Last month we asked our Facebook followers to provide us with what they consider the top 10 survival skills everyone should have.
Many of you responded with great suggestions. To make this list even more useful, we've enlisted our experts to help out. Under most of the skills below, you'll find a short video from one of them walking you through the basics—so you can start practicing today, not just reading about it.
In addition to the top 10 you’ll see listed below, I’ve added a few you might want to tack on to your list.
So, here we go. In descending order, here are the top 10 survival skills you recommended.
No. 10 | Self-Defense & Security
The main focus here is on protecting yourself and your family. Possessing appropriate weapons and maintaining operation security are paramount. If a disaster results in the breakdown of society, being able to defend yourself, your family, and your property will be essential.
No. 9 | Navigation & Orientation
Learning how to use a compass and read a map are important for knowing where you are and where you want to go. Especially in a bug-out situation. U.S. Geological Survey maps are an excellent source. Equally important is understanding natural navigation methods using the stars.
No. 8 | Gardening & Food Preservation.
Long-term sustenance during a crisis will be dependent upon growing and preserving food. Get started on your garden now. Grow seedlings in a sheltered setting. Once developed, plant them outside. Gather seeds from what you have grown and safely store them.
No. 7 | First-Aid
Learn basic medical skills including CPR, wound treatment, and using herbal remedies. Set aside a practice day. Take out your first-aid kit and wrap a partner for wrist and ankle sprains. Bandage yourself for cuts and wear them for a day to evaluate effectiveness. Compare notes and look for ways to improve.
No. 6 | Common Sense & Situational Awareness
Always be aware of your surroundings. Understand potential threats and use basic common sense in assessing them and responding to them. These skills are important to possess now. But they’ll be even more valuable during an emergency situation.
No. 5 | Weapon Skills
We touched on weapons in No. 10. But having weapons and knowing how to use them are two different things. Learning how to safely handle weapons is job one. Next, practice using them at a shooting range or other appropriate location. Keeping your weapons clean and safety secured comes next.
No. 4 | Food Acquisition
Your garden should supply you with most of what you need to eat when you’re hunkered down. But if you have to bug out, you’ll need to know how to hunt, fish, and forage. As well as how to prepare, cook, and safely store your food for later. Make sure your bug-out bag contains the cookware you’ll need.
No. 3 | Shelter Building
Depending on where you end up when you bug out, there may not be a suitable shelter available. Learn how to construct one from branches and other materials you can find in the wild. If your bug-out vehicle contains plywood, scrap lumber, tarps, etc., it will be a big help in this venture.
No. 2 | Water Filtration
There’s only so much water most people can transport in a bug-out situation, so it’s crucial to learn different ways to filter water you will find in rivers, streams, ponds, etc. You can start the learning process now by researching ways to filter and chemically treat water to make it safe to drink.
No. 1 | Fire Starting
I’m not surprised this was the top recommendation for survival skills. Fire is needed for so many things – warmth, cooking, water purification, etc. Make sure fire starters are in your bug-out bag. But also do some research and practice making fire in a variety of ways. Keep dry grass and kindling in waterproof containers.
3 more to consider
These last three were not included in your feedback to our Facebook questions. But I think they’re worth mentioning.
Clothing repair
Learn some basic sewing techniques to keep clothes in decent shape and repair canvas and other material used in a shelter. Test your skills by rescuing a beat-up pair of work pants or a tattered flannel painting shirt.
Bartering
This is an old social skill that will again become standard practice should the grid go down and money becomes temporarily worthless. Trade goods or, better yet, a talent you possess to acquire training in one of the skills listed above.
Signal making
On a sunny day, use a mirror to signal a partner from a distance. A properly aimed signal mirror can shine a beam up to 10 miles. It will create a flash visible by aircraft, watercraft, vehicles, or searchers on foot. On a cloudy day, create a smoky signal fire.
The more survival skills you possess, the better off you’ll be during a crisis. And the more you’ll be able to help others in need.
Now we want to hear from you again. Is there a skill on this list you'd like our experts to go deeper on? Or one we missed entirely? Drop a comment below and tell us what you'd like to learn about next—your answers help decide what we cover.