Whether you’re in the arena, foraging beyond the fence, or simply camping for the weekend, it’s a good idea to keep a survival kit handy. While many survival tools can be improvised from natural materials, it can be very difficult and time consuming to make them. And, it requires a significant amount of experience and skill to do this.
Whenever Katniss heads into the woods, she first slings her forage bag over her shoulder. This bag is her personal survival kit and contains all the tools and items that she needs to hunt, prepare wild game, cook meals, set traps, and survive her excursions beyond the fence into the woods. Any outdoorsman or woman should follow her example.
Packing a forage bag like Katniss is a key survival lesson we can take away from the Hunger Games. We’re never specifically told all the tools Katniss keeps in her forage bag, but based on Katniss’s activities in the wild, we can draw some very specific conclusions as to what items she carries. We will explore these items in this chapter so you can pack your own forage bag and practice the same survival techniques used by Katniss. We will discuss building a modern survival kit in chapter nine.
Forage bag similar to what Katniss might use
A survival knife is one of your most important and most used pieces of kit. Follow Katniss’s example and all the ways she uses her knife—to clean wild game, scale fish, build twitch-up snares, gather wild edibles, collect firewood, make roasting spits, and do all kinds of survival activities. Whenever you go beyond the fence, always carry a knife with you. In the arena, do all that you can (while still staying safe) to get a knife.
By definition, a survival knife must be able to perform in extreme conditions. Here’s a short list of tasks a knife can assist you with:
I wish I knew exactly what kind of knife Katniss uses. Maybe her dad made it for her using antler as a handle. Or maybe it is a relic handed down from the old world United States. I am left to wonder what it looked like and how it was styled. I do know that it must have been functional. If not, she would not have chosen it or continued to use it. Katniss is a very practical person.
Antler handle survival knife
Blackbird SK5 survival knife and sheath
You will probably use your survival knife more than any other piece of kit in your forage bag and choosing the right one is an important decision. Here are characteristics you should consider when choosing your survival knife.
Fixed Blade: Your survival knife should have a fixed blade—not a folding-blade or lock-blade style. True, folding knifes can be more convenient to carry, but the strength of the knife is compromised at the folding joint. If the knife breaks during heavy use, you are in trouble. If you really like folding knives, carry one as a back up but not as your primary survival knife.
Fixed blade knife and folding knife
Full Tang: The phrase “full tang” means the metal knife blade and handle are made from one solid piece of metal. The metal handle is then sandwiched with knife scales to form a grip. The photo illustrates the difference between a full tang and what’s called a rat-tail tang. Full tang construction is much more substantial and less likely to break during hard use.
A full tang blade is much more robust and stable. It can withstand incredible abuse from demanding tasks, such as splitting wood—a task often called “batoning” in the survival community.
Full tang blade (bottom) and rat-tail tang (top)
Using survival knife to split wood (batoning)
I own many non-full tang knives and love them all. However, they aren’t my first choice in survival knife picks.
Sharp: Your survival knife should be razor sharp. It should shave the hair off your forearm. If it doesn’t, buy a whet stone and hone the blade until it does. You should take pride in your knife’s razor edge. A dull knife is more difficult and cumbersome to use effectively. You have to use more effort and more pressure (which leads to erratic carving and cutting) to perform tasks with a dull blade. A sharp knife is actually safer to use and is a more precise cutting tool that requires less energy and time as compared to using a dull knife. An accidental cut from a sharp knife is easier to dress than that from a dull knife as well.
I’m sure Katniss keeps a knife sharpening stone at home. Here’s the simple step-by-step process I use to hone my knife blade each time I come back from the woods. You will need a knife sharpening stone (available in hardware and kitchen supply stores or online).
Step 1: Place your knife blade on the sharpening stone and make sure the angle of your knife’s cutting edge is flush with the stone. Getting this angle right is very important. The angle of the cutting edge is different for every knife. As you can see by the diagram, this angle must rest flat against the stone as you sharpen. If the angle is too steep you will dull the blade, and if it is not steep enough the edge will not make contact with the stone. After a little practice you will be able to match this angle without thinking about it. You can buy a product called a sharpening guide to help you maintain the correct angle for your blade as you drag it across the stone.
Step 2: With slight pressure (about the same amount as if you were writing with a pencil) push the entire knife blade from point to heel across the stone (keeping the angle the same) almost as if you are carving the stone. (The point of the knife is its tip; the heel is where the blade ends against the handle.)
Step 3: Flip the blade over and at the same angle pull the entire knife blade back across the stone but this time from heel to point.
Step 4: Repeat this process eight to twelve times.
Size Does Matter: As a rough estimate, the overall length of your knife should be in between 7″ (18cm) and 11″ (28cm). A knife that is much larger than 11″ (28cm) isn’t practical for delicate and detailed tasks. However, a knife smaller than 7″ (18cm) is less capable of performing tasks that require a larger blade—especially demanding jobs.
Pointed Blade/Single Edge: Your knife needs to have a pointed blade tip. The point comes in handy for all kinds of chores. I broke the point off of my favorite survival knife and it drastically impacted the knife’s effectiveness as a useful tool on many occasions. I eventually had to replace it.
Also, the knife blade should not be double-sided. Choose a single-edged blade only. You won’t have a need for two sharp edges. The flat back ridge of a knife blade can actually serve several functions. Below are some of the most common:
I use the back ridge of my knife in these ways all of the time. A sharp, double-edged blade makes these important functions impossible.
Stabilizing knife with thumb while carving
Quality Sheath: A sheath is simply a case for your knife. There is nothing I hate more than a low-quality, poorly performing knife sheath. Many knife enthusiasts feel the same way I do about quality sheaths. Poorly designed and cheaply made sheaths can be frustrating and dangerous to use.
A quality sheath should hold your knife in place snugly and securely. Your knife should not fall out when the sheath is shaken or turned upside down. At the same time, though, the knife should be easy to put in and take out of the sheath. You should be able to comfortably remove and insert the knife single-handed. Personally, I prefer molded Kydex or leather sheaths. Both are rugged materials that can handle extreme environments.
Two Kydex knife sheaths
Leather knife sheaths from Hedgehogleatherworks.com
Even some great knives come with horrible sheaths. I’ve lost knives in the field due to poor sheath retention. A knife is an investment. If you find a great survival knife but hate the sheath, consider having a quality custom sheath made to match your knife.
In the arena (and unexpected survival situations), you aren’t guaranteed access to a knife. Katniss gets her knife by luck, but you might not be so lucky. So what do you if you don’t have a knife? Follow Rue’s example and improvise. Any kind of cutting tool is better than no cutting tool at all! In Rue’s case, she improvises a cutting blade from a sharp rock. I imagine that she uses that rock blade to gather wild edibles and prepare nuts and roots to eat. You’ll need to do the same thing if you want to survive.
Our tribal ancestors survived for thousands of years using cutting tools made from sharp rock. In fact, rocks such as flint, chert and obsidian can be “knapped,” or shaped, into useful blades that have razor-sharp cutting edges capable of carving wood, cleaning wild game, and making traps. Native Americans were masters of knapping usable blades and spear points out of flint.
Knife made from flint rock
Not all rocks are the same. Ideal rocks, such as flint and obsidian, are very fine-grained and will fracture in a pattern called a conchoidal fracture, which is perfect for nice sharp edges. Knapping a cutting blade, often called a “flake,” from a piece of flint rock is easy to do. You simply need a piece of flint rock (or comparable stone) and another rock called a hammer stone. The hammer stone should have a solid striking end, like a hammer. I’ve used hammer stones of all shapes and sizes, but have found oval-shaped rocks about the size of a softball to be ideal. Before you start, you must break into the flint rock. Ideally you can create a 90-degree angle break through the rock.
90-degree angle break starting point
Strike about a 1⁄2″ (12mm) from the edge in a downward motion
With a little luck, a flint flake will split off at your striking point
Continue this pattern until a sharp enough flake splits off to use for your purposes
Chip mark in flint rock that reveals the smooth flint inside
As with any survival skill, knapping takes a little practice but is not difficult to master. The most difficult part of this process is finding the right kind of rock! I’ve had the best luck in rocky creek beds. Many times the flint is hidden inside the rugged exterior of a rock that’s been weathered for many years. The key is looking for little chip marks that reveal the nice clean fractures that are characteristic of flint and similar rock types.
Rock blades lack the durability of metal knives but can be incredibly effective cutting tools. If Rue can do it, you can, too!
Cordage is a word used for any man-made or naturally gathered rope or cord. From gathering food to setting up shelter to securing equipment, the survival uses for cordage are plentiful. It will play an integral part in your forage bag. In chapter six, you’ll learn how to use cordage to set up traps like Katniss and Gale use when they hunt. You’ll also learn valuable knot-tying skills. Knot tying is such an important survival skill that it earned its own station in the Hunger Games training hall. Every tribute needs to know how to tie strong, effective knots.
But you must have cordage before you can worry about tying it up. It’s easy to carry cordage in your own personal forage bag survival kit, but it’s also very important to know how to identify and improvise naturally occurring cordage options. You start with nothing in the arena (and many sudden disaster situations).
Creeping vines serve very well as quickly improvised cordage. I’ve never had much success with them for detailed knot work, but they work great for projects that don’t require finesse. The vine I get most use from in the Eastern Woodlands is the grapevine. I prefer to use vines that are around pencil-size in diameter. It also helps to soak the vine overnight in a stream or pond before use. I’ve found the vines become much more pliable after being soaked for a while.
Grapevine lashed tripod
Grapevine lashed frame for debris hut
Rootlets (small roots)—especially from pine and spruce trees—can make excellent cordage. Often, these roots will run just a few inches under the needle bed, and they can easily be pulled up. Sometimes you can even see them from the surface of the ground.
Rootlets are flexible and very tough. You can use them “as is” or they can be split into smaller strips for more detailed projects.
Pine roots near ground surface
Pine root tied to hold shelter brace
The inner bark fibers, just beneath the rough outer bark of many trees, is an excellent natural cordage option.
Tree bark layers
My favorite trees for inner bark fibers are willow, cedar, mulberry, walnut, and slippery elm. Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest used cedar bark to make fishing line hundreds of feet long for hauling in huge fish. Inner bark fibers are incredibly strong, especially when reverse wrapped (shown later in this section).
Tree Leaf Identification Diagram: 1. Cedar; 2. Willow; 3. Walnut; 4. Mulberry
The cedar is known for fibrous bark. To access the inner bark, make a cut through both the outer bark and the white inner bark, and then peel upward. Both layers will peel up in long strips. Then, the inner bark fibers can be separated from the outer bark with little effort. The inner bark doesn’t easily peel away with many trees, such as walnut. I pulled the bark (outer + inner) from this walnut tree after a lightning strike shredded the tree. Soaking the bark in a nearby stream for two weeks made it very easy to peel off the inner bark in long, pliable strips. I coiled these strips up to dry for later use.
Inner bark fibers being stripped from a cedar tree
Peeling inner bark from long-soaked outer bark
The bark from willow and mulberry saplings is very easy to peel up in spring and summer. It becomes more difficult to peel in winter months. I simply make a slice near the bottom and peel the outer and inner bark layers up as far as they will go. Then, I scrub off the outer bark by sawing the strips back and forth over a rough limb. Depending on the end use, it may not be necessary to remove the outer bark. You will always want to remove the outer bark when your are trying to make very fine cordage for items such as traps or fishing line. You can typically leave the bark on for less detailed chores.
Dry coiled inner walnut bark
Peeling bark up from willow sapling
Scrubbing the outer bark by sawing across a rough limb
Plants are my favorite source for natural cordage. Some plants have long fibers that run along the stem. It’s these long fibers that make excellent cordage. If you’re wondering how useful plant fibers can be, just look at all the ways Mags and Finnick use them in the Quarter Quell. They make shelters with woven grass mats and plaited bowls and containers. They have extensive knowledge of harvesting and working with plant fiber cordage. This section will give you this same knowledge, but its up to you to practice and build your skills.
My favorite three cordage plants are milkweed, dogbane, and stinging nettle. However, I’ve also harvested descent cordage from cattail, horseweed, burdock, and many grasses. The plant fibers of my favorite three are best harvested in the fall, after the first frost when the plant is dead and dry. At this stage, the hard, dry inner stalk can be broken and easily separated from the long fibers that run up the outside. It helps to crush the entire stalk and then work up the plant in 2″ (5cm) or 3″ (8cm) increments. Once separated from the outer bark, any remaining plant pieces should be removed.
Dogbane plant
Milkweed plant
Stinging nettle plant
For milkweed, dogbane, and stinging nettle, it’s easier, but not necessary, to harvest fibers from dead plants. Stinging nettle gets its name because it has thousands of stinging hair-like needles on its leaves and stalk. Because of these needles, it’s best to wait until the plant dies after the first frost, or wear gloves if harvesting fibers from a live green plant. You can wipe the stinging hairs off with ease. I like to break off the plant near the base and then pull up the fibers and outer skin. They can be used just like this with the outer skin still attached. I only use green cordage for temporary projects because it shrinks as it dries and this does affect the longevity of a lashing.
Separating dry stalk from fibers on the milkweed plant
Processed milkweed plant fibers
Pulling off skin and fibers from green stinging nettle
Green nettle fibers ready to use
Twisting the two ends of stinging nettle fibers to form a twisting kink in the middle
Many natural fibers don’t hold up well on their own. Twisting them together using a process called the reverse wrap forms a much stronger and durable piece of usable cordage.
You can reverse wrap virtually anything—plastic, ribbons, and even strips of toilet paper (also known as prison rope).
Reverse wrapping is a series of well-placed twists that causes the rope to bind onto itself and hold the tight wrap. Watch a video of the process at willowhavenoutdoor.com/reverse-wrap-video. Here’s a step-by-step description of how to do this.
Step 1: Twisting upper fork away from you
Step 1: To start, select a piece of natural fiber. Hold one end in your left hand and the other end in your right hand.
Step 2: Twisting the lower and upper forks one half turn back toward you
Step 2: With your right hand, twist the fiber away from you. At the same time, use your left hand to twist the fiber toward you. Soon a kink will form in the middle and the fiber will begin to twist back on itself. Continue to turn your hands in opposite directions until the fiber kinks and three or so twists form in the middle. Do not form this kink in the exact middle of the fibers; try to offset it to one side so you can splice in more fibers later on to make the rope longer.
Step 3: Now, hold the twisted kink in your left hand to keep it from unwrapping. The two loose ends will be pointing the same direction, one on top of the other. Your rope is starting to take shape. The kinked and twisted side is one end and the two loose ends (now facing the same direction) is the other end. The loose ends fork out of the twisted end so we will call them forks. With your right hand, twist the fibers in the top fork away from you one full twist.
Step 4: Pinch both forks and rotate them both one half twist back toward yourself so that the bottom fork is now on top.
Step 5: Repeat steps 3 (turning the top fork one full twist away) and 4 (rotating both ends a half twist back toward yourself) while keeping the developing twisted cord in your left hand to keep it from unraveling. You will begin to notice the rope taking shape, and tension from this twisting action will hold its form.
Rope developing with steps repeated
Eventually, you will run out of fibers in either the top or bottom fork. With about 2″ (5cm) of fibers left, simply twist on a new length of fibers and continue twisting. This is why you offset the initial kink—so that both forks don’t run out of fibers at the same time. If that happened, you would have to splice both ends in the same spot, which would create a weak spot in your rope. You can trim off the spliced tails later.
Twisting on more fibers to a short fork
Cedar bark fibers reverse wrapped into a strong, usable cord
Reverse wrapped strips of toilet paper
From holding water to cooking food, containers play a valuable role in survival situations. Katniss probably carries a metal cook pot in her forage bag. Many of the wild greens and roots she loves so much are best prepared in a metal pot. Besides cooking food, a metal container of some sort allows you to boil water. Boiling water is the only primitive water purification method I know of that is 100 percent effective. A metal container is a luxury to a survivor and should not be taken for granted. It can be very difficult and time consuming to improvise a suitable alternative from materials found in nature.
Variety of metal cooking containers
Plastic containers are also luxuries to survivors. They are water-tight and let you gather, store and purify water (chemically). Katniss is lucky to find a plastic container in the arena. You might not be that lucky. Natural containers are hard to find or make, but when you have no other options, you have to do the best with what you have. Here are some options for a naturally created container.
One of the most durable natural containers I’ve ever made has been a coal-burned wooden container. You can use hot coals from a fire to burn a depression into a log, stump or large limb. It takes a little time, but this method is fairly easy and the hot coals do all the work.
Coal-burned container, step 1
Step 1: I like to start by carving out a small depression to hold the first few coals.
Coal-burned container, step 2: Blowing coals using a reed-grass straw
Step 2: Then, using a set of makeshift tongs (see chapter three for how to make these), place a few red-hot coals into the depression. Blowing the coals through a piece of reed-grass or bamboo intensifies the heat and helps to burn out the wood faster.
Coal-burned container, step 3: Scraping out container
Step 3: Replace the coals as they burn and scrape out the inside of the depression every 10–15 minutes or so using a knife, sharp rock, or shell. You can control the edges from burning by placing mud or wet sand on top.
Finished coal-burned container holding water
Primitive civilizations have coal burned entire canoes using this exact same process. A container is a very small feat in comparison. And as I explained in chapter three, a coal-burned container is perfect for using hot rocks to boil water.
Native Americans were masters of using clay to make very impressive and durable containers. In much of the United States, clay can be found by digging a hole 2′–3′ (1m) deep. The best place to find workable clay is along the edges of eroded riverbanks. As rivers erode their banks, clay becomes exposed and can be easily collected.
The easiest earthen container is a simple hole in the ground that is lined with clay. Simply build a fire in the hole to fire harden the clay for use as a temporary cooking pot or rock-boiling container.
Fire hardened clay lined earthen hole vessel
You can also make a clay pot by coiling a “clay rope” base and then stacking clay coils on top to form the container walls. After you finish the basic shape, use a little water to smooth both the inside and outside of the pot.
Clay coil base
Clay coil sides
Smoothing sides with water
Let the clay pot dry in the open air for twenty-four hours. Then fire harden the pot to make it durable. To fire harden it, simply place the pot in a burning fire, surround it with wood and let the fire burn all the way down until the clay is cool to the touch. This may take overnight. The result will be a very usable piece of custom-made survival pottery.
Bowl in fire
In the Quarter Quell, Mags is able to weave a water-tight grass container to hold sap that they extract from the jungle trees with a spile. Unless you devote your life to weaving, you won’t be able to re-create a water-tight grass container. This type of craftsmanship is a true skill and takes many hours of practice to perfect. I would hate to be in a position where I needed to make a water-tight container out of grass. I’d be in trouble for sure.
Even thought they’re not water-tight, woven containers can still be useful to you. Baskets woven from grapevine, willow, cattail, or palm leaves are fairly simple to make with little experience and are perfect for gathering wild edibles, such as nuts and berries.
Woven container from palm leaf
Handmade willow basket
In the Quarter Quell, Katniss carries water back to camp in shells that she finds on the beach. This is an excellent use of natural improvised containers. While not large, freshwater mussel shells found in many water-ways throughout the Eastern Woodlands make excellent small containers or cooking tools. You can also quickly craft a ladle for stews by chipping a hole in a mussel shell and then hafting on a wooded handle.
Mussel shell ladle
Ultimately, the lesson in survival containers is to keep a metal version in all of your survival kits. Nothing in nature even comes close to being as efficient and hassle free to a good old metal cook pot.
A fishing kit takes up virtually no space in your forage bag, and makes it much easier to catch some food. Katniss most certainly keeps a small fishing kit packed in her forage bag with supplies geared specifically toward bagging a few edible aquatic critters, such as fish, snakes, frogs, and turtles.
You can create a fishing kit that fits in your pocket. I keep my kit packed in a small aluminum pill case that I purchased at a local pharmacy. It includes:
You could also include a few cork bobbers and possibly even a steel fish/frog gig that can be quickly mounted to the end of long stick or cut sapling for spearing anything within reach (we will discuss how to make your own fish gig in chapter six).
Sample survival fishing kit that Katniss might carry
If you’ve read chapter four, you already know how important fire is in a survival situation. With that said, it’s vital that you keep fire-starting tools in your forage bag. You can be sure Katniss does. Her fire kit would most certainly include an ignition device and some dry fire tinder. Maybe a ferro rod with some naturally found tinder, or maybe a flint and steel with some char cloth. Cotton char cloth is an excellent fire tinder and has been used extensively by mountain men throughout history. I’ll bet Katniss carries a tin canister that can be used to make fresh supplies of cotton char cloth when needed.
Making char cloth starts by placing pieces (usually 1″ [25mm] squares) of 100 percent cotton cloth into a tin canister. This tin canister must have a small hole—about the diameter of a pencil lead—in the lid. Then, this canister is placed into a burning fire for just a few minutes. The heat from the fire will char the cotton cloth but not burn it. You will know it’s ready when smoke stops shooting from the small hole in the lid. Char cloth will catch and smolder from even the smallest spark. Notice that you must have fire to make char cloth. Preparing and thinking ahead should be a part of your survival mentality. Be sure you understand the methodology of starting fires that we covered in the last chapter.
Ferro rod and waterproof tin that contains dry tinder and char cloth
Make your own char cloth. Use a nail to punch a small hole in an empty and clean candy tin (like the tins Altoids mints come in). Cut a 100 percent cotton bandana into 1˝ (25mm) squares. Place three to five of these squares in the tin. Toss the tin in a fire for a few minutes and voilà, instant char cloth! Repeat the process for more char cloth.
We take many of the items in Katniss’s forage bag for granted in our everyday lives. In nature, many of these vital items can be extremely difficult—if not impossible—to find or make. Do you have a forage bag that you take with you when venturing into the woods or traveling away from home? If not, it might be a good time to put one together or revise the one you already have to include some of the items Katniss carries.