Belts can do more than just hold your pants up.
A belt is something most of us wear every day, and in a survival situation, it can be put to even more uses than just keeping your pants up.
There are many different types of belts, but they all function in the same basic way, so all can be put to good use in a survival situation. I regularly use my belt to strop my knife, so the edge stays in tip-top condition. There are so many more ways this versatile piece of gear can be used.
Here are the top uses for an ordinary belt in a survival situation:
While this survival use for a belt is obvious, it’s also worth mentioning. With a belt, you can quickly jam or clip a number of tools around your hips to carry with you for convenience. Examples include handguns, hatchets, saws, knives, and spare ammunition.
A belt is one of the best alternatives to a real tourniquet, to tie above the site of an open wound to impede blood flow.
Keeping your food higher than the ground at night is imperative so animals won’t get into it. While rope or Paracord is the best solution for lifting your packages of food off the ground, if neither of those is available, then you’ll have to go with a belt as the next best solution.
A knife spear is an excellent weapon for keeping hungry predators at bay in a survival situation. A belt also will be a superb choice for fastening the hilt of your knife to the end of the pole to complete the spear. Make sure the belt is tied as tightly as possible for the best results.
If you ever come across a wooded area with great firewood, you simply can’t let it go to waste. Carry at least some of that firewood with you so you can use it later in the day when building your fire. Use a belt to wrap up the firewood as a bundle for carrying over your shoulder.
If someone in your survival group is unable to walk, the only two ways you’ll be able to carry them to safety is either over your shoulders or on a stretcher, and the latter option will certainly be the more superior choice. After building your stretcher, tie your belt to the end of it and then pull the person that way.
Wrapping up your clothes in the form of a bundle is easily the simplest and most compact way to carry them over extended distances, especially for coats, jackets, shirts, pants, and short. A belt will be a very convenient item to have for keeping the bundle together tight. You can also tie the bundle onto the end of your pack or backpack for ease of carrying.
Last but certainly not least, you can use your belt as a weapon to defend yourself. The belt gives you a lot of reach, and it will inflict a surprising amount of damage on an opponent. Simple sharpen the buckle with a knife, and then grab the belt by the other end. Use it as a whip so that the buckle and the sharpened point will strike your attacker.
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