Practical Outdoor Survival: A Modern Approach to Staying Alive in the Wilderness

by Len McDougall

After selling more than 30,000 copies, this easy-to-understand guidebook has a whole new look. Using modern tools and materials, McDougall shows how today s adventurer can survive and escape far more... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599211718
• ISBN13: 9781599211718
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 197 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Good Survival Information

Practical Outdoor Survival by Len McDougall is a good book on the "practical" side of survival. The intent of this book is not to cover every single survival technique and method but to provide information that has been field tested and proven by the author. As a result Practical Outdoor Survival provides the reader with a suitable amount of usable information that can be applied by anyone venturing in the outdoors. One aspect of this book that I really like and appreciate is that McDougall really stressing the importance of prior planning and preparing ahead of time for potential outdoor emergencies. The book is broken down into six chapters: Chapter 1: The Survival Kit Covers information on knives, compasses, maps, fire starting tools, fishing gear, shelters, cordage, flashlights, signals, personal locator beacons, firearms, medical supplies, water treatment and bug repellants. Also covered are survival knife kits, pocket survival kit, survival parka shell and a survival day pack. Overall, some really good information is provided in this chapter. I also like that specific brands and models of gear are recommended instead of just providing generic information. Chapter 2: Survival Shelters Provides information on different shelter options to include a bivy, lean to, debris shelter, dug out, snow dugout and emergency shelters. Not bad information but nothing really new. Chapter 3: Fire Covers the basics of fire starting along with different uses of fire. Chapter 4: Water Discusses waterborne diseases to include Giardia lamblia, cryptosporidium and cyclospora. Water purification is reviewed along with different techniques to gather water. Chapter 5: Food Begins with a discussion on common edible plants. While relevant information is provided, the topic of edible plants is a huge and varies by region. Personally, I didn't get much out of this portion of the chapter. Good information was provided on catching and preparing fish, birds and mammals. Chapter 6: Orienteering Basic chapter covering the compass, maps, magnetic declination and GPS. Not much detail but more of a primer. Overall, a worthwhile book that I believe even experienced outdoorsman will gain some useful information and tips.

Solid advice for the outdoors

Len McDougall doesn't try to teach us how to parachute into the woods with only a pocketknife to survive. Nor does he offer us a handbook to pull out for the first time after crashing a small plane in the middle of nowhere. Rather, McDougall focuses on being prepared before entering the wild and taking advantage of the technology and equipment that are available. (The book's subtitle is, appropriately, "A Modern Approach to Staying Alive in the Wilderness") Perhaps due to his long experience as an outdoorsman in the woods of Michigan, the book best reflects the hazards and opportunities of those environs (snow, hypothermia, insects, trees, streams, fish, and squirrels, for example). Conversely, it's not a book about surviving in the deserts of the Southwest, though some of the advice would still be applicable. There are many good books on survival written from a number of very different philosophies. This one seems most appropriate and helpful to those who head into the woods intentionally. The advice on building survival kits appropriate for short walks, day hikes, and longer trips into the wild was helpful and straightforward. His section on selecting first aid supplies was also quite solid, focusing on practicality rather than the frantic tone of some books. He doesn't provide in-depth medical advice for catastrophic accidents, but he talks about how to deal with common problems like cuts, abrasions, and he discusses the trade-offs between specific painkillers (aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or naproxin sodium). The instruction on shelters, locating food, and water is (as the book title implies)... practical. The best quote to capture the "be prepared" flavor of the book comes after McDougall describes where to find natural tinder in the woods. He writes, "The best and most fail-safe tinder materials should always come from your own pocket." He then notes some good commercial products and homemade items that will start a fire under even difficult conditions. The lesson? The woods are a great place, but do some thinking beforehand and go in prepared. If you want to read only about ancient aboriginal skills or about esoteric psychologies of survival, look elsewhere. If you spend time in the woods and want to think through how to be better prepared before you leave, what types of things you could bring along to deal with unexpected setbacks, and how to make shelter that can mitigate the effects of the elements, this is a solid, straightforward book by an experienced outdoorsman.