Every year you can read tales of hikers or other unfortunate people that made a bad decision or two, or even just plain bad luck, and found themselves in a life or death situation. Just this past summer three German tourists went hiking in the hills of my town for just a short couple hour hike. Only two made it out. It pays to know what NOT to do. Sometimes it is just as good as knowing what TO do.

My List Of Survival Myths

HYDRATION MYTHS

RUNNING WATER IS SAFE TO DRINK – You never know how many things pooped, peed, or died in it before it got to you. Always purify the water you get in the wild before consuming, if possible. If you have no option and no time to purify, then yes, pick the running water over stagnant.

DRINK YOUR PEE – Hold on there Bear Grylls! Urine is the means which your body gets rids of waste, if you are severely dehydrated enough to be thinking about drinking your own pee it is too full of your bodily waste to give you any benefit and will just be hurting you. Now I must say that if your urine is clear, then it is about 95% water – so maybe then, once, and you still increase your risk of kidney problems. Otherwise you can use your urine in other ways, such as to wet your clothing for evaporating cooling if you are in a hot environment. Or, if you are staying in place to await rescue, you can distill it in a solar still.The army SERE manual lists urine on its DO NOT drink list.

SUCK ON A STONE – This myth goes that by sucking on a stone you will moisten your mouth. Obviously you are not gaining any liquid from the stone itself, so you are just letting out what moisture you already contain in your body. Not only that, you run the risk of possibly being choked by it should you stumble and fall in the uneven terrain. Don’t do it.

EAT SNOW TO HYDRATE – The ratio of liquid to air in snow is approximately 9:1. So you would have to scarf down about 10 cups of snow to get 1 cup of water down into your body. I would also guess that since there is snow it is probably pretty cold out. So by doing this you run the risk of lowering your core temperature, increasing the risk of hypothermia. If you must do this, do it in small amounts over a long period of time to allow your body to maintain its core temperature, but you will burn more calories. If you can, always melt the snow by an external means (sunlight, fire, etc) before you drink it. If you want to melt it on the go and you have a container and multiple layers try this: place it inside of your outermost layer, but never against your skin. Your body heat will potentially melt it as you do your thing.

DRINKING SEAWATER – DO NOT ever drink salt water. The amount of salt in the water is greater than the amount you will urinate out. So you will need to pee MORE than what you just drank, dehydrating you even faster. The best use of saltwater is to evaporate it and catch the droplets using a solar still, but you won’t get too much.

DRINK BLOOD – Blood contains lots of salts and proteins, something your body needs water to process. The army SERE manual lists blood as a DO NOT drink liquid. So no, you cannot drink just blood and survive indefinitely off of it. But there are reports of stranded fishermen drinking turtle blood that have survived for long periods at sea. They also had some rainwater as well. The Masai tribe drink a mixture of cows blood and milk, and have been for centuries. So if you also have some water to drink along with it then your only worry will be any pathogens in the blood.

GET WATER FROM A CACTUS - Don’t drink liquid from a cactus. Not only are cacti extremely tough to get into in the first place, many contain alkalis in their liquid, which will make you very sick. There is only one type of barrel cactus that will not make you super sick, the fishhook barrel cactus. Even then, people that have drank from it have said they have experienced diarrhea and report pain in their bones when they have walked afterward. Your best bet? Hope that there is some cactus fruit available. You can gain a small amount of liquid by eating cactus fruit such as prickly pears, you just have to make sure you scrape all the tiny prickles off first.

DO THIS BONUS TIP: If you are conserving water breathe through your nose, keep your mouth shut, and minimize talking. You will save more of that precious saliva from evaporating. Every bit counts, right?

COLD WEATHER MYTHS
RUB FROST BITE – NOPE! If you have frostbite (waxy, firm skin) it means that the water under your skin has frozen. If you rub the frostbite it will just move those ice crystals around and damage the area further. The only thing that will help is to slowly warm the affected areas, take pain medication if you have it because it is going to hurt.

DRINKING BOOZE – You know that old cartoon dog with the whiskey barrel? It doesn’t work. All it will do is dilate your blood vessels (move more blood to the surface of your skin), which makes you lose your body heat even faster. You may feel warm temporarily, but soon you will be even colder than before. The best thing to drink is a hot water based drink – like tea. If you are out in the woods, grab a few spruce needles and put them into your water as you would tea leaves, they will add some flavor and give you vitamin C.

ANY FABRIC IS FINE IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH LAYERS – Cotton is not a fabric you want to be wearing in cold weather. While it is fine at home or in the desert, in cold weather it could lead to your death. If you wear cotton against your skin it will collect moisture and cool your body. That is because cotton can hold up to 27X its weight in water and takes up to 8 times longer to dry. You want to be wearing the latest synthetics or go old school with wool.

DON’T FEED A HYPOTHERMIC PERSON – If someone is severely hypothermic you don’t want to feed them because they could go into shock and choke. But, you can if the hypothermia is moderate or less. If so, then feed them small portions. This will allow the body to fuel its own warming.

LET A HYPOTHERMIC PERSON SLEEP – After the body has used up lots of its energy shivering, the person will feel tired and want to sleep. DO NOT LET THEM SLEEP! This is a warning sign and if they go to sleep they might never wake back up.

EXERCISE WILL WARM THEM UP – If someone is hypothermic they will often slur their words and feel dizzy, no time for aerobics. They will already be shivering so exercise will just tire them out more. And what did I just say about them sleeping? So no, don’t do it.

JUMP IN THE HOT TUB – According to the State of Alaska guidebook, at no level of hypothermia should a person be placed into a warm/hot bath will increase the chance of afterdrop (The continued fall of body temperature during warming) and/or might even cause a heart attack!

GENERAL MYTHS

YOU NEED FOOD – You can go upwards of a month without food. Do not waste time searching for it, your main purpose should be to be spotted or build some shelter to hold up in. If you can find some anyway, great! Just make sure that it won’t harm you.

YOU CAN EAT RAW MEAT – While it is possible to eat raw meat and be perfectly fine, you risk getting sick or swallowing a parasite of some sort. Fish? Well, freshwater fish should never be eaten raw, there is a reason sushi is made from saltwater fish. Saltwater fish are safer in general, but not completely. The reason is freshwater bacteria and parasites will more easily survive in your system, while saltwater versions have a harder time because they evolved for that environment. Since you don’t really need the food as most people are rescued in the first few days, don’t eat it unless you can cook it. The last thing you want is to be in a survival situation AND sick.

PLANTS ARE THE BEST FOOD IN A SURVIVAL SCENARIO – Many edible plants are hard to spot even if you happen to be carrying a field guide, and if you make a mistake you could be eating something toxic. So unless you want to bet your life on it, might be best to avoid. Like I said, you don’t really need to make food your top priority – but you also don’t want to pass up any low effort opportunities. Here are your best bets for food: Cooked fish or meat and nearly every 6 legged insect is ok to munch on as well. A good general rule for insects is avoid any of them that are brightly colored , covered in little hairs, or have eight or more legs.

WET MATCHES WILL WORK IF DRIED – Won’t work. Moisture changes the chemical balance of the matchhead and it just won’t light when stuck anymore. Buy some waterproof matches or better yet, a few lighters in different places – on your person, in different bags. Or carry a fire rod.

SUCK OUT THE VENOM – This has been scientifically tested to not work. During the tests there was no decrease in the venom present in the bloodstream. All you are doing is making small wounds bigger and then putting your dirty, bacteria filled mouth on it. If you are bitten you want to get to the hospital as soon as you can. The area will usually swell up, so remove jewelry or tight clothing. Do not move the bitten limb if you don’t have to, as you don’t want to increase circulation.

YOU CAN RUB STICKS TO START A FIRE – It’s not as easy as they make it seem on TV. You can’t just grab any two pieces of wood and get a fire going, you need to be able to identify which ones will work. So unless you are an experienced outdoorsman you will probably just end up wasting a whole bunch of time and energy. Just make sure that whenever you go out into the wild that you have a few ways to start a fire if needed. A lighter, a pack of matches, and a ferro rod don’t weigh much, and could end up saving your life.

FIRE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SHELTER – Just because a big fire has kept people alive doesn’t mean it is more important than a shelter. If it rains or is windy you are going to be in bad shape, and the fire won’t help you much then. It is always best to have both, but unless you are in a mild climate then you should focus on a good shelter first. But the most important thing is to not be in direct contact with the ground, which could be as simple as a thick layer of dry vegetation.

YOU CAN WALK TO CIVILIZATION – Now I almost didn’t include this one because every situation is different. Most of the time it is a bad idea to walk off if you don’t know which direction to head to. I ask you to not start moving until your adrenaline has worn off and you can think clearly. Normally it is best to stay where you are and let the rescuers find you. If you must move, leave indication to where you are going, an arrow of rocks or logs pointed to a landmark you chose to move to. Break branches and leave other clues as to your movement – the rescuers can follow those and if you need to go back you can use them too.

MOSS GROWS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TREES OR ROCKS – False. Moss will grow in wet, shaded areas. If the trees or rocks are in a shaded forest, then all sides are candidates for promoting moss growth. You can’t rely on this old tale, you could just end up walking in circles.

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In a survival situation remember the general rule of 3’s.

3 minutes without air

3 hours without shelter(or proper clothes)

3 days without water

3 weeks without food

The most often way a person finds themselves in a survival situation is because they have made multiple bad choices. So the best way to survive in a life or death situation is to not be in one in the first place. Other than knowing not to make bad choices, storing up some gear and some knowledgeable tips is a good bet, and could save your life.

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My Guide of Ultimate Food Storage Hacks and Tips

Download the Army SERE SURVIVAL manual HERE for free. All images from Pixabay Source Source Other sources hyperlinked into areas of interest.