About the trainer, and the disclaimer

The Outdoor Survivalist Trainer is a free learning tool made by Web Design Nerd. It teaches shelter, water, fire, getting found, first aid, cold weather, and how food is caught and prepared, using public US military survival manuals as the source for every lesson.

Where the lessons come from

Lessons, food guides and the Field Library quote and explain public-domain manuals, chiefly the US Army and Marine Corps survival manual (FM 21-76 / MCRP 3-02F). Every source line links to the page it came from. Photos are free-license (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA) and credited on each page. Plant and animal sightings come from iNaturalist, and weather from Open-Meteo.

What the photo reader does

Look around and Identify send your photo, shrunk on your device, to an AI model that reads it once and gives a learning answer. One photo is never proof. The photo reader never tells you a wild plant, berry or mushroom is safe to eat.

Disclaimer

• This is a learning tool, not training, and not a replacement for a class, a guide, or common sense. In an emergency, call 911.
• Never eat a wild plant or mushroom unless you are 100% sure what it is. Many deadly ones look like safe ones.
• Traps are taught so you understand how they work. Build a trigger to practice, then take it apart. Many states ban deadfalls and string snares, and rabbits and squirrels may be taken only by hunting, in season, with a license.
• Outside a real emergency, follow your state's hunting, trapping, fishing and park rules.

Videos

Some lessons show a how-to video from a survival instructor or a public agency. Each video stays on its creator's own YouTube channel and plays in YouTube's own player, only when you tap it; the site never copies or stores it. Showing a video does not mean the creator works with or endorses this site. A creator who wants a video taken off this site can tell Web Design Nerd at the link below, and it will be removed.

Instructor tips

The "Tips from survival instructors" on each lesson are written in our own words. Each one was checked against the public manuals and against at least two well-known survival books, among them the SAS Survival Handbook (John Wiseman), Bushcraft 101 (Dave Canterbury), Extreme Wilderness Survival (Craig Caudill), The U.S. Navy SEAL Survival Handbook (Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo), The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook (Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht), Survival Wisdom and Know-How (Stackpole Books) and DK's Survival handbook. None of those authors or publishers works with or endorses this site.

Contact

Questions, a correction, or a video to take down? Reach Web Design Nerd at webdesignnerd.com.