Can you survive in the wild? This guide to basic gear and skills will get you started
The right gear systems and skillsets are everything in a survival setting — and whether you’re interested in honing survival skills as a hobby or preparing for catastrophe — war, natural disaster, civil unrest, etc. — knowing basic survival concepts matters. But, if you are interested in testing your mettle and upskilling your survival chops, just throwing yourself into the wilderness and hoping for the best rarely results in a positive or productive experience. Even more intimidating is knowing where to start with gear, skills, sequences, etc — but fear not!
That’s why we’re here!
Let’s chat about the adventure/survival basics from a kit perspective, what skills you need, and what order to prioritize your efforts to prep for the same type of challenge you can watch me face in Netflix’s “Outlast”.
Gear
If you’ve met one gear/kit recommendation…well you’ve met one. In fact, I’d venture to say gear preferences are like the thumb print of adventure — everyone’s is wholly and truly unique. But certain truths and trends transcend preference, and what I’m about to discuss is a kit optimized for two things: 1. The absolute BARE minimum weight, hassle, and requirement for primitive survival skills in really harsh settings and 2. Efficiency to hit key milestones to improve the odds and duration of survival.
I will not be discussing backpacks, clothing systems/technical layering, hats, gloves, footwear, or any tech-enabled stuff — those are entire posts in and of themselves and heavily dependent upon activity, climate, and preference — we’ll cover all of that down the road.
To begin, think of gear and skills as a function of the following goals or milestones in sequence for survival:
Shelter/Initial Safety
Fire
Water
Food
Navigation/Exfiltration
Don’t make the mistake of getting these items out of order — YOU’LL BE TEMPTED to think water/food or go straight toward exfiltration, but don’t. Ironically, those end up being some of the easiest to solve or suffer through if resources/options are beyond your control. Of course, the clock is ticking in each of those categories but they sure don’t matter if you die promptly from exposure to the elements…likewise fire is a function of shelter, water is a function of fire, food is often a function of water + fire, and navigation/exfiltration odds improve as a function of the preceding milestones.
With this in mind, here is how I think of kit relative to the goals:
Shelter/Safety — Ripstop/waterproof tarp or other covering, sleeping system (bags, hammock, sleeping pad), first-aid/IFAK, hatchet, knife, cordage
Fire — Ferrocerium rod + striker, all weather lighter/matches, wax, knife/hatchet
Water — Metal cup, bladder/bottle, purification tablets
Food — Knife, cordage/trap line, hand reel, hooks, fishing line, takedown bow/projectile
Navigation/Exfiltration — Compass, map (if possible), optics/bi-or-monocular, head lamp
You’ll notice a trend here is redundancy — without adding weight and hassle, you can add small pieces of kit to each category to give you more options in a survival setting, which is especially important when “playing the hand that’s dealt” (i.e. you usually don’t get much say in what resources are or aren’t on the menu). But just having an item in each category gives you a chance. I’d focus on some level of waterproof material for shelter, IFAK (Individual First-Aid Kit), a knife/hatchet, ferro rod, cup to boil water in and a small foldable bladder to carry it in, fishing line, and a compass. Just having these items is only half the battle, now we have to talk about how/when to use them…
Basic Skills to Hit the Milestones
Again, we’ll focus on the sequence:
Building shelter — know multiple methods (debris, wedge, cabin, rain-fly), know how to use the hatchet and knife safely to fell or manipulate materials, and know where to build — flat ground, away from water run off, out of the wind, leverage natural barriers, etc — and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
Fire — Know how to start a fire with friction, ferro rod, or lighter, practice sourcing tinder, kindling (making feather sticks for instance) and practice building the fire to be sustained safely. The weirder the options, better (try using a chaga mushroom to start a plow-style friction fire!) because it’s really a conceptual and experiential exercise in understanding fire and how it best propagates in a variety of settings. Likewise, learn how (i.e. when to and when not to) use accelerants and also explore how a little bit of wax goes a long way (lip balm, candles, etc).
Water — Boil or purify your water. Practice boiling in a cup over an open fire (use knife/hatchet/stick to maneuver in and around the flame to avoid spillage or burning yourself). Cheers to no parasites or bacteria!
Food — We could talk for days about food, but learn the basics of foraging and plant identification (stick with the easy stuff, don’t roll the dice on mushrooms), learn basic trapping/hunting techniques, but mostly I’ve found fishing to be the most reliable skillset for protein acquisition.
Navigation/Exfiltration — Another massive topic, learn to read a compass, take and follow a bearing, read a (contour) map, and understand declination/geographic considerations affecting your navigation. Likewise, get acquainted with the stars (Polaris, seasonal constellations and where they are directionally).
These are just some of the basic considerations meant to get you started down the path of going deeper and developing nuance in these domains. But let’s not just stop there — I’ve taken the liberty to curate a complete list of gear that you could order right now and be ready to put these skills and concepts to the test!
Follow the links below for my take on “essential” items (sans clothing, footwear, headwear, backpacks) — I’ve used each of these products, and this kit is specifically designed to replicate the type of equipment we utilized during our time on “Outlast”. Do you have what it takes to survive in the wild using this kit alone? Let me know your thoughts, be safe and have fun!
***NOTE: Survival skills can be dangerous endeavors even in practice — and we aren’t liable for poor outcomes. If you are not comfortable with any of the below (bow, knife, etc) don’t hurt yourself or wing it! Seek expert help to learn skills the right way the first time — and if you’re struggling to find that info, let me know and I’ll create a video to make things easier. Stay safe, stay wild — Joel
Shelter/Safety Essentials
Fire Starting Essentials
Water — Purification and Sourcing/Transfer
Food — Sourcing
Navigation/Exfiltration
