Top 10 Survival Tools You Must Have On Your Way To Wilderness

When It comes to Survival You must equip yourself with light and easily portable tools that will come handy even If you are a newbie for the wilderness. The reason may vary from natural and man made disasters Such as flood , Avalanche , land slide, earthquake. Or, You are a outdoor freak like me who just wants to go into the wilderness to get away from the chaos and Pollution of urban environment. Whatever may be the reason, you Always want your backpack to be light and equipped with most important things to help you.

Your Priority in the wilderness

There may be some up and down in the list , but as I have known, These are top in most of the lists:

1. Fire : Fire is one of the most important stuff when it comes to Bush-crafting. It helps you protect from Cold, wild animals. It gives you light to save your batteries for the worst. It helps you cook your food , so that you don't have to be bear grylls to eat raw meats.
2. Water : You don't want to keep yourself thirsty in the middle of nowhere, right? So you need regular supply of  drinking water.
3. Food : You might not have a KFC or McDonald Store nearby , So You will need tools to make it easy to find edible veggies or meat .
4. Shelter Building : Sleeping under twinkling Stars may seem fascinating , but not when you have it with heavy rainfall, mosquitoes and flies. So you must prepare a quick shelter to keep you protected.
5.  Communication : If you are stuck in dense forest or on a part of hill due to landslide or snowfall , It may be difficult for rescue forces to find you even if you are close to them , So you may want to have signalling devices. More Important to that you should have a knowledge of directions , So navigation is a key.

The List of top 10 survival items for wilderness

10. Flashlight 

Whether it be for giving signals or providing you extra visibility during night or dense forests, Flashlight can be extremely useful for you . If you are going in consider bringing extra batteries for your torch.

9. Tarp / Plastic Sheet

If You are caught in heavy rain , setting a primitive shelter of wood logs and leaves may not be sufficient to keep you safe. So getting a plastic sheet to either cover your shelter, or your backpack or even you is way too good than you think.

8. Survival Fishing kit

Fishing is lot easier than hunting. But you can't fish with your hands and if you are a newbie like me, you might not know how to set primitive fish traps along rivers and streams. So keeping few lines and hooks is a good option . You can easily assemble it with natural wooden rod and twig floats so that you can get some fishes.

7. machete or Axe

If You have one machete only you could survive in wilderness for many days. It provides you a wide range of operations from carving , incising , cutting ,making trails, scraping tinder from woods to hunting and cutting meat. This is due to its broad(14 inches inmost cases ) blade and long design.

A survival machete Illustration

survival Axe Illustration

 6. Mirror and Whistle 

Whistle is the most important communication item. It is used to in touch with your group if you are separated. You can also attract attention of Passing Rescuer , if you are not in sight range. But kids and amateur persons should keep it off until there is actual emergency. You can draw unnecessary attention of hunters whether it be animals or humans.Don't get yourself a kid's toy if you are going into the wild . A military , and hiking whistle with good and easy operation is preferred.

Mirror is also important  when you want to draw attention of aircraft , distant ships, ground searches and rescuers without making noise. You must find a good quality mirror that is military rated and durable.

5. Water Bottle and purifier 

Water is certainly life saver for any living thing on earth, leave survival situation alone. If you are going in wild for fun , then also You should carry a water bottle with you. You would definitely want to refill water whenever you get a chance. But what if Water is not that crystal clean and You don't have RO purifier with you. 

Water Filters In Survival Situations

A water filter mechanically removes pathogens from the water. Think of it like a really good sieve that is able to catch even the tiniest bacteria. Filters designed for survival will filter down to 0.2 microns. Some of the newest water filters can even filter down to 0.01 microns.

Water Purifiers In Survival Situation

A water purifier is a treatment system which will also kill/inactivate viruses in water. Two examples of water purifiers are water treatment chlorine tablets, UV light pens like SteriPen and lifestraw portable water purifiers. . The downside of these systems is that they don’t remove sediment from water. Sediment won’t kill you, but it is definitely not a good idea to gulp down muddy water.

4. Paracord 

A good quality Paracord is one in all survival tool in itself. Some of the main uses of paracord are listed as follows:

• rescue line
• Tourniquet
• using as a fishing line or fishing net
• making shelters knots 
• emergency splint and sutures
• leaving trail marks 

Paracord bracelet

 Survival Paracord uses are limited by only your imagination and experiences. there are many ways you can use them and they will not disappoint you.

3.  Compass and Map

 It is good if you have smartphone equipped with GPS and locator. But what if You are off the batteries and no electrical supplies. A magnetic compass and a map can save your time and life because you will not have to roam here and there without a knowledge of direction and your location.

Compass and maps can be used together to help you in best way but in worst case they will asist you individually also.

2. Knife / Multi-tool

Leave all tools apart and knife will help you to survive alone as your best companion. knife is used in most operations like cutting , carving, bush-craft, hunting, preparing meat and fishes. defense is another feature that you can use your knife for.

In urban survival Situation, a Multi-tool is very important for any person. You can use screw drivers, saw, wrench , or knife and many more tools provided there.

1. Fire Starter

Fire has been a companion of human species even before he knew to live socially. may it be fighting cold or be it keeping intruders off your ground or cooking food, fire is most important companion of Human survival. You can even use it to give signal to your lost group or rescuer. But for all above operations you must have one thing, that is Fire itself. here are common tools to help you

A fire starter rod

• water proof safety matches
• lighters
• using lens to make fire with sunlight
• magnesium and steel rod fire starters
• friction method of starting fire.

             The List is very large But I hope I have listed few most important survival tools as per my knowledge. Please comment below what are you rankings for above tools and what you would like to replace with them . Stay tuned for more articles or take your time to read my other articles.

There are many more items that are worth remembering in your Survival gear check  list :

• Survival medical kit
• duct tape
• solar panel for charging batteries