Survival Guide: The Book All Survivalist and Preppers Need ( 3 in 1 ) (2016)

Book 2

SURVIVAL

Sourcing For Food

Food should be the next important item on your list; remember you cannot live for so long without food. And obviously, you cannot let yourself starve when there are wild animals that you can hunt, fruits to gather and wild veggies to live on. The best options that will be at your disposal at this time for sourcing for food include; hunting, foraging, setting traps for animals and fishing. Unfortunately, if you don’t have the right skill, you will die in your quest to finding food since you may eat poisonous plants or not have the skill for catching animals. I will discuss these points individually:

ü Fishing For Survival

Some basic items you will need to construct equipment for fishing include; bamboo which you can easily get around the bushland; knife, Paracord or twine, fishing hook and bait. Here is how to fish:

· Fishing Method One

For this method, you will construct fishing equipment that has prongs and use it for fishing. You will need a bamboo, knife and a Paracord. Cut a sizeable bamboo stick from the bush land, cut the edge to look like prongs. Use a twine to separate the prongs to stand apart; the prongs should be four in number. Find a good standing spot on the river or stream, preferably on top of a stone. Once a fish comes within your range, jab it with the prongs. If you jab hard enough, the fish should die instantly.

· Fishing Method Two

This is more like the conventional fishing method you use; you need a fishing line, hook, Paracord and bait to use this method. Get a fishing line or cut down a bamboo stick, get your Paracord and tie it on the edge of your fishing line then add your fishing hook and place bait on the hook. Lower the hook inside the water then once a fish comes to eat from the hook, draw out the hook from the water quickly. This method requires much patience, but it also means that you won’t be soiling the water with blood from the fish which is the case with the first method.

ü Tips For Foraging

I mentioned earlier that you need to source for your own food to supplement the supply in your pantry bag and that means you will have to do some foraging. Foraging has to do with scouting for food from the wild. Through foraging, you can discover many delicious foods that will sustain you through the period of emergency. One disadvantage of foraging is that you can get poisoned while trying out new food especially if you don’t have prior knowledge on foraging in the wild. Here are some helpful tips to help you while foraging:

1. Stick With Familiar Food

Although the major reason behind foraging is to explore and discover new food in your environment, you need to restrict your foraging to food that you are familiar with simply because although many edible foods can be food in the area, there are also many poisonous foods. Sticking to the food you are familiar with may restrict the essence of foraging, but it will also reduce your chances of getting poisoned. The last thing you want is having to deal with poison when you are out in the wild.

2. Go Easy With Unfamiliar Food

I mentioned earlier that it is advisable to stick to foods you are familiar with, but if you must go beyond that range, then you have to take just a small portion to see its effect on your body before you make it a part of your everyday meal.

3. Do Not Harvest All At Once

After you find edible foods that are nutritious to your body, you need to apply self-control and harvest the food bit by bit to ensure that it will last longer. You can even take it a step further to plant the seed, or stem of the food to produce more food for you especially if you are going to stay in that environment for a long time or indefinitely.

4. Eat Only What A Bear Can Eat

I was taught this slogan on one of my camping trips years ago, and I think it can be applicable for foraging during an emergency. The ‘Eat Only what a bear can eat’ simply means that if a bear cannot eat the meal, then it is not good for your body. Bears are known to eat fruits like berries and fishes; you can avoid poisoning by sticking to this principle.

5. Avoid Foraging In The Dark

No matter how adventurous you think you are, always avoid going out to find food at night if you are stranded in a desert or bush land because foraging at night will expose you to danger like getting devoured by wild animals or getting lost on the way. Always stick to daytime foraging.

Tips On How To Identify Edible Food During Foraging

Is there any particular test you can apply that will help you identify edible food when you’re foraging? Yes, there are some quick tests you can use to identify edible food from poisonous food. The two popular tests for identifying edible food are the Contact Poisonous test and the mouth testing. Let’s look at each of these separately.

1. The Contact Poisonous Test

This type of test is done by placing some parts of the seed or leaf on your skin for several minutes. If you have a burning sensation or you feel itchy on that spot, then it means that the food is a very poisonous plant. Three minutes is enough to carry out this particular test. If you have any reactions to any plant, leave the plant and continue checking other plants in the area.

2. The Mouth Testing

This test is actually riskier than the initial test, but much more proficient. Also, note that you have to follow the instructions to the latter to avoid food poisoning. To start this test, you have to stop eating or drinking for at least 8 hours prior to the time you will perform the test. The first step in this test is to place the leaf or the edible part of the plant on your lip for 3 minutes. If you experience a burning sensation, itching or tingling, then discard the plant immediately. If you don’t experience such, then continue with the second stage. In the second stage, you proceed to place the leaf or edible part of the plant inside your mouth and hold it in place for 15 minutes. During this period, try not to swallow to avoid ingesting the plant in case it turns out to be a poisonous plant. While in your mouth, if you feel any itching, burning sensation, bitter test or tingling, you have to spit out the food and rinse your mouth immediately. If on the other hand you don’t experience such, then move to the third and final stage which is chewing the food (i.e. the amount in your mouth) and swallowing. You need to stay for at least 3 hours after you swallow. If you feel any burning sensation during that period, then you have to induce vomiting immediately. You can induce vomiting by placing your finger deep inside your throat, after which you drink some water.

Hunting And Setting Traps For Survival

You need to hunt for or set traps for a bush game to get meat for your meals. I prefer setting traps to hunting because hunting requires the use of much energy and you are not advised to exhaust your energy on hunting for animals when you can simply set traps. There are many ways to set traps for animals, and one of them includes digging shallow holes for smaller games. Once the animal falls into the hole, it will find it difficult to escape thus making it easy to kill it. When using this method, ensure that you don’t dig the hole on the way you usually take.

Another method is to set a trap with three pegged sticks.

How To Set A Trap With Three Pegged Stick

Get two sticks the size of your arm and drive them into the ground. Carve out a small peg on each stick. The sticks should be parallel to each other and at least two feet apart.

Drive a third stick into the ground; the stick should be 2 feet apart from the other sticks, but should be in a position to form a triangle

Use a wire to tie a small stick under the peg of the 2 parallel sticks

Get a long wire or cord, and tie on a sapling branch. The wire should be at least 6 to 12 inches long.

Attach a small stick on the end of the wire or cord and place the stick under the stick as can be seen in the image below

Place a trigger stick between the peg and a smaller stick on the wire or cord

Tie a noose under the trigger system and place your bait. The noose will shoot into the air with the trigger stick once an animal enters inside it.