Learn from these Native American survival skills from the past and know more survival hacks you can find good use in the future!
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Native American Survival Skills We Can All Learn From
Learning from the Native American
Native American survival skills included crafting survival tools and building shelters. They foraged for their food and hunted their prey, all by hand.
It is astounding to think of how well they survived and thrived based on necessity alone. Would someone like you or me be able to do the same if put into such a hostile environment?
Probably not, and that is why it is good to be aware of old-school Native Indian survival techniques.
How did the Native Americans survive? How were they so deftly able to sustain themselves in the unforgiving wilderness?
It is very easy to forget, in this digital age that people use to live a much simpler and much harder life before the advents of these modern comforts.
The Native Americans are the prime example of how people use to live off the land. They also survived the threats of nature with basic and cultivated survival tactics.
Though the methods and practices of Native Americans varied from tribe to tribe, the innovation for the sake of survival was universal. They borrowed methods from each other and created ones unique to their tribe.
They even borrowed from foreign settlers and visitors. The Native Americans were a group of humans who had to learn how to adapt and we are all the richer and wiser for their survival efforts.
Native American Survival Skills You Should Know
This list will highlight 25 of some of the more interesting Native American survival skills commonly used by the tribes of North America. Let this list be an insight into the lives of these fascinating people.
May this also be an educational tool for our modern culture–a means of appreciating a society so rare and thin today. Let this remind us too that the human spirit and will are much stronger than what we give them credit for.
25. Native American Community
The tribal mindset and lifestyle of the Native Americans of yesteryear play a huge role in their survival tactics. As you probably are already aware, Native Americans distinguished themselves by tribes.
You have probably already heard of the more common and prominent tribes like the Apache, Navajo, and Mohican. Their sense of community, sharing of resources, and wisdom matters in each tribe.
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Their collective protection between tribesmen cannot be understated when considering how Native Americans were able to survive.
24. Native American Footwear
If you have ever worked a day in your life wearing the improper pair of shoes then you know how important footwear is to comfort and bodily health. Footwear is just as important to the Native Americans.
In fact, they make some of the most comfortable and durable footwear. Moccasins were the common footwear, made from tanned leathers they sew and crafted with their own hands.
Designs and cuts vary from tribe to tribe, but it has common features like hard rawhide, rabbit pelt for added warmth and durability.
23. The Fox Walk
The fox walk was a method of tracking, traversing, and hunting stealthily for Native Americans. This specific style consists of wearing thin moccasins to feel the ground better.
They land on the heel first and roll their foot down, then travel in lines to conceal their numbers. This style played a part in battles and in hunting.
22. Preserving Meat
Meat got many Native American tribes through harsh winters. Yet there were no chemical preservatives or refrigerators back then.
Instead, Native Americans would preserve meat by cutting it into lean strips, eliminating fat, and drying it in the sun. This is essentially what we know today as beef jerky.
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This thin, dried meat can keep for a very long time and was an essential food supply for Native Americans. We put together a guide to preserving meat in the wilderness.
21. Animal Hides
Animal hides were essential to Native American life and key to their survival. By the process of tanning and smoking, they turn raw animal hides into moccasins.
They also made clothing and even shelter from the animal rawhides.
20. Natural Observation
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Being able to tell what kind of weather was on the horizon was a huge asset for Native Americans. They used the natural signs of the environment to predict the weather and to prepare accordingly.
They would study the behaviors of animals who have much keener senses for weather than we do and read the clouds.
19. Using Plants
How Native Americans were able to discern the healing powers of certain plants is a mystery. But we do know these practices got handed down from generation to generation.
It was probably a case of trial and error. They would use plants, herbs, and other life found in nature to heal wounds and treat illnesses.
18. Native American Artful Crafting
Native American skills and crafts work with materials from their environment. They turn the crafting of basic survival tools and shelters into works of art.
Native Americans made their everyday essentials stand up to the rigors of their environment. They took their time and paid attention to details.
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In turn, it ensured durability and quality which helped them survive in harsh conditions.
17. Body Paint
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Before hunts, Native American tribes would paint their bodies. This way, they blend into the natural scenery.
Stealth was a very important aspect of survival in those times, indeed.
16. Native American Clothing
Proper clothing is essential for anyone to survive in any situation. The Native Americans had their clothing crafting skills down to a science.
They used animal hides and smoked leather to create warm clothing for the cold winters. They also used certain colored clothing for stealth when hunting prey.
15. Native American Camps
The Native Americans often built temporary camps for hunting excursions. But they still needed to maintain a certain level of stealth.
They would build these camps with earth-toned materials and animal skins. They tuck them into the base of foothills or other strategic natural sites so they would be hard to spot from a distance.
RELATED: Top Survival Skills | Learn Now, Survive Later
14. Blow Guns
Blowguns have become somewhat of a novelty in today’s day and age. Yet blowguns are weapons for hunting and warfare by Native American tribes such as the Cherokee.
They would fashion these weapons out of cane or reed. They would hollow out the tube where the dart comes in.
A strong breath or blow through the hole towards a target propels the dart. Blowguns can kill small game like birds, rabbits, and squirrels.
Sometimes they are also tipped with poison extracted from venomous snakes and even Gila Monsters to hunt bigger games.
13. Deadfalls
Deadfalls are a kind of trap used by Native Americans to kill their prey. A heavy rock or log would be elevated by rope or a lever made of wood over a piece of meat or food to entice an animal.
The deadfalls usually had a trigger that, when the animal touched it, would activate the primitive trap and send the heavy object crashing down on them.
12. Snares
Trapping was one of the main ways Native Americans used to catch their food, and snares were among the most common types of traps utilized. A snare uses a vine tied in a loop and attached to a young sapling bent over, which is fastened by tying it to a stick driven into the ground.
The loop goes around a piece of meat to entice an animal. The animal then puts its head through the loop and tries to make off with the bait.
The stick dislodges, and the loop turns into a noose around the prey’s neck and is suspended in the air as the sapling, free of its fastener, springs back into an upright position.
11. Trapping Pits
This is one of the more straightforward survival tactics utilized by the Native Americans. As the name suggests, this trap is simply a dug pit sometimes fitted with spikes at the bottom to kill or bleed the trapped animal.
The dug pit would be covered up by branches and earth so unsuspecting animals would walk over it and fall in.
10. Fishing Weirs
Fish is an indispensable food for Native Americans, and among the ways they would catch fish were fishing weirs.
Fishing weirs are essential traps built by rock or wood that would lead fish migrating up or downstream to a corridor built to be narrow, ultimately trapping the fish.
9. Spearfishing
Another way the Native Americans caught fish was by spearfishing. There were different methods of spearfishing employed, depending on the time of year.
In the winter, when the lakes would freeze over, a hole was cut into the ice and a lure made of bone was used to entice the fish toward the hole. Then, a spear made of wood for the shaft and copper or bone for the tip punctured the fish.
8. Native American Hunting Tactics
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It may seem simple now that we look back, but many hunting tactics devised by Native Americans were learned over the generations and used to help them survive. Simple tactics like reading the wind and standing downwind from a target increased the chances for success of a hunt dramatically.
7. Native American Nomadic Practices
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Not all Native American tribes stayed in one place. After the Spanish visitors brought horses to the great plains, many tribes, such as the Blackfeet, Crow, and Comanche, adopted a nomadic lifestyle.
They then went on to hunt buffalo across the plains all year round. This supplied them with a stable food source and ensured, to a certain degree, their survival.
6. Teepees
Of course, there can be no survival without some form of shelter. The Great Plains Native Americans knew this very well and built teepees, which are essentially tents.
They were commonly made from buffalo hides and long wooden poles.
5. Dedicated Native American Tribe Roles
Survival drives the Native American way of life. This is even true of the gender roles of the Native Americans.
The men were the hunters and to prevent any waste which could mean the difference between life and death in the North American frontier, the women were the cooks.
They would prepare the meat the men brought back immediately so as not to waste a single morsel and ensure that they had plenty of food.
4. Bows
An indelible image most people have of Native Americans is the bow and arrow which was vital for the survival of all tribes in North and South America.
They can fashion bows out of wood which they support with animal tendons. Natural fibers, on the other hand, are made into strings and serve as bowstrings.
3. Axes
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Certain tools are as essential now as they were in the days of the Native Americans for survival. Among them is an ax.
Axes are the common Native American weapon, but they also serve other purposes. It is a common household tool especially for cutting firewood and also for hunting.
2. Water
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This may seem a simple and almost thoughtless aspect of survival but the fact of the matter is if the Native Americans did not have sources of fresh water to draw from, they would have never survived.
The plentiful rivers and lakes of the Americas helped sustain the Natives and they regarded water sources with great reverence.
1. Fire
There is no life without food and warmth and fire is number one on the list of 25 essential survival skills that kept Native Americans alive because it provided both.
Native Americans are savvy with the different methods and techniques of starting a fire. Striking stones like pyrites together to create a spark is one.
The spark catches a tinder and you know what happens next. By rubbing two sticks together, it generates enough heat for the friction to combust tinder.
Bow drills and fire pump drills were also some of the common Native American fire-starting techniques. These contraptions used string wrapped around a stick and controlled by a bow to generate the heat needed to start a flame.
Check out this cool video from Tim Jones for some Native American fish trap ideas:
It is hard to separate the survival tactics we employ today from those introduced to us by the Native Americans. Thus, we owe a debt of gratitude to these people who learned how to tame the wild Americas and make them a place hospitable for human life.
Have you tried any of these Native American survival skills in real life? Share your thoughts about them with us in the comments section below!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 3, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
Loved reading this and can only add a bit of information gleaned from my grandfather who traded with the Columbia River tribes, particularly the Celilo Tribe. One of their source of bow strings was the spinal cord of the sturgeon. My grandfather had made preliminary arrangements for me to be shown how they made their bows, but grandpa’s heart attack ended that. I kept the sturgeon spinal cord for almost 15 years before discarding it. It was still pliable after being stored in our bunkhouse all that time.
So I’m Cherokee and just saying most native people don’t want to be told we are from Asian decent…we are our own people with our own knowledge of where we came from and how our people came to be. Native American is just fine…we’re not Indians. Pretty good reading as far as that goes though.
The article: “When the Spanish Visited” huh? You mean when they invaded and murdered entire tribes and wiped out cultures and stole their Gold. Those visitors? One thing about written history, the winners write the history books. 1/16th Mohawk here, and damn Proud of it. Go buy the Nations flags of your Native heritage and display them daily. Right next to my “Do NOT Tread on Me” Gadsden Flag. Take a look at the US Presidential Seal. The 13 Arrows in a bundle in the clutches of the Bald Eagle’s claw are signifying “Sticks alone can be broken by a child, but sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” And olive branch in the other, is peace fails we got them unbreakable arrows.
I think if the natives had the Compound bow or a cross bow they would have faired much better in the invasion of their homeland. Gunpowder changed the course of the True American Dream before the invaders.
This is a good start for some general information and to hopefully get readers interested in this vast topic, but a few facts could be better researched. Example: in my studies I’ve read that the Fox Walk described here was actually a toe to heel movement – not heel to toe. White man walks heel to toe…
You are correct Indy. Toe to heal.
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Bogala