Survival Tips 101

FIRST build a fire. This may even alert rescuers to your location.
To build a fire, you must gather and have materiels ready first.
Clear an area, so as not to start a forest fire, & do not build your fire near trees.
Dig a pit about 8 inches deep to build your fire in.
Gather tinder, kindling and logs.
TINDER is thin material to ignite the fire.
Cotton, belly button lint, dry moss, pine needles, dry grass blades, paper, thin bark, most things you can thinly shred, should work.
KINDLING is twigs, that you want to lean standing up against each other forming the shape of a tee-pee.
FUEL will be dry wood, deadfall is good. Dried dung is better than nothing though.
To get a flame, if you don't have matches or a lighter, requires mainly PATIENCE and DETERMINATION.
A pair of eyeglasses, flashlight lens, magifying glass, mirror or even a thin shard of a broken glass,can get hot enough to start a fire,
Angle your object towards the sun until you see a dot of light from the sun on your object. Hold this over a patch of tinder. When smoke comes, blow gently until you get a spark, then a small flame.
Put your ignited tinder into your prepared firepit. Blow gently until your kindling ignites. FIRE is vital whether in the mountains or desert, it can SUDDENLY get cold.

and you get disoriented, lose your barings and can't tell North from South...
Look at the trees, rocks, bushes, etc.
Snow will always melt LAST on the North side of an obect.
Grass, moss, etc. will always grow MORE on the North side of an obect.
Rocks will be slightly cooler North side of an obect.
The Sun Always rises in the East and sets in the West.

and you are hungry, remember ALL snakes and lizards are edible.
Oak tree bark can keep you alive for awhile
Pulp in the short,fat, round barrel cacti is edible Prickly pear cacti, too.
Never eat berries or mushrooms, even experts can be fooled
where there is water, there will be animals and maybe fish to catch
To catch fish, peirce them with a long sharp object or your hands or if you have a short metal object, (a safety pin, the spring from a pen, a hairpin, will do ) fashion a hook and bait it with a LIVE worm or bug, tie it to two shoelaces on one end, drop it in the water and be patient.
Birds can be caught the same way, only tie the OTHER end to a tree.

To make water If there's snow, MELT it.
If there are trees, wrap plastic bags around NON TOXIC tree branches at night, it will create 'greenhouse' effect and you'll have water by morning.
ALWAYS travel with plastic baggies.
Wherever cottonwood trees are, dig, there is water.
Wherever flys are, there is water, dig.
Birds and animals always head to water in the morning for a drink.

DO NOT suck the wound, you''ll absorb more venom!
DO tie a belt or shoelaces, anything possible, tightly above the wound to try slow the flow of the venom to the heart.
Laydown, in-activety can slow it also.
Find or make mud, the darker mud the better.
Apply the mud to the wound wet.
As the mud dries, it will draw out the venom. Repeat as necessary.

If you ever go cave exploring, always have a long rope tied around your waist at one end and around your car, a huge tree or something VERY HEAVY at the other end.

Linseed oil is BEST. Always pack it and take with you.
All creatures great and small HATE LINSEED OIL.

But if you don't have linseed oil...

Elderberry leaves bruised and lightly sliced with a rock works best. Put in your hair, under your hat, in your sock cuffs, etc.
Wet mud will help protect you some as well.

Panic is your worse enemy.
Try stay put it's your BEST BET of getting rescued.
If you must travel, write arrows with rocks pointing to which direction you're going as you travel.