The links and suggestions below will help you as you begin making decisions about what to include in your survival kit.
Books:
The essential Outdoor Gear Manual: Equipment Care, Repair, and Selection by Annie Getchell and David R. Getchell Ragged Mountain Press, 2000. The focus of this book is to provide information to aid in selecting and maintaining your outdoor gear.
SAS Survival Hand book: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate on Land or at Sea by John Lofty Wiseman, 2004. This book presents the Special Air Services (SAS) course for being prepared in any emergency. It also presents information about helpful equipment to use, indentifying edible plants, and creating fire.
Man VS. Wild: Survival Techniques From The Most Dangerous Places On Earth by Bear Grylls, 2008. The author teaches survival techniques for every remote area of the world. There is sure to be information here that can help anyone in a wilderness survival situation.
The National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Guide: The Classic Handbook, Revised and Updated by Mark Harvey, Fireside 1999. This book discusses what to pack and wear, how to find your way in the wilderness, as well as lots of other useful information.
The Backpacker’s Field Manual, Revised and Updated: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Backcountry Skills by Rick Curtis Three Rivers Press 2005. This manual focuses on the skills and equipment needed to successfully travel in the backcountry.
DVDs:
Survivorman. DVD Dir. Les Stroud 5 June 2007 is a video series put together by the discovery channel that shows how Les is left on his own in the wild for 7 days with virtually no supplies. He shows how to survive a winter plane crash as well as the techniques to make it in a boreal forest.
Man vs. Wild – Season 1. DVD 20 December 2007 Episode 1 – In this episode Bear Grylls show how to survive in the remote Alaskan Mountain Range. Bear strands himself in this remote environment with little more than the clothes on his back and shows how to get out alive.
50 Outdoor Skills Survive Survival This video is a put together by a teacher and nature lover and focuses on basic outdoor skills
Survival Basics 1 & 2 Dir. Ron Hood, 9 February 2004, Stoney-Wolf Productions. This video shares survival techniques such as how to make a fire without matches or a lighter and how to fight against heat loss, and what things to eat.
Prepared to Survive Dir. Gretchen Cordy, 31 August 2005 These 3 videos present the highlights of what a person stranded in a wilderness area alone without provisions needs to know to make it out alive.
Internet Resources
www.rei.com This website is one of the top places to search and look for outdoor gear.
www.altrec.com This is a provider of some of the world’s top outdoor equipment.
www.backcountry.com Here is a source of a great variety of outdoor equipment and backpacking gear.
www.cabelas.com A search for survival gear will give you a variety of options you might want to add to your kit.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/ This is a good website to learn more about survival, based on the US Army survival training methods.
http://www.equipped.com/kidprimr.htm This site gives really helpful information to kids who might need to survive on their own!
http://www.adventuresportsonline.com/kids.htm - Serving primarily as a guide for parents, this website offers ideas for survival items that all kids should carry when heading into the wilderness.
http://www.fema.gov/kids/ - FEMA for Kids
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/tchindex.htm FEMA for Kids - Teacher’s/Parents Guide
http://www.adventuresports.com/asap/ski/skihypo.htm A guide to hypothermia
http://www.macscouter.com/KeepWarm A guide for winter camping and hypothermia
If you still haven’t found what you are looking for, consider the following search engines and search terms:
Recommended Search Engines
Key Words to use while searching:
Outdoor and Equipment (This search works well for finding web sites)
Outdoor and Gear (This search works well for finding web sites)
Survival and Gear (This search works well for finding books)
Survival Equipment (This search works well for finding books)