Desert Survival Skills

David Alloway

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN:
  9780292792265
• Print ISBN:
  9780292704923
• Subtopic: Ecology

An "authoritative, comprehensive, well written, and entertaining" guide to staying alive in the desert from a Texas Parks and Wildlife veteran ( Library Journal).
 
Remote desert locations, including the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico, southern Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, draw adventurers of all kinds, from the highly skilled and well prepared to urban cowboys who couldn't lead themselves, much less a horse, to water. David Alloway's goal in this book is to help all of them survive when circumstances beyond their control strand them in the desert environment.
 
In simple, friendly language, enlivened with humor and stories from his own extensive experience, Alloway—a naturalist and search-and-rescue veteran who's worked with the US Air Force on survival skills—here offers a practical, comprehensive handbook for both short-term and long-term survival in the Chihuahuan and other North American deserts.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface: A Philosophy of Survival in the Desert
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: People and the Desert
• 1. Intelligence: The Ultimate Survival Tool
• 2. The Priorities of Desert Survival
• 3. Survival Kits
• 4. Water
• 5. Fire
• 6. Shelter
• 7. Aiding Rescuers
• 8. Expedient Vehicle Repairs and Uses
• 9. Chihuahuan Desert Plant Resources
• 10. Chihuahuan Desert Animal Resources
• 11. Expedient Tools and Weapons
• 12. Weather Hazards
• 13. Desert Hazards, First Aid, and Sanitation
• 14. Traveling and Wayfinding
• 15. Debriefing
• Appendix A: Wilderness Survival Schools
• Appendix B: Equipment Sources
• Glossary
• Selected References
• Index