How to Stay Alive in the Woods

In the woods with what?

This set can be assembled once and then taken with you at all times. Everything fits in a small bag that doesn't take up much space in a backpack, but can really save a life.

Knife. It is best to use a Victorinox knife or a standard Swiss Army knife. A common thing will come in handy in many cases.
Compass. Need to! Electronic devices can turn off: battery runs out, GPS signal disappears. But if you have a compass and know how to use it, you will quickly find your way. If you don't know how, practice before going into the woods.
Ignition means: matches, lighters, flints, fusing are active. Get a silicone lighter, which is always bright (red, orange) so you can easily find it in the lawn. Even if you don't smoke, take two pieces at once: one in your jacket, the other in your pants. Although the flame is considered "snooping pleasure", it helps if the match and lighter get wet. Fire is life, if you light it up, there will be heat, signals and light.

How flint works: In order for sparks to fly, you need to smash them along the blade

Rescue blanket or 2 garbage bags, each 240 liters. Bags don't take up much space, but this is a really versatile thing: you can make anything out of them, for example a raincoat or a tent.
Lamp. Using your phone as a flashlight leads to the fact that for an hour and a half you will have no means of communication, nor light. Bring a regular flashlight and, if possible, a spare battery pack.
Wire 5-7 meters. Everything in this world can be fixed with a knife and rope.
Bright office markers, pencils and stickers - for labels and notes.
Two candies or any chocolate bar. This is your emergency calorie supply.
Plaster in a roll or an individual dressing bag. Around the forest: baskets, sticks. Fallen, caught - may need a change of clothes. For example, you can put duct tape on the tank and in that case, use that tape to seal the wound.
Bottle , plastic bottle or thermos .
Metal cup. In it, you can boil water and keep it warm. It is best to use a thin-walled cup - it heats the water faster. But an emergency thermos cup won't work - you can't light a fire.
Beep . If you scream for a long time, your strength will quickly run out. Then the whistle will come in handy.
Reflective clothing . If you're going into the woods with kids, be sure to wear autographed vests for them.

Minimal survival kit, the rest add to the list

A more serious version of the survival kit:

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You must simply plug a couple of wires into the ground …and not worry about weather conditions for your rest of life

Psychology leads to unjust death

A person dies mainly from something that is dying inside his head.

Psychologists have such a term - "wood shock". This is the confusion that can overwhelm a person in the wild. In this state, a person loses the rationality of his mind. Recent discoveries in neuroscience have shown that "forest shock" is an emotional response to the difference in reading cognitive maps (the maps that a person has in their head) and their own. real map - i.e. when your idea of the area doesn't coincide with what you see in front of you right now...

The bereaved goes through five stages:

The negation. The person does not admit that he has lost his way, and stubbornly continues to move forward. He does not lose hope that sooner or later his cognitive map will coincide with the real one.
Anger, awareness, panic. That person realizes that he is lost. He no longer rationally assesses the situation, his actions lose meaning and become chaotic, ineffective, and even dangerous.
Planning, fantasizing. Emotional impairment, often due to physical exhaustion or injury. The person thinks he can remember the right path. But, as a rule, this is an illusion.
Disappointment and ruin. When you don't find the right path, the ability to think and feel disappears.
Salvation or death. The force is exhausted and the person submits to his fate. If salvation does not come from outside, he will perish.

What to do not to die?

Starting from the moment when you realize that you are lost, you need to act clearly and not panic.

Don't drive anymore. Immediately, as soon as they realized that they were lost.

Rest for a while. Change clothes, change socks.
Calm.
Timely decision. Look at your watch.
Look around in space. Look around, assess where you are and what's around.
Analyze the situation. Think about how you got lost, where it could have happened, what happened before.

Then follow the rules.

Find out if there is a connection
Hear the sound
Orient yourself in space
Don't try to go fast
Rest at the right time
Find a comfortable place to sleep
Set up the fire
Equip a temporary shelter
Make sure the fire burns all night
Leave cards and notes in place for the night

Find out if there is a connection

If there is a connection, write an SMS with where you are, with you and what you will do. Send it to the mailing list to the people you think are best suited and can help. Do not conduct empty phone conversations, or you will drain the battery.

Example SMS: I am lost. I am in the Petrovsky district. A car in the village of Petrovo. I spent the night in the forest. All ok. I will go out to the north road. Check-out time is at 19:00 tomorrow. Compose an SMS message. I save battery.

Who receives your SMS should call the rescue force. You will then be assigned to a dispatcher. From now on, you only communicate with him, not with the police or anyone else.

If the rescue helicopter commander has contacted you, then just negotiate with him. Answer the questions clearly, try to form short answers, saying only the most important things.

Example of a dialogue with a rescuer:

- How do you feel?

“Okay, but my left leg hurts.

- Do you have water?

- Yes. More than half a thermos of water.

Hear the sound

Audio will help you navigate through space:

train noise - heard up to 10 km;
road noise - up to 3 km;
shot - up to 3 km;
people's voice - up to 1 km.

If you hear a mechanical sound, someone is somewhere nearby. In this situation, you need to take the stick, turn in the direction of the sound, sit down and put the stick on the ground. This is the audio drive. Otherwise, you will forget where the sound is coming from. Then start driving on the noise.

Orient yourself in space

If you don't hear any sounds other than leaves rustling, try to navigate. Navigation in space is the main skill of the traveler. But it is only useful when you imagine that it is north, south, west or east.

Has a compass

Assuming you have a compass, you somehow orientated and decided to go north, but not taking into account that in the north there is a long forest like Vorkuta. At the same time, in the west, 4 kilometers from you, there is a log cabin with a jungler, and in the east, 10 kilometers away, is a city. Therefore, before going somewhere, look at the navigator what is waiting for you (if there is such an opportunity, of course).

No compass

If you do not have a compass, you will have to navigate with the help of available tools:

Apparently sunset and sunrise (west, east). This is best done when the weather is nice in the evening and when the weather is bad in the morning - because of the contrasting sky. But to do this in the forest is quite difficult, you need to go out into the open space.

By clock and sun (north, south). The bisector of the angle between the hour hand and the True Noon marks south. For Moscow and the Moscow region, noon is exactly 12:30. The hour hand should face the sun and place a stick or blade of grass. You will have a direction. It is approximate, but nonetheless. After you get your bearings, grab a stick and draw a compass for yourself right on the ground - without it, you'd have a hard time remembering the direction.

Because of the stars. This is the hardest thing, this skill needs practice. Go out in the evening at the motel down the street, find Cassiopeia, the Bear, and keep watching. Without preparation, you will not be able to navigate.

With the help of special applications in smartphones . Applications with compass, navigator and map must be installed in advance. Make sure to check out how they work and how to work with them. Do this outside the city, in a safe place. And until you're sure of them, don't go into the woods.

Rest at the right time

If time has passed 15:00 in the fall or winter and 18:00 in the spring or summer, travel must be stopped altogether, provided that you do not know where to go. In the fall and winter, sunset begins at 16:00, and in the spring and summer at 17:00, you won't be able to go any further. In addition, you should leave plenty of daylight to prepare a place in the camp.

Find a comfortable place to sleep

To be saved, you need to create a new perception map. To survive, you need to find yourself, then it doesn't matter where you are. You've already hit, lower yourself. Next, you need to make sure that you feel comfortable in your new environment.

What to eat and drink

If you only have two burgers and a sandwich, and you don't know what to do next, the main rules are:

Eat only what you know. That is, what you ate before, and then nothing happens to you. You need to make sure you're looking at a familiar plant or berry.

Don't try to experiment. Dying from dysentery or poisoning is not the best option. If you run out of food, it's best to fast and drink water.

Boil water if possible. It can be obtained from anywhere. There's usually some kind of trail in the woods, rainwater stays there and it's usually clean. If you want to fill the jar with water, don't put it all in - otherwise a suspension will rise, the water will be dirty. Gently drain the water with a cup on the surface and pour it into a pitcher or bottle, then boil in a cup and drink.

How to behave when encountering wild animals

The probability of someone attacking you in mid lane is practically zero. The only danger is a wild fox or a raccoon. In principle, foxes are curious creatures, but if you see it (or a raccoon) barking, spitting out, this is definitely a sick animal. The only way is to kill him. Because if it bites you, you die. All other animals will not come. Wild boar, bear, wolf - no. An elk can come in, but if you make a lot of noise and walk, don't.

There is a chance to meet feral dogs - there are no statistics on such encounters, but from experience it is clear that they are terrible in their own pack. They have the ability to surround and attack from many different directions. Stand with your back to a tree (this will limit approaching you from behind), grab a stick, choose the best hunting dog and start hitting it. As soon as you defeat the leader, the pack will scatter. Ultrasonic repellents won't help, and neither will a small pepper spray. Only "bear spray" will work, but your chances of getting it into the woods are extremely small - hence, only a stick.

How to identify yourself so that you can be found from the air

A search and rescue team is working in that area... these are people on their own helicopters. If you hear the sound of a helicopter, get your attention:

Smoke;
fire;
a lantern;
smartphone screen;
SOS signal - you can step on the inscription on the field.
Go outside where the trees are not too tall, throw it over a bush - this will mark your position.

Finally: the rule of three

Remember that a person can live:

3 minutes without air
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without hope
3 signals in a row

Three consecutive signals are international danger signals. This is not an SOS that everyone knows, but no one reads. But just three identical signals - simple and clear.