General rules of survival in extreme situations. Greyhound Dog Breeds Forum

The art of survival

Survival in extreme conditions nature

Modern man, with very rare exceptions, lives in conditions of civilization, that is, in crowded settlements, equipped with a variety of technical devices, with supplies of food, medicine, fuel, building materials and other means of subsistence.

Therefore, finding himself alone with wild or semi-wild nature as a result of all kinds of disasters, he finds himself in a situation that threatens his physical existence. Of course, military intelligence officers go behind enemy lines with weapons in hand, carrying with them a supply of food, medicine, various instruments and other means. However, it may happen that all the equipment will be lost (lost, destroyed, used up), and only one or two people from the group will be left. To survive, they must act according to science.

The science of survival is a set of techniques and methods aimed at overcoming extreme situations in natural conditions without damage to health (or with minimal damage). This applied discipline includes terrain navigation without a map or instruments; construction of shelters for shelter from bad weather; obtaining water and fire; hunting and fishing using homemade devices; eating wild plants; healing wounds and illnesses without the help of a doctor; providing yourself with various useful devices, etc.

Providing water

Water is necessary for humans to maintain normal life. Water makes up 65% of the human body weight.

When the body is dehydrated, severe disorders can occur: body weight decreases sharply, blood volume decreases and it becomes more viscous. At the same time, the load on the heart increases, associated with greater efforts to promote thick blood, and the secretions of the digestive glands decrease. It should be noted that a person almost does not notice dehydration of the body if it does not exceed 5% of body weight, although already when approaching this value, performance begins to noticeably decrease. If water loss exceeds 10%, then irreversible changes may occur in the body. An increase in water deficiency to 20-25% leads to death.

While moving, drink water under one important condition: follow a reasonable dosage and regimen. Thus, during the transition, replenishment of water reserves in the body ("shock" refueling) should be done at large rest stops. Here, depending on the weather, load, pace of movement, the nature of the path, that is, on the amount of water excreted through sweat in this area, it is recommended to drink 250-500 ml of water. At short rests you can drink 100-200 ml of water. Directly when moving along the route, during short stops due to the particular difficulty of the section being overcome, it is allowed, in the presence of easily accessible water (stream, thermos), to take a sip or two of liquid or rinse the mouth and throat with acidified water.

It should be borne in mind that with significant fatigue, the secretion of the salivary glands is sharply inhibited, resulting in dryness of the oral mucosa, the thickness of saliva increases, which makes it difficult to swallow, that is, a feeling of false thirst appears. To eliminate it, salivation should be increased by stimulating the corresponding glands with products containing various organic acids (malic, citric, cranberry). A mint or sour candy (lollipops, caramel), a slice of dried apricots or prunes satisfies this thirst well.

To quench your thirst, it is good to use lightly salted water. At the same time, the body tissues are enriched with necessary salts. Salting water, especially snow water, at the rate of 0.5-1.0 g of salt per liter of water has almost no taste. It should be borne in mind that with great fatigue, a person’s sense of taste becomes dull. In this state, even more salt will not cause discomfort.

Dangers associated with drinking water that is not potable

No matter how thirsty you are, do not drink water that is undrinkable. Waterborne diseases are the most dangerous during the struggle for survival. Unfit for drinking water is rife with disease-causing organisms.

Avoid drinking raw water (except spring water or from clean streams in highlands), especially from bodies of standing water, or downstream from populated areas. Water from a river, canal, or some reservoir must be disinfected. The most reliable way is boiling (8-10 minutes). If the liquid is taken from a suspicious or heavily contaminated source (which is allowed only in extreme cases), it should boil for half an hour. You can disinfect water with aluminum alum (a pinch in a bucket), crystals of potassium permanganate (until the water turns very faintly pink and let it stand for an hour), pantocid tablets - dissolve 1-2 tablets in 1 liter of water and leave for 30 minutes. If the water is heavily polluted, the dose of panthocide must be doubled. At the same time, the turbidity settles to the bottom, the water brightens. A 5% solution of iodine tincture is also suitable for disinfection: 2-3 drops per 1 liter of water, mix well and let stand for an hour.

IN middle lane To sterilize water, you can take young branches of spruce, pine, fir, cedar or common juniper at the rate of 100-200 grams per bucket of water and boil them for 30-40 minutes. Then throw in a few pieces of alder, oak, willow or birch bark, boil for another 10-15 minutes, and let cool. After the branches and bark are removed from the container, a brown, poorly soluble sediment will appear at the bottom. It is drained and water cannot be consumed with it.

For similar purposes, the grass of feather grass, tumbleweed, yarrow or field violet is suitable at the rate of 200-300 grams per bucket with boiling for 20-30 minutes.

However, using the methods mentioned above cannot purify water from toxic chemicals and chemical fertilizers. By drinking water that is not suitable for drinking, you can get dysentery, cholera, typhoid, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, or swallow a leech.

Cloudy, stagnant and polluted water

If the scouts examined all the water sources and were still left without water, they would have to drink water from reservoirs with muddy and stagnant water, even if it had an odor.

For the cleaning muddy water necessary:
- pass water through a container filled with sand, charcoal and fine gravel.
- then boil the water for 10 minutes. Let the water sit for 45 minutes, after which you can drink it.

Detection of water sources

If there are no open bodies of water nearby, dig into the ground in search of groundwater (water from rains and melting snow that has soaked into the soil). The groundwater level and water supply depend on the terrain and the nature of the soil.

Rocky soil. Look for springs and keys. In limestone soil there are more springs and they are larger. Since limestones dissolve easily, groundwater forms depressions in them. Try to find springs in these depressions.

Keys should be found in places where a dry canyon passes through a layer of porous sandstone.

In rocky areas, look for green grass on the mountainsides. Dig a hole where the grass is greenest and wait until water begins to seep through.

Loose soil. Loose soil usually contains more water and is easier to find than rocky soil. Look for groundwater at the lowest points in valleys or where slopes meet a valley, as this is where the water table is closest to the surface.

Before you dig, look around for signs of water. Dig in a valley below a steep slope or in areas densely covered with grass, where there may have been a spring during the rainy season. In forests growing in lowlands, along sea coasts and in river valleys, the groundwater level is close to the surface. Even a small hole usually becomes a good source of water.

Precipitation water accumulates above the groundwater level and forms streams, ponds and swamps. Consider this water contaminated and dangerous.

Sea coast. Water can be found in the dunes above the coast or on the coast itself. Carefully inspect the depressions between the dunes to see if there is water there. If the sand is wet, dig a hole in the sand at low tide 100 meters above the high water mark at high tide. The water may taste salty, but it is safe. Pass it through a sand filter.

Don't drink sea water. The salt concentration is too high. When drinking such water, there will be a loss of fluid from the body tissues. You can drink juice squeezed from fish.

Desert or steppe. First, look for signs of water in these areas. These include: the direction of flight of birds, the location of vegetation, and the converging directions of animal trails.

Cattails, willows, elderberries, rushes and solyanka grow only in places where groundwater comes close to the surface. Find these plants and dig in that place.

Desert inhabitants know about the location of non-drying open sources of water in the lowlands. They cover them in a variety of ways, so look under brush piles and other hidden places.

On a bright night, collect dew using a handkerchief as a sponge. With heavy dew, you can collect about 0.5 liters of water per hour.

Mountains. Dig in dry river beds, as there is often water underneath the gravel. In snowy fields, place the snow in a container and place it in the sun, away from the wind.

"Distillation" of water

The water we use in everyday life comes mainly from the ground. Wells are built to obtain groundwater. The "distillation" device serves the same purpose. The sun's heat raises the temperature of the air and the plastic-covered soil until the air becomes saturated with moisture and can no longer hold water vapor. Then the steam begins to condense into tiny droplets on inside plastic because it is cooler than the moist air underneath. The droplets slowly flow down the plastic and fall into the bucket.

Since the heat for this “distillation” device comes from the sun, it would seem that with the onset of darkness the production of water would cease. However, after sunset the plastic cools quickly while the soil temperature remains relatively high. Therefore, the steam continues to condense on the surface of the plastic. From four o'clock in the evening to eight o'clock in the morning you can get one and a half times more water than in the whole day.

Don't expect to be able to drink water right away. It will take at least 24 hours to collect 0.5 liters of moisture; however, you can get even a liter or more. The "distillation" device can also become a source of food. A bucket of water attracts snakes and small animals that crawl onto the plastic and cannot get out.

Providing fire

Fire is needed for warmth, drying clothes, signaling, cooking and disinfecting water by boiling. Your chances of survival increase or decrease depending on whether you can start a fire when required.

A fire needs to be lit skillfully; there are many different ways to light a fire. Often a fire produces little heat but a lot of smoke, when it should produce a lot of heat and be invisible from afar. The writer E. Seton-Thompson said well about the ability to make fires:

"...the best test of the ability to live in the forest is lighting a fire. For this there are a dozen good techniques and a thousand bad ones. A person who can light 30 fires within 30 consecutive days and use only 30 matches or 30 sparks for this from flint and steel, deserves the title of forest dweller..."

If you have matches, you can start a fire in any weather. Always carry a supply of matches with you in a waterproof case. To prevent them from getting wet, you need to dip each match in melted wax or paraffin and, when they dry, put them in a sleeve and seal with a stopper.

A small fire is easier to build and maintain than a large one. Several small fires laid around, in cold weather will give more heat than one large one.

Choose a place for the fire carefully so that the forest or dry grass does not catch fire. If you have to make a fire on wet soil or snow, first lay a layer of logs or stones. Protect the fire from the wind with a reflector. This will direct the heat in the desired direction.

There are different ways to make a fire for different purposes.

A “well” fire (logs stacked in a log house) produces a low and wide flame.

A “star” fire (made from thick logs arranged at the ends in the shape of a star) is good for maintaining a fire for a long time without constantly adding branches. Such a fire is indispensable at night: you just need to move the logs towards the center from time to time.

A “taiga” fire made of two logs laid one on top of the other burns for 9-10 hours, requires little maintenance and is most suitable for constructing between large double-sided barriers. It is made from two dry resinous logs with a diameter of 25-30 cm, hewn to one edge and deeply notched along the edge with an ax. The logs are placed one on top of the other with hewn sides with chips and shavings placed between them and fired along the entire length; A thicker log is placed from below, since the log from below burns faster.

A “hunting” fire of three logs on a lining burns for 6-8 hours without special care (you only need to periodically move forward and bring the burning ends of the logs closer together) and is suitable for small one-sided barriers.

The Polynesian fire ("hole") is invisible and produces a lot of coals and ash. For such a fire, they dig a hole, line its walls with logs (or stones), and make a fire at the bottom. If possible, a place for it should be chosen under an overhanging rock or a dense tree crown - in this case it will be invisible not only from the sides, but also from above. In the absence of natural camouflage, such a fire can be easily covered from above with tree branches or a piece of tin. A pit fire does not require large quantity firewood To ensure that the wood in the fire burns well and does not smoke, you need to dig another hole nearby with a narrow channel to the fire for air access.

Bonfire "hearth". In the mountains, where it is difficult to dig a hole, you need to make a fireplace out of stones, leaving a hole on the windward side for air flow.

A Nodya fire is lit when long-term heating is needed. To do this you need thick, even logs. Two of them are placed side by side on the ground, grooves are made in the logs facing inward, kindling is placed between them (the coals of another fire are best) and pressed on top with a third log. “Nodya” flares up gradually, burning with a hot flame (and evenly) for several hours. The heat can be adjusted by spreading or moving the lower logs.

Use dead wood and dried branches as fuel. Use mostly birch, alder, pine and spruce wood in the fire. Aspen, larch, rowan, and bird cherry give little heat. Beware of putting fresh pine needles into the fire: they give off thick smoke. Dry pine needles produce a lot of sparks, which can set nearby things and even trees on fire. In rainy weather, the inside of the trunk fallen tree may produce dry wood. In areas where there is no forest, use grass, dried animal droppings, and sometimes oil shale or peat lying on the surface.

To start a fire, use fast-burning kindling, such as dry wood chips, pine twigs and branches, dry grass, lichen, ferns, plant and bird fluff, and dry, porous strings of puffball mushrooms, which, by the way, are edible. Plane shavings from dry wood before starting a fire. One of the best and most common kindling materials is rotten wood, completely rotten pieces of logs and trees. Dry rot can also be found in rainy weather by removing wet pieces with a knife, stick or hands. Even in the rain, tree resin in pine bark or dry stumps can easily catch fire. The loose bark of a living birch also contains resinous substances and easily flares up. Stack this kindling in a tent or between logs.

Regulate the fire properly. Protect the coals from the wind. Maintaining a fire requires less effort than starting a new one. The fire should be extinguished at night, but in order not to waste time and matches on starting it in the morning, cover the coals with ash. In the morning they will still smolder, and you can easily fan the fire.

Ways to make fire without matches

Tinder. Prepare some very dry tinder before starting a fire without matches. After preparing it, protect the tinder from wind and dampness. The most best tinder- rotten matter, lint from matter, finely crushed dry bark, dry powdery wood, bird's nests, fuzzy plant material and wood dust produced by insects, which can be found under the bark of dried trees. To preserve your tinder for later use, store it in a waterproof container.

Sun and glass. The lens of a camera, binoculars, telescope, or hand-held flashlight can be used to focus the sun's rays on the tinder.

Steel wire. The method is to quickly pull a piece of steel wire over a wooden block; the wire heats up, and it can ignite gunpowder, photographic film, and other flammable materials.

Flints and steel. This is the best way to light completely dry tinder if you don't have matches. Flint can be replaced with a piece of hard stone. Hold the flint as close to the tinder as possible and hit it with a knife blade or other small piece of steel. Strike so that the sparks hit the very middle of the tinder. When the tinder begins to smolder, carefully fan it to a flame. Add fuel to the tinder little by little, or transfer the burning tinder to the fuel stored for the fire. If you can't get a spark from one stone, try another.

If you have cartridges, then prepare a pile of dry plants and branches in a place sheltered from the wind to start a fire. Place several cartridges of gunpowder at the base of the pile. Take two stones and pour gunpowder on one of them. Then quickly rub the stones together over the powder at the base of the pile. Friction will ignite the gunpowder on the stone and, in turn, the kindling gunpowder.

Fire for cooking food

A small fire in a hole or a homemade stove is the best fireplace for cooking. A portable stove made from a tin can will help you save fuel and is especially convenient in winter.

The fireplace in the ground has one or more vents on the windward side. They create draft for the fire over which food is cooked, much like a stove with a chimney. If strict camouflage is required, this method of starting a fire is most suitable, as it significantly reduces smoke and flames, as well as the effects of strong winds.

Weather prediction

In order to plan your actions in advance, you need to be able to predict weather conditions for the near future. The weather or its changes can be predicted using various local signs. There are many such signs. These are optical phenomena in the atmosphere, the nature of clouds, air temperature, wind direction, the behavior of animals, birds, insects, plants and many other signs. The more signs that confirm the same weather condition, the more accurate the forecast.

To determine the weather, you can use the simplest devices. One of them was prepared by nature itself - dried feather grass. It reacts sensitively to all changes in the atmosphere; in clear weather, its panicle curls into a spiral, and when air humidity increases, it straightens.

If necessary, you can make a homemade barometer. To do this, you need to cut off a small part (10-15 cm) of the trunk of a young spruce along with a branch and remove the bark. The trunk is fixed motionless, and the branch remains free. The branch will respond to changes in weather by lowering the end before rain and raising it up before clear weather. The amplitude of movement of a branch depends on its length; with a length of 3040 cm, it can reach 10-15 cm. Having studied the abilities of the branch, you need to mark “clear”, “variable”, “cloudy” near its end and use it as an ordinary barometer.

Signs of clear weather persistence:
- blood pressure continuously increases or remains consistently high for several days;
- air temperature maintains a stable diurnal pattern: in summer it is hot during the day, cool at night; in winter - severe frost at night, the frost weakens during the day, and intensifies again in the evening;
- the wind also maintains a stable diurnal cycle: calm at night, the wind intensifies during the day, and subsides in the evening, the smoke rises in a column;
- there is no cloudiness or ragged cumulus clouds move in the direction of the surface wind, disappearing in the evening;
- the night is clear, the sky is dotted with stars, the moon is bright, the dawn is golden or pale pink;
- heavy dew falls at night (frost in winter); in the morning heavy fog, disappearing after sunrise;
- frogs croak loudly;
- swallows fly high, seagulls sit on the water, forest birds sing loudly;
- ants are highly active; there are abundant cobwebs on the grass and bushes; midges curl around the pillar"; - the flowers of the plants are wide open; - the coals in the fire are quickly covered with ash.

Signs of a change from clear weather to cloudy:
- the pressure decreases and the faster, the more accurate the sign;
- air temperature in winter time increases; in summer, the difference between day and night temperatures decreases;
- the wind intensifies, changes direction, daily fluctuations weaken or disappear completely; smoke spreads across the ground;
- cloudiness increases, cirrus or cumulus tower-shaped clouds appear; the movement of clouds does not coincide with the direction of the surface wind;
- the sun sets behind the clouds, the dawn is red, at night the stars and moon are not visible or there is a crown around them;
- there is no dew at night, the fog does not dissipate with sunrise;
- the frogs are silent;
- swallows fly above the ground, seagulls gather on the shore and bathe in dust, the sounds of forest birds are not heard;
- ants hide in anthills, insects are not visible in the air or on plants, bees return to their hives, worms crawl to the surface of the earth;
- the flowers of the plants are closing, droplets of water are visible in the axils of the leaves; plant odors intensify;
- the coals of the fire smolder brightly, the salt becomes damp.

Signs of persistent inclement weather:
- blood pressure is low and does not change during the day;
- air temperature is constant with a small daily amplitude;
- the wind direction does not change, the speed remains significant;
- the sky is completely covered with stratus and nimbostratus clouds;
- at night the moon and stars, but during the day the sun is not visible;
- precipitation (snow or rain) is moderate, continuous over a long period of time, or heavy, occurring intermittently;
- animals, birds and insects hide in shelters;
- plant inflorescences are closed and drooping.

Signs of a change from inclement weather to clear:
- pressure rises;
- air temperature decreases;
- the direction of the wind changes, its speed decreases;
- V stratus clouds gaps form, cirrus clouds appear, which disappear in the evening;
- precipitation increases at times; when it rains, a rainbow appears;
- birds land on the ground, their sounds are heard in the forest;
- spiders descend on their web in the evening, mosquitoes and midges appear; bees fly out to collect honey;
- fern leaves curl down, plant inflorescences open.

In addition to these signs, there are many others that correspond only to certain areas of the area. They must be studied and memorized for use both in extreme conditions and in everyday life.

Equipment for shelters from bad weather

Safe, complete rest in conditions of autonomous existence is possible only in an equipped shelter. When selecting a shelter location, factors such as protection from wind and cold, proximity to fuel and water, absence of insects, inaccessibility to predatory animals and poisonous snakes. At the same time, it must allow surveillance of approaches and airspace.

The type of shelter depends on the funds available and time available. However, in any case, it must solve the main task - to shelter people from unfavorable weather conditions and retain the heat of the fire and the human body. In this regard, the shelter should be small, waterproof and windproof. It is also necessary to provide adequate ventilation in the shelter so as not to suffocate from the accumulation of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. The presence of carbon monoxide in the shelter is indicated by the bluish color of the flame on the coals of the fire; the accumulation of carbon dioxide is indicated by the yellowish color of the flame.

When staying in one place for a short time (up to 7-10 days), scouts build simple shelters (huts, sheds, tents), set up tents, and use caves. Shelters must be camouflaged and provide quick and covert escape in case of detection by the enemy.

For the construction and equipment of temporary shelters, local materials, raincoats, and parachutes are used. Raincoat tents are used to construct tents and awnings.

A tent for one person is made from one set of raincoats. The panel is supported on one side by a stand and guy rope and secured in all corners with pins. A camping tent for six people with a dug pit is equipped with five sets of raincoats in the following order:
- a rectangular pit is dug up, measuring 2.5 x 3.3 m at the bottom, 0.6 m deep, with a backfill of excavated earth along the edges 0.3 m high; a hole 1.3 m wide is torn off on the short side;
- five panels are sewn together with three ropes so that there are two panels on one side and three on the other; one outer panel serves to close the hole;
- the sewn tent is installed above the pit on racks reinforced with guy wires; The edges of the mantling are secured at the corners and in the middle with the ends of the lacing ropes to the pins.

A camping tent for six people installed on the surface of the ground is made from six sets of raincoats in the following order:
- the four panels of the gable part of the tent are sewn together with two ropes, and the remaining two panels folded in triangles, forming the ends of the tent, are also laced to it; the panel at the entrance end is made folding, lacing only one of its edges;
- lift the sewn tent onto three assembled posts and strengthen the outermost ones with guy ropes;
- stretch the tent and tie it with the ends of lacing ropes and pegs.

In hot areas, simple canopies can be built from a raincoat tent that will protect from the scorching rays of the sun and at the same time be well ventilated. In hot weather, it is not recommended to rest in deep holes or depressions where there is no free air ventilation. You should not stay in ruins, near duvals, or in caves - in such places there are usually many ticks, the bite of which can cause infection.

It is not difficult to arrange and camouflage a shelter in the forest, both in winter and in summer. Huts and shelters are built from branches, poles, and fallen trees.

If possible, canopy barriers are installed near trees, using them as supports for the frame. On the trees, a horizontal purlin from the knurling is strengthened, inclined poles are supported on it at a distance of 1 m from one another, and a transverse lathing is laid. In the absence of trees, the frame of the canopy is supported by trestles tied together from poles. The canopy is covered with branches, reeds, straw or panels of raincoats.

Huts are better than barriers, protect from bad weather, provide more amenities for recreation, and are erected at sites lasting more than a day. Huts are made from poles, skis, branches and brushwood. They come in gable and conical types. Cone-shaped ones are most suitable for winter, since fires can be made in them.

A gable hut is arranged like this:
- on the cleared site, two parallel grooves 5 m long are torn off at a distance of 5 m from one another;
- two rectangular frames are connected from poles with dimensions in the axes of the outer poles 4.5 x 3 m, a lathing is arranged and, for rigidity, each frame is fastened from the inside with a diagonal tie;
- install the frames with their long sides in open grooves and, tilting them one towards the other, connect them at the top, forming a ridge;
- the grooves are filled with earth, and a pole is placed on the ridge, fastening the roofing material along the sheathing of the frames with pressure poles placed obliquely to ensure water drainage;
- seal the ends of the hut with wattle fence, leaving an entrance opening in one of them;
- the lower part of the hut is sprinkled with earth, the opening is covered with a raincoat;
- equip places for rest, lining them with straw, spruce branches, and small branches.
- A conical hut of poles and brushwood is arranged in this order:
- on a cleared area, draw a circle with a radius of 3 m on it, at equal distances from one another, dig holes for installing the lower ends of the hut poles;
- prepare 15-20 poles 4.5-5 m long, 6-7 m thick (at the thin end) and make a circular notch on each of them 5-6 cm from the top;
- the prepared poles are laid along radii with their tops towards the center and tied with a rope along the notches, forming a rope ring with gaps between the poles of 5-6 cm;
- the tied poles are simultaneously raised so that their lower ends become holes in the circle, and the rope ring takes horizontal position;
- simultaneously rotate the poles in one direction so that a neck is formed at the top and the frame is in a stable position;
- the poles are braided with branches or brushwood and a covering of branches or a parachute is arranged over this crate; in winter, the bottom of the hut is covered with snow to a height of 1 m;
- equip beds from brushwood and branches and cover the entrance with a raincoat;
- a hole for a fire is dug in the center of the hut; To prevent the fire from smoking, arrange a supply of outside air to the hole by digging a 20 x 20 cm groove for this; the groove is covered with brushwood, over which turf or soil is laid.

Snow caves and pits can serve as a good short-term shelter that at the same time provides good camouflage. To create a cave, a tunnel about 1 m long is dug in a snowdrift, which is then expanded to the sides. The entrance to the cave is closed with a snow block or a raincoat. The pits are covered with a frame of poles or raincoats (tarpaulins) and filled with snow.

Without setting up huts and huts, you can organize an overnight stay in a hunting way. To do this, you need to clear away the snow, make a fire and warm the ground well. After this, move the fire to the side, lay coniferous tree branches, moss, soft equipment on the heated ground and cover it with a raincoat tent on top. You should pack up dressed, in a tight group, covered with a tarpaulin or raincoat.

When choosing shelter sites in the mountains, you need to take into account the possibility of avalanches, rockfalls, rain flows, etc. When installing a mountain tent, a windproof wall is laid out from snow blocks.

In damp swampy areas, a temporary shelter for rest is arranged in such a way that its floor (resting place) is 40-60 cm above the level of the swamp.

The types of shelters considered can only be equipped by a group of people; their construction requires a significant amount of time. For a person left alone, shelters that are easier to construct are required. To this end, he must make maximum use of the terrain and vegetation.

To create a simple shelter, you can use a wind-fallen tree with a dense crown. To enhance protection from rain and wind, you need to additionally cover it with bark or spruce branches. You can quickly build shelters using small poles and tree branches using inversions and thick tree trunks.

With the help of a raincoat tent you can build a kind of sleeping bag. To do this, you need to dig a small hole in the ground, lay a layer of spruce branches on the bottom, and cover it with a cloth on top. Lie down in the resulting bed, cover yourself with the other half of the raincoat and bury yourself with earth. Even in cold weather, this shelter allows you to fully relax, as it retains the heat of the human body well.

If there are predatory animals or poisonous snakes in the area, you can equip a shelter on the branches of a tree for a safe rest. In order to protect yourself from falls while sleeping, you need to tie yourself to a tree trunk.

You can also use a raincoat tent as a bed, stretching it between the trees in the form of a hammock; instead of a feather bed, you need to throw dry leaves or grass inside it.

Providing products

During fasting, the body's adaptive reactions are expressed primarily in a reduction in energy consumption and a decrease in metabolic rate. Deprived of external nutrition, the body, after appropriate restructuring, begins to consume its internal tissue reserves. They are big enough. So, with a weight of 70 kg, a person has about 15 kg of fat fiber.

Before the death of the organism occurs, it can use up 40-45% of these reserves. Tissue reserves should be enough for 37-42 days of complete fasting at rest. But the task is to reach the goal. Walking is work. It requires costs three times more than at rest, which means that tissue reserves will last for 13-20 days. This is only possible if a person knows how to control his body under conditions of fasting. It's better to get up early and go to bed early. Be sure to light a fire. This and warm water, and a warm place to sleep, and dry clothes. All this is very important, since the feeling of thermal discomfort during fasting is more pronounced.

You should know that hunger will be most painfully felt only in the first 3-5 days, during which the body adapts to feeding on its own tissue reserves (so-called endogenous nutrition). It is noted that the main loss of body weight during fasting occurs on the first and second days, and in areas with a hot climate the amount of loss is higher than in areas with a temperate climate. Already on the fourth and fifth days, health begins to improve, the feeling of physical weakness gives way to some general elation, even vigor.

If you find yourself alone in a deserted area, follow these rules:

Consider the entire supply of food and water you have. Try to at least roughly determine how long you will have to be alone. Divide the food supply: two thirds for the first half of loneliness and one third for the second.

Plan to have one large meal each day, and if possible, eat something hot. Cooking makes food safer, more digestible, and more tasty. In addition, you can relax while cooking. Always be on the lookout for anything edible. With few exceptions, anything that grows on the ground, walks on it, crawls or swims on it is a possible source of food. Learn to exist at the expense of nature itself.

Chew everything much longer than usual for better digestion and absorption of food.

Plant food

Although plant foods do not provide a complete composition of nutrients, they can maintain strength even in the Arctic, where the calorie content of meat is of particular importance.

Wild plants. In the forest, tundra, and desert you can find many wild edible plants. Some of them are ubiquitous, others have a precise geographical address. Various parts of plants are eaten as food: fruits, roots, bulbs, young shoots, stems, leaves, buds, flowers, nuts.

Plants that birds and animals eat are generally safe to eat. However, it is rare to find plants in which all parts are edible. Most of them have only one or a few parts suitable for eating or quenching thirst.

Cultivated plants. Even after harvesting vegetables and grain, the fields remain a rich source of food. In temperate Europe and Asia, look for fields where potatoes, grains, turnips, or peas were grown.

If you find a potato field, look for any potatoes left in the ground after harvesting. Eat potatoes raw or boiled, but peel them first.

Look for fields where turnips, rutabaga, carrots, beets and radishes are still in the ground after harvest. They can be eaten raw or cooked. However, vegetables should always be cleaned before consumption to eliminate the dangers associated with exposure to fertilizers.

Once in abandoned grain fields, look for areas with fallen ears. Eat grains raw, cooked or lightly toasted.

Food of animal origin

Animal food is more nutritious than plant food, but it is more difficult to obtain. Knowing which animals are edible, where they live, and how to catch them increases your chances of survival.

In some countries of the world, grasshoppers, smooth caterpillars, larvae and pupae of bark beetles, spiders and ants, and snails are considered a delicacy. All these insects, caterpillars and larvae are not only edible, but also quite high in calories, as they contain nutrients and vitamins. There may come a time when there will be no choice, and you will have to eat such insects. In this case, keep in mind that they will be much tastier if they are dried over a fire or cooked fried, baked or stewed. They eat mainly the belly and chest, removing the wings, legs, and head. It is not recommended to eat hairy caterpillars, adult butterflies, beetles, or terrestrial mollusks without shells.

Freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers are a rich source of food. They contain more living organisms in a smaller area than on the shore, and they are easier to catch. In coastal waters or around such bodies of water you can catch fish and animals such as frogs, snakes, and crayfish.

Fish

Perhaps of all the animals that live in or around freshwater bodies, fish are the most difficult to catch. But if you are patient and know where, when and how to fish, you can catch them with the simplest of tools.

When to fish. It is difficult to determine the best time to fish because different species of fish feed at different times. As a rule, you should fish at dawn or just after sunset, when a thunderstorm is approaching, at night during a full moon, or when the moon is waning. “Playing” fish and jumping juveniles also indicate that the fish is out to feed.

Where to fish. The choice of place for fishing depends on the body of water and time of day. In fast-flowing rivers during the hottest part of the day, it is better to fish in a deep backwater, below the riffle. At sunset or early morning, run your bait downstream in areas where there are submerged logs, steep banks or bushes protruding above the water. On the lake in the summer heat, fish in deep places, as the fish seek coolness in deep water. In the evening or early summer morning, it is better to fish in shallow water, where the fish come out to feed. in spring and late autumn It is better to fish near the shore of the lake, in shallow places, since there the fish either stand or are looking for warm water.

Profit. As a rule, fish bite on bait from the same reservoir. Look for crayfish, eggs, and fry in the water near the shore, and worms and insects on the shore. If you catch a fish, check its stomach to see what it eats, and then try using the same bait. You can use fish intestines and eyes as bait if all other methods fail. When using worms, place them on the entire hook. When hooking the fry, insert the hook through the fish's body, under the ridge at the base of the dorsal fin. Be careful not to damage the fry's spine.

Improvised devices for fishing. If you don't have hooks, make them from nails, pins, bones, or hardwood.

Strong wood can be made from tree bast or fabric fibers. Using wood bast, tie the ends of two strands together and secure them securely.

Take a strand in each hand and twist them clockwise while twisting them together counterclockwise. If necessary, tie several of these threads together to lengthen the line. If you have parachute lines, use them for fishing line. Small carnations can also come in handy.

It may happen that despite a well-made line and suitable bait, you will not catch a single fish. Don't be discouraged as there are other fishing methods that can be more productive.

Change over. Using a fixed line, you can fish if you have time to stay by the lake or river longer. Tie several hooks to the line, bait the line, and attach the line to a branch hanging over the water that will bend if the hook is caught by a fish. The seine can be left in the water for the entire period of time during which you will be in the area. Check periodically to see if the fish need to be removed and the bait on the hooks needs to be replaced.

The best hook for saddle stitching is the so-called “unfolding pin”. Insert it into a piece of bait. After the fish swallows the bait, the pin becomes cross and gets stuck in the stomach, keeping the fish on the line.

Fishing with lures. To catch fish using this method you need: a flexible reed or pole 23 m long, a hook, a piece of shiny metal in the shape of an ordinary spoon, a piece of meat or fish intestines, a line approximately 25 cm long. Attach the hook to the end of a short line exactly under the spoon and tie it to the line towards the end of the pole. Having chosen a fishing spot near thickets of river grass or lilies, dangle the hook and spoon under the water near the surface. Splash the end of the pole into the water from time to time to attract attention to the bait. large fish. This method is especially effective at night.

Catching fish with your hands. This method is good to use in small rivers with steep banks or in small ponds formed after a flood. Place your hands in the water and let them get used to the temperature of the water. Slowly move your hands under the protruding bank above the water, keeping them as close to the bottom as possible. Move your fingers slightly until you touch the fish. Then carefully move your hands along the belly of the fish until you reach the gills. Grab it firmly behind the gills.

Fishing in cloudy water. Small, isolated bodies of water formed after a flood usually abound in fish. Lift the silt from the bottom with your feet or a stick, and the fish will begin to look for clean water on the surface. Then throw it out of the water onto the shore with your hands or knock it out with a stick.

Fishing with a net. There are usually a lot of fish along the shores of lakes and rivers, as well as in their tributaries. However, it is too small to be caught with a hook, but large enough to be caught with a net. Select a young tree that is shaped like a slingshot and make a round net frame out of it. To tighten the bottom of the frame, baste or tie an undershirt to it, or use a fabric-like material. Use this device to draw water against the current near rocks and in creeks.

Traps. This method is suitable for fishing in both fresh and salt water, especially if the fish move in schools. In lakes and large rivers, fish usually move closer to the shore and shallow water in the morning and evening. Sea fish, moving in large schools, regularly approach the shore with the tide and often move parallel to the shore, heading towards obstacles in the water.

If you are on the seashore, choose a place for the trap during high tide and build it during low tide. While among the rocks, use the natural creeks between them for this purpose. On a sandy shore, use shallows and depressions between them for traps. Fish downwind.

In small shallow rivers, make a trap by blocking the river with sticks, bushes, stones, leaving a narrow opening in a small pen made of stones or bushes. Drive the fish into the trap. Jam or catch it when it enters shallow water.

On rivers, the best traps are the venter type. But making them is not so easy.

Fishing with weapons. If you have enough ammo, try shooting at the fish. Aim slightly below the fish at a depth of no more than 1 m.

By exploding a hand grenade or TNT block in a school of fish, you will provide yourself with food for several days. Dry and store fish if you cannot eat it all fresh.

Ice fishing. In winter, fish are caught by making holes in the ice. The hole can be preserved by covering it with bush branches and filling it with loose snow on top.

Fish usually gather in the deep part of the reservoir, so cut holes just above deep place. Place the device shown in Fig. above each hole. 250. If the flag goes up, remove the fish and change bait.

Take a 1m long pole and a rope long enough to reach the bottom where you are fishing.

Make a small spinner like a spinner out of a tin can or any other piece of shiny metal. Attach the hook to the line, and just above it - a pinwheel. While fishing, move the rod up and down so that the shiny piece of metal vibrates. Fish in places where the bottom forms a cliff, near reed beds or near rocks.

Frogs, newts and salamanders

These small amphibians live around freshwater bodies of water in both warm and temperate climates.

Catch frogs at night, when they are easy to spot by their croaking, and kill them with a stick; catch larger ones with a hook and line. Eat them whole, after removing the skin.

Newts and salamanders can be found under rotten logs or under rocks in the same places where frogs are usually found.

Shellfish

These include invertebrates that live in fresh and salt water: snails, mussels, chitons.

In fresh water, look for clams in shallow areas, especially those with sandy or muddy bottoms. When near the sea, wait for the tide to go out and collect shellfish in the tide pools or in the sand.

Crustaceans

Reptiles

Don't neglect snakes, lizards and turtles as possible food sources.

All of them are edible. Remove their scaly skin and then boil or roast them. Before skinning, hold them over the fire to make skinning easier.

Marine, freshwater and terrestrial turtles are edible and are found on land and in temperate and tropical climate. Small freshwater turtles You can catch it with your hands or with a fishing rod. Be careful with the larger and stronger ones as they may bite.

Insects

Beetle larvae, grasshoppers, ants and most other insects are even tasty if cooked properly. They can be prepared for making soup or as a protein supplement to other types of food.

Birds and mammals

All mammals and birds are edible, but are the most difficult prey. So don't forget about the food sources mentioned above even if you are going for larger game.

Hunting animals and birds is not an easy task for the most experienced hunters, so use ambushes. Find a place where animals pass - a path, a watering place or feeding area. Hide nearby, downwind, so that the animals do not smell you. Wait until the animal is within range of your weapon or falls into a trap. Remain absolutely still.

Sneak up to animals against the wind, moving slowly and silently only when they are eating or looking the other way. Freeze in place if the animal is looking in your direction.

Go hunting early in the morning or at dusk, look for signs indicating the presence of animals: tracks, trails, crushed bushes, droppings.

Birds see and hear exceptionally well, but they lack a sense of smell. During nesting, they are less afraid of humans. This makes them easier to catch in the spring and summer. Birds nest on cliffs, in thickets, in swamps and in trees. By observing adult birds, you may discover their chicks or eggs.

Hunting

How to spot the beast. Without some hunting skills, even with a firearm, attempts to catch an animal will be unsuccessful. The secret to a successful hunt is to see the animal before it sees you. Look for signs that indicate the presence of an animal.

A thorough study of tracks and droppings will help determine not only the variety and number of animals, but also their size and direction of movement.

When approaching a mountain ridge, lake, or open area, move slowly, first looking at the area in the distance and then close to you. At a watering hole where there are tracks of animals, hide and wait for the animal to appear, knowing in advance that this may take several hours. The best time Early morning hours and twilight are considered for hunting.

Hunting with firearms. If you have a weapon and you see an animal, whistle loudly so that the animal stops and you have a stationary target. When hunting large animals, aim for the neck, chest or head. If you wound an animal and it runs, follow the bloody trail slowly, but persistently. A seriously wounded animal will soon lie down if it is not pursued; Usually he becomes weak and can no longer get up. Approach him slowly and finish him off. Immediately after you shoot a large animal, such as a deer, gut it and drain the blood. Cut out the musk glands located between the hind legs in the groin; Be careful not to rupture the bladder and intestines when removing them.

Catching animals with traps

Know who you're hunting. If you want to be successful, you must first decide what animal you want to catch, think about how it will react and what bait is best to use.

Rats, mice, rabbits and squirrels are easily caught in traps. These small mammals have constant habits, and their habitat is limited. Find a hole or passage, set bait and a trap.

To catch an animal living in a hollow tree, insert a short forked stick into it and rotate it so that the skin of the animal in the hollow can be wrapped around it. When removing the stick from the hollow, hold it tightly.

Smoke the diggers out of their burrows. And as soon as the prey appears, catch it with a loop attached to the end of a long stick.

Place a small fish on a fishing hook and place it on the shore near the water. Perhaps a bird will grab her.

Place snares or traps along the trail at night with fresh tracks or droppings. Install them in places where killed animals were previously butchered. Use their insides as bait. After placing the trap on the path, build barriers on both sides of it. These barriers should be made of dry branches, sticks and dry leaves in the shape of a large V to guide the animal. If an animal moves slightly away from the path and encounters a barrier, it will not jump over it or step on it, but will walk along the barrier and approach the trap. After constructing a barrier, sprinkle the animal's blood or urine around it. This will destroy the human smell. If this is not possible, light a fire and smoke around the area. After this, the animal will not smell the person.

Hanging snare. Tie a sliding loop to the end of the bent sapling. Make the loop so wide that the head of the animal can fit through it, but the body cannot slip through. Build a guardhouse in such a way that the young tree is kept in a bent position. Make the guard very sensitive so that the slightest push of the loop can lower it.

A simple drawstring loop. This simplest trap is important tool survival. It is effective for catching small animals and birds.

Fixed trap. This trap is especially useful for catching rabbits. Tie the loop to a log, tree, or a spear stuck in the ground and place it near a bush or branch.

Trap for catching prey by the leg. This device is suitable for catching small animals and birds. Cover the trap with leaves or grass.

Trap. You can catch medium and large animals in a trap, but use this method only in places where there are a sufficient number of large animals so that it is not in vain to waste time and effort on building a trap. Build a trap near or on an animal trail, near a river. Make sure that the tree that is about to fall passes unobstructed between the vertical posts and that the bait is far enough from the bottom log to ensure that the log falls before the animal pulls its head away.

Take a stone or heavy log and place it at an angle on the guardhouse. Tie a bait to it. When the animal touches the bait, the weight will fall.

Cooking food

Cleaning and cutting up the carcass

Fish. Once you have caught the fish, cut out the gills and large blood vessels near the spine. Scrape off the scales. To gut a fish, cut open the belly and remove the entrails. If you don't skewer the fish, cut off its head. Some fish, such as catfish, do not have scales and must be skinned. Small fish (less than 10 cm) should not be gutted; the scales must be scraped off or the skin removed.

Game. The game must be plucked and boiled with the skin on. After plucking the bird, cut off its head close to the body and remove the entrails. Wash the carcass with clean, fresh water. Leave the neck, liver and heart for stewing. Game is easier to pluck after it has been scalded. Waterfowl are an exception in this regard. It is easier to pluck dry. After the game is cooked, the skin can be removed to improve the taste. However, in this case, the game partially loses its nutritional value.

Birds that feed on carrion, such as crows, should be boiled for at least 20 minutes to kill germs.

When processing carcasses of small and medium-sized animals, the following rules should be observed:
- hang the carcass head down. Cut the throat and drain the blood into some container. Boil it well. Blood is a valuable source of energy and salt;
- make a circular incision on the knee and elbow joints; make a V-shaped skin incision along the hind legs and along the stomach to the throat;
- continue the skin incision along the abdomen down to each forelimb;
- make a circular incision in the skin around the genitals;
- remove the skin from top to bottom; The skin of a freshly killed animal is removed like a glove;
- rip open the peritoneum. Wrap the edges of the peritoneum and secure with wooden pins; remove the entrails from the windpipe and above, and remove the genitals by making an appropriate circular cut;
- preserve kidneys, liver and heart. Collect fat from intestines. All parts of the animal carcass are edible, including the soft parts of the head: brain, eyes, tongue. Check for worms or spots in the heart, kidneys, liver and intestines. When processing meat from large animals, there is a risk of contamination. If you have gloves, wear them when cutting up the carcass. They will help avoid infection. If the meat is well cooked, the risk of disease is negligible, even if the animal was sick;
- do not throw away any part of the carcass. Glands, viscera, and genitals can be used as bait in traps and bait for fish;
- when cutting the carcass of large animals, it is sometimes impossible to hang the carcass due to the difficulty of lifting it, but it is necessary to follow the above rules.

Rats and mice. The meat of rats and mice becomes tastier if it is stewed after cooking. These rodents must be skinned, gutted and boiled. Cook for at least 10 minutes after the water boils. Boiled rodent meat can be eaten with dandelion leaves.

Rabbits. Rabbit meat is tasty, but lean. Rabbits are easy to catch and kill. To remove the skin from a rabbit, you need to make an incision in the neck or remove a piece of skin to insert your fingers and remove the skin from top to bottom. To gut the carcass, make a cut in the belly, straighten it and shake it well. Most of the guts will fall out. What is left can be pulled out, and the carcass must be washed.

Other edible animals. All mammals are edible. Dogs, cats, hedgehogs, porcupines, and badgers must be skinned and gutted before cooking. Stew meat with big amount dandelion leaves.

Reptiles. Remove the head and skin. It is better to fry the meat of reptiles.

Cooking methods

After heat treatment, food becomes more tasty and digestible. During food processing, toxins, bacteria and harmful substances contained in animals and plants are destroyed.

Boiling (cooking). If the meat is tough or the food takes a long time to cook, then the best way processing is cooking, after which the meat can be stewed, fried, baked, etc. Boiling appears to be the best method of cooking because cooking preserves the natural juices of the food. The broth obtained during cooking is an excellent nutritious product containing the necessary salts and fats.

Cooking utensils. Any container that holds food and water can be used as a cooking vessel. For example, water can be boiled in a hole made in clay or in a hollow log by lowering hot stones into the water.

Roasting on fire. This is one of quick ways preparing food from wild plants and tender meat. Place the meat on a stick and hold it over the smoldering coals. You can use a flyer. When frying, the outside of the meat is covered with a crust, under which the juices are retained.

Light toasting. Some foods, especially nuts and grains, are preferably prepared this way. To do this, place the food in a metal bowl and heat slowly until the food is thoroughly cooked. If you do not have the appropriate utensils, you can use a heated flat stone.

Cooking plant-based foods

To improve the taste of plant foods, they are soaked, boiled or softened with boiling water. The choice of method depends on the circumstances and nature of the food. For example, acorns are crushed, placed on a sieve and scalded with boiling water.

Greenery. Cook the leaves, stems and buds until they are tender. If the food is bitter, change the water several times.

Roots and tubers. They can be boiled, but it is easier to bake them over a fire or stew them. Some roots must be boiled to remove harmful substances.

Nuts. Most nuts can be eaten raw, but some are better crushed and then boiled. Chestnuts are delicious roasted and baked.

Grains and seeds. Grains and seeds become more delicious when lightly toasted, but can be eaten raw. Grains and seeds can be used to make flour.

Juice. Any juice containing sugar can be made into syrup by evaporating the water.

Fruits. Tough, thick-skinned fruits can be eaten baked or fried. However, most fruits are best eaten raw.

Cooking meat food

Before frying or baking meat from an animal larger than a domestic cat, it should be boiled. Grilled meat requires high heat as low heat makes the meat tough. If the animal is large, cut the carcass into several parts. If the meat is very tough, stew it with vegetables. When searing or baking any meat, use fat whenever possible. When preparing baked meat, place the fat on top so that it melts and runs down the meat.

Small game. Small game and mammal carcasses can be cooked whole or in pieces, but the entrails and genitals must first be removed. Cover large birds with clay and bake. Feathers are also removed along with the clay when you break up the coating. Small game is best cooked because there is less waste with this cooking method. Nuts, berries, grains, roots (bulbs) and greens can add a pleasant taste to food.

Fish. The fish can be fried on a makeshift skewer or baked in leaves or clay. It can also be prepared directly in the heat, using a special structure in the form of a stick on a flyer. All types of freshwater fish and other freshwater animals must be cut very carefully as they may contain disease-causing organisms.

Reptiles and amphibians. Frogs, small snakes and lizards can be roasted on a stick. Large snakes and it’s better to boil the eels first. Turtles must be boiled until the shell comes off. Chop the meat and mix it with plant tubers and herbs and cook the soup. Salamanders roasted on a stick are edible. Before preparing food from snakes and frogs, remove their skin. The skin of snakes is non-venomous, but removing it improves the taste of the food.

Crustaceans. Crabs, crayfish, shrimp and other crustaceans must be boiled to kill disease-causing organisms. However, they spoil quickly and should be cooked immediately after catching. Crustaceans must be cooked alive by throwing them into boiling water.

Shellfish. They can be boiled or baked in the shell. You can prepare a wonderful stew of snails with herbs or tubers.

Insects. Grasshoppers, cicadas, large caterpillars, ants and other insects are easy to catch. In a pinch they can serve as a food source.

Eggs. Eggs are among the safest food products; they are edible at all stages of embryonic development. Hard-boiled eggs can be stored for several days as a food supply.

Food storage

Creating an emergency food supply is a very important undertaking. It eliminates a person's fear of starving to death. Preparing and storing food is not an easy task. But this is quite feasible if you follow certain rules.

Freezing. In cold climates and winter, preserve food by freezing it.

Drying. Plant products can be dried by wind, sun, air, fire, or a combination of both. The purpose of this treatment is to evaporate the water.

Jerky is made by cutting thin (6 mm) slices of meat and drying them in the wind or over smoke. Place the meat slices on a wooden rack and dry until they are browned and tender. To start a fire, use willow, alder, birch, and poplar, since resinous firewood, such as pine and spruce, makes meat tasteless. You can get good smoke if you close the top holes in a tent or hut. Hang the meat higher and build a smoldering fire under it.

You can quickly smoke meat in the following way: dig a hole in the ground one meter deep and half a meter wide. Build a small fire at the bottom (use damp branches to create smoke). Place a makeshift wooden grate about 0.75 m from the bottom. Cover the hole with sticks, branches, leaves or anything else. After intensive smoking for one night, the meat will last for about 5-7 days. If you can smoke the meat for two nights, it will be edible for at least 2-4 weeks or even longer. When properly smoked, the meat should look like a dark, brittle, curved stick, and is very tasty and nutritious.

If meat becomes moldy during storage, you need to carefully remove the mold and then rinse it in running water.

Preparation for storing fish and game. To preserve caught fish, they gut it, but do not wash it in water or salt it, but only wipe it dry with grass or a rag. Then, having inserted spacers into the abdomen, the fish is spread out and hung in the wind for 15-20 minutes. Slightly dried carcasses are topped with nettles or fresh (but always dry) sedge.

Fish can also be dried by placing it on hot stones. When the fish is dry, sprinkle salt water on it to season it; Do not attempt to store fish products unless they are properly dried and salted.

To prepare fish for smoking, you need to cut off the head and remove the backbone. Then unroll it and place it on the spit. Thin rods with the bark removed can serve as a skewer.

Berries and wild fruits can be dried in air, sun, wind and fire with or without smoke. Cut the fruit into thin slices and place them in the sun or near a fire.

Hygiene in field conditions

Usually on a hike and in temporary shelter there are no facilities for washing with hot water and soap, washing clothes, cutting hair and shaving. However, following certain hygiene rules is strictly necessary.

Firstly, when going on a raid (hiking), you need to cut your hair short, shave off your mustache (if you have one), and trim your fingernails and toenails as short as possible. We must always take care to underwear and socks (foot wraps) remained clean and dry. At a minimum, it is necessary to shake out clothes, shoes and underwear every day during rest stops (overnight), air them and dry them. Wash your hands with at least cold water or wipe them with disinfectants (alcohol, gasoline, potassium permanganate, aftershave cream, etc.). If weather and external conditions permit, be sure to swim in natural reservoirs with clean water or organize washing of limbs with hot water, as well as washing of clothes.

Secondly, you should avoid rubbing your feet at all costs. Scuffed feet usually arise from improperly fitting shoes, from walking for a long time in wet shoes, from the inability to wrap a footcloth, from the fact that the toenails are too large and dirty.

It is necessary that the shoes are always dry, worn in, without folds or unevenness inside. When going on a training raid, and even more so on a combat mission, it is better to wear good sneakers than boots. Good, this means durable, with strong lacing (no Velcro!) and high. Each intelligence officer must have at least two pairs of sneakers in his personal property (after all, one cannot expect to purchase them at the expense of the command of a military unit).

Daily skin and toe care is strictly necessary. With sore legs, a scout is no longer a scout, but a burden for other members of the group. In a war, because of such a “disabled person,” everyone could simply die. One of the means of preventing fungal diseases is daily wiping the folds of skin between the toes with a disinfectant solution: 0.5% potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), 2-3% formaldehyde; soap paste, boric acid. You can also sprinkle the folds of the skin with dry tinder fungus, fireweed (fireweed) fluff, and sphagnum moss ground into dust.

Sphagnum moss is widespread in bogs and has a red or yellow tint. It is torn, cleared of the rough lower parts of the stem, squeezed by hand and air dried. Then they grind it to make it as soft and tender as possible. This moss absorbs moisture well and contains substances that kill the microflora of festering wounds, scratches, and cuts.

If the legs are still worn out, you need to pierce the skin bubbles with liquid with a disinfected needle, squeeze out the liquid with clean hands and, without tearing the skin, lubricate the affected areas with Vishnevsky ointment or syntomycin ointment. Then apply a soft pad-tampon on top and bandage it (or seal it with an adhesive plaster). Bleeding abrasions are treated with potassium permanganate or boric acid, or at worst, triple cologne (slightly diluted with boiled water) and sprinkled with streptocide. Speaking of gaskets. It is advisable to have in your personal first aid kit several feminine hygiene bags, which are available for sale everywhere today. Many samples of such bags are very convenient for use in the field as dressings and tampons. Especially for abrasions on the legs, shoulders or crotch area.

Third, don't forget about your shoulders. The scout has to carry tens of kilograms of cargo: weapons, ammunition, explosives, food, instruments (for example, a radio station or video camera), equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the belts, buckles, backpack, pouches and everything else to the body as carefully as possible. It is advisable to “strengthen” the uniform in the area of ​​the shoulders and neck with special pads on top and linings on the inside (you can hem the women’s pads mentioned above). At every big stop, check the condition of your shoulders. Preventive measures for them are the same as for legs.

Hygiene of clothing and shoes

Footwear should always be carefully maintained, especially when operating in damp climates and in winter. Shoes need to be dried more often, being careful, as when quick drying(on the fire of a fire, near a hot stove) it can deteriorate, as well as when leaving wet shoes in the cold. In a good way drying involves filling shoes with heated (so that they do not burn) pebbles, sand, and small stones. Shoes can be stuffed with paper, dry hay or moss - this promotes drying and prevents deformation. In extreme cases, it is acceptable to put on damp boots (shoes) over dry socks and foot wraps, but not vice versa.

Regularly lubricate your shoes with a thin layer of shoe polish. Shoe cream can be replaced with unsalted lard, tar, waterfowl (fish) fat, raw soap, vegetable oil. To obtain tar, you need to heat birch bark in a jar over a fire until the dark liquid is distilled off.

When carrying loads, fill the backpack (satchel) correctly: small objects should be placed towards the back, hard and heavy ones - in the lower half of the satchel. Adjust the straps of the backpack according to your height so that its lower edge (attached weight) is adjacent to the sacrum. A backpack adjusted in this way does not hit the back and does not pull too much on the shoulders. When carrying a heavy load (more than 20 kg), it is necessary to take care of soft pads under the shoulder straps (made of foam rubber, felt, moss, etc.).

In winter, you need to especially carefully monitor the condition of your clothes, keep them dry and protect them from burning. The most common cause of wet clothing is excessive sweating. When it appears, remove excess clothing (be sure to keep the top windproof layer), reduce physical activity, if possible. Uniforms during long-term operations, especially in cold climates, should be dried by hanging them in the upper part of the shelter, after shaking them out. If it is impossible to wash, shake out the laundry and clothes, and then hang them in the open air for 1.5-2 hours. To prevent snow from sticking to your uniform during a blizzard (blizzard) and preventing it from getting wet, it is recommended to wear robes and capes made of parachute fabric over the top. This also provides camouflage.

Remember, that:
- tight-fitting clothing reduces the zone of still air around the body and prevents free blood circulation;
- Sweating is dangerous because it reduces the insulating ability of clothing, saturating the air with moisture. When moisture evaporates, the body cools. Prevent overheating by removing pieces of clothing and unfastening them at the neck, wrists and chest;
- arms and legs cool faster than other parts of the body and should be given more attention. Cover your hands as much as possible. You can warm your hands under your arms, on your inner thighs, or on your chest. Since feet sweat quickly, it is difficult to warm them. It is better to wear larger shoes so that you can wear at least two foot wraps (socks). A warm double sock can be made by placing dry grass, moss or bird feathers between a pair of socks;
- the greatest heat loss occurs in the head area. Never forget a good hat.
- In the subtropics, as well as in the middle zone in swamps and forests in the hot summer, a scout is attacked by hordes of insects (mosquitoes, gadflies, horse flies, flies, wasps, hornets, midges, etc.). Therefore it must have:
- clothing of such strength that it does not tear while moving through dense thickets bushes and undergrowth;
- net and gloves to protect against insects;
- sleeves and trouser legs that are loose enough to be tucked into gloves and socks;

The mosquito net should be light-colored, because mosquitoes and many other insects are afraid of light colors. They are attracted to dark colors.

In desert and steppe areas, cover your body and head during the day. Wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Cover your neck from the sun with a piece of cloth. If you need to throw away any clothing, keep in mind that the nights in the desert are cold. Clothes should be loose. Take it only in the shade, as even reflected sunlight can cause a burn.

Shake sand and bugs out of your shoes and socks, even if this means making frequent stops.

If you don't have boots, make windings over the boots from any material at hand. To do this, cut two strips 7-10 cm wide and 120 cm long. Wrap them around your feet in a spiral over your existing shoes. This will prevent sand from getting into it.

Don't try to go barefoot. Sand can rub your feet. Additionally, walking barefoot through salt marshes or mud can cause alkaline burns.

To protect your eyes from solar radiation, you should wear dark glasses. In case of their absence (loss), you can make a tape with slits for the eyes from any dense material (for example, from tarpaulin). The edges of the slits can be blackened with soot from the fire, and the ribbon is tied at the back of the head in a knot or secured with ribbons.

Food hygiene

Beware of gastrointestinal diseases and disorders. Do not bite your nails or eat food with dirty hands (at a minimum, thoroughly wipe your hands with clean, dry grass or leaves before eating). Do not drink dirty water (it must be boiled or treated with special tablets and then filtered). Protect food and water from flies and other insects, and promptly remove food scraps and waste. Avoid eating unprocessed and poor-quality foods (undercooked, fried, not washed with hot water, rotten, moldy, fermented, rotten, etc.). Food poisoning and dysentery in the field mean the failure of a combat mission and, quite likely, the death of a scout.

Teeth cleaning. Teeth should be brushed with a toothpick and rinsed with water after each meal. And in the evening, getting ready for bed, you should brush your teeth with toothpaste or powder. If there is no paste (powder), you can brush your teeth with crushed charcoal and add dried and crushed mint leaves to it. The best charcoal for cleaning teeth is obtained from linden. A toothbrush can be easily made from spruce, pine or fresh linden or aspen branches. Split the stick on one side into small pieces and bend for greater softness.

Medical assistance in the field

In field medicine classes, scouts should learn the following:
- stop bleeding;
- treat wounds;
- reduce dislocations and treat fractures;
- treat bruises, burns, frostbite;
- rescue the drowned and burned;
- neutralize snake bites and poisonous insects;
- treat colds.

A good intelligence officer must have the medical knowledge, skills and abilities to the extent of training a paramedic at a district hospital, dealing with the full range of the most common diseases and injuries. You should always remember that in the field (especially behind enemy lines) no one will help except yourself.

08 Sep 2011

BUILDING A HUT – BIVACK IN THE FOREST

Many will be interested and useful to learn how to quickly build a simple temporary shelter in the forest.

Our forests have enough of the necessary material; you just need to make a little effort. So, we select a tree that has fallen at an angle. We begin preparing branches of the required length. We don’t take thick ones, they are heavy, and if they fall on your head at night, it won’t seem like much. Thin ones are also not needed; they may not withstand the weight of snow, wet spruce branches and simply break. These are just about right!

Next, we install the prepared branches at an angle to the tree, it is better if this can be done on the windward side. We choose an angle such that you can fit completely under the future canopy. If the angle is too sharp, there will be little space left under the roof; if it is too blunt, it may get wet in the rain or collapse under the weight of snow.

We prepare spruce branches (thin branches of spruce, fir or pine). We begin to lay the spruce branches from the bottom up, like tiles, so that the next row overlaps the bottom one, this will allow drops of water to roll down the branches without getting inside the bivouac. We lay all the branches so that the edges with the needles look down; this is the position that ensures maximum water rolling off.

If you have fir spruce branches on hand, then you are very lucky; it is better to give preference to it. Firstly, fir branches break more easily, and secondly, fir needles are much wider than those of spruce, therefore it will get less wet. If you don’t find enough fir, you can use its branches to make a top layer, something in the form of a visor.

Now let's move on to making the bed. But for a bed it is better to break spruce branches and the more the better, the spruce needles are stiffer, they crumple more difficult, and as a result they create a sufficient air gap between the ground and the body. A bunch of soft fir branches can be placed at the head of the bed. Among other things, fir resin is considered healing, facilitates breathing, and treats a runny nose.

And finally, on the leeward side of the bivouac, carefully at a safe distance or through a ditch with all the fire safety rules in the forest, you can make a fire. You can cook warmth and food and dry your shoes, and no wild animal will come near you.

08 Sep 2011

Fire Bed - Forest Survival

Imagine a situation of extreme survival in cold weather conditions, when your clothes are not able to protect your body, and the appropriate equipment is not available at all, or it is very limited and ineffective. An exhausted person at risk of hypothermia needs to sleep, but you know that you will never wake up if you pass out.

I will tell you how to survive in such a situation. There is a way that can provide a comfortable, warm place to sleep in severe weather even if your clothes are not adapted to low temperatures and you have virtually no equipment or special survival skills in the wild, other than the ability to build a special place to sleep and light a fire. . In fact, you will have to take a lot of care to ensure that this “bed” is cool enough to sleep in!

A special “bed” for survival that will allow you to stay warm in cold weather and can save your life is called a “firebed” or “bed on coals.”

Before I start explaining how to build a place to sleep, I would like to emphasize that if you are not in a real survival situation, but just practicing, try to give Special attention the issue of conservation environment with minimal damage from your actions. Avoid damaging tree and plant roots and be careful with fire in the wild.

Show respect for nature and it will definitely take care of you!

Requirements for building a "fire bed"

Since creating a “charcoal bed” requires a lot of time and effort, it is important to first find a suitable location. You need to look for various features that will make the construction of the “bed” easier, as well as the natural materials needed to build it and create additional comfort. Preferred areas:

1. Protected as far as possible from wind, rain and snow.

2. With soil that you can dig to a depth of about thirty centimeters without encountering large rocks, tree roots, ice or water.

3. Places rich in dry fuel to support fire. Hard deciduous trees are preferred. They burn longer and create a hotter flame. Soft rocks burn quickly and produce a lot of sparks.

4. Places with an abundance of dry bedding material (leaves, pine needles, grass, cattail, etc.) to insulate the body.

Let's look at each point in more detail.

Weather-protected areas If possible, choose an area with natural shelter. Rock ledges, overhanging thick trees, and even the roots of fallen trees can provide good shelter compared to open areas. You will need to find a piece of flat ground that is at least half a meter or a meter longer than your body and wide enough to sleep comfortably.

Suitable Soil for Digging Since you will be digging a hole in the ground, choosing the right soil is essential.

Give preference to areas where:

* Groundwater is not close to the surface. If you get to the water, you need to dig somewhere else.

* The soil is easily cultivated with improvised means.

* Few roots or large stones that make work very difficult.

* In snowy areas, look for a place where you won't have to dig too deep into the ground.

If you don't have a shovel for digging, don't despair! Use your own cutlery set, a knife, a sturdy stick, or even your own hands. Typically, in cold climates the soil freezes to a considerable depth. Depending on the situation, you may find soft ground at the base of south-facing slopes where the sun's rays warm the ground sufficiently. Or you can build a fire to melt the soil layer before digging.

Fire Fuel A good “charcoal bed,” as the name suggests, requires a layer of hot, long-smoldering coals. For this reason, the best fuel for building such a “bed” is hardwood. If possible, locate your overnight camp near a source of dry fuel. Softwoods can also be used, but they are not capable of creating the high-quality coals more typical of hardwoods. Dry grass and other natural materials do not leave embers, but can be used to start a fire and warm the ground. Hard rocks trees: hornbeam, eucalyptus, pear, cherry, apple, elm, teak, hickory - North American hazel, beech, oak, birch, ash, maple, walnut. Soft tree species: linden, spruce, fir, aspen, cedar, alder, hemlock, pine, chestnut, willow.

Insulation Material If you don't have enough warm clothing and sleeping gear is poorly suited to cold climates or completely missing, you will need a good source of dry, soft material for insulation and upholstery. Typically, the forest floor is a nice natural "blanket" of leaves, evergreen needles and grass.

Even in areas with deep snow cover, if you try hard, you can find insulation material. Inspect large boulders, where the ground around the stone is often not covered with snow and dry leaves accumulate there (by the way, a good place to settle down for the night). Check south-facing slopes and patches of evergreen forest, which tend to be less snowy.

In winter, wet areas (swamps, rivers, lakes) can provide excellent insulation material in the form of cattails and reeds. These plants are easy to reach, since all the water freezes and the snow is blown off the smooth icy surface. Canvas or tarpaulin, wool blanket, polyethylene or other similar material (waterproof and/or heat retaining) can be a great help.

Survival situation Let's imagine that your truck breaks down in a remote mountainous area and you have to spend the night outside in cold weather, without special equipment. Your clothing consists of sneakers, thin cotton pants, a T-shirt, a cotton jacket and a cap. Of course, you had to use a three-layer clothing system, but no one could have imagined that the truck would ever break down - this is the main mistake in the mountains.

You also have a folding army shovel, an old wool blanket and the ability to start a fire (flint, matches, lighter, you can use a car battery or even a cell phone battery). You can make a “fire bed” without a blanket or a shovel, but without fire you won’t be able to do anything. Therefore, it is extremely important to always have an emergency kit with you, which will contain waterproof matches or, better yet, a flint and a magnesium block.

Get to work As soon as you decide on a place, start digging a trench of the following dimensions: width - about 30?50 cm, length - about 180 cm, depth - 30 cm. Do not scatter the earth at random, but carefully put it in a heap. We will need stones later, so separate them from the general ground

Once the trench is ready, line the bottom with fist-sized stones, leaving a gap of 2-4 cm between them. Stones, in principle, are not an absolutely necessary condition, but they will help create an air gap so that the fire will be hotter and better coals will be obtained. If you do not find enough stones while digging, you can look for them somewhere nearby, just do not collect porous or layered stones, or those that were in water. They may explode when heated!

Now you can light a fire. For tinder I used dry pine needles and a pine cone. When the fire flares up and the first coals appear, scatter them throughout the entire trench so as to cover the maximum area. Our goal is to maintain an even fire to create coals and warm the soil around the entire perimeter of the trench. Add firewood as needed and spread the coals for 2-3 hours. This time can be used for cooking, boiling water, and drying clothes or bedding materials.

Then sprinkle the coals with a 10-centimeter layer of soil and tamp it down well. Make sure all coals are well covered and no steam or smoke is breaking through the soil layer.

That's it, now all we have to do is wait. It should take an hour or so before you feel the pleasant warmth of the heated ground. If this happens earlier, then most likely you need to add another 3-5 cm of soil from above, otherwise your “bed” may turn out to be too hot for a comfortable overnight stay. All that remains is to prepare the “mattress”. Look for dry, soft material and pile it up. Once the coals have sufficiently heated the surface of the trench, you can cover the soil with an even layer of insulating material.

The thickness and amount of insulation depends on the specific conditions and your capabilities. It is recommended to use a layer of at least 20–30 cm in thickness. Several logs laid parallel to the sides of the trench will reflect the heat and keep you warm. In addition, they will serve as a windbreak and will not allow you to slide onto the cold ground.

Results When I made this bed, the ambient temperature was about?4 degrees Celsius. Four hours later, the surface temperature of the soil above the coals reached 43 degrees, and the ground within a radius of 30 cm from the trench was slightly warm. By changing the thickness of the bedding material, you can regulate the temperature of the “fire bed”. The main problem when using such an overnight stay is evaporation. The fact is that the soil and/or material used for insulation usually contains moisture. As a result, the heat from the coals turns moisture into steam and you get something like a sauna. For this reason, it is advisable to use only the driest body insulation products. If possible, lie down on a waterproof material (plastic, tarpaulin, canvas, polyethylene). The next morning, fourteen hours after the “bed” was built, the air temperature had dropped to -8 degrees Celsius, and the ground surface temperature was still around 32 degrees. This is an excellent result!

This technique for creating a comfortable warm place for an overnight stay will allow you to survive in cold weather without equipment and special clothing.

01 Oct 2011

WATER IN THE LIFE OF A HUNTER

When conducting long walking hunts in mountainous, desert, and even wooded, taiga terrain, a hunter may encounter difficulties bordering on problems of survival. Being in extreme natural conditions, the hunter, first of all, feels the need for water, food, fire and shelter. The degree to which these priorities matter depends on the situation. There will be a hunter, however, water always comes first. A person can live without food for three weeks, but without water - only three days. This article makes an attempt, based on personal experience, as well as using examples taken from hunting by professional trappers, introduce some of the most accessible methods of obtaining drinking water in the field.

A hunter loses 2-3 liters of water per day. Fluid loss through breathing and sweating increases with work intensity and temperature. This loss of fluid must be compensated by drinking water or water contained in food.

When dehydration occurs in the body, severe disorders can occur: body weight decreases sharply, blood volume decreases and it becomes more viscous. The load on the heart increases due to greater efforts to move (pump) thick blood. You should know that the hunter almost does not notice dehydration of the body if it does not exceed five percent of body weight, although performance begins to noticeably decrease when approaching this value.

If water loss exceeds ten percent, irreversible changes may occur in the body. A 20-25% lack of water in the body leads to death.

During long treks, it is necessary to maintain a reasonable dosage of water consumption. It is advisable to replenish water reserves in the body, to do so-called “shock” refills with water during long stops. Depending on the pace of movement, load (cargo), weather, nature of the path, it is recommended to drink from 250 to 500 grams of water. During short stops along the way, having easily accessible water (a flask or a stream), it is advisable to take a few sips, after rinsing your mouth and throat.

With prolonged movement and fatigue, dry mouth occurs, the secretion of the salivary glands is inhibited, the thickness of saliva increases, and a feeling of false thirst arises. To eliminate them, you should stimulate the corresponding glands by chewing something sour, candy, sour berries.

Regardless of the degree of thirst, you should avoid drinking water from stagnant, non-flowing sources. Know that waterborne diseases are the most dangerous in this situation. Standing water is rife with disease-causing organisms. To make water safe, you need to boil it. In flat areas, boil water for at least 10 minutes. In the mountains (above 1500m) boil for at least half an hour. Boil water taken from a heavily polluted, suspicious source for more than 40 minutes.

There is a way to disinfect water by disinfection, for example, with aluminum alum (a pinch in a bucket of water), potassium permanganate (until the water turns faintly pink), let the water settle, after which you can drink it, with panthocide tablets - dissolve two tablets in one liter of water, after half an hour you can drink.

If the water is heavily polluted, four pantocid tablets must be used. After the dirt settles to the bottom, the water becomes clear and you can drink it. You can also use a five percent solution of iodide tincture. 2-3 drops per liter of water, stir well and let stand.

When hunting in our forests, young branches of pine, spruce, fir, juniper can be used to disinfect (purify) water, and in the East Siberian taiga and cedar pine. A bunch (about 200-300g) in a bucket of water, boil for 30 minutes, then throw alder, willow, birch or oak bark into the infusion, let it boil for another 15 minutes. Cool, remove branches and pieces of bark. Let it settle, carefully drain, the remaining brown sediment at the bottom is poisonous.

In steppe areas, for similar purposes of water sterilization, you can use feather grass, perecatipole, field violet, yarrow (300g per bucket of water). Boil for at least 30 minutes.

Sources contaminated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers cannot be neutralized using the above methods.

You must beware of drinking water from unsuitable, cloudy and dirty sources. The result can be cholera, typhoid, dysentery, liptospirosis, schistosomiasis. You can accidentally swallow a leech (stomach juice has no effect on these annelids).

Sometimes it is not possible to find a good water source and you have to use water with a bad spirit, muddy. To clean, water should be passed through a container filled with sand, charcoal and small pebbles, then boiled (15 minutes), allowed to settle, after which you can drink.

It happens that there are no visible sources of water in the surrounding area. Water should be looked for underground. The groundwater level depends on the terrain and the nature of the soil. In rocky soil, you should look for water in places where a dry canyon passes through a layer of porous sandstone. You need to find green grass in the rocks on the slopes. Having found it, choose the greenest area and dig a hole, wait until water appears.

It is easier to find water in loose soil than in rocky soil. You need to look for it at the lowest points of valleys or where the slopes meet the valley, since this is where the groundwater level is closest to the surface. Before you dig, you should find a place where contrasting green grass grows thick. In such places, during rainy times, there may have been a spring.

In the forest in the lowlands, the groundwater level is close to the surface. Even a small hole soon fills with water.

In steppe and semi-desert areas, first of all, you need to look for signs of water. These include the direction of flight of birds, the location of vegetation, and the converging directions of animal trails. If you managed to find willow, elderberry, cattails, rush grass, and solyanka, then you have found a place where groundwater comes close to the surface. Dig and you will find water.

In the beds of dry valleys, in the lowest places, by digging through a layer of gravel, you can get to the water.

Animals can be a sign that water is nearby. Herbivores drink water twice a day, at dawn and late in the evening. They do not go far from water sources. Converging animal tracks often lead to water. Following their tracks, the hunter will come to the source.

In arid, desert areas, people cover and hide precious moisture under piles of brushwood and stones in the lowlands. By carefully observing, looking into secluded places, you can discover a hidden source.

Finches and pigeons stay close to water. They feed on cereals and are forced to drink water twice, morning and evening. When they fly straight and low - this is a sign of the proximity of water, the birds are flying to a watering hole. Returning from a watering hole, on the contrary, they fly from tree to tree and often stop on it to rest. Other birds, consuming little water, cannot serve as an indicator of the water source.

Among insects you can find good “conductors” of water. Bees fly a maximum of six kilometers from their nests or hives.

By spotting columns of ants moving up the tree trunk, you can find a small hidden reservoir of water. Such storehouses of water, hidden from view, can be found even in dry semi-desert areas.

You should pay attention to moisture of animal origin. Animals' eyes contain water, which can be obtained by sucking. Any fish, saltwater or freshwater, contains a drinkable liquid. Large fish have a cavity filled with fresh water along their spine. You should gut the fish, holding it on its side, carefully remove the backbone, being careful not to spill the liquid, and drink it. Fish meat contains other juices rich in protein. It should be borne in mind that consuming them leads to the fact that in order to digest them, fluid will be diverted from the vital organs of your body.

Drinking water can be obtained from dew and rainwater. Early in the morning, when heavy dew has fallen, move a clean cloth over the grass, squeeze it into a container (kettle), repeating this procedure several times, you can get a sufficient amount of water.

To collect water, you can tie a clean cloth around your calves and ankles and walk through wet vegetation. Squeeze the water obtained in this way and drink it.

When it rains, you should tie a cloth around the tree trunk; the water flowing down the trunk through the cloth drips into a pot placed below.

Water can be produced by condensation. Trees have their roots going deep into the earth, to the aquifer. The hunter has no way to get to him. But there is a way out. A plastic bag should be tied around a healthy green branch with many leaves. Evaporation from the surface of the leaves will cause condensation to settle on the film. You need to make sure that the neck of the bag is at the top. Moisture will collect in its lower corner.

One more trick. Hang the plastic film on a stake driven into the ground above the bush. The film should not touch the foliage, otherwise droplets of water will not flow into the groove dug on the ground around the bush and lined with film.

A solar distiller can be a good tool for obtaining water. You need to dig a hole half a meter deep and about one meter in diameter. Place a vessel to collect water in the center of the hole. Cover the hole with a piece of plastic film and give it a cone shape. Place a small stone in the center of the cone. We secure the edges of the film lying on the edge of the pit. The distiller is ready.

The sun heats the air and earth, which creates water vapor. Water condenses on the lower surface of the film and flows into a vessel placed below. This method of obtaining water is most effective in areas where it is hot during the day and cold at night.

The solar still can be used to desalinate seawater and to separate clean water from toxic or contaminated liquids.

A hunter who finds himself in extreme conditions must know never to drink urine or sea water. But you also need to know that both the first and second produce drinking water as a result of distillation.

Good luck, fellow hunters, with endurance and ingenuity on the difficult but exciting hunting path!

Hunting Dog Breeding No. 5, 2008

01 Oct 2011

CAMO SKIS
It is known that without good hunting equipment it is difficult to conduct a successful hunt. How many unsuccessful, careless hunts have I seen in my modest hunting practice!

Hunters gather for a roundup hunt for elk or wild boar. They pack their backpacks, filling them with food and spirits, sort through cartridges, sometimes take up to twenty bullet cartridges with them, sharpen knives; for some reason there must be two of them - one large for hunting, and the other small for cutting.

Finally, the happiest and most exciting moment comes: the hunters have arrived at the farm.

After the briefing, the huntsman leads the team into the forest. And in the forest the snow is deep.

- “Who's with skis! At the head of the column!” -

But there are three or four people like that.

There are no skis on the farm, but if there are, they are “wood-burning” ones, with bent ends and weak soft skis, from which the legs jump out every minute. And instead of a beautiful, organized hunt, it turns out to be complete troubles. Shooters on foot lag behind the skiers, sweat and, having set their number, quickly begin to freeze. And if you are lucky and there is an animal in the trap, then they often “smear” or make a wounded animal, the selection of which turns into a real test.

It's best to make your own skis. For skis you can use maple, bird cherry, rowan, and elm. All these tree species are strong, flexible and can be easily processed with carpentry tools.

It is necessary ahead of time, in late autumn or winter, to find in the forest smooth, not thick trees without knots in the lower part of the trunk, cut them down and bring them home. Two skis come out of one log. Sand the logs, leaving bark 10–15 cm wide at the ends. This must be done so that they do not crack when drying. Dry in a dark, ventilated area, away from the sun. After drying, which can last six months, the logs are cut into planks.

The width of the ski should not exceed 14 cm. If the skis are wider, then when walking you will catch your skis on each other. Hunters tall You can ignore this remark, but for those who are shorter than 170 cm, this should be taken into account. The length of the skis should be equal to the height of the hunter. Long skis are inconvenient in the forest.

In my opinion, elm is most suitable for skiing. In our forests it grows in sufficient quantities, smooth, without knots, its wood is exceptionally strong, flexible, and tough. In the old days, elm was used to make the shaft (rotovishche) of bear spears. Our ancestors knew a lot about wood.

Some hunters consider elm skis to be heavy. But that's not true. The wood of the tree can be processed so that the thickness of the ski will be 1.5 times (0.5 cm) thinner than that of skis made from other species. But they are not inferior in strength to skis, 0.8 cm thick, made of maple, rowan or bird cherry.

It’s good if you find the butt of a tree with a slight natural bend. It will be less work for you to bend the ski in the central part to give it a shock-absorbing effect when walking.

On the boards, draw the contours of the future skis on both sides with a pencil. Carefully cut down the unnecessary layer of wood, reaching the marks. When working, you need patience and caution so as not to spoil the workpiece. After this, start processing the front ends of the skis, giving them a pointed shape. Leave the rear ends of the skis straight. You also leave the sliding surface of the skis flat.

The thickness of the skis in the middle part should be approximately 2.5 cm. On the upper side of the skis, a long thickening, the so-called stiffener, should be left in the center.

After making ski blanks (shafts), steam the front ends of the skis in a tub of boiling water. Having steamed, secure the ends of the skis between two fixed bars and bend the ski. The steamed end of the ski bends easily. Having given the desired bend angle, secure the ski and leave it in this position for a day or two. Then you take out the ski and check the bend. If you are not satisfied with it, then repeat the operation again.

Elk and horse skins are suitable for skiing; reindeer skins are a bit narrow. One ski requires four elk skins. You need to remove the camus from the animal's legs above the knees; a short camisole does not provide a good pattern.

If you have dry kamus, you need to put it in a soak (50 g of salt per 1 liter of water). Keep the kamus in the soak until it acquires a paired state, periodically changing the solution and kneading it with your hands or breaking it with a wooden hammer.

Flesh the steamed camus well (remove the cuts of meat and veins). Then pickle - drop into a solution - 60 g of salt and 50 g of 100% acetic (glacial) acid per 1 liter of water. Keep it in the pikil for 2-3 days, periodically removing it and kneading it in your hands. Having taken it out of the pickel, put it in storage.

By this time, the skis should be completely ready. It is not necessary to drill holes for the jux. In addition, the hole in the center of the ski weakens its strength. Yuks can be placed directly on the skis, screwed to it with screws, and 8 mm plywood patterns can be nailed on top. This is done after the camus has been glued to the ski.

Yuksa are prepared from a conveyor belt. It is hard, elastic and does not lose its qualities when used as skis.

After curing, when the camus has acquired a dried state, we glue it onto the sliding surface of the ski. For this you can use casein glue or other waterproof adhesives. The edges of the camus need to be folded up and secured to the upper side of the ski with nails, or, even better, with upholstery staples.

The camus must be cut, its edges must be precisely fitted “to the wool”, otherwise when moving, poorly fitted edges will slow down the sliding. You can cut using a zigzag edge - herringbone or even.

After the casing is glued to the skis, we again fasten them between the fixed bars and leave for a while so that the glue and casing dry. This operation must be done to prevent the ski from being “driven by the propeller” when the skin and glue dry. If the ski dries unevenly, use a brush or a wet cloth to moisten the dry areas, thereby ensuring uniform drying.

After the skis have dried, remove them from the clamps and drill holes in the front pointed ends of the skis. You stuff corrugated rubber bands under the soles, having first placed foam rubber under the rubber bands in the place where the heels of the shoes will come into contact with the ski, so that the snow does not stick.

What tools are needed to make skis? The most common ones. Axe, rip and cross saws, chisels, plane, hammer, knife, hand drill, rasp, ruler, sandpaper.

Once you start using camus skis, you will never want to change them to wood skis. Wet snow does not stick to camus skis. If you cross a swamp or area where there is water under the snow, it does not freeze on the skis, but rolls off the wool, the skis do not lose their ability to glide.

If you need to overcome a climb, there is no need to take off your skis and walk, as you have to do on bare skis. On skins you will overcome the climb, because they do not slide against the grain. You just need to put on a heel strap to prevent the shoes from jumping out of the yuksa.

While tracking an animal, in particular an elk, you can approach it with a shotgun. True, your jacket and trousers must be made of soldier's cloth. The sound they make when they touch a bush does not frighten the elk; it is apparently similar to the sound made by a moving elk. The animal gets up from its bed, listens and waits for its “relative” to appear, but instead of the relative, a hunter appears. The elk is within range of your weapon for 5 - 7 seconds, then trots away.

I won five bets by approaching the animal in a prone position on kamus at a shooting distance (35 meters).

And one more advantage of kamus. On one of the hunts, my friend and I caught a large cleaver. Having placed the trophy on a pair of kamuses and stood on another pair, we, taking turns, towed the boar to the road where the all-terrain vehicle could approach. We walked a distance of about one kilometer. The farmer weighed the cleaver and found it weighed 187 kg.

After the winter hunting season, camus skis need to be tied together with sliding planes, inserting spacers in the middle at the yuks and into the holes at the curved ends.

Kamus is “afraid” of moths. To ensure that camouflage skis last a long time, do not use them where there is little snow, on well-worn roads sprinkled with sand or salt, or on hard crust.

Taking good care of your hunting gear will allow you to experience real pleasure from winter hunting for many seasons.

Victor Lunev, Hunting Dog Breeding, No. 6

Many people are familiar with the situation when, against the background of physical activity, general weakness suddenly sets in, the legs become “wobbly”, the head begins to spin and one really wants to sit down - these are symptoms of overwork on a hike. Such symptoms occur not only in travelers who make long treks or climbs. So how can you avoid overwork while hiking...

Food in the taiga

What to eat in the taiga? If a person lost in the taiga is haunted by hunting failures, the snares and traps remain empty, and the fish stubbornly refuse to bite, he will have to turn to plant foods...

Survival on the Threshold

Just a couple of weeks ago I returned from Kyrgyzstan, where I happened to see a miracle... perhaps the most unusual of all that I have seen... We walked along the river bank, around the bend the rapids of Gabarit 5 KS began. Several people wearing life jackets and neoprene were walking towards us. They greeted us with a question: “Guys, do you have a gaff? We have a body.” We were confused, because 10 minutes ago we saw how their last two were setting off and there was no sign of trouble...

Help for a drowning man

Helping a drowning person can be effective even if the person has been under water for quite a long time. Even if it does not outwardly show signs of life, it is necessary to immediately remove it, and if necessary, cut the clothes. Clear the victim’s mouth and nose of mud and dirt, pull the tongue so that it protrudes from the mouth. Then you need to carefully remove water from the respiratory tract. To do this, place the victim with his stomach down, turning his head slightly to the side, place a pillow, bolster or bundle of clothing under his chest and stomach, and firmly but calmly press his hands on his back, simultaneously squeezing chest from the sides...

Construction of a snow shelter

The open space is blown by all the winds in winter. Low temperatures and wind combined, for very a short time can lead to hypothermia, hypothermia and death. That is why, if you find yourself in such conditions, you should first take care of building a shelter. If there are no trees nearby, then only one building material remains - snow, which, oddly enough, perfectly retains heat...

Starting a fire

Lighting a fire without matches is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Having learned this, you can get out of a difficult situation. The length of your survival depends on your ability to start a fire. In this article we will look at how to start a fire using a knife or any piece of steel. First of all, choose a place to build a fire. It must be sheltered from rain and wind. If you need to make a fire in the snow, then the snow is either cleared from the site of the fire pit within a radius of several meters, or a platform is created from thick logs and stones, on which the fire pit is subsequently built...

How to behave in an avalanche area

The safety rules proposed below are intended for a skier of average fitness, a tourist and climber, or a simple traveler who, on business or for leisure, goes to the mountains in areas with heavy snowfall. Avalanches are the main danger when traveling in the mountains in winter. This danger can be avoided if you know a few simple but reasonable rules and follow them.

Survival in the taiga

There are many cases where people, having gone to the taiga and not having sufficient experience and knowledge of local conditions, easily lost their way and, having lost their bearings, found themselves in distress... How should a person who gets lost in the forest behave? Having lost his orientation, he must immediately stop moving and try to restore it using a compass or using various natural signs. If this is difficult, then you should organize a temporary parking lot in a dry place, which is not easy to do, especially in mossy forests, where the ground is covered with a continuous carpet of sphagnum, which greedily absorbs water...

Survival at sea

...The shore was not visible. I was on the open sea. Even attempts to fly up to the edge of the wave and look at the shore were in vain. Remembering physics, I had to disappoint myself, realizing that the coast was at least 7 km, and if I couldn’t even see the tops of the trees, then it was at least 15 km. It subsequently turned out that the escape route was about 20 km. But at the same time, I had already swam several kilometers on the board that night, albeit at a negative speed. The problem was complicated by a stormy headwind, a steep wave, a broken wrist, cold, periodic cramps, confusion in the direction of movement, absolute fatigue, lack of fresh water and food. Later it turned out that this was not all the problem...

Water supply

It is known that the human body consists of almost 65% water. Water is part of tissues; without it, normal functioning of the body, the metabolic process, maintaining heat balance, removing metabolic products, etc. are impossible. Dehydration of the body by just a few percent leads to disruption of its vital functions.

People periodically fall into unusual situations. Sometimes this happens voluntarily, when they go to the mountains, forests, remote, untrodden routes. Sometimes this happens unexpectedly - as a result of disasters or crimes.
But in any such situation, a person is faced with a choice - to quietly give up and die, or to fear for his life and become the author of another story. survival in extreme situations.

1 Survive in the ice

Sir Ernest Shackleton led his team to conquer Antarctica in 1914. They started their journey on the ship Endurance. But soon the ship was buried by drifting ice, and the crew was forced to abandon it. After the death of the ship, there was no longer any talk about a trip to Antarctica, it was necessary to save the crew,< выживать любой ценой.

Shackleton's group walked in the ice for 2 years until they managed to move to Elephant Island using lifeboats. The team spent six months there; the basis of their diet during this time was whale oil and seal meat.

During this time, Shackleton continued his research with a group of five people. They walked around the island from the north, and then moved across the ocean to the island of South Georgia, covering about 1,300 kilometers. For 36 hours, Shackleton and two other crew members explored the island, mapping it for the first time. Only three months later did the researchers reach the main group on Elephant Island.

But despite the most difficult conditions, hunger and cold, they survived. They gained respect and pride through their journey.

2. Survive in the Amazon jungle

In 1981, Yossi Ginsberg, along with three other Israelis, decided to go to the Amazon jungle in Bolivia. Very quickly the companions got lost, and they also realized that their equipment was insufficient for such a journey. At this moment they decided to split into 2 teams and continue their journey separately. One deuce was never found later.

The second couple, which included Ginsberg and his friend Kevin, began to go down the river on a raft. But it was unsuccessful - the raft crashed on the rocks and the companions lost each other. For as many as 19 days, Ginsberg was left alone in the jungle. Kevin was luckier - he was picked up by local residents, and they also organized the search for Yossi. So the friends managed to get out of the jungle.

3. In the ice cave

Phil Dule And Mark Inglis in 1982 they began climbing Mount Cook (or Aoraki), the highest peak in New Zealand. While climbing the 3,764-meter mountain, they were caught in a snow storm. The climbers quickly built an ice shelter from the snow and began to wait for the end of the storm.

But rescuers managed to reach Phil and Mark only after 13 days. The climbers spent all this time in a small cave, eating croaker fish. The tightness of the cave and the cold, unfortunately, did not have the best effect on the guys. These factors led to disruption of blood circulation in the limbs, and the legs had to be amputated.

But the guys didn’t give up rock climbing. They nevertheless conquered Aoraki, and Inglis climbed Everest in 2006, becoming the first legless conqueror and losing his fingertips from frostbite.

4. Hand or life

Sometimes you have to perform surgery on yourself to survive. This happened with Aaron Ralston. In 2003, while climbing in a remote canyon in Utah, his hand was crushed by a boulder weighing 360 kg. He spent 5 days trying to free himself, but when the water and food ran out he had to make a drastic decision.

He smashed the bones with a boulder and then sawed through the muscles and tendons with a dull pocketknife. After that, Ralston rappelled down a 65-foot cliff and was only found not far from the car by other tourists.

5. Mountain hike

Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes has an altitude of 6260 meters. After climbing to this peak the adventures began Joe Simpson And Simon Yates.

Simpson was the first to go down, he slipped and broke his leg. While Yates was walking towards him, Simpson fell off the cliff, but stayed on the edge. Sims spent a whole hour on the rope without Yates seeing or hearing him. Then Simpson flew down. There are different versions of why this happened - perhaps Yates cut the rope, which saved both of their lives.

But as a result, Yates went down, and Simpson fell into a crevice. He managed to get out of there, despite his injuries. Then he got to the camp for three days, without food, water, or painkillers.
He crawled to the base at night, where he met the already recovered Yates, who was planning the next stage of the route.

6. Lost in the Pacific

Tami Oldham Ashcraft with my boyfriend Richard Sharp We planned to take a pleasant walk along the route Tahiti - San Diego within a month. They needed to move the 44-foot yacht Khazana to the dock. But on the 19th day they were hit by a force 4 storm. It was an echo of Hurricane Raymond, which raised waves of 50 feet. As a result, the yacht capsized. Ashcraft, who was below deck during the storm, lost consciousness.

She woke up three days later. By this time Sharpe was dead, his lifebelt torn, mainmast broken. Fortunately, the sailboat returned to its normal position. Tami built a temporary mast, plotted a route to Hawaii and sailed fifteen hundred miles with a minimum of food and water. After 40 days, she entered Hilo harbor, and then reached her destination port.

7. Outback Australia

Spring 2006 Mark Clifford discovered a six-foot thin man on his land. Although it would be more accurate to call what appeared on a remote farm in northern Australia a real skeleton. It turned out to be Riki Migi, who had been wandering in the wilderness for 10 weeks.

It is not clear exactly how he got lost. According to Miga, his car broke down; there was also a version that he was thrown out by a hitchhiker who picked him up. In addition, Ricky himself used drugs, according to police information. But the fact is that he got lost, spent some time somewhere in the wilderness near a dam on a diet of leeches, frogs and grasshoppers. And most importantly, he survived!

8. Crashed in the Andes

The history of the Uruguayan rugby team is known to many - it is described in books, it is based on feature films and films. documentaries. In 1972, a plane with a crew of 45 people crashed in the mountains. In the first hours, 12 died, the next day another 5 died from injuries. Within a week, four more died, and eight were covered by an avalanche.

The last 16 people fought against hunger and cold. They even had to eat the corpses of their comrades who had previously died from wounds to survive. Hope for rescuers to arrive quickly faded, and then Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado left the mountain. They still managed to reach the people and bring help to their comrades.

Publication date 02/23/2013 17:33

In this article you will learn about basic actions for survival in extreme conditions, including in the wild. Several recommendations that will help you navigate the area, gain confidence in your abilities and solve your problems. Depending on your circumstances and the initial supplies you have, these tips may vary. Therefore, the information in this article is for informational purposes only and cannot be regarded as the only way to survival in extreme conditions, in the wild, in the forest or mountains.

If you are lost in the forest, desert, mountains and plan to reach civilization in the near future in order to continue your normal existence, then listen to a few recommendations that will significantly increase your chances of surviving in difficult conditions.

Basic steps to survive in the wild

First, you need to find a good shelter where you can escape the heat, cold and wind;

You need to somehow try to signal about yourself, for example, through an SOS signal, placing a bright element on the top of a tree, or you can light a strong fire;

Water must be conserved; if there is very little left, you should look for a new source of water;

Save food and try to find new ones.

1. Try to find dry material - wood chips, twigs, birch bark or straw.

2. You will need to find a good place for a fire. In this case, it is important to cover this place from all sides, except the leeward one, with branches and stones. It is also possible to cut the turf in such a way that it also covers the fire from unnecessary sides.

3. Prepare branches for the fire.

4. Light the fire, gradually fan it and start adding branches.

5. In order for the fire to last as long as possible, it is necessary to cover it on all sides with branches or stones. You should also throw in a couple of thick branches.

6. In order not to freeze at night, you should lie down in the space between the fire and some elevation, which can be built with the help of branches. Read also about how to start a fire on our website.

How can you make water clean?

1. If you have a thick cloth, it can clean the water perfectly.

2. On such a cloth you will need to put sand, charcoal, small pebbles and pass water through it all. The result will be clean water, which can be used after boiling for 10 minutes.

How to cook food using a fire

1. You will need to cook food only on coals, but not on fire, so do not rush to burn your prey (if any) in the flames.

2. If you are cooking fish or meat, they should be boiled longer rather than fried. This is necessary in order to remove poisons and dirt from them. Although it is worth noting that any heat treatment produces positive results. But boiled food is more healthy and acceptable to the stomach, although it is much more difficult to cook meat or fish in extreme situations, because most often there are no necessary equipment for this, in particular, a cooking container.

3. If your stomach hurts and you feel nauseous (you ate something wrong in a hurry), then induce vomiting by inserting two fingers closer to the throat. You can also use crushed charcoal or chalk (1-2 tablespoons). You need to wash all this down with water.

What plants can be eaten

1. Never pick the first plant you come across for food - many plants contain poison.

2. Use only those plants that you know for sure.

3. Mushrooms should be avoided.

4. If you want to determine whether a plant can be eaten, you need to take its leaf and squeeze the juice out of it. If the juice is white, this will mean that the plant contains toxic substances.

5. You can check the edibility of the plant in another way - just attach the leaf to the tip of your tongue. If after 5 minutes you have a burning sensation, then the plant should not be eaten.

How to survive in quicksand and swampy areas

You will need to find a long stick and move through this terrain as slowly as possible, while trying to look for high ground. For example, good, more or less strong places are places where shrubs grow.

How to get out of the swamp:

Try to get rid of heavy things and objects, also throw off your backpack;

Try to place a stick or pole under your foot;

Move very slowly - sudden movements are not allowed;

If you realize that you are beginning to be pulled down, then take a more or less horizontal position and ask, if possible, to throw a rope or stretch a pole;

As soon as you grab the stick or rope, gradually begin to climb out;

If there is no help nearby, then simply lie as far as possible on your back and at the same time try to move your legs and arms as if you were swimming on your back;

If you feel tired, just spread your arms and legs and rest for a minute or two and continue.

These simple basic rules will help survive in difficult situations , including in the wild, if you are lost and want to get home safe and sound to your family and friends. Read more detailed information about survival in the wild on our website in the appropriate section.