Survival Gear For The Outdoors

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When camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, back packing, sightseeing, or engaging in any type of activity that involves spending an extended period of time in the great outdoors, it's important to be prepared for most crises or emergencies.

Being prepared obviously means having the necessary knowledge to get out of emergency situations. Knowledge alone, however, won't do much if a person doesn't also have the necessary survival gear.

The starting points when discussing outdoor survival gear involve shelter, food, and water.

Shelter

When you venture into the great outdoors, finding or building a shelter will be one of your main priorities. Finding or build a shelter will help outdoor enthusiasts avoid pests and insects, keep them out of inclement weather, keep them warm and dry, and keep them safe from wild animals.

Take a look in your immediate surroundings and see if there are any or trees with low hanging branches, , rock formations, boulders, or caves that can be used for shelter. If not, you will have to build a basic shelter such as a debris shelter or a lean to shelter. Then again, if you have a quality tent, your shelter problems are basically solved.

Food

In order to survive in the outdoors, most people need to have two meals per day per person. Transporting the necessary amount of food will usually be a major problem. And to complicate things, in a crisis or an emergency situation, moreover, having access to enough food can be critical. When venturing into the wilderness, it's a good idea to being the following food items:

• MREs (Meals ready to eat)
• Power bars or energy bars
• Canned goods

If you eventually run out of the food you brought, this is where having food survival gear comes in handy. In fact, if fishing gear and animal traps and are taken to the outdoor location, it then becomes possible for the outdoor enthusiasts to get most of their food from the surrounding area.

Water

You can obviously take water with you via thoroughly cleaned plastic containers. When going into the wilderness, however, it's a good idea to take a small metal container, just in case you need run out of your water supply and need to boil water found in your surroundings.

And finally, chlorine pills, water purification tablets, and heavy aluminum foil (that can be made into a cup for boiling water and cooking food) would be great items to have---just in case.

Emergency Electricity

If you truly want to go the extra mile and be as prepared as possible for most emergencies, you can buy different appliances that contain their own built-in solar panels. Examples include solar power lanterns, flashlights, radios, and water heaters.

Emergency Lighting

Always pack at least one flashlight with extra batteries. As mentioned above, solar powered lanterns and flashlights are available.

Emergency First Aid Kit

A well stocked first aid kit is a critical piece of survival gear. A "basic" kit will work. Having a well-supplied first aid kit, however, gives an individual a lot of extra emergency protection.

The following characterizes a list of items that should be part of a well-stocked first aid kit:

• First aid instruction manual
• Prescription medications
• Alcohol wipes or ethyl alcohol
• Splint
• Flashlight (with extra batteries)
• Anti-diarrhea medication
• Sterile gauze pads (with a variety of sizes)
• Mouthpiece for administering CPR
• Antiseptic wipes
• Roller bandages
• Elastic bandage
• Disposable instant cold packs
• Blanket (space blanket)
• Safety pins
• Antibiotic ointment
• Calamine lotion
• Adhesive cloth tape
• Tweezers
• Adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
• Laxative
• Soap
• Antacid (for upset stomach)
• Triangular bandages
• Antiseptic solution (like hydrogen peroxide)
• Oral thermometer
• Acetaminophen and ibuprofen
• Scissors
• Burn relief cream
• Medicine dropper
• 2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
• Absorbent compress dressings
• Hydrocortisone cream (1%)
• Insect repellent
• Sterile eye pad
• Activated charcoal (if advised by the Poison Control Center)

30-Day Survival Kit

If you are really serious about having substantially more survival supplies and gear that will last more than a couple of days, why not pack a 30-day survival kit?

A basic, 30-day "wilderness" survival kit for a family of four should contain the following items:

• Survival guide
• Rain ponchos (or large plastic garbage bags)
• Gloves
• Additional clothing
• Pepper spray (or bear spray)
• 60 hour pillar candle
• Toiletry items
• Blankets or a high-quality sleeping bag for each person
• Aluminum foil (heavy duty-for boiling water)
• Water purification tablets
• Prescription medications and glasses
• Pliers
• Sunglasses
• Trash bags
• Cash or traveler’s checks and change
• MREs or other non-perishable foods (such as canned foods)
• MRE heater (little bag designed to heat military ready to eat meals)
• Needle and thread
• Multi-tool with a saw
• Rope (at least 25 to 50 feet)
• 120 light sticks
• Snow shovel (for winter weather)
• Two meals per person per day
• Duct tape (for repairs and first aid)
• Collapsible five gallon water containers
• 100 gallon bladder with a siphon pump
• Whistle
• Six 9 hour mini candles
• Manual can opener
• Camper's shower
• Matches (waterproof would be best)
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Water (one gallon per person per day)
• Rope and string (at least 25 to 50 feet of each)
• Solar powered short wave, multi band radio
• Propane heater/cooker
• Soap
• Windup radio (or battery operated radio)
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper (When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant or in an emergency, you can use bleach to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water)
• Compass
• Plastic tie wraps (for repairs)
• Magnesium fire starters
• Propane cylinders
• Lip balm
• Map
• Flashlight (with extra batteries)
• Cell phone with cell phone charger
• Paper and pencil
• Wax paper
• Filtration system that will filter up to 300 gallons of water
• Metal container for boiling water
• Small shovel
• Folding stove and two 8-ounce cans of Sterno fuel
• Fire extinguisher
• Multi-purpose knife

Survival Gear For The Outdoors: Conclusion

The moral of the story is that when it comes to outdoor survival gear, people need to make an effort and take some time to plan so that they are as well prepared for most emergencies as possible.

Indeed, before you venture into the great outdoors or into the wilderness, educate yourself how to efficiently and properly use the survival gear you have AND how to use what exists in your surroundings. You never know--your life may depend on this knowledge.

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