To start a fire step 1: find location.

Dry ground. Flat surface. Wind protected. Close to gathered firewood. Close to your shelter. Close to water source.

You should already have your shelter and water source found and taken care of before starting your fire.

To start a fire step 2: preparation.

Clear away brush and make a pit 4-6 inches deep and 3 feet across. Place any large rocks around the pit to help contain coals. Don’t use river rocks, as they will crack and explode when heated. If the ground is snow-covered, build a platform of medium-sized green branches.

After digging the pit, gather firewood. Fires need to start small and build up gradually, so gather a variety of sizes.

Tinder – easily ignited fire starter. Examples are extremely dry grass, lint, dried tree sap, dry tree bark, dry bird’s nest, dry feathers, brown pine needles, dry fallen leaves, dry cotton balls or dry cloth if available, or dried moss is just a handful of things you can use. Perfume, cologne, or medical alcohol/drinking alcohol are all good things to add to your tinder, kindling, and logs to make them even more flammable. Crumple the tinder into a compact ball of flammable supplies or put it in the middle of the pit.

Kindling – small twigs/medium sticks. Pretty self-explanatory. The twigs and sticks must be dry or they will snuff out your tinder, which would not be good. Break the kindling into pieces that range from 2-8 inches.

Fuel – larger branches and logs. These must also be dry and 8-24 inches long. Look for lighter knots – bulbous chunks of wood on branches. This is accumulated sap and will burn long and slow. When breaking larger branches, avoid doing it over your knee. It may injure you. Also not good. Try placing one end of the branch against a large rock and use the bottom of your boot and body weight. Another way is to find two trees very close to each other, and place the branch between them and use leverage until it breaks. If you find a nice long log you can’t break, just feed it into the fire little by little.

A good rule of thumb for gathering fire wood is to get as much as you think you’ll need, and then double it. You’ll run out of wood much faster than you think so get plenty, and then some, and stack it in multiple piles next to the fire. If you only have wet wood, try your best with the dry wood and get a fire going, before stacking the wet wood around it. As the logs dry, add them to the fire and replace them with more wet wood.

To start a fire step 3: actually starting the fire.

The first method is the lens method. It can be used with binoculars, a magnifying glass, a disassembled camera lens, a circle or sphere of clear smooth ice about 2-3 inches thick, or strong prescription glasses.

Pile some tinder in the center of the fire pit. Hold the lens about a foot from the tinder. Angle the lens so the sun concentrates a small hot spot. The starter should begin to smolder very quickly. Blow on tinder to ignite it and place small kindling twigs until the fire is stable.

Battery method, for if you’re stranded with your car or you find the wreckage of a plane or boat, you can use the battery to create your spark.

Find some wire from the car or wreckage – any engine wire will work. Attach two pieces of wire to each battery terminal. Get your tinder and touch the wires together above it.

This should create a spark and the tinder will smolder. Pick the tinder up and blow on it. Once it lights, quickly transfer it to your fire pit and add small kindling.

Information on types of wood:

Black or White Ash are very easily burned. They emit very little smoke and sparks and are also easily split. Ash is an excellent choice for firewood.

White ash on the left and black ash on the right. They are extremely similar.

Red or White Oak burn less easily than Ash firewood. They emit little smoke or sparks but are not easy to split. With so much heat emitted, this is still an excellent choice for firewood.

Red oak is on the left, white oak on the right. They are similar, but not exactly the same.

All types of Birch are excellent choices for firewood, being easy to split, a low smoke and spark level, and burning fairly easily.

From left to right the trees are, gray birch, paper birch, yellow birch, and white birch.

Edible Plants:

First rule, steer clear of plants, no matter how appealing and appetizing they look or smell, if they have:

Milky or discolored sap. Spines, fine hairs, or thorns. Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods. Bitter or soapy taste. Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsley-like foliage. “Almond” scent in the woody parts and leaves. Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs. Three-leaved growth pattern.

Native to the Americas but found on most continents, amaranth is an edible weed. You can eat all parts of the plant, but lookout for spines that appear on some of the leaves. While not poisonous, amaranth leaves do contain oxalic acid and may contain large amounts of nitrates if grown in nitrate-rich soil. It’s recommended that you boil the leaves to remove the oxalic acid and nitrates. Don’t drink the water after you boil the plant. With that said, you can eat the plant raw if worse comes to worst.

The vegetable that makes your pee smell funny grows in the wild in most of Europe and parts of North Africa, West Asia, and North America. Wild asparagus has a much thinner stalk than the grocery-store variety. It’s a great source of vitamin C, thiamine, potassium and vitamin B6. You can eat it raw or boil it like you would your asparagus at home.

Medium to large-sized plant with big leaves and purplish thistle-like flower heads. The plant is native to the temperate areas of the Eastern Hemisphere; however, it has been naturalized in parts of the Western Hemisphere as well. You can eat the leaves and the peeled stalks of the plant either raw or boiled. The leaves have a bitter taste, so boiling them twice before eating is recommended to remove the bitterness. The root of the plant can also be peeled, boiled, and eaten.

Known as cattails or punks in North America and bullrush and reedmace in England, the typha genus of plants is usually found near the edges of freshwater wetlands. Most of a cattail is edible. You can boil or eat raw the rootstock, or rhizomes, of the plant. The rootstock is usually found underground. Make sure to wash off all the mud. The best part of the stem is near the bottom where the plant is mainly white. Either boil or eat the stem raw. Boil the leaves like you would spinach. The corn dog-looking female flower spike can be broken off and eaten like corn on the cob in the early summer when the plant is first developing. It actually has a corn-like taste to it.

Lucky you-clovers are actually edible. And they’re found just about everywhere there’s an open grassy area. You can spot them by their distinctive trefoil leaflets. You can eat clovers raw, but they taste better boiled.

You’ll find chicory growing in Europe, North America, and Australia. It’s a bushy plant with small blue, lavender, and white flowers. You can eat the entire plant. Pluck off the young leaves and eat them raw or boil them. The chicory’s roots will become tasty after boiling. And you can pop the flowers in your mouth for a quick snack.

You’ll find this herb in temperate and arctic zones. The leaves are pretty hefty, and you’ll often find small white flowers on the plant. They usually appear between May and July. You can eat the leaves raw or boiled. They’re high in vitamins and minerals.

You can find curled dock in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. It’s distinguished by a long, bright red stalk that can reach heights of three feet. You can eat the stalk raw or boiled. Just peel off the outer layers first. It’s recommend that you boil the leaves with several changes of water in order to remove its naturally bitter taste.

Sure, it’s an obnoxious weed on your perfectly mowed lawn, but when you’re out in the wild this little plant can save your life. The entire plant is edible- roots, leaves, and flower. Eat the leaves while they’re still young; mature leaves taste bitter. If you do decide to eat the mature leaves, boil them first to remove their bitter taste. Boil the roots before eating as well. You can drink the water you boiled the roots in as a tea and use the flower as a garnish for your dandelion salad.

Field Pennycress is a weed found in most parts of the world. Its growing season is early spring to late winter. You can eat the seeds and leaves of field pennycress raw or boiled. The only caveat with field pennycress is not to eat it if it’s growing in contaminated soil. Pennycress is a hyper-accumulator of minerals, meaning it sucks up any and all minerals around it. General rule is don’t eat pennycress if it’s growing by the side of the road or is near a Superfund site.

This pretty little plant is found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. You can identify fireweed by its purple flower and the unique structure of the leaves’ veins; the veins are circular rather than terminating on the edges of the leaves. Several Native American tribes included fireweed in their diet. It’s best eaten young when the leaves are tender. Mature fireweed plants have tough and bitter tasting leaves. You can eat the stalk of the plant as well. The flowers and seeds have a peppery taste. Fireweed is a great source of vitamins A and C.

Found in all parts of the world, the plantain plant (not to be confused with the banana-like plantain) has been used for millennia by humans as a food and herbal remedy for all sorts of maladies. You can usually find plantains in wet areas like marshes and bogs, but they’ll also sprout up in alpine areas. The oval, ribbed, short-stemmed leaves tend to hug the ground. The leaves may grow up to about 6″ long and 4″

wide. It’s best to eat the leaves when they’re young. Like most plants, the leaves tend to get bitter tasting as they mature. Plantain is very high in vitamin A and calcium. It also provides a bit of vitamin C.

While considered an obnoxious weed in the United States, purslane can provide much needed vitamins and minerals in a wilderness survival situation. Ghandi actually numbered purslane among his favorite foods. It’s a small plant with smooth fat leaves that have a refreshingly sour taste. Purslane grows from the beginning of summer to the start of fall. You can eat purslane raw or boiled. If you’d like to remove the sour taste, boil the leaves before eating.

Sheep sorrel is native to Europe and Asia but has been naturalized in North America. It’s a common weed in fields, grasslands, and woodlands. It flourishes in highly acidic soil. Sheep sorrel has a tall,

reddish stem and can reach heights of 18 inches. Sheep sorrel contains oxalates and shouldn’t be eaten in large quantities. You can eat the leaves raw. They have a nice tart, almost lemony flavor.

White mustard is found in the wild in many parts of the world. It blooms between February and March. You can eat all parts of the plant- seeds, flowers, and leaves.

You’ll find wood sorrel in all parts of the world; species diversity is particularly rich in South America. Humans have used wood sorrel for food and medicine for millennia. The Kiowa Indians chewed on wood sorrel to alleviate thirst, and the Cherokee ate the plant to cure mouth sores. The leaves are a great source of vitamin C. The roots of the wood sorrel can be boiled. They’re starchy and taste a bit like a potato.

There are a few varieties of ants you can eat simply for their delicious taste: leafcutter ants (that taste a bit like bacon, with a nutty flavor when raw and like popcorn when they`re fried), lemon ants (that taste like lemon, of course) and honeypot ants (that have a slightly sour taste and are best eaten raw).

In Thailand, you can eat an entire meal made of fried bamboo worms. They may not look appealing, but they taste delicious when cooked right and they`re much healthier than meat, while providing a load of essential nutrients.

Whether you eat bee larvae or adult bees, prepare to blown away by their surprising tastiness. You can roast them, dip them in butter and fry them or make bee cookies (just like in the image above). No matter which variant you choose, you`ll be surprised to feel the taste of bacon and sautéed mushrooms in your mouth. Judging by what they eat all day long -- pollen and honey -- you might think they taste like candy. Which wouldn`t have been half bad, either. Warning: be extra careful not to get stung during the process!

To eat both snails and slugs, you must remove the intestines that could hold poisonous fungi and other plants before cooking them by roasting them or putting them in a stew. To remove the innards from slugs, cut off the head and squeeze them out. To get them out of snails, steam the snail and remove them from the shells before slicing open the underside and getting the guts out that way.

In China, roasted centipedes stuck on wooden sticks and displayed on metal trays are simply part of the “street food”. Their crunchy texture and savory taste have attracted many to give cooked centipedes a

try, but you must be very careful: if you get bitten, you might get a painful swelling that can last several days. So make sure you take every protection measure it takes to kill the insect without getting hurt.

Even though they don`t look like it, cicadas are described as “soft, juicy and tender”, a real delight for the ones brave enough to ignore the unappealing looks. You can either cook them or eat them raw (although, as a general rule, it`s best to cook any bug you plan on eating, because heat kills a lot of germs)

Well, that doesn`t sound very appealing, does it? No one in their right mind would like to eat something that has to do with dung. But here`s the thing: these bugs have a delicious taste, according to the ones who`ve eaten these little nutritional bombs. So if you`re forced to eat these bugs, don`t hesitate and start boiling or frying them, they`ll taste great! Just don`t eat them raw, because they may carry bacteria that you don`t want to ingest.

You may know these insects under the name of stink bugs. I`m pretty sure you`ll find them even less appealing now, but you should know they`re high in B vitamins and they taste like cinnamon, so maybe this will make you change your mind about eating them when there`s nothing else around. Also, they may have analgesic properties. They`re not as efficient as a painkiller, but when you`ve got nothing else on hand, it`s good to know some worst-case-scenario alternatives. A heads-up: usually, stink bugs survive the cooking process, so they`ll probably still be alive when you think they`re dead. Don`t freak out, it`s not something you`ve done wrong, they`re just very resistant. And an extra tip: it`s better to get rid of the stink before you start cooking them and to do that you need to keep them in a jar filled with water for a few hours (or even let them soak overnight).

This fat worm is eaten mostly in Southern Africa and it`s considered a delicacy. In fact, when it`s “season”, their price goes through the roof (they get more expensive than beef sometimes). You can eat it fried or dried, it`s said to be delicious either way. And yes, it`s so filled with nutrients, beef has nothing on it.

How to build a shelter in a wooded area.

If it’s night, don’t move from your spot. It’s really easy to get lost in the dark, and being separated from the only area you actually know about is even scarier.

Find an area clear of large rocks and roots unless they’re big enough for you to use to your advantage. Don’t ever build your shelter in a ditch, no matter how tempting getting out of the wind is. Rain will make you wish you had just manned up and dealt with the breeze.

Find a tree, boulder, rock face, or other large object to be the base for your shelter.it should be tall enough for you to crouch behind, and wide enough to accommodate your resting body.

Collect wood. Starting with the larger pieces of wood you have collected, lean them against your object. As

you are left with smaller and smaller sticks, start slanting them across the larger ones to avoid gaps. (Bear in mind that some gaps are okay.) Use enough sticks to make sure there are no holes otherwise, it will be hard to cover these with leaves. Do not forget to leave an entrance and an exit.

Make your shelter wind and waterproof. There are two ways of doing this. If you are in the snow, pile snow up around it. Of course, if it hasn't begun to snow yet, you can't do that. Instead, cover your shelter with leaves. First, dry leaves. Then, wet muddy leaves if you can get them. This will keep your shelter insulated, and stop it from falling apart. Lay sticks on top of the leaves so that they don't blow away with the first breeze.

Be creative. Almost anything you can find has a potential use in building a shelter. A net may be useful for making a hammock (useful in warm weather) and rope has hundreds of uses.

Trapping and Snaring:

Things you must be able to do to trap or snare animals:

Be capable of constructing a proper trap. Not alarm the prey by leaving signs of your presence.

There are no catchall traps you can set for all animals. You must determine what species are in a given area and set your traps specifically with those animals in mind. Look for the following:

Runs and trails. Tracks. Droppings.

Chewed or rubbed vegetation. Nesting or roosting sites. Feeding and watering areas.

Position your traps and snares where there is proof that animals pass through. You must determine if it is a "run" or a "trail." A trail will show signs of use by several species and will be rather distinct. A run is usually smaller and less distinct and will only contain signs of one species. You may construct a perfect snare, but it will not catch anything if haphazardly placed in the woods. Animals have bedding areas, waterholes, and feeding areas with trails leading from one to another. You must place snares and traps around these areas to be effective.

For an evader in a hostile environment, trap and snare concealment is important. It is equally important, however, not to create a disturbance that will alarm the animal and cause it to avoid the trap. Therefore, if you must dig, remove all fresh dirt from the area. Most animals will instinctively avoid a pitfall-type trap. Prepare the various parts of a trap or snare away from the site, carry them in, and set them up. Such actions make it easier to avoid disturbing the local vegetation, thereby alerting the prey. Do not use freshly cut, live vegetation to construct a trap or snare. Freshly cut vegetation will "bleed" sap that has an odor the prey will be able to smell. It is an alarm signal to the animal.

You must remove or mask the human scent on and around the trap you set. Although birds do not have a developed sense of smell, nearly all mammals depend on smell even more than on sight. Even the slightest human scent on a trap will alarm the prey and cause it to avoid the area. Actually removing the scent from a trap is difficult but masking it is relatively easy. Use the fluid from the gall and urine bladders of previous kills. Do not use human urine. Mud, particularly from an area with plenty of rotting vegetation, is also good. Use it to coat your hands when handling the trap and to coat the trap when setting it. In nearly all parts of the world, animals know the smell of burned vegetation and smoke. It is only when a fire is actually burning that they become alarmed. Therefore, smoking the trap parts is an effective means to mask your scent. If one of the above techniques is not practical, and if time permits, allow a trap to weather for a few days and then set it. Do not handle a trap while it is weathering. When you position the trap, camouflage it as naturally as possible to prevent detection and to avoid alarming the prey.

Traps or snares placed on a trail or run should use channelization. To build a channel, construct a funnel-shaped barrier extending from the sides of the trail toward the trap, with the narrowest part nearest the trap. Channelization should be inconspicuous to avoid alerting the prey. As the animal gets to the trap, it cannot turn left or right and continues into the trap. Few wild animals will back up, preferring to face the direction of travel. Channelization does not have to be an impassable barrier. You only have to make it inconvenient for the animal to go over or through the barrier. For best effect, the channelization should reduce the trail's width to just slightly wider than the targeted animal's body. Maintain this constriction at least as far back from the trap as the animals’ body length, then begin the widening toward the mouth of the funnel.

Use of Bait:

Baiting a trap or snare increases your chances of catching an animal. When catching fish, you must bait nearly all the devices. Success with an un-baited trap depends on its placement in a good location. A baited trap can actually draw animals to it. The bait should be something the animal knows. This bait,

however, should not be so readily available in the immediate area that the animal can get it close by. For example, baiting a trap with corn in the middle of a corn field would not be likely to work. Likewise, if corn is not grown in the region, a corn-baited trap may arouse an animal's curiosity and keep it alerted while it ponders the strange food. Under such circumstances it may not go for the bait. One bait that works well on small mammals is the peanut butter from a meal, ready-to-eat (MRE) ration. Salt is also a good bait. When using such baits, scatter bits of it around the trap to give the prey a chance to sample it and develop a craving for it. The animal will then overcome some of its caution before it gets to the trap.

If you set and bait a trap for one species but another species takes the bait without being caught, try to determine what the animal was. Then set a proper trap for that animal, using the same bait.

Trap and Snare Construction:

Traps and snares crush, choke, hang, or entangle the prey. A single trap or snare will commonly incorporate two or more of these principles. The mechanisms that provide power to the trap are almost always very simple. The struggling victim, the force of gravity, or a bent sapling's tension provides the power.

The heart of any trap or snare is the trigger. When planning a trap or snare, ask yourself how it should affect the prey, what is the source of power, and what will be the most efficient trigger. Your answers will help you devise a specific trap for a specific species. Traps are designed to catch and hold or to catch and kill. Snares are traps that incorporate a noose to accomplish either function.

Simple Snare

A simple snare consists of a noose placed over a trail or den hole and attached to a firmly planted stake. If the noose is some type of cordage placed upright on a game trail, use small twigs or blades of grass to hold it up. Filaments from spider webs are excellent for holding nooses open. Make sure the noose is large enough to pass freely over the animal's head. As the animal continues to move, the noose tightens around its neck. The more the animal struggles, the tighter the noose gets. This type of snare usually does not kill the animal. If you use cordage, it may loosen enough to slip off the animal's neck. Wire is therefore the best choice for a simple snare.

Drag Noose

Use a drag noose on an animal run. Place forked sticks on either side of the run and lay a sturdy cross-member across them. Tie the noose to the cross-member and hang it at a height above the animal's head. (Nooses designed to catch by the head should never be low enough for the prey to step into with a foot.) As the noose tightens around the animal's neck, the animal pulls the cross-member from the forked sticks and drags it along. The surrounding vegetation quickly catches the cross-member and the animal becomes entangled.

Twitch-Up

A twitch-up is a supple sapling, which, when bent over and secured with a triggering device, will provide power to a variety of snares. Select a hardwood sapling along the trail. A twitch-up will work much faster and with more force if you remove all the branches and foliage.

Twitch-Up Snare

A simple twitch-up snare uses two forked sticks, each with a long and short leg. Bend the twitch-up and mark the trail below it. Drive the long leg of one forked stick firmly into the ground at that point. Ensure the cut on the short leg of this stick is parallel to the ground. Tie the long leg of the remaining forked stick to a piece of cordage secured to the twitch-up. Cut the short leg so that it catches on the short leg of the other forked stick. Extend a noose over the trail. Set the trap by bending the twitch-up and engaging the short legs of the forked sticks. When an animal catches its head in the noose, it pulls the forked sticks apart, allowing the twitch-up to spring up and hang the prey. Don’t use green sticks, the sap that oozes from them will tick them together.

Squirrel Pole.

A squirrel pole is a long pole placed against a tree in an area showing a lot of squirrel activity. Place several wire nooses along the top and sides of the pole so that a squirrel trying to go up or down the pole will have to pass through one or more of them. Position the nooses (5 to 6 centimeters in diameter) about 2.5 centimeters off the pole. Place the top and bottom wire nooses 45 centimeters from the top and bottom of the pole to prevent the squirrel from getting its feet on a solid surface. If this happens, the squirrel will chew through the wire. Squirrels are naturally curious. After an initial period of caution, they will try to go up or down the pole and will get caught in a noose. The struggling animal will soon fall from the pole and strangle. Other squirrels will soon follow and, in this way, you can catch several squirrels. You can emplace multiple poles to increase the catch.

Ojibwa Bird Pole

An Ojibwa bird pole is a snare used for centuries. To be effective, place it in a relatively open area away from tall trees. For best results, pick a spot near feeding areas, dusting areas, or watering holes. Cut a pole 1.8 to 2.1 meters long and trim away all limbs and foliage. Do not use sap-filled wood such as pine. Sharpen the upper end to a point, then drill a small diameter hole 5 to 7.5 centimeters down from the top. Cut a small stick 10 to 15 centimeters long and shape one end so that it will almost fit into the hole. This is the perch. Plant the long pole in the ground with the pointed end up. Tie a small weight, about equal to the weight of the targeted species, to a length of cordage. Pass the free end of the cordage through the hole, and tie a slip noose that covers the perch. Tie a single overhand knot in the cordage and place the perch against the hole. Allow the cordage to slip through the hole until the overhand knot rests against the pole and the top of the perch. The tension of the overhand knot against the pole and perch will hold the perch in position. Spread the noose over the perch, ensuring it covers the perch and drapes over on both sides. Most birds prefer to rest on something above ground and will land on the perch. As soon as the bird lands, the perch will fall, releasing the over-hand knot and allowing the weight

to drop. The noose will tighten around the bird's feet, capturing it. If the weight is too heavy, it will cut the bird's feet off, allowing it to escape.

Treadle Spring Snare

Use a treadle snare against small game on a trail. Dig a shallow hole in the trail. Then drive a forked stick fork down into the ground on each side of the hole on the same side of the trail. Select two fairly straight sticks that span the two forks. Position these two sticks so that their ends engage the forks. Place several sticks over the hole in the trail by positioning one end over the lower horizontal stick and the other on the ground on the other side of the hole. Cover the hole with enough sticks so that the prey must step on at least one of them to set off the snare. Tie one end of a piece of cordage to a twitch-up or to a weight suspended over a tree limb. Bend the twitch-up or raise the suspended weight to determine where you will tie a 5 centimeter or so long trigger. Form a noose with the other end of the cordage. Route and spread the noose over the top of the sticks over the hole. Place the trigger stick against the horizontal sticks and route the cordage behind the sticks so that the tension of the power source will hold it in place. Adjust the bottom horizontal stick so that it will barely hold against the trigger. The animal places its foot on a stick across the hole, the bottom horizontal stick moves down, releasing the trigger and allowing the noose to catch the animal by the foot. Because of the disturbance on the trail, an animal will be wary. You must therefore use channelization.

Bow Trap

A bow trap is one of the deadliest traps. Be careful. To construct this trap, build a bow and anchor it to the ground with pegs. Adjust the aiming point as you anchor the bow. Lash a toggle stick to the trigger stick. Two upright sticks driven into the ground hold the trigger stick in place at a point where the toggle stick will engage the pulled bow string. Place a catch stick between the toggle stick and a stake driven into the ground. Tie a trip wire or cordage to the catch stick and route it around stakes and across the game trail where you tie it off. When the prey trips the trip wire, the bow looses an arrow into it. A notch in the bow serves to help aim the arrow.

How to purify water:

First of all,

Running water is generally better than still water. Water coming out of the ground from a spring is generally more pure than water that has been

running over the ground. Look for clear water. Avoid water that has algae growing in it. Avoid discolored water. Avoid water in marshes and swamps. Stay away from water that is near roads. Automobile engines spew out very toxic pollutants. Don't drink water downriver of mine sites, industry, factories, cities and towns, or any human

habitation. Don't drink water that has passed through agricultural lands - it may contain fertilizers and

pesticides.

Purify water by boiling it for 5-20 minutes, or make a filter by using a knife or other sharp edge to cut into the bark of a birch tree horizontally at least 14 inches, then make a second horizontal cut 14” below the first one, matching the start and end points. Then cut vertical marks to join the horizontal marks. Slowly begin to roll the bark inward as if you were rolling up a newspaper. Roll the bottom end tightly, leaving only a penny size opening if possible. Tie it with available materials, place several small stones in the bottom, and fill the cone with alternating layers of grass, sand, and charcoal. Run the impure water through the filter multiple times to remove pollution, chemical impurities, and probably bacteria. The bigger and more layers the better.

When trying to find an animal species by prints without any actual training to do so, look at where you are. Look at the state/country/continent even, if you’re in Australia your more likely to have wallabies than coyotes, the environment, if you’re in a forest I don’t think you’ll have many kangaroo, the temperature, you won’t have many polar bears in south America, and what animals live in the area,

because moose don’t live in the desert. Also look at the size of the prints, and use logical thinking. It’s a lost art.

In a survival situation, be sure to start searching for food while you’re still operating at full strength. Most people can survive without it for 2-4 weeks, so it's not necessary to make yourself sick with unappetizing mouthfuls. Foreign foods should be ingested in small amounts until your digestive system acclimates to the new meal source.

Avoid a diet of strictly lean meat (e.g. rabbit meat), as this will give you diarrhea. Fat is a critical component of a wilderness diet. (Most edible insects are 100% fat.)

Whenever possible, evaluate the condition of an animal before killing it. Active, lively animals have less chance of being rabid or sick, and therefore can be safely eaten (in most cases) after light cooking. Carefully remove the entrails of fish, reptiles, mammals and large insects before eating or cooking them.

Whittle a spear from a branch, make a trap, or use stones and sticks to kill your prey. Here's what may available:

Porcupines: These animals contain nourishing, fatty meat. Kill swiftly with a blow to the head. Avoid contact with the quills. If you have a dog or other pet, keep it leashed and away from porcupine. To remove the quills, skin the animal starting from the underbelly. Burning quills off before cooking is not 100% effective.

Snakes and Scorpions: Cut off the heads of venomous snakes and the stingers of scorpions. Dispose of these carefully (i.e. bury them deep and out of reach of pets). Scorpions can be eaten raw or cooked. Generally speaking, it's the very small ones whose poison is deadly, not so much the larger ones. For snakes, skin and remove the entrails before cooking. Keep in mind that their bladders can be used to hold liquids.

Turtles: Here's another good source of fatty meat. Be careful of turtle jaws and claws, even after killing the creature. Then boil the whole creature to soften the back shell. Remove it, then quarter the undershell and simmer all this. Detach the shell before eating the meat.

Game Animals

It's not always easy or legal to find and shoot deer and moose, so consider the many game animals available when trying to survive in the wilderness. Keep in mind that animals that have been harassed or chased prior to the kill release lactic acid into their muscles. That makes the meat more perishable, so plan to eat it the same day. Alternatively, give the animal time to recover by capturing it when possible and killing it later.

To make a snare, hang a large loop of rope or twine across a path an animal is likely to traverse. You can lead the animal in that direction by setting up obstacles and/or branches that appear to expedite the journey along the path. Like people, animals usually take the easiest route available.

Most game birds can be easily pursued, since they don’t fly far.

Rabbits: These are a source of lean meat only, so eat them sparingly or combine with fattier foods. Rabbits often rely on camouflage rather than flight from their predators, so pretend you don’t notice one as you approach it.

Beaver, bear and mutton: All good sources of fatty meat.

Quail: Easy to pursue since they don't travel far. You can set up a trench and corral them in so they can't easily fly out.

Eggs: You know you're near a nest when a bird dive-bombs you as you pass by the location. When retrieving, try to leave some of the eggs to insure the next generation of available prey.

Fish and Other Seafood:

Although they provide balanced nutrition, trout and many other types of pan fish provide few calories. A fat salmon, however, can offer a substantial meal of 900 calories.

Makeshift Hook: Carve or sharpen the edge of both sides of a two-inch pencil-sized stick and hide it in bait. When a fish swallows it, pull the line, which turns the stick perpendicular and lodges inside the fish's throat.

No-Hook Fishing: There are several ways to catch fish other than the hook and line approach:

Make a basket by rounding a green branch into a frame, then attach a lattice of leaves or porous cloth around the frame.

Drive fish from a stream into a pool with no escape, then close up the entry with rocks or wood.

At night, use a torch and spear to capture fish who wander into pools or eddies, drawn by the light. Aim towards his backside, where he can’t see. Or pin the fish to the bottom, then grab him with your hand.

In deep side pools off the main current, lower your hands cupped and face-up into nooks and rock hideouts. As soon as you feel a fish, grab it.

Tie a button or bright cloth to a line as bait, and when the fish bites, quickly pull fling him onto shore.

To prepare fish for cooking, slit it with your knife on the belly side, from the anal vent to the head. Then remove the guts. Hold by the tail and scrape off scales, blood vessels and kidneys. For pan fish, leave head, tail and fins attached so the bones hold together. Eat around these parts and later make a chowder with them.

To preserve fish for future consumption, cut the flesh into thin strips and hang to dry. For long-term storage, dehydrate the fillets by heating them wrapped in green leaves and set atop a grate on a low fire.

Seaweed: All types are edible and high in vitamins and minerals, with algae providing one of the earth’s most protein--rich foods. It can be eaten raw or cooked in soups. You can also dehydrate and store seaweed. Many children find this dried version very tasty.

Crabs: All are edible, but like other shell-fish, you should keep them alive until cooking time to avoid potential toxins released in their systems. Always kill them humanely with a knife before depositing into

boiling water. Salt-water varieties (i.e. caught in the ocean) can be eaten raw or cooked, but land crabs may contain parasites, so these must be cooked.

Sea cucumbers: The cucumbers grow near the shore and taste like clams. Natives dry and smoke the five white long muscles. Scrape off the skin and throw the rest away.

Abalone: This is a large rock-clinging mollusk. Pry it off the rock by slipping a long knife under it and snapping it upwards. Be careful to keep the shell intact, so you can later use it as a bowl.

Clams: Along the Pacific shore below the Aleutian Islands, The dark meat of salt-water varieties SHOULD NOT be eaten between April and October. During these months clams consume poisonous sea organisms that can’t be destroyed by heat. The white meat is OK to cook at all times.

Sea urchins: Urchins are elated to starfish and have eggs that can be eaten raw or cooked. (Never eat starfish.)

Mussels: These should be checked to make sure the shell closes tightly if touched. If it doesn't close tightly, avoid it. Bluish-black mussels that are attached to seashell rocks shouldn’t be eaten from April to October for same reason as clams (see above).

Other Sources of Nutrition:

Animal Blood:

Blood provides complete nutrition and liquid in the absence of a water source. Blood is also rich in vitamins, iron and other minerals. Four tablespoons can be as nutritious as 10 eggs. And it doesn't taste as bad as you may think. In a survival situation, when slaughtering or dressing animals, always drain the blood into some form of container.

To cook the blood, make a broth with it. Add wild vegetables if you have any.

Skin and Bones:

Animal skin can be as nutritious as lean meat. Depending on the situation, rawhide may be better utilized as shoemaking material, or for warmth.

Bones are rich in minerals and can be salvaged if found with the carcass of an animal killed by another predator (i.e. wolf or bear). Extract the marrow from large bones and cook. The less cooked, the more nutritious it will be. Smaller bones can be used for broth.

Vitamin C:

Often neglected in survival situations, Vitamin C is essential to health and a lack of it results in scurvy. Food loses its Vitamin C through over-cooking, salting, age and oxidation.

Eat the starchy green tips of spruce needles raw for a strong dose of C. Drink spruce or pine needle tea to get nearly eight times the amount of C as a glass of orange juice.

Insects:

When all else fails, bugs provide an excellent nutrition source in small quantities. The most important component of a survival diet is fat, and bugs are 100% fat. You can catch them using a light or torch fire

at night. During the day, turn over a dead log or excavate them from a live tree. Extract termites from tree holes using a stick. (Be careful, because they bite.) You can usually spot larvae inside trees because the wood is swollen at their location.

Always be sure to clean your hands thoroughly after handling game or stock animals. Cook all meat well enough to avoid germs, parasites or disease, but overcooked meat is not healthy either.

A forked green stick works as a skewer for roasting meat or fish. Thrust the flesh briefly in the fire to seal in juices, then cook it away from the flames. Alternatively, you can wrap meat around a stick to cook it, or split the stick and insert the meat in between before tying each end tightly. (Now the stick is referred to as a "spit".) Lay the spit between two crotched uprights (see photo), above the fire.

For fresh meat, cook only as long as necessary in order to reap the most nutrition. If available, you can use clumps of moss as oven mitts.

Make a grill: Fashion a slab from green hardwood. Then you can peg the fish to it and put that over the coals. Remove the animal's backbone if the skin doesn’t lean flat enough. Turn the fish or meat 1-2 times. Birch burns easily but imparts a nice aroma. A flat rock can also work as a slab, but never use rocks that have been in water, as they may burst in the heat

Quick and Dirty Oven: For food requiring several hours to cook, hot rocks make a good lasting heat source. Get them hot in a fire at first, then keep them hot by dousing them with boiling water. As for the oven, dig a hole, line it with hot dry rocks (see caution above), then insert the food on a bed of green leaves. Now you can cover the hole to seal in the heat. Allow some means for pouring boiling water onto rocks so they’ll reheat. Alternatively, you can light a fire in a small hole to heat the area, then scoop out ash and insert food with the hot rocks.

Soup Hole: Line a dugout hole with animal hide. Add water, food and steaming hot rocks. You can pull out the cooled rocks after a while and toss in newly heated rocks to keep the soup stewing along.

Clay cooking: You can build a simple clay oven using a green-stick cage as its frame. Let each layer of clay dry before adding the next. To expedite this process, light temporary fires within the cage. When it’s ready for cooking food, pre-heat the oven by building a fire in it, then scoop out ashes and insert food atop stones or leaves.

Barbeque: Let a campfire fire burn down to hot coals, then lay green sticks across it and slow cook your food as shiska bobs. Juices stay in better if there's no cutting or piercing of the meat.

Tripod: Lay two or three branches with forked tops against each other teepee- style and steady them so they'll hold a load. Tie shoelaces or paracord to the top to dangle a pot or bottle over the fire.

Boil water without a container: Light a fire in a rock cavity to preheat it. Or build a fire around the rock cavity if it’s small enough. Or use a container made of wrapped birch bark and toss a heated rock into the water.

Dressing Animals: The approach is a little different with every species, but in general you want to:

Remove the entrails/intestines/rectum as soon as possible, because any contents within may contaminate the meat or start to ferment.

Keep the game cool. Prior to cooking, a temperature above 40 °F is meat’s worst enemy.

Birds: Remove the feathers while still warm. Remove the pouch below neck, then cut or rip open body with your hands above and below the ribs. Remove the viscera (abdominal organs). Save the heart and liver. The gizzard's OK to eat once it's cleaned. When preparing upland birds, such as grouse, pheasant, quail and partridge, skin or pluck the bird and soak in cold water for one to two hours to remove excess blood.

Deer/Large Game: Per KingsOutdoorWorld poke a small whole right below the breast bone. Gases will escape and probably won't smell the best. After the gases escape, penetrate the skin completely but not so deep that you cut the intestines. Make an incision all the way down to the pelvis. Now you need to open up the cavity and start cutting the intestines away from the belly of the animal. Cut the windpipe (trachea) and cut away all the attachments of the heart and pull out the chest contents. Detach the heart and liver and put them in a bag if you like those parts.

Turn the animal to the side and let all the blood drain out. All of the insides should fall out. If not, cut the parts that are still attached to the insides. The intestines will still be attached to the body by the rectal tube. It is very important that this tube be completely and cleanly removed. Encircle the rectal tube a few times until it is completely detached. You may have to cut from the inside also to detach it completely. Be very careful of the bladder and the stool tube. Getting either of these two waste materials on the meat can make the meat sour. Pull the tube through the hole and completely drain the animal by rolling to one side. The vent hole will serve as a drain when you hang the animal up to skin it out.

Small Game: It may be easier to first hang an animal in the air by its hind legs. Save the drained blood for soup, as it's highly nourishing. Cut the animal around each ankle. Slit up the inside of its legs to a join long cut between the vent and throat. Then pull down and remove the hide as in tact as possible. Now open the animal from the vent to the ribs and remove its innards. Save its heart, kidneys and liver, which are edible. If it’s a muskrat species, cut off its white stringy scent glands from inside its forelegs and thighs.

Preserving meat: Keep it in a dark, cold place and hang at least 4 yards off ground, well clear of any foliage. Before this, you can suspend chunks of meat briefly in smoke to create an odorless casing. For long-term storage, cut in long strips, trimming off fat (save this) and hang this meat in the sun and wind until its hard and black. Fat makes meat rancid. You can soak the meat first in brine or seawater. (One method is to boil seawater into a concentrated mixture, then while it's simmering dip in meat slices before drying them out. Light a smoky fire next to your drying area to keep the bugs away.

Jerky: When eating jerky (i.e. dried meat), remember that it's lean and must be accompanied by fatty foods to avoid diarrhea. Making Pemmican is a way around this problem: Cook down fat chunks to grease (don’t boil), then mix the grease in equal parts with jerky to create a kind of sausage. Store the Pemmican in a watertight container. It provides complete nutrition except for Vitamin C. Always supplement dried with fresh food, even if it's just berries and dandelion leaves.

All information goes to:

http://www.thecityedition.com/2012/Wilderness_Survival3.html

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/water/purification.html

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/food-2.php

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/10/06/surviving-in-the-wild-19-common-edible-plants/

http://www.myfamilysurvivalplan.com/eating-bugs-to-survive-30-bugs-you-can-eat-when-shtf/

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survival/wilderness/how-to-start-a-fire.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Survival-Shelter-in-a-Wooded-Area