Essential Survival Skills for Every Man

Muscling with wild nature and skinning a big Alaskan game might sound thrilling but first you need to arm yourself with these essential survival skills in your backyard.

We are children of modern convenience. Food, clothes, shopping, friends, family, and even work at our fingertips. We can roam the long sandy beaches of the Mediterranean or the African Savannah with a morning cup of coffee on Google maps. It's a blessing. But with this convenience, this divine sanction comes a hidden dark side - something most of us do not see. Man's inborn skill to survive in the natural environment has been numbed. It's lost its edge. Most men will not last the wildlands for long. But there's good news. We're children of the wild. It won't take us long to reawaken the inborn survival skills that are already within all of us.

Here I'll talk about some of the most essential skills that you can sharpen in your backyard. This will give you the hard mindset and the confidence to wander off and lose yourself in nature's warm embrace. The world will become a more beautiful place to live in - and you'll learn to love and respect nature more.

Navigation - Walking With The Stars

The number one survival skill we all need to learn is navigation. You can start doing this right now by paying more attention to your surroundings. Go for a walk, take a different route, and start to pick up clues and landmarks. See where the sun is above your head. Read the shadows. It'll give you both a sense of direction and time. Keep reading your surroundings every day, and soon you wouldn't be looking at your watch for time or a compass for direction.

Navigating in the dark should be generally avoided. But if you have to, follow the stars. They seem to follow a circular path and that can be used to navigate.

STARS ROTATION	Left	Up	Right	Down
YOUR DIRECTION	North	East	South	West

Lie down on the ground with a stick and then line it up with a star to see which way the star moves. If you can’t finda straight stick, you can use a tall Fixed Blade Knife.

Fire

I often talk about the importance of learning how to start a fire. Because you'll need this for everything, from purifying water, torching food, staying warm, light, warding off predators, cauterize wounds, signal for help .... the list is endless. To start with, it's a good idea to carry a lighter on you, and a box of matches. Both have their pros and cons.

It's important you learn how to start a fire with nothing but dry wood. You should also learn how to use batteries and steel wool to ignite a flame. This is especially useful when the wood is too damp and you need to start a fire quickly. Last but not least is learning how to start a fire with flint and steel. You can use a rugged fixed blade knife or a folding knife for steel.

Shelter

It's essential you know how to build a temporary shelter to protect yourself. One of the easiest survival structures you can build is a 'Lean-To'. The name derives from the fact that this is made with a large number of branches leaning on a preexisting natural formation. For building any kind of shelter, you should carry with you a sharp and reliable hunting knife.