Worth Reading: “Surviving a Wilderness Emergency”

“Surviving a Wilderness Emergency: Practical advice on what to do when you find yourself in trouble in the backcountry” by Peter Kummerfeldt

peter Peter Kummerfeldt

This book should be required reading for anyone who ever ventures off the pavement. After extensive testing of the gear and techniques mentioned in the publication, I recommend this publication as the go-to book for wilderness survival.

Kummerfeldt stresses practical methods of surviving, not obscure, primitive skills and  his techniques, advice on survival systems and kits and common sense approach to wilderness emergencies could save your life.

His DVD “Skills of the Survivor,” sponsored by the National Bowhunters Education Foundation is great, too, and both are well-worth inclusion in any outdoors library.

Kummerfeldt grew up in Kenya, and came to America in 1965, where he joined the U.S. Air Force.  He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Wash.; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska; and the Jungle Survival School in the Philippines. He served for 12 years as the Survival Training Director at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Today, Kummerfeldt travels widely, promoting the concept of  practical wilderness survival. I met him several years ago at the Deschutes (Oregon) County Sportsman’s Expo after attending one of his seminars. My motivation for going was more curiosity than anything else – I had been knocking around the western mountains on big game hunting  and backpacking trips for decades, and was confident there wasn’t much more  for me to learn about survival gear. I was also heavily involved in my sons’ Boy Scout troop and went camping and backpacking at least once a month. I enjoyed testing and trying out new techniques and equipment. I thought I knew a lot, but one sign of a survival mindset is your willingness to keep learning!

I sat spellbound through his seminar on “Survival Myths,” then attended every other seminar he did that day. Afterward, we chatted at his booth, and I bought a copy of  “Surviving a Wilderness Emergency.”  That night, I went home and threw away a lot of the survival stuff I’d carried for years.

For the past few years, Kummerfeldt has been one of my valued sources for stories regarding some aspect of wilderness survival. He does extensive testing of new products, and if  there is something new in the survival market, Kimerfeldt probably has experience with it. I’ve personally used many of his techniques and recommendations when teaching adult leaders and Boy Scouts wilderness skills, and his instructional DVD is part of our troop’s teaching library.

Kummerfeldt is also a featured guest author for SurvivalCommonSense.com and his expertise and superb photography skills are greatly appreciated!

Check out his website

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

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