Survive When It Counts

About Survive When It Counts

From survival basics to expert fieldcraft, this podcast builds confidence, judgement, and practical skill step by step. It covers mindset, water, fire, shelter, navigation, first aid, harsh environments, urban readiness, tracking, leadership, escape, and long-term planning. Ideal for beginners and seasoned outdoors people alike facing pressure, uncertainty, and hostile conditions. Go to Books Central: https://bookscentral.co.uk/

Publisher

Steve Barker

Category

technology

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

27 Mar 2026

Latest episode

12 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

236 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Nov 2026

   Field Medicine

   When someone is hurt far from help, good intentions aren’t enough. Panic can waste precious time, while a simple, practiced plan can make the next steps clearer. In this episode, we’re looking at field medicine: the first-aid decisions you may need to make outdoors, at home, or during an emergency when professional care is delayed. The goal isn’t to turn you into a doctor. It’s to help you protect yourself, recognize urgent problems, and provide sensible care until trained help takes over. First, make the scene safe and get help moving. Before approaching an injured person, look for hazards such as traffic, unstable ground, fire, falling branches, or dangerous water. Don’t become another casualty. If the area is unsafe, move only as far as needed to reach safety, when you can do so without creating greater danger. Call emergency services as soon as possible, or ask a specific person to call. Share your location, what happened, how many people are injured, and any immediate hazards. In remote country, clear location details and a realistic plan for guiding rescuers can matter enormously. Next, focus on the problems that threaten life first. Check whether the person responds and is breathing normally, and follow the emergency dispatcher’s instructions. Severe bleeding needs prompt attention: apply firm, direct pressure with a clean dressing or cloth, and keep pressure on it. For life-threatening limb bleeding, use a commercial tourniquet only if you have one and know how to use it, or follow dispatcher guidance. Don’t spend time cleaning a serious wound while major bleeding continues. Keep the person still and warm, and watch for changes in breathing, alertness, or skin condition. If they become unresponsive or their condition worsens, tell the dispatcher immediately. For less urgent injuries, clean, careful basics reduce the chance of making things worse. Once serious threats are addressed, rinse minor cuts with clean water, remove only loose visible debris, and cover the wound with a clean dressing. Avoid putting harsh chemicals into wounds. Don’t pull out an embedded object; apply pressure around it and seek urgent medical care. Suspected fractures or spinal injuries call for minimizing movement and getting professional advice. In the field, improvised splints or carries can cause harm if applied poorly, so use training and sound judgement rather than forcing a technique you don’t understand. Finally, field medicine starts before anyone gets hurt. Carry a first-aid kit suited to your trip, know what’s in it, and practice using the items. Check allergies, medications, and relevant medical conditions before heading out, with the person’s consent. A remote trip also needs a communication plan, an itinerary shared with someone reliable, and a clear threshold for turning back. Training from a recognized first-aid provider is far more useful than memorizing a list of tips, especially for severe bleeding, CPR, and wilderness care. Field medicine is not about heroic improvisation; it’s about calm priorities, preventing avoidable harm, and getting the right help on the way. Learn the basics, keep your skills current, and know the limits of what you can safely do. When conditions turn hostile, clear thinking and early action can make a vital difference. Next step: Find the book on Amazon and Books Central Website — https://www.poddyhost.com/go/8234?src=rss

2. 

   11 Nov 2026

   Primitive Skills

   Primitive skills can look like a return to an older, simpler way of living. In reality, they demand patience, observation, and sound judgement. Learning to make cordage, build a useful shelter, or start a fire without a lighter can deepen your understanding of the outdoors—but these skills are best treated as backups and learning tools, not substitutes for preparation. In this episode, we explore how traditional techniques fit into a modern approach to survival. First, primitive skills begin with reading what’s around you. Before collecting materials, take time to notice the terrain, wind, temperature, available water, and signs of changing weather. Look for resources that are already loose or dead rather than damaging living plants. Check local rules, too: collecting wood, plants, or other natural materials may be restricted. The aim is not to take as much as possible, but to understand what the environment can responsibly provide. Fire-making is one of the most familiar primitive skills, and one of the easiest to underestimate. Friction methods require suitable materials, dry conditions, and plenty of practice; they rarely work like a quick trick in a survival video. Prepare a range of fine, dry tinder before attempting to create an ember, and protect your work from wind and damp ground. Keep a modern ignition source in your kit, follow fire restrictions, and never leave a fire unattended. A skill that cannot be used safely is not a reliable survival skill. Next, consider shelter and cordage. A simple debris shelter can help reduce exposure when conditions are mild and materials are plentiful, while twisted plant fibres can demonstrate how basic cordage is made. But both take time and energy. Before building, weigh the weather, daylight, your physical condition, and the possibility of getting help. In an emergency, an emergency blanket or tarp may offer faster, more dependable protection. Primitive construction is valuable practice; it is not always the smartest immediate choice. Toolmaking and food gathering call for especially careful judgement. Learning how stone, wood, and natural fibres can be shaped into useful tools offers a fascinating look at human ingenuity, but improvised tools can break or cause injury. Foraging carries its own risks: a mistaken identification can lead to serious illness, and safe-looking plants may be contaminated. Don’t eat wild plants or fungi unless you can identify them with confidence using trusted expertise. In most situations, carrying food and a first-aid kit is safer than relying on improvisation. The most useful lesson from primitive skills may be the way they train attention and adaptability. Practice in a controlled setting, begin with low-risk tasks, and record what works under different conditions. Pair traditional methods with navigation, first aid, water planning, and dependable modern equipment. Confidence should come from understanding both your abilities and their limits—not from assuming that a difficult technique will succeed when you need it most. Primitive skills connect us to the basics of survival: making use of materials, managing effort, and paying close attention to the environment. Learn them with respect for the land, realistic expectations, and a safety-first mindset. The goal is not to prove you can live without modern tools. It’s to become more capable, more observant, and better prepared when conditions turn challenging. Next step: Find the book on Amazon and Books Central Website — https://www.poddyhost.com/go/8200?src=rss

3. 

   10 Nov 2026

   Survival Knots

   When people talk about survival knots, it’s easy to picture an elaborate collection of loops and crossings. But in the field, the best knot is usually the simplest one you can tie correctly, remember under stress, and trust for the task at hand. A knot can help secure a shelter, bundle gear, or attach a line to an anchor. It can also fail if it’s tied poorly, used in the wrong material, or loaded beyond its limits. Today, we’ll focus on a few useful knots and, just as importantly, how to think about using them safely. Start with the bowline, a reliable way to make a fixed loop at the end of a rope. It’s useful for attaching a line around a suitable anchor or creating a loop that won’t tighten down as the rope is loaded. Learn the tying sequence slowly, then practice until you can do it without guessing. Before relying on it, check that the knot is dressed neatly, the strands lie correctly, and there’s enough tail beyond the knot. A bowline can loosen when it’s slack or shaken, so it may need a backup depending on the situation. No single knot is right for every rope or load. For securing a line around a post or tree, the clove hitch is quick and easy to adjust. It can help position a ridgeline for a tarp or fasten a line temporarily while you work. Its convenience comes with a caution: under changing or uneven tension, it can slip, and some rope surfaces make that more likely. Test it with a gentle pull before trusting it, and use an appropriate backup when the consequences of failure matter. For shelter building, the trucker’s hitch can also be useful because it creates mechanical advantage for tightening a ridgeline. Tie it carefully, keep the line clear of sharp edges, and avoid hauling so hard that you damage the rope or your anchor. Another practical knot is the sheet bend, which joins two ropes, including ropes of different thicknesses. It’s handy when one line is too short, but the connection should be arranged and checked correctly: the thicker rope forms the main loop, and the thinner rope wraps through it. If the ropes are slick, very different in size, or under changing loads, the join may be less dependable. Knots reduce a rope’s strength, and a knot that works for a tarp or bundle is not automatically safe for climbing, lifting a person, or any life-critical job. Use equipment and training designed for those tasks. The real skill is not memorizing a long list; it’s matching the knot to the job. Practice with the same kind of cord you expect to use, in good light and with cold or gloved hands when possible. After tying, inspect the knot, test it cautiously, and check it again after the line has been loaded. Keep your cordage in good condition, and make sure anchors are stable before tensioning a line. Survival knots are small tools, but sound judgment makes them useful. Learn a few well, know their limits, and build confidence through repetition. In the field, a simple knot tied correctly—and checked before you depend on it—can make camp setup calmer, safer, and more reliable. Next step: Find the book on Amazon and Books Central Website — https://www.poddyhost.com/go/8166?src=rss

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