For many, Les Stroud's television shows and documentaries have become popular because he puts himself in real life situations that could happen to just about anyone that ventures off the beaten trail.

His advice is valuable and his survival experiences are invaluable; here is a little bit of it.

In cold or freezing conditions, the worst thing you can do is let yourself get sweaty.

Always carry a good multitool (eg. Leatherman Wave or Swiss Army Explorer Plus).

Break wood between two trees to keep from hurting yourself.

Wipe mud over your skin to protect against mosquitoes.

If you catch lean food eat as much of the animal as possible, except the entrails.

Certain wild animals have extremely low levels of body fat, which may lead to death by rabbit starvation.

Boil water by placing heated rocks in it. This is done when a water container cannot be held directly over a fire.

Heat rocks over fire and place them around the body as heating packs while sleeping or resting.

Use cow dung to keep a fire smoldering while away. This prevents the need to light another fire from scratch.

Determine the time until sunset by measuring the distance between the sun and horizon, wherein each width of your hand equals one hour.

The Five “W’s” of Survival:

Weather: Temperature of the area, know what kind of shelter you need.

Wood: How much wood is around for both fire and shelter.

Wigglies: spiders, scorpions, snakes, anything that can bite you or poison you.

Widowmakers: rocks, trees, large animals, anything that can fall on you or attack you.

Water: Where will you get water, how will you obtain it.

Always check your boots for “Wigglies.”

Use large rock pieces and twigs to setup trap for small animals by placing an edible bait to the supporting twig (Les caught a squirrel in the Utah canyonlands once, he cooked it over fire for a long time to burn off parasites before eating)

Before sleep pee so your body isn’t trying to keep the water inside you warm.

Eat Something before you sleep helps insides get warmer.

One key to Stroud's success in the survival genre is his authenticity; audiences do not sense his surviving in a specific situation is planned, rehearsed or fake.

Another key is that he employs a lot of common sense (not that climbing down a glacier crevice or drinking your own urine lacks commons sense, but …)

To read up on more survival tips from Stroud, please check out Prepare4Survival.