Initial Survival Planning

If you are ever in a survival situation, controlling your emotions and calmly creating a plan is the first step once you are out of immediate danger. You must understand some basics of how your body and brain are wired to avoid being hijacked by emotional responses that could get you hurt. Here is a great link to an article in National Geographics’s Adventure magazine, Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales that deals with the natural responses and how they can help or hinder. But for our purpose, let’s fast forward to the point after an initial event when the immediate (you’re not drowning anymore) danger is over. The point when you must make a decision to come up with a plan and survive… or let nature take its course.

What are your first steps? Panic and emotion may dictate a direction that is not based on the reality of the situation.

Remember to STOP!

· Slow down and evaluate the situation and reset your attitude.

· Take inventory of what you have in your possession as well as your skills and the resources around you.

· Organize. Organize your thoughts, priorities, near and potential threats, and opportunities.

· Plan Implementation. Action does count! Shelter must be built, your resources must be maximized, and you must deal with the immediacy of the situation…but in an organized, thoughtful way that will lead to the desired end result of being found and surviving.

Let's Break Down the Survival Planning Steps in Detail

Starting with the S, stop the panic, take control of your emotions, and slow down!

You may have just survived the initial emotional trauma of something significant. Your body has a natural fight or flight response, adrenaline is coursing through your veins, blood pressure is high, and reality may seem a blur. You cannot let this state persist or it may kill you or exacerbate the situation. If there is not an immediate, life threatening danger present, you must slow down and regain control of your mental capacity. Panic can hurt you or others. Sit down and evaluate what has happened. Take control of your attitude. Reset your thoughts to the positive, solution finding, ingenious machine that you must be. There is no other choice. Stop! Breathe! Assess! Invent!

Next, let’s deal with the T. Take inventory of the situation and what you have at your disposal.

Hopefully you have some items readily available in your survival pack. If not, it’s time to be creative. Basic items on your body may have many alternative purposes. Take inventory and become present to the situation and your current environment and surroundings. The T in STOP could also stand for think! It is time to get creative and find unique ways to solve problems, all boundaries are gone. A string may become a fishing line, a sandwich bag becomes a way to collect water, a piece of metal becomes a lure, a small snack becomes bait to trap more substantial calories. Think, create, plan, act!

I do hope everyone takes this opportunity to evaluate and create your own survival essentials pack. (Invitation to share their checklist with TheHuntingAuthority.com) Please view my checklist (hyperlink) and I invite you to post yours - to share with our community, there is no shortage of great ideas. My focus is on portability. Many of the trips I take are fly-ins, boating, or pack trips were weight and space is an obvious issue. I have a minimalist approach and try and fit the majority of my items in a zip-lock baggie that is very packable. Everything I need to create a plan, build shelter, start fire, acquire water, and ultimately be found can fit in a small portion of a pack. (Please look at the Survival Checklist link for suggestions.) I’d also check out the “links” section of the Survival Home Page for access to other great sites.

Organize!

In a survival pack, I’d suggest to include...at a minimum several pieces of paper and a pen/pencil, if not a small notebook. This can allow you to organize and prioritize your thoughts and understand the demands of the situation in a visual way. You must deal with shelter, water, food, fire, and a plan. Understand the order of needs based on your environment:

1. Shelter. Unless in a very moderate environment, this is first. In many instances without shelter you could be in a fatal situation within hours and sometimes minutes.

2. Water. The human body can only go 2 – 3 days without hydration, and the timeline is accelerated under multiple conditions.

3. Fire. A source of heat may move up or down the priority list depending on the environment, plan accordingly.

4. Food. It takes up to 3 weeks or more to parish from malnutrition. You have time and should have enough in your survival pack to get you through the first hours or days.

5. Become visable and be heard. People will look for you if you’ve let people know your plan. Don’t make it hard on them. Have a whistle, prepare an S.O.S. and a signal fire if possible.

Just the action of taking a few moments to write down and prioritize your plan could save you time, energy, and your life. I’m not advocating writing a novel, just take a few minutes to take stock, prioritize, and problem solve. Write down your last known location, pending threats, and potential solutions. Break down the plan into bite size, achievable pieces, with clearly defined timetables. It becomes goal planning 101. Examples

· I will build a shelter by 3:00 pm. Resources available - parachute cord, blade/knife, 50 lb. fishing line, plastic / tarp, my knowledge. Initial steps to obtain shelter……

· I will find a water source by 5:00 pm. Resources available - 2 bottles of water in my pack, a zip-lock bag, plastic, a Duluth pack. Initial steps to secure potable water……

· I will build fire well before dark…. Resources available - a lighter, waterproof matches, a knife, cotton balls, a newspaper from the lodge. Initial steps to establish fire……

Plan Implementation.

You have now calmed down from the initial event, you have reset your attitude, taken inventory of your resources, organized and prioritized a plan of action, and now it’s time to put the plan into action. Remember to proceed with a common sense approach in a calm, intent manner.

There is detailed information throughout the Survival section giving you step by step instructions needed to implement every facet of the plan. Check out our checklists, user suggestions, and links for additional information. We also invite you to post your hints, ideas, checklists, and even articles or stories. TheHuntingAuthority.com is ultimately for hunters by hunters and we are always interested in sharing your stories and experiences.