Wilderness Survival Merit Badge
The ten requirements as the page now arranges them, with the overnight in the improvised shelter shown for the expedition it is, the parts of requirement 5 that feed it drawn in, and requirement 10's stated choice asked as a question so the route you are not taking disappears.
11 steps (31 parts inside them). 2 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Wilderness Survival Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the question at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering one question will take out the parts that are not for you.
The steps
Stage 1 of 11
1 step
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1. Hazards and first aid. A thirteen-item list, and two new parts Often forgotten Requirement
Three parts. The first-aid list here is the longest on any badge in this library, and 1(b) and 1(c) do not appear in the 2025 requirements book at all.
This badge was reorganised AFTER the 2025 printed requirements book. The book has twelve requirements, this page has ten, and the book has no careers requirement at all. If you are working from a printed book you are working from a different badge. Check the official page. The change note on this plan lists exactly which parts the book can still corroborate.
16 parts
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1(a). First aid and prevention for thirteen backcountry conditions Often forgotten Thirteen conditions, and this is the longest first-aid list on any badge in this library. The 2025 book gives eight. Shock, eye injuries, ankle and knee sprains, scorpion sting and the bite of a wild mammal are on the page and not in the book, so a first-aid discussion carried over from another badge, or from a printed book, will not have covered them. Prevention AND treatment for each.
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1(b). How the Scout Basic Essentials answer survival hazards Often forgotten
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Stage 2 of 11
1 step
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2. The seven priorities of survival, and why each matters Requirement
Explain the importance of each of the seven in a wilderness location. The 2025 book also asked for them from memory; the page asks for the explanation.
Stage 3 of 11
1 step
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3. Avoiding panic, keeping morale, and why that matters Requirement
Described: ways to avoid panic and hold morale when lost, and an explanation of why it matters. It is the requirement that does the most work and looks like the least.
Stage 4 of 11
1 step
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4. Build TWO kits, first aid and survival, and show the items in use Often forgotten Requirement
A personal first aid kit AND a personal survival kit, then show how items in the kits are used. Shown, not listed. The 2025 book asked for the survival kit alone.
Stage 5 of 11
1 step
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5. Shelter: four parts of preparation and then a night outdoors Often forgotten Requirement
Five parts, and the fifth is the whole logistical weight of the badge. The first four are what you need to know before you spend the night.
10 parts
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5(b). The right clothing for extreme heat, extreme cold and wet Often forgotten
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5(e). Improvise a shelter and SPEND A NIGHT IN IT Often forgotten THIS IS THE WHOLE BADGE IN ONE LETTERED PART. You improvise a natural shelter and you SPEND A NIGHT IN IT. That means a campout with dates already fixed, a site where building a natural shelter is permitted (many are not) weather you can safely sleep out in, adult supervision and your unit's approval. Everything else on this badge can be done indoors or in an afternoon. Fix the night first and work backwards; do not arrive at requirement 5 expecting to finish it that week.
Stage 6 of 11
1 step
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6. Three fires, three methods, no matches Often forgotten Requirement
Built AND lit, three times, by three different methods other than matches. One sentence, several evenings of practice, and somewhere fires are actually allowed.
One sentence, several evenings. Three fires, each lit by a different method, none of them matches: a ferrocerium rod, a bow drill, a lens, flint and steel. These are skills that fail repeatedly before they work, and a bow drill can take several sessions on its own. You also need somewhere a fire is permitted, which in many parks and at many times of year is nowhere. Practise before the campout, not on it.
Stage 7 of 11
1 step
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7. Signalling: to the ground, the air and the water Requirement
Three parts. 7(c) is from memory, which is the only place on the badge that says so.
Stage 8 of 11
1 step
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8. Three ways to treat water found outdoors Requirement
Demonstrated, three of them, to prepare it for drinking. Demonstrate rather than describe.
Stage 9 of 11
1 step
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9. Why eating wild plants or wildlife is usually a bad idea Requirement
Explained. The answer the requirement is looking for is about risk and effort, not about which plants are edible.
Stage 10 of 11
1 step
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10. Careers, or a hobby and volunteering. Do ONE Requirement
The badge states the choice itself. Both routes are research and a discussion with your counselor, and neither carries a clock.
2 parts
Stage 11 of 11
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 10. Careers, or a hobby and volunteering. Do ONE.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.