Wilderness Survival
Troop 721 Milford, CT - Wilderness Survival
Signaling for help
Like all other survival techniques, signaling for help is a skill you should practice before you actually have to
use it. If you ever find yourself lost, signaling for rescue is an option you should consider.
If you do not carry a two way communication radio, cellular phone or a whistle, you mainly will have to use
visual signals. Depending on your situation and the material you have available, you can use either fire and
smoke, a signal mirror, flares and flashlights or strobe lights to create your visual distress signals.
Visual signals
For best results when signaling for help, select a signal site close to your shelter with good visibility such as a
clearing, hilltop or a lakeshore. Will there be a search for you? Put yourself in the searchers place. Will they be
searching for you from the air or the ground? A search will probably start from your last known location and
sweep over your proposed route.
SOS signal
SOS (Save Our Souls) is the best known international distress signal. Everyone should be familiar with SOS.
The SOS signal can be transmitted by any method, visual or audio. The code for SOS is 3 short, 3 long and 3
short signals. Pause. Repeat the signal.
SOS signal
The SOS signal can, for instance, be constructed as a ground to air signal with rocks and logs, or whatever
material you have available. At night you can use a flashlight or a strobe light to send an SOS to, for instance,
an aircraft. During the day, you can use a signal mirror. If it is difficult to produce long and short signals, you
should know that almost any signal repeated three times will serve as a distress signal. Use your imagination.
Signaling for help Signal fires
When signaling for help, the most noticeable signal is your fire. It
is easily seen at night. During the day, the smoke from your fire
can be seen for many miles. Build three fires in a triangle or in a
straight line, with about 100 feet (30 m) between the fires. Three
fires are an internationally recognized distress signal.
Signal mirror
On a sunny day, a mirror can be a good signaling device. Any shiny object will serve - polish your canteen cup,
glasses, your belt buckle or a similar object that will reflect the sun's rays. Check your survival kit, or maybe you
have a mirror sighting compass?
A flash can be seen at a great distance. Sweep the horizon during the day. If a plane approaches, don't direct
the beam in the aircraft's cockpit for more than a few seconds as it may blind the pilot. Use the code for SOS.
Use your signal mirror properly when signaling for help. Determine where your signal is going, use your free
hand as a sight line, in order for it to be effective, readjust it as you or the sun move around the sky.
These Wilderness Survival Pages are dedicated to providing useful information for safe wilderness travel.
Learning to survive in the wilderness is a skill for everyone who spends time in the great outdoors. Whether you
participate in hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, fishing, hunting, or some other activity, you need to make sure
you have the basic wilderness survival skills to handle an emergency situation.