Survival Skills: Caught Without Tools – 3 Bare Handed Survival Skills

So what happens when you lose your gear, or you find yourself in an unexpected predicament? Sure, a survival kit should be standard issue for all outdoor enthusiasts, but sometimes – you just get caught empty handed. Don’t freak out. Situations like this aren’t guaranteed to kill you. Our remote ancestors survived with only the resources they found in nature, and with the right survival techniques – so can you! Learn and practice these three bare handed survival skills, and you might just have the edge you need if you lose your knife or your other gear.

A Leaf Hut  You don’t need tools or equipment to build a small insulated hut from natural materials. Think of the animal nests you have seen and create a similar structure from sticks, grass and leaves. Make it so small you can just barely squeeze in, for the best insulation value and the quickest build time. Make the hut very thick and fluffy to fight the coldest weather. You can also take your insulting leaf concept on the road with you. If your clothes are inadequate for the cold, stuff your shirt and pants with leaves, grasses, or any other material that can trap your body heat. Now you’re sheltered and mobile.

The Fire Plow  While it’s the hardest and most brutal method of friction fire to accomplish, the fire plow can be built and used without a single knife or saw blade cutting the fire equipment. Select a log of basswood, cedar or some other soft wood – and pin it down on the ground, preferably braced up against a tree or rock. Hold down the end of the log closest to you with your knee or have someone else hold it down by standing in it. Grab a stick about two feet long and about an inch and a half wide for your plow stick.  Dead and dry yucca flower stalks are one of the greatest materials for this. Simply rub the plow stick briskly on the top of the log covering about a 9 inch long section. The plow stick will abrade a groove in the top of the plow log. Keep rubbing the plow stick back and forth with great speed and downward pressure. Smoke should begin to form and dust should be produced in the deepening groove. The color of the dust should darken as the process continues, until it is dark brown or brownish black. Try to stop at exactly the same spot at the far end of your stroke. This will form a slight shelf or step which will help you to stop at that point over and over. The dust should end up being pushed on top of this shelf and if you plow long enough and hard enough, the dust pile will begin to smolder with a coal in the powder. If it doesn’t ignite, leave the dust in the groove and try again.

Spring Finding  Of all the water sources on the landscape, springs are likely to be the cleanest. And while all water should be disinfected, the only exception I make is when dealing with the water directly from the mouth of a spring that has not yet been exposed to the surface. In wet climates, just walk downhill until you hit a waterway. Then follow the water uphill until you find a spring dumping into it. Many of these are below the water’s surface, but not all. Check the base of cliffs or hills, where the ground water table is being pulled upward – and you may just find a spring that pours from a hole in the rock or hillside. And when no purification methods are available – cross your fingers and drink from a spring.

Written by Tim MacWelch First draft published on outdoorlife.com