WILDERNESS
SURVIVAL
WILDER NESS
SURVIVAL
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
MERIT BADGE SERIES
“Enhancing our youths’ competitive edge through merit badges”
Wilderness Survival
1. Do the following:
(a) Explain to your counselor the hazards you are most likely to encounter
while participating in wilderness survival activities, and what you should
do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, or lessen these hazards.
(b) Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses
that could occur in backcountry settings, including hypothermia, heat reac-
tions, frostbite, dehydration, blisters, insect stings, tick bites, and snakebites.
2. From memory, list the seven priorities for survival in a backcountry or
wilderness location. Explain the importance of each one with your counselor.
3. Discuss ways to avoid panic and maintain a high level of morale when lost,
and explain why this is important.
4. Describe the steps you would take to survive in the following
exposure conditions:
(a) Cold and snowy
(b) Wet
(c) Hot and dry
(d) Windy
(e) At or on the water
5. Put together a personal survival kit and explain how each item in it could
be useful.
6. Using three different methods (other than matches), build and light three fires.
7. Do the following:
(a) Show five different ways to attract attention when lost.
(b) Demonstrate how to use a signal mirror.
(c) Describe from memory five ground-to-air signals and tell what they mean.
8. Improvise a natural shelter. For the purpose of this demonstration, use
techniques that have little negative impact on the environment. Spend a
night in your shelter.
9. Explain how to protect yourself from insects, reptiles, bears, and other
animals of the local region.
10. Demonstrate three ways to treat water found in the outdoors to prepare it
for drinking.
11. Show that you know the proper clothing to wear while in the outdoors
during extremely hot and cold weather and during wet conditions.
12. Explain why it usually is not wise to eat edible wild plants or wildlife in a
wilderness survival situation.
62 WILDERNESS SURVIVAL
Wilderness Survival Resources.
Scouting Literature
Boy Scout Handbook; Fieldbook; Deck
of First Aid; Emergency First Aid pocket
guide; Basic Illustrated Wilderness
First Aid; Be Prepared First Aid Book;
Backpacking, Camping, Canoeing,
Emergency Preparedness, First Aid,
Lifesaving, Orienteering, Safety,
Search and Rescue, Signs, Signals,
and Codes, and Weather merit
badge pamphlets
Visit the Boy Scouts of America’s
official retail website at http://
www.scoutstuff.org for a com-
plete listing of all merit badge
pamphlets and other helpful
Scouting materials and supplies.
Books
Curtis, Rick. The Backpacker’s Field
Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to
Mastering Backcountry Skills. Three
Rivers Press, 2005.
Forgey,William W. Wilderness
Medicine: Beyond First Aid.,
Falcon Guides, 2012.
Gill, Paul G. Wilderness First Aid.
Ragged Mountain Press, 2001.
Harvey, Mark. National Outdoor
Leadership School’s Wilderness
Guide: The Classic Handbook.
Fireside, 1999.
Isaac, Jeffrey. The Outward Bound
Wilderness First Aid Handbook,
4th ed. Falcon Guides, 2013.
Keller, William. Keller’s Outdoor
Survival Guide: How to Prevail
When Lost, Stranded, or Injured
in the Wilderness. Willow Creek
Press, 2001.
Nickens, T. Edward. The Total
Outdoorsman Manual. Welden
Owen, 2013.
Randall, Glenn. Outward Bound Map
and Compass Handbook, 3rd ed.
FalconGuides, 2012.
Tawrell, Paul. Camping and Survival:
The Ultimate Outdoors Book. Paul
Tawrell, 2011.
Tilton, Buck. Wilderness First
Responder: How to Recognize, Treat,
and Prevent Emergencies in the
Backcountry. Falcon Guides, 2010.
Wells, Darran. Wilderness Navigation,
2nd ed. Stackpole Books, 2013.
Wilderness Survival Resources
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL 63
.Wilderness Survival Resources
Videos
More Wilderness 911. DVD.
Wellspring Media, 1998.
Survival Basics 1 and 2, The Adventure.
DVD. Stoney-Wolf Productions, 2006.
Survival: Learn to Become a
Survivor in the Wild. DVD. BFS
Entertainment, 2001.
The Unexplained—Wilderness Survival.
DVD. A&E Home Video, 2006.
Organizations and Websites
Association of Outdoor Recreation
and Education
Telephone: 810-299-2782
Website: http://www.aore.org
Backpacker Magazine
Website: http://www.backpacker.com
Equipped to Survive
Website: http://www.equipped.org
Guide to Safe Scouting on
Scouting.org
Website: http://www.scouting.org/
HealthandSafety/GSS.aspx
National Outdoor Leadership
School (NOLS)
Toll-free telephone: 800-710-6657
Website: http://www.nols.edu
Outside Magazine
Website: http://www.outsideonline.com
Wilderness Education Association
Website: http://www.weainfo.org
Toll-free telephone: 800-572-3015
Wildwood Survival
Website:
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com
Acknowledgments
The Boy Scouts of America thanks
Patrick “Rick” LaValla, president and
cofounder of ERI International Inc.,
Olympia, Washington, for his assistance
with this new edition of the Wilderness
Survival merit badge pamphlet. ERI
International specializes in disaster plan-
ning, emergency response, search and
rescue, survival, and other such fields.
Thanks also to members of the
BSA Health and Safety Committee for
their help in reviewing the manuscript.
In particular, we thank George Allen,
M.D.; David Bell, Ph.D.; William W.
Forgey, M.D.; John E. Hendrickson;
William Hurst; Charles H. Mitchell;
Arthur H. Mittelstaedt Jr., Ed.D.; and
Paul Young, R.S., M.P.H.
We appreciate support from the
American Red Cross, in particular
Ted Crites for his input and expertise.
Thanks to the troops of the Chief
Seattle (Washington) Council for their
assistance with photography. We thank
staff members at the council’s Camp
Parsons, Brinnon, Washington, for their
cooperation, as well.
We are thankful to Thomas R.
Welch, M.D., professor and chair,
Department of Pediatrics at Upstate
Medical University in Syracuse, New
York, for providing the information
about thumbnail navigation.
The Boy Scouts of America is grate-
ful to the men and women serving on
the Merit Badge Maintenance Task Force
for the improvements made in updating
this pamphlet.
