12 Survival Skills Everyone Should Learn: Don’t Get Caught Off Guard

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Every day we live with the possibility that a crisis or catastrophe may occur which will be devastating and require us to apply survival skills to live for a period of time. In this article, we discuss some survival skills that you should learn to help you in case of a catastrophe.

1. Hunting

One of the most important survival skills to learn is hunting. In this modern world, hunting is not a skill many learn because food can be easily found in stores. Although there are many people who hunt, they are in the minority and hunt as a hobby or just because they like the activity.

Hunting is a survival skill that everyone should learn as it will help you provide meat for yourself and your family during a crisis.

There are many animals that you can hunt like squirrels, deer, rabbits, elks, mule deer, and many others. Learning how to hunt is a skill that can’t be overemphasized. If you are interested in hunting, then visit the Hunting Terrain for more hunting information.

2. Fishing

Fishing is another important survival skill you should learn as it as supply you with a good source of protein in case of a crisis. There are many people who fish, but it is done as an outdoor recreational activity even though a few anglers fish to provide protein as a food source.

Fishing
Source: takemefishing.org

Learning how to fish is a very good survival skill to learn and practice as it might come in handy during a catastrophe. There is many fish that you can catch as a food source like trout, bass, salmon, mackerel, walleye, and many other fish.

Are you making common fishing mistakes? Don’t let these errors ruin your next fishing trip – check out our guide to learn how to avoid them and improve your chances of catching more fish. Remember, practice makes perfect, so take these tips and hit the water to become a better angler today!

3. Preserving Meat

Preserving meat and fish is another survival skill that you should learn. In this modern day, it is easy to preserve meat and fish as you can buy them from the grocery chain and keep them refrigerated.

However, in case of a crisis, in which they may not be electrical power to refrigerate meat and fish, you will need to preserve game meat and fish.

Meat can easily be preserved by smoking the meat to dry out all fluid from the meat to keep it from getting infected by microorganisms. This is very effective and was used in ancient times to preserve meat as well as fish.

Another method of preserving meat and fish is to immerse them in salt that will dry out all the fluids from the meat and fish by the salt. This is also another method of preservation used in ancient times.

4. Building a Shelter

Building a Shelter
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Learning to build a shelter is a very important skill to learn. During ancient times, and even a few decades ago, humans learn to build their homes from timber and dry leaves.

Some people also used stones and mud blocks to build their homes. Learning how to build a shelter is a skill that everyone should learn in case of a crisis.

5. Purifying Water

Water is very important for human survival and purifying water for consumption is a survival skill that should be learned. There are many different ways to purify water and you need to learn a few different ways to purify water to remove microorganisms from it.

A simple way to purify water is to boil it to kill all microorganisms in it. As the temperature of the water reaches boiling temperature, most microorganisms will not survive at that temperature.

6. Building Traps

Building traps is another important survival skill that everyone should learn. In a crisis, you will need to hunt and find animals to survive.

Small rodents and other animals are an easier target and using traps to get them can prove very effective. Additionally, learning how to build fishing baskets that serve as traps to catch fish can also prove very effective also.

7. Dressing a Wound

Dressing a Wound
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First aid training is also a very important skill to learn. It will always come in handy in case of an injury. Learning to clean and dress a wound is a skill that you will use whenever there is an injury.

8. Starting a Fire

To survive, you will need to cook food, build a fire to keep yourself warm and keep away aggressive and dangerous animals. Learning how to start a fire is a very important skill for survival. There are many ways to start a fire and today there are many fire starters that you can buy.

However, in a crisis, you may not have these fire starters, and having the skill of starting a fire from simple ingredients like dry grass and a wooden stick is crucial.

9. Making Weapons

You will need to create weapons to hunt or go fishing. This is a skill that is very important and during ancient times, humans perfected the skill of creating weapons with sticks.

Sticks can be turned into spears with sharp pointed tips that are hardened in the fire. it can be used to target fish in creeks and streams as well as used to hunt animals.

10. Reading a Compass

Reading a Compass

Reading a compass is another important skill to learn that can be very helpful in a crisis. You need to learn how to navigate using a compass.

GPS units have made it easy to navigate today, but in a crisis where there won’t be GPS units to help you navigate your car around you will need to use, at least, a compass to travel.

11. Cooking

Cooking is another skill you need to learn as it will serve you well in a crisis. In this modern world, you can live without really learning how to cook.

However, a basic skill set in cooking is essential for survival. You will need to learn how to prepare your meat or fish to be cooked and learn to determine when the meat is cooked.

12. Identifying Poisonous Plants

Another crucial survival skill to learn is to identify poisonous plants. In a crisis, your knowledge of poisonous plants will help you avoid poisoning yourself and your family. There are many edible and poisonous plants and learning the difference will help prevent many unfortunate accidents.

Water hemlock, deadly nightshade, white snakeroot, castor bean, rosary pea, oleander, a tobacco plant, poison oak, pokeweed, doll’s eyes moon seed, English yew, strychnine tree, morning glory, angel’s trumpet are some of the poisonous plants that you should take the time to know.

Conclusion

A catastrophe can happen at any time. An earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami, or another catastrophe can change the world as we know it today.

There are some basic survival skills that you should learn to help you survive during a crisis. In this article, we discussed some of the basic survival skills you need to learn.