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Making a survival kit, part four
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If you’ve been keeping up with parts one, two, and three of this series then you’ve already equipped yourself to cope with the biggest killer in the woods--hypothermia--and you’ve got drinking water to last the critical first 72 hours of your survival situation. Now it’s time to work toward getting home.
Just because you’re technically a “victim” in a survival situation doesn’t mean you should act like one. Participate in your rescue. Be proactive. And signal, signal, signal! To that end you should carry two crucial pieces of signaling gear: a whistle and a mirror.
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A whistle is a lifesaver--literally--because it lets you project your call for help beyond the distance your voice can carry and for much less effort. You’ll shout yourself hoarse in an hour or two; with a whistle, on the other hand, you can tweet (in the purest sense) all day and be none the worse for wear. You can carry a pea-style whistle like the coach used to goad you with, but they’re big, relatively fragile, and not that loud. Much better is a flat rescue whistle.
Buy a signaling mirror and learn how to use it. It doesn’t need to have a hole in the middle but that helps. These are great during the day and also useful at night if someone’s looking for you with a spotlight.
We’ve pretty well tapped out the "rule of threes" (or "rules of three" for you grammarians). The final one, rule four, states: You can live three weeks without food. You wouldn’t want to, but you could. The survival kit outlined in this series is aimed toward surviving the first 72 hours of being lost, since most searches are resolved by then, and for that reason things like snare wire and fishing line are not included. If you have extra room it’s helpful to have some sort of sugary food in there as a pick-me-up when your spirits and strength are at their lowest. Avoid chocolate-covered candy since it becomes a mess when it gets warm. Peanut/nougat bars are good.
Also, include a small compass: the kind you can attach to a zipper. They’re not great but they’ll at least keep you oriented in the very, very unlikely event you have to move.
Last but definitely not least, you need a knife. In fact this is the single most useful item in the whole kit, since it’s nearly impossible to replicate a knife’s utility with natural materials (and would take a good deal of work to even get close). So make a knife the first thing you buy for your kit, and don’t be stingy. It’s the one item in the kit that may actually be a little pricey but it’s worth it.
You have plenty of choices here, from a razor blade (not recommended) to a fixed-blade sheath knife; it’s up to you what you include. But under no circumstances should you carry a knife with a non-locking blade. You’ll have enough problems in a survival situation without your knife closing on your fingers (remember your first-aid kit is small). A fixed-blade knife is even more secure than a lockblade since you don’t have to worry about the hinge breaking, but of course there’s a trade-off in size and weight.
Next: Pimp your kit
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