Although, be careful with fresh snow and ice, because they can lower your core temperature.

However, if you’re completely without equipment, you can drink water that’s pooled in big leaves and cup-shaped flowers.

If you have a few supplies handy, you can get drinkable water from a solar still.

Simply place a plastic sheet over a container, then put a smaller cup in the middle of the container.

Put a weight on the sheet above the cup, and place the still underneath the sun.

The sun’s rays will cause purified water to condense and run into the cup.

If by chance, you have bleach handy, you can use it to purify water if it hasn’t reached its expiration date.

Just add ⅛ teaspoon (about eight drops) per gallon of water, and mix it up.

Within 30 minutes, the water will be drinkable.

If the water is cloudier and less pure, you’ll need more bleach; double the amount to a ¼ teaspoon.

If you smell a whiff of chlorine, that means the water is now potable.

If not, add more bleach and repeat the process.

These tips will give you a great chance at surviving in the wild under emergency conditions.

Otherwise, you could find yourself at the mercy of drinking from a river full of bacteria and other impurities.

Catching a bug that gives you diarrhea doesn’t sound like a huge deal, but when you can’t run to the store for soup, orange juice, or OTC medicine, simple illnesses can become deadly.

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