Ultimate Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

by David Borgenicht

  Wood to keep the fire going. Select deadwood from the tree, not off the ground. Good wood should indent with pressure from a fingernail but not break easily.

  Bow. A curved stick about two feet long.

  String. A shoelace, parachute cord, or leather thong. Primitive cordage can be made from yucca, milkweed, or another tough, stringy plant.

  Socket. A horn, bone, piece of hard wood, rock, or sea-shell that fits in the palm of the hand and will be placed over a stick.

  Lube. You can use earwax, skin oil, a ball of green grass, lip balm, or anything else oily.

  Spindle. A dry, straight 3/4- to 1-inch-diameter stick approximately 12 to 18 inches long. Round one end and carve the other end to a point.

  Fire board. Select and shape a second piece of wood into a board approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick, 2 to 3 inches wide, and 10 to 12 inches long. Carve a shallow dish in the center of the flat side approximately 1/2 inch from the edge. Into the edge of this dish, cut a V-shaped notch.

  Tray. A piece of bark or leaf inserted under the V-shaped notch to catch the ember. The tray should not be made of deadwood.

  Nest. Dry bark, grass, leaves, cattail fuzz, or some other combustible material, formed into a bird’s nest shape.

  Making a Fire in the Snow

  To make a dry bed for your fire in snow-covered terrain, gather green logs about as thick as your forearm. Arrange half of them parallel to one another, forming a square platform, then arrange the other half crosswise across the lower layer. Use dry wood to build your fire on top of the platform.

  Enlargement of V-shaped notch

  How to Start the Fire

  1 Tie the string tightly to the bow, one end to each end of the stick.

  2 Kneel on your right knee, with the ball of your left foot on the fire board, holding it firmly to the ground.

  3 Take the bow in your hands.

  4 Loop the string near the center of the bow.

  5 Insert the spindle in the loop of the bowstring so that the spindle is on the outside of the bow, pointed end up.

  The bowstring should now be tight—if not, loop the string around the spindle a few more times.

  6 Take the hand socket in your left hand, notch side down. Lubricate the notch.

  Add pressure to the socket, and speed your bowing motion until an ember is produced.

  7 Place the rounded end of the spindle into the dish of the fire board and the pointed end of the spindle into the hand socket.

  8 Pressing down lightly on the socket, draw the bow back and forth, rotating the spindle slowly.

  9 Add pressure to the socket and speed to your bowing until you begin to produce smoke and ash.

  When there is a lot of smoke, you have created an ember.

  Tie a string tightly to the bow.

  Loop the string in the center and insert the spindle.

  Press down lightly on the socket. Draw bow back and forth, rotating spindle.

  10 Immediately stop your bowing motion and tap the spindle on the fire board to knock the ember into the tray.

  11 Remove the tray and transfer the ember into your “nest.”

  12 Hold the nest tightly and blow steadily onto the ember.

  Eventually, the nest will catch fire.

  13 Add kindling onto the nest. When the kindling catches, gradually add larger pieces of fuel.

  WARNING!

  You should not be dependent on any primitive fire method to maintain life in a wilderness survival emergency. Making fire in this manner can be quite difficult under actual harsh conditions (rain, snow, cold). You should practice this method at home before you attempt it in the wilderness to familiarize yourself with the quirks of the process.

  HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITH A SINGLE STALK OF BAMBOO

  1 Split a piece of dry bamboo down the middle.

  A dry bamboo stalk will be brown or tan and may have brown leaves near the top. Use a machete or sharp stone to crack it down the center. The grain of the bamboo makes it easy to split.

  2 Anchor one piece of the bamboo to the ground.

  Lay half of the split bamboo horizontally on the ground, with the hollow side facing up. Use several wooden stakes to secure it in place.

  3 Make a notch halfway down the other piece of bamboo.

  Use a pocketknife to make a wedge-shaped notch that is about an inch wide on the outside of the bamboo and a narrow slit on the inside.

  4 Gather several sticks of various sizes.

  You will use these to feed the fire once it’s started.

  5 Shave thin filaments from the notched piece of bamboo.

  Scrape your machete or a sharp stone back and forth over the split edges. The fine grain will peel off, forming a soft tuft of dry tinder.

  6 Place the clump of tinder inside the carved notch.

  Settle the wide part of the notch on the edges of the anchored bamboo, forming an X. Rapidly drag the top piece of bamboo back and forth to create friction against the anchored stalk. After a while, the tinder will begin to smoke and burn.

  7 Nurse the small flame into a full-blown fire.

  Place several small, dry sticks on top of the burning tinder, gradually adding larger pieces of fuel until the fire is of the desired size.

  Quickly rub the notch over the hollow bamboo until the tinder catches fire.

  WATER

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  HOW TO FIND WATER ON A DESERTED ISLAND

  1 Collect rainwater in whatever container is handy.

  A bowl, plate, or helmet will work—so will a life raft and stretched clothing. In very dry environments, condensation forms on surfaces overnight. Use a tarp or other fabric—shaped as a bowl—to collect water.

  2 Collect dew.

  Tie rags or tufts of fine grass to your ankles and walk in grass or foliage at sunrise. The dew will gather on the material, which can then be wrung out into a container.

  3 Head for the mountains.

  An island that appears barren on the coast may have a green, mountainous interior, which is an indication of freshwater streams and creeks. Find these by following trails of vegetation. Do not waste too much energy hiking or moving long distances unless you are relatively certain you will find water (meaning that the lush greenery is not far away).

  4 Catch fish.

  The area around a fish’s eyes contains drinkable liquid, as do fish spines (except shark spines). Suck the eyes, and break the vertebrae of the spine apart and suck the liquid from them. Fish flesh also contains drinkable water—but fish are high in protein, and protein digestion requires additional water, so you are better off squeezing raw fish in clothing or a tarp to extract water.

  5 Look for bird droppings.

  In arid climates, bird droppings around a crack in a rock may indicate a water source. (Birds often congregate around cracks where water collects.) Stuff a cloth into the crack, then wring it out into a container or your mouth.

  6 Locate banana and plantain trees.

  Cut down the tree, leaving a stump about one foot high. Scoop out the center of the stump, so that the hollow is bowl shaped. The roots will continually refill the stump with water for about four days. The first three fillings will be bitter, but subsequent fillings will be less so. Cover the stump to keep out insects.

  WARNING!

  Seawater is generally not safe to drink; its high salt content can cause kidney failure. Moreover, two quarts of body fluid are required to rid the body of the waste in one quart of seawater. As a last resort, you can drink less than three ounces of seawater per day; while not healthy, it may keep you alive.

  Rainwater collected in a container is generally safe to drink, provided the container is clean and the water does not stand; any standing water is capable of breeding bacteria.

  Tie rags to your ankles to collect dew.

  Finding Water in the Desert

  Dig at the base of cliffs and rock outcroppings.

  Dig beneath the outside edge of a dry streambed.


  Dig in the hollow behind the first sand dune in a coastal desert.

  Follow mosquitoes and especially bees, which are known to fly in a straight line toward water from half a mile away.

  Flip over desert rocks just before dawn—their cool undersides will cause dew to form on the surface at sunrise.

  HOW TO PURIFY WATER

  Filtration

  Filter water from all sources in the wild—mountain stream, spring, river, lake, or pond.

  1 Find or make your filter.

  Coffee filters, paper towels, ordinary typing paper, or even your clothing can serve as filters (the more tightly woven, the better). You can also make an effective filter by filling a sock with alternating layers of crushed charcoal, small crushed rocks, and sand.

  2 Pour the water through a filter.

  Do this several times to clean out impurities.

  WARNING!

  Filtration will only remove some of the water’s impurities. It will not kill bacteria or other microorganisms. The best procedure is to filter water first, then treat it with chemicals or boil it.

  Chemical Treatment

  1 Add two drops of household bleach for each quart of water.

  Use three drops if the water is extremely cold or cloudy.

  OR

  Use one iodine tablet or five drops of drugstore iodine (2 percent) per quart of water.

  2 Mix the water and bleach or iodine, and let it sit for at least one hour.

  The chemicals will kill microorganisms; the longer the water sits, the purer it will be. Leaving the water overnight is the safest course of action.

  Distillation

  1 Dig a hole about a foot deep, and wide enough to hold your container.

  2 Place a clean container at the center of the hole.

  3 Cover the hole with a piece of plastic.

  A tarp or a section of a garbage bag works well as a cover.

  4 Place sticks or stones around the edges of the plastic so that it is flush with the ground and air cannot escape.

  5 Poke a 1/4- to 1/2-inch hole in the center of the tarp, and place a small stone next to the hole, so that the tarp looks like a funnel.

  Make sure the hole is above, but not touching, the top of the container.

  6 Wait.

  The heat from the sun will cause water in the ground to evaporate, condense on the plastic, and drip into the container. While your solar still will not produce much liquid (less than one cup), the water is safe to drink immediately. The process can take anywhere from several hours to a full day to produce water, depending on the water in the ground and the strength of the sun.

  Boiling

  Boil water for at least one minute, plus one minute of boiling time for each 1,000 feet above sea level.

  If fuel is abundant, boil water for 10 minutes before drinking it. The longer the water boils, the more microorganisms that are killed. Beyond 10 minutes, however, no further purification occurs. Be sure to let the water cool before drinking it.

  Last-Ditch Liquids You Can Drink

  Urine (long-term ingestion can cause problems)

  Blood (human blood may contain hepatitis or HIV, so animal blood is somewhat safer)

  Seawater

  After Disinfecting

  Freshwater creeks/streams

  Toilet tank water (not toilet bowl water), as long as the tank does not have any type of disinfectant, and provided the rubber seal between the tank and bowl is intact and does not leak

  Water from an unknown source

  MAROONED

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  HOW TO SURVIVE WHEN MAROONED

  Find drinkable water.

  Gather rainwater by hollowing out the stumps of trees, but do not let the water sit for more than a day before drinking it.

  Tie rags around your ankles and walk through the grass at dawn, then squeeze the dew from the rags into your mouth.

  Drink the water in coconuts, though excessive consumption may cause diarrhea and dehydration.

  Move to higher ground to survey as much of the terrain as possible. An island that appears to be dry may have a wet, mountainous interior.

  In arctic environments, search for blue ice with round corners that splinters easily—this is old sea ice and is nearly free of salt. Icebergs are also made of freshwater.

  If you are desperate, drink the water found in the eyes and spines of large fish.

  Take care of your body.

  Stay in the shade to protect yourself from the sun as well as from the reflection of the sun on the water.

  If you are in a tropical environment, dampen your clothes during the hottest part of the day to cool yourself and to avoid losing water through perspiration.

  If freshwater is readily available, use this water to moisten your clothes to avoid boils and sores caused by salt water.

  If you are in an arctic environment, find a cave or dig yourself a shelter in the snow to keep your body temperature up.

  Relax and sleep when possible.

  Find food.

  Make a fishnet by placing your shirt over a forked tree branch and tying off both ends. Pull fish out of shallow water as they swim over the net. Fish without spiny scales may be eaten raw or cooked.

  Kill seabirds by throwing rocks at them, as long as you have fire to cook them. You may be able to attract birds by flashing metal into the sky.

  Do not eat anything if you feel nauseated; drink only water and wait to eat until your stomach is calm.

  Signal.

  Make a signal fire by quickly rotating a small stick back and forth between your palms while one end is pressed against a piece of flat wood on the ground. The friction will create heat, which will ignite dry grass.

  Keep a small fire burning at all times, with plenty of fuel ready in case you spot a passing ship. Do not let the fire get out of control. Be prepared to douse it when help arrives.

  Keep a good lookout.

  Chances are your ship was sailing on a known trade route, and other ships are likely to sail within several miles of your island. Move to high ground so you can see the horizon in every direction.

  How to Open Coconuts

  Drive the end of a stick into the ground and sharpen the top end. Slam the nut down on the point of the stick, using both hands to crack the outer fibrous covering. Smash the inner shell against a rock or tree.

  HOW TO FISH WITHOUT A ROD

  1 Determine the best location for your fishing.

  Fish usually congregate in shadow, near the edges of lakes, rivers, and streams.

  2 Find a forked sapling approximately two feet long.

  Cut it down or break it off. The forked ends should be around one foot long.

  3 Bend the two ends toward each other and tie them together.

  The tied ends will form the circular frame of a net.

  4 Remove your shirt or T-shirt.

  5 Tie a knot in the shirt just below the arm and neck holes.

  6 Slip the sapling into the shirt.

  7 Pin or tie the shirt securely to all sides of the frame.

  8 Scoop up the fish.

  Find a forked branch. Tie the ends together.

  Tie a shirt into a knot.

  Alternative

  Large fish can be speared with a pole sharpened to a point at one end. This method works best at night, when fish come to the surface.

  Slip the branch into the shirt. Secure the shirt to the frame.

  Scoop fish from underneath to catch.

  HOW TO MAKE A FRIEND FROM MATERIALS ON THE ISLAND

  Examine the debris.

  Examine the flotsam and jetsam, or debris from your vessel or plane’s wreckage, looking for beach balls, soccer balls, bowling balls, or other spherical objects upon which faces and hair can be drawn.

  Make seashell friends.

  Gather largish seashells and glue them together with tree sap into humanoid shapes.

  Make tree friends.

  Carve smiling faces into the bark of p
alm trees.

  Make wild pig and lizard friends.

  Follow around the indigenous species of the island, assigning each of them a distinct personality. When it becomes necessary, eat them.

  Draw a face on your hand.

  Draw a friend in the sand.

  Use a fallen branch to trace a stick figure in the wet sand of the beach. Each morning, grieve that the tide has taken away your friend, and trace a new one.

  Make friends with yourself.

  Find a body of still water that reflects your appearance. Smile. Compliment yourself, and ask yourself about the details of your day.

  SIGNALS

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  HOW TO SIGNAL WITH A MIRROR

  1 Make your fingers into a sight.

  Extend your arm and spread two fingers to form a V.

  2 Position your mirror under one eye.

  Use your other hand to position your mirror just under one eye, facing away from you.

  3 View the airplane between your fingers.

  When you see the rescue plane or helicopter approaching, frame it between your two raised fingers.