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MARCELIN, SASK. — If you found yourself stuck in the woods with very few resources, would you know what to do?
For many, the thought of being stranded in the wilderness is enough to spark fear and panic. Without food, shelter, or the tools to navigate, the situation can feel overwhelming. But for Devin King, the owner of Hoagy’s Outdoor Survival Skills, the woods aren’t a place of fear — they’re a place of opportunity.
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With years of experience in search and rescue, King teaches others how to turn their panic into purposeful action.
“Everybody should have a basic understanding of what you need to survive,” he said in an interview with 650 CKOM.
Devin King teaches survival classes on a property he owns near Marcelin, Sask. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
King’s passion for survival skills was shaped by years of hands-on experience in emergency services.
He got his start in 2006 as a volunteer firefighter, and joined Saskatchewan’s Search and Rescue Association in 2008. Over the years he served with several teams, including North Corman Park and Saskatoon Search and Rescue, and helped establish Battlefords Search and Rescue.
Listen to Devin King on Behind The Headlines:
King explained that many of the emergencies he responded to could have been avoided through basic survival knowledge. That’s what drove him to create Hoagy’s Outdoor Survival Skills, where he teaches people the fundamentals they need to survive the wild.
King said he always keeps a small spool of jute twine in his emergency kit. It can be used to tie things together, and can also be unwound and used as tinder to start a fire. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
King said he emphasizes a simple, structured approach to survival, which he calls the “SCORPA” cycle.
“It’s a six-step cycle. Sizing up your situation, looking for contingencies or things that can go wrong, making some objectives that you want to accomplish, looking at your resources that you have – so that’s what you may have in your backpack, in your car, in your personal survival kit,” King explained.
“The next one would be to make a plan of what you’re going to do, and then your last one is action — acting on that plan. S-C-O-R-P-A: size up, contingencies, objectives, resources, plan and action. It’s just a cycle that you work through continually. Most people have a process like that that runs in the background of their head anyway, but this is more trying to bring it to the forefront, and using it for survival.”
King also stressed the importance of improvisation in survival situations.
“What is a modern convenience that I would use, and what do I have around me that I could substitute for that?”
A ferro rod, or ferrocerium rod, is a small tool that creates sparks when scraped against a hard surface. King explained that even when wet, the tool will still create sparks, making it an ideal item to keep in an emergency kit. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
King highlighted that knowing your location is crucial for survival.
“Understand where you are,” he said. “Pay attention to direction. A lot of people don’t, but it really is a basic skill. If you’re wandering off of a path or driving on a road, and you don’t have a GPS system or your phone dies and all of a sudden you realize you don’t know where you are… That’s definitely a basic survival skill.”
King also advised that if you’re ever stuck in a vehicle, it’s crucial to stay with the vehicle.
“If you look at past examples of search and rescue missions and successful finds of a subject, they always find the car first, typically. They find the biggest object first.”
King said starting a fire takes patience, but it’s a crucial survival skill to learn. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Preparation is key, and King encouraged everyone to be mindful of their surroundings and make preparations before an emergency happens.
“It can happen. You can be out even, say, hiking trails. Maybe they’re public trails, but you’ve gone in late. Maybe there’s not as many people around, and you twist an ankle. If you haven’t told anyone where you’re going, what you’re doing, when you’re expected back, it may take a while before people realize that something’s up,” King said.
When it comes to survival, King stressed the importance of building confidence through training.
“That’s the end goal of these courses,” he said.
“If you’re out and something’s happened, you do have that little bit of training you’ve taken. You’ve got that little bit of confidence. You can work through it.”
King said the most simple way to assess whether kindling is dry enough to use for starting a fire is to break it in half. If you hear a snap, the wood is good and dry. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
King also advised that survival kits should be equipped with several essential tools.
“You want to have a method of getting shelter for yourself. You want to have a method of being able to start a fire. You want to have a method of being able to navigate. Those are kind of the basic things you want in that kit. A small little stainless cup or bottle, something you can boil water in. Add a packet of soup too. Doesn’t take much space. Have something like a whistle in that kit, because it’s a lot easier to blow a whistle than it is to yell for help. That signal is going to go a lot further, and it’s a lot more recognizable, especially to blow it three times, which is a sign of distress,” he explained.
“The other thing in your kit is to have some basic medical supplies.”
Ultimately, King said his goal is to empower his students with the knowledge and confidence to handle any situation that may arise.
“If something happens, you can take care of yourself for a couple of days until you’re able to be removed from the situation you’re in,” he said. “And that’s why I got involved in this through search and rescue — to get this information out, just so people can have the best chance possible as they wait for help to come.”
“Everybody should have a basic understanding of what you need to survive,” Devin King said. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
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