Critical Survival vs. Survival Kits Items
Why you need to carry the 15 Critical Items
In the Wilderness you need to Carry Critical Survival Items
It is essential that the items you take into the wilderness are useful. Most people think only of taking a small wilderness survival kit when they should instead consider taking proper critical wilderness survival items. Fishing or sewing kit will help you survive, but will not save your life. They will only allow you to fish or sew. It will be proper clothing, matches, a survival knife, a whistle and a First Aid Kit that will save your life not the contents of a fishing kit!
Decide what critical survival items you need and always carry them, not a small PLACEBO KIT filled with trinkets and toys. What you take into the wilderness is critical to your survival, although your most precious possession is the mitigative learning and experience in your brain. Carry the critical survival items you need to help ensure your Survival and leave the toy survival kits on the shelves of the stores that sell them. This does not mean that you cannot carry or build a good Survival Kit, it means that that kit should contain Critical Items and any extra items that would be useful in your environment.
The 15 Critical Items
The 15 Critical Survival Items is a generic list of items that can help you to survive in the Canadian Wilderness. The more you carry the easier time you will have surviving. Not all items are needed in each time you travel into the wilderness. In harsh and barren environments you may need more items and large amounts of food and fuel to survive over the long term.
The 15 Critical Survival Items are ranked in order of priority. The Item 1 to 8 are: Proper Clothing, Means to Make Fire, Survival Knife, Carbon Steel Survival Knife, Pealess Plastic Whistle, Personal First Aid Kit, Glass Signal Mirror, Liquid Filled Sighting Compass, and 2m of Strong Cord. Each of these eight items are extremely critical in nearly all survival situations and should be carried on your body at all times.
The items 9 and 10 are ones that you can technically live without, but that you cannot replicate in the woods. A 2L plus Cooking Pot and a Bow Saw. These items are very critical because you cannot create them in the wilderness and your life will be much harder without them, especially over the long term in cold weather.
Items 11 to 13: Sleeping Bag and Protective Cover, Insulative Mattress, and Shelter. Shelter will save your life in critical situations where you or a companion is sick, injured or unable to light a fire. Item 14 is your Backpack or Waterproof Container. Use this to always carry your critical items whenever and where ever you travel. A list of Extra Items that may come in handy during a many survival situation are listed under item 15, including 500 KCal of High Energy Food.
Additional Survival Equipment Resources
- Wilderness Survival Core Seminar [Learn more about the Critical Items.]
- BWI's 15 Critical Items [PDF]
- BWI's Survival Kit in a Pot [PDF]