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Where the road ends and life begins
Your outdoor survival kit
Your outdoor survival kit plays a major part in a survival situation. The type of equipment you have in your survival kit will often depend on what the environment is where you are going. You will need to keep the most important items on you body at all times, such as your map and compass, a knife and lighter.
Your
kit
does not need to look good but it does need to be multi-functional. In other words, each item in the kit needs to be able to do different tasks. Take nylon line for example; it can be used for a fishing line, sewing thread, help tie together items, etc. An item can look good but if it doesn't perform the task that it was designed for then get rid of it.
You outdoor survival kit should be stored in a container that is waterproof or water resistant, easy to carry, be able to carry all the necessities and durable. Once you have all that then you need to break down all you items into several categories. Those categories and some examples are:
You should have items that will allow you to draw, scoop up, soak up or suck up water. Something to gather condensation, rainwater, and perspiration; something to transport water and something to purify water. Some examples of these are: purification tablets, iodine tabs or drops, non-lubricated condoms, collapsible canteens or water bags.
A lighter, waterproof matches, magnesium bar, candles or a magnifying lens.
Some parachute cord, knife, machete or hatchet, poncho, space blanket, hammock, mosquito net and a wire saw.
Knife, snare wire, fishhooks, fish and snare line, bouillon cubes or soup packets, food bars, aluminum foil, freezer bags.
ibuprofen, lip balm, surgical blades, butterfly sutures, safety pins and antibiotics
Mirror, pen flare, whistle, flashlight and solar blanket
Wrist compass, needle and thread, survival manual and knife sharpener
You are probably thinking; “But my outdoor survival kit is supposed to be small. How am I supposed to get all that into my kit?” You won't. You may only need one item from each of those lists to make up you survival kit. For example: The freezer bag under the food section will let you store food, scoop up water, transport water and store your whole survival kit in it to make it waterproof. Another example; your fishing line or nylon line will let you catch food, tie up things and can be used as thread to repair yourself or other items.
You will see more examples as we get into the different types of hiking survival kits in the next sections.
Note:
I have broken down the different types of outdoor survival kits into different pages because this page would take forever to read if I put it all here. Besides you may only be interested in one certain type depending on where you are going.
You can make your own kit or you can purchase on on-line or in your local store. I have found that with the cost of the separate items it is less expensive to purchase a complete kit. There are some great kits on the market but you will want to look at all the items listed in the contents section of the specific outdoor survival kit.
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