I’ve been an avid outdoorsman all my life, and that interest has led me down a unique path to a very interesting job. I am a survival instructor and own a survival and preparedness training facility called Willow Haven Outdoor. I teach survival skills for a living. It’s certainly not your average nine-to-five job and “wilderness survival” wasn’t on the list of majors to choose from when I went to college. Nonetheless, this is where I ended up and I love what I do.
I remember when a friend first told me about The Hunger Games book series. With all of the survival skills mentioned, he thought it would be right up my alley. He was right! I really enjoyed all three books—especially the constant mention of different survival skills, tactics and strategies. However, with the mention of each survival skill, I found myself “hungry” for more. Just the mention of these skills wasn’t enough to satisfy me. I needed details! When Katniss gathers edible roots, I wanted to know which plants! When she set twitch-up snares, I wanted to know exactly what kind of snares! When Peeta camouflaged himself, I wanted to know how he did it! When Rue chewed up plants to make a medicine for tracker jacker stings, I wanted details then, too! Were these real survival skills? Could they be used if you or I were in a real-life survival situation? If so, how can we learn them? Well, it’s your lucky day. Why? Because, like I said, this is what I do for a living—I teach survival skills. If The Hunger Games left you hungry for more survival details, too, then this book is for you. Whether you love The Hunger Games or just love survival, look at this book as an extension of the skills used by Katniss, her friends, and her enemies to stay alive in desperate situations. This is your Unofficial Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide.
Let me start by saying, yes, many of the survival skills and strategies mentioned in The Hunger Games book series are based on real survival skills. In this book, I have categorized and compiled these skills along with the details and step-by-step instructions you need to practice these skills in real life. I’ve also included many other survival skills that I imagine the characters in the book series would use behind the scenes to stay alive. These are time-tested and field-tested survival skills that can save your life.
Sometimes it happens like that—out of the blue, without warning. Our names can be drawn from life’s big, round reaping jar at any given moment. We don’t live in Panem and the disasters we face are not called the Hunger Games, but we are still at risk of being thrust into a survival situation every day of our lives. And, unfortunately, this risk does not stop when we turn eighteen.
Besides being fun, learning survival skills is very practical. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes, a plane crashes and strands passengers for a few days. Cars break down on deserted roads and leave people to fend for themselves until help arrives. Hikers get lost in the woods. Natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and tornados strike all the time and turn life upside down for a while. All kinds of survival situations occur to regular people on a regular basis. It’s just the reality of living in an imperfect world. You may very well find yourself (alone or with others) in a real-life survival scenario one day. Many people who attend my survival training courses do so because they have a family. Do you love and care for anyone? Do they know life-saving survival skills?
Never make the mistake of assuming that everything will always be perfect. The world we live in, like Panem, is becoming increasingly unstable. One undisputable fact about history is that it does not lie. We can learn from what has already happened and plan for the future. Once the future happens, it’s history. You can’t control the future but you can control how equipped you are to deal with whatever may happen in your life from this point forward. The future does not “surprise” a student of survival. Survival skills prepare us for the “what ifs” in life. What if things don’t go as planned? What if you have to build a fire? Or make a survival shelter? Or hunt for your own food? Survivors prepare now for the unexpected events that may happen in the future.
Anything that’s worth having in life requires effort. Survival skills are no exception. I wish I could promise that you’ll be an expert survivalist as soon as you finish reading this book. I can’t. Katniss spent many, many hours in the woods perfecting her survival skills and, like her, you will need to practice as well. If you are serious about really learning Katniss’s survival skills, then you will have to practice—period. The good news is that you don’t have to be deep in the woods of District 12 to practice. Almost every skill detailed in this book can be perfected right in your backyard. There is a big misconception that you have to be alone in the wilderness or on a deserted island to practice survival skills. You don’t! Your back yard is your arena!
Unfortunately, many people don’t prepare for the “what ifs” in life. They don’t take the time to learn survival skills that could one day bridge that razor-thin gap between life and death. Sometimes I really think they believe a silver parachute might float down and provide them with exactly what they need when they need it. Maybe it’s that they expect a magical tip from their sponsor. You and I both know this doesn’t happen anywhere but in Panem. And the last time I checked, I couldn’t find Panem on my map, though I was never really that good with geography. When the parachute doesn’t come or the survival tip doesn’t sound out through the loud speaker in the sky, what will they do?
I’ll admit, I can’t stand the Career Tributes. They are cocky, well fed, well trained, and blood-thirsty. Even though I don’t like them, I can’t argue with the fact they have better odds of surviving the Hunger Games. Why? Simple—they are better prepared. They have entered into a survival situation with practice, training, and a preparedness mentality. They prepare for the games before their names are chosen at the reaping. They know this is the key to increasing the odds of survival. Once your name is drawn, it’s too late. If you haven’t prepared in advance, the odds are not in your favor. Survival mentality is the first and most important survival skill.