The Hunger Games has become a huge success with a bestselling trilogy written by Susanne Collins and a trilogy of movies with has set box office records in attendance. For those of you who have not read the series nor seen the movie, here is a little background.
The novel is set in a future in which each year a contest is held which pits two children (one boy and one girl) from each district against one another in an arena. There are twelve districts for a total of twenty four combatants . The idea is survival. The winner is the last child alive. This series has prompted an interest in survival training.
You do not have to be engaged in a forced government sanctioned game in which you are forced to fight to the death to find yourself in a threatening situation in the wilderness. Now it appears that the wilderness is all around us, urban and rural.
But you say, I wouldn’t enter the wild any more than I would intentionally hit myself over the head with a hammer. Life is funny in a twisted kind of way. Accidents can happen and surprise, they can happen to you wherever.
One scenario that comes to mind is an airplane crash. Yes, there are people that survive the crash of an airliner. Did you remember to fasten your seatbelt and keep it fastened during flight? Or your vehicle could become disabled in the middle of nowhere. There are a host of other situations where your knowledge of basic survival in the wilderness can be priceless.
First: Look around you to get your bearings. Assess your environment. Are you safe where you are? Is it better to remain near the wreckage or move away to avoid a fire? Usually authorities will be notified and a search conducted not long after impact in an aircraft going down and off radar. If you are lost, for example, hiking, then you need to be where you can be located. Take a moment to calm yourself and take stock. What do you have with you? Inventory anything that can used to survive in the woods.
Second: If it appears that you may be in the wilderness for some time, you will need to find a place that is safe and where you can build a shelter. It should be near a clearing or on high ground, where you can be spotted by searchers.