Tips for Surviving in the Wilderness Without Survival Tools

You may think that without the aid of important survival tools, your odds of surviving in the wilderness are practically zero.

But, truth be told, survival tools only make surviving in the wilderness easier. They are not one hundred percent necessary for survival, and there are many people who have found themselves in dangerous wilderness survival situations but were able to survive without them.

Here are some top tips for surviving in the wilderness without survival tools:

Navigating

Follow a creek or river downstream until you eventually locate civilization.

Navigation is always easier with the aid of a GPS or compass. However, neither of those are truly necessary.

For example, you can always use the sun to help you navigate – knowing that it rises in the east and sets in the west. You can also locate a running source of water by heading downhill into valleys and gulches, and then you can follow any creek or river you find downstream until you eventually locate civilization. 

Shelter Building

A crude log shelter can still provide a lot of shelter in the wild.

You can also easily build shelter without the aid of survival equipment as well. For example, a simple lean-to shelter is extremely easy to build.

Find two trees that are roughly six feet apart. Then find a pole of equal length and tie it horizontally to the two trees using your shoelaces, natural vine, or clothing. Next, lean poles and sticks to one side of the horizontal pole (preferably the side facing the wind). 

Place leaves and grass on the ground to insulate you and to make for more comfortable bedding. You can also place leaves, moss, and grass into the cracks between the poles for further protection against the wind. 

Build a fire on the open side of the lean-to shelter for warmth and light. If the wall of the shelter is properly insulated, the heat should become trapped and help to warm you up faster. 

NOTE: to build an A-frame shelter, simply repeat the above process but place sticks and poles against both sides of the shelter rather than just one. 

Defense

Use a sharp rock to sharpen the end of a stick into a point

Defense and your personal safety is vitally important in any survival situation. One of the best defensive weapons that you can build will be a spear because it gives you plenty of reach against hungry predators. 

Even without the aid of your usual tools, you can still easily build a spear yourself. For example, find a relatively long and sturdy pole and remove any branches from it. Then, use a sharp rock to sharpen the end of it into a point. Just like that, you have yourself a defensive spear.

A bow and arrow can be fashioned fairly easily

Although it’s far more complicated, another survival weapon that you can build is a bow and arrow. You’ll need to find a bendable pole around five feet in length, remove any branches from it, and then use your shoelaces as the line. For the arrow, you’ll need to find a branch around two to three feet long, sharpen the end of it with a rock, and then carve a notch into the end of it to fit into the shoelace. It may be a crudely made bow, but it will work if it’s made right.

First Aid

 

Treating an injury in the wild can force you to improvise.

Even the smallest of injuries will need to be treated with the strictest of attention in a survival situation in order to minimize the risk of infection. 

But what if you don’t have band-aids, gauze pads, or any normal first aid equipment? The answer is simple: improvise.

For example: let’s say you fracture a limb. Obviously, you need to stabilize it. To do so, you’ll need a splint; and if you don’t have a real medical splint you can make one using sticks and shoelaces. 

The same goes for bandages. Improvise! You can easily tear off a piece of your shirt, wrap it around your wound, and then secure it with shoelaces as well. 

Conclusion

If you learn anything from this article, it’s that you can survive on your own in the wilderness without survival equipment. Yes, a knife, rope, medical equipment, GPS, and other items like that will make your survival efforts easier, but they are not one hundred percent necessary for your survival either. You can survive without them.