Survival Instinct

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When the world goes sideways, will you be ready? Survival Instinct is your ultimate guide to mastering the wild, the unexpected, and the extreme. Dive deep into real-life survival stories, essential bushcraft skills, and preparedness strategies that could save your life. We dissect critical decision-making in high-stakes scenarios, from wilderness survival to urban collapse, ensuring you're equipped with practical knowledge for any emergency. This isn't just theory; it's hardcore, actionable intelligence for those who refuse to be caught off guard. New episodes drop daily, Monday through Sunday, at 9:00 AM EST, offering a fresh dose of survival wisdom every single day. Each episode provides expert insights, gear reviews, and techniques for self-reliance, presented in a no-nonsense, direct format. This podcast is for preppers, outdoor enthusiasts, adventurers, and anyone serious about developing resilience and an unshakeable survival mindset. If you're ready to transform fear into preparedness and instinct into skill, you've found your tribe. Subscribe to Survival Instinct now and sharpen your edge.

  1. 4 hr ago

    Hours on a Frozen Ledge: How She Survived with a Broken Ankle

    Hours on a Frozen Ledge: How She Survived with a Broken Ankle Cold, precise survival: a 23-year-old paraglider with a fractured ankle endured 29 hours on a Montana shelf at 14°F, left a half-eaten, unfrozen granola bar beside her abandoned glider bag, and used only her flight gear to send a signal-how did she turn equipment and method into rescue? What choice turned a routine launch into one of the most methodical survival acts recorded in the Abner Range? In this episode, we tell the sequence of what happened from takeoff to the moment rescue became possible, outlining her gear, decisions, and the single overlooked item that tied her to the launch. How did training, checklists, and one small habit become the difference between being lost and being found? Person: Marcia Norris Date: February 8-9, 2011 Location: Spurling Shelf and Drumlin Shelf, Abner Range, Montana Temperature: 14 degrees Fahrenheit Injury: fractured right ankle - She launched at 7:40 AM from Spurling Shelf at 8,200 feet after three weeks of weather monitoring. - Ninety minutes later, around 9:10 AM, rotor turbulence forced a hard descent to Drumlin Shelf 1,300 feet lower. - The landing skidded 20 feet on ice and caused a fractured right ankle and an abrasion on her left forearm. - Her radio transmitted for 40 seconds before dying; her phone had no signal. - Her glider bag was later found upright a mile and a half from her car with a not-frozen half-eaten granola bar on top. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    Hours on a Frozen Ledge: How She Survived with a Broken Ankle

  2. 1 day ago

    She Survived a Propeller Cut - How She Crawled Ashore

    She Survived a Propeller Cut - How She Crawled Ashore Cold water, a missing freediving fin, and a descent line cleanly sliced by a rotating propeller at four meters - Karen Simmons spent more than four hours fighting what should have been unsurvivable odds; how did a 38-year-old radiology tech and experienced freediver crawl ashore with one fin and thirty seconds of consciousness left? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning a charter fisherman found an empty carbon freediving fin to the search-and-rescue response and Karen’s hospital statement, laying out the timeline, the cut descent line, and the conditions that morning to ask how protocol failed and how she survived. Person: Karen Simmons Date: January 9, 2022 Location: Miramar Shoal, Peloro Keys Occupation: Radiological technician at Monroe County Medical Center Dive depth: anchored at 39 meters, climbed from 38 meters - At 7:52 AM on January 9, 2022, Holly Weber pulled a single carbon freediving fin from the water near Miramar Shoal with the foot pocket buckled shut and nothing inside. - Karen Simmons was 38 years old and had been a certified freediver for six years with a personal best of 52 meters and coaching experience at the Marathon club for four years. - The water temperature that week was the coldest recorded in the Peloro Keys in eleven years and visibility at depth was roughly eight feet. - Karen anchored her descent line at 39 meters and clipped her surface marker buoy to a twelve-foot inflatable tender; the rope was bright yellow kernmantle rated to 800 kilograms. - A search-and-rescue diver found the descent line intact from the bottom to four meters depth, where the fibers were compressed and slightly melted - consistent with rotating metal contact from a propeller. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    She Survived a Propeller Cut - How She Crawled Ashore

  3. 2 days ago

    She Hung Her Clothes on a Branch - Survived 48 Frozen Hours

    She Hung Her Clothes on a Branch - Survived 48 Frozen Hours Cold, precise survival: a retired biology teacher stripped off frozen layers in -28°F air, hung a complete set of clothes six feet high on a spruce, and then spent the next 48 hours alive but alone-how did she manage to survive with no tracks, one glove missing, and both skis lost to the current? In this episode, we follow the sequence of actions and conditions that kept Diane Anderson alive after she fell through thin shelf ice on the Aldrich River, and we ask how training, timing, and improvisation combined to turn a near-immediate death into a two-day survival story. Person: Diane Anderson Age: 62 Location: Aldrich River, Boundary Hills Date: December 17, 2009 Temperature: -28 degrees Fahrenheit - The clothes were hanging six feet off the ground on a black spruce branch in air reading -28°F. - Diane fell through shelf ice at 11:15 AM, four feet from the bank at the second bend of the Aldrich River. - Water temperature at depth that December was 4°C, and Diane had roughly 30 seconds to get elbows over ice before arm failure. - Within two minutes of leaving the water she stripped every wet garment and hung the thermal underlayer, fleece, ski pants, down jacket, sports bra, wool socks, and one glove on the branch. - She lost both skis to the current under the shelf ice and then fashioned a spruce-bough frame bound with inner birch bark about 40 yards from the hanging clothes. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    She Hung Her Clothes on a Branch - Survived 48 Frozen Hours

  4. 3 days ago

    She Survived Eleven Days Alone Above a Burning Valley

    She Survived Eleven Days Alone Above a Burning Valley Heat, smoke, and radio silence turned a routine lookout post into a life-or-death trap: a fully charged radio transmitted from sixty feet up the Tallow Peak lookout while 64 searchers and 11 agencies were searching four miles away. How did a methodical 26-year-old with supplies, a cistern of roughly 22 gallons, and training end up sheltering alone for eleven days while crews assumed she had evacuated? In this episode, we follow the timeline of what happened at the Tallow Peak Fire Lookout and how decisions on the ground and in command left one person isolated. What choices did Darlene Olson make to survive, and why did the search move in the wrong direction? Person: Darlene Olson Age: 26 Location: Tallow Peak Fire Lookout, sixty feet above a burned slope Event: Downed power line ignited fire on November 6; last confirmed radio contact at 4:17 a.m. on November 7 Search: 64 personnel from 11 agencies spent nine days looking, focused four miles away - Cistern capacity: roughly 22 gallons of water at the start of her last week on post. - Last confirmed radio contact time: 4:17 a.m, on November 7. - Radio transmission recorded as functional on November 8 despite no confirmed receipt. - Darlene rationed to one liter of water per day beginning November 9. - Condensation collection produced roughly 0.25 liters per night after she modified the north catwalk railing. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    She Survived Eleven Days Alone Above a Burning Valley

  5. 4 days ago

    Twelve Minutes of Warmth: The Marker That Saved Her Fingers

    Twelve Minutes of Warmth: The Marker That Saved Her Fingers Cold water steals touch in under ten minutes; a dry-erase marker that had drifted six weeks downriver ended up upright in a boulder crack, uncapped and bone dry in a river running four times its normal flow - and that tiny nib became the difference between rescued and lost. How did an object she had never seen before become the single tool that bought her the minutes she needed? In this episode, we follow the morning of June 21, 2019, as a solo paddler with swift-water training becomes trapped on a shrinking gravel island and must act within a twelve-minute window of usable hands; was it skill, luck, or the river’s strange generosity that determined her survival? Person: Jessica Schmidt Date: June 21, 2019 Location: Kessler Fork, Siltwater Reach Status: Rescued Responder: Tarval County Sheriff's Office - At 6:45 AM she launched from Ridgetop put-in and flipped at 6:58 AM in 38°F water. - The river was running approximately four times its median June flow. - Cold-water dexterity lasts roughly eight to ten minutes, giving her about twelve minutes of functional hands. - A birdwatcher, Wayne Mason, spotted an orange uncapped dry-erase marker in a spray-soaked boulder crack at 8:12 AM and called the sheriff two minutes later. - The marker had spent six weeks drifting down the Montana river before coming to rest where she needed it. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    Twelve Minutes of Warmth: The Marker That Saved Her Fingers

  6. 5 days ago

    The Porcelain Shoe: How a Runner Vanished for Nine Days

    The Porcelain Shoe: How a Runner Vanished for Nine Days The image is simple and uncanny: a single size 10.5 safety-orange trail runner, double-knotted and set upright on a welcome mat in the middle of the Nevada desert - and beside it, a man who had been missing for nine days and had no idea how long he'd been gone. How did a thirty-two-year-old civil engineer and experienced ultra runner disappear for nine days across thirty-one miles of empty high desert and then reappear with only a shoe as the first clue? In this episode, we follow the timeline from race morning through the search and the unlikely discoveries that saved Scott Hughes, and we ask the question the evidence forces on everyone: what assumptions about search, tracking, and self-rescue failed, and which ones actually kept him alive? Person: Scott Hughes Age: 32 Event: Ridgeline Fifty K Location: Shoshone Range, Elko, Nevada Distance: 31 miles - At 5:40 AM on September 8, 2014, a fifteen-year-old on a paper route found Scott alive and breathing beside a door with a single size 10.5 trail runner on the mat. - Scott ran the Ridgeline 50K on August 30, 2014, a 31-mile course with roughly 6,000 feet total elevation change. - His GPS tracker stopped transmitting at 10:49 AM during the descent into Piñon Draw after the unit struck a rock and the antenna was damaged. - Piñon Draw is approximately mile 19 of the course and contains a buried drainage culvert whose top can appear as solid ground. - A crucial tip-line report sat unreviewed for seven days while search teams were combing the wrong side of a dry creek bed and the tracker’s corrupt coordinate sent searchers miles off course. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    The Porcelain Shoe: How a Runner Vanished for Nine Days

  7. 6 days ago

    Stranger's Orange Jacket: How a Random Gift Saved a Mountaineer

    Stranger's Orange Jacket: How a Random Gift Saved a Mountaineer Cold, remote, and precise: a stranger's orange jacket wrapped a broken leg and turned a likely death into a rescue. A handwritten note, a trekking pole tied with an orange fleece, and a mountain ledge failing after years of freeze-thaw set a chain of events that hinged on one anonymous act-how did that jacket end up saving her life? In this episode, we follow the sequence of decisions, conditions, and small preparations that determined a climber's fate, from trip plans and register entries to the moment a road-grader operator found a hand against a boulder; what choices and coincidences made survival possible? Person: Tammy Hughes Location: Arroyo Peak, Saguache Range Date: August 1-3 Person: Doug Prentiss Event: Orange jacket left as marker and note in register - Tammy Hughes fell eight feet at approximately 2:00 PM on August 1 and sustained a non-displaced crack through her left tibia. - Tammy signed the Corbett Lake register at 4:50 AM on August 1 and planned to return by evening on August 2 with Beth Okafor as emergency contact. - Doug Prentiss tied an orange fleece strip to a trekking pole on the Shoulder and placed a note in the register on July 29 indicating "jacket in split rock at base of chute." - The ledge Tammy weighted was 300 feet below the summit and at about 11,200 feet (the Shoulder), part of the route with roughly 2,000 feet of technical gain from a four-mile approach. - At 6:14 AM on August 3, road-grader operator Connie Hansen found a woman in a drainage ditch beside Forest Service Road 118 with her left leg wrapped in an orange Gore-Tex jacket and a water bottle under her chin. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    Stranger's Orange Jacket: How a Random Gift Saved a Mountaineer

  8. 31 Jul

    Bilge Pump Handle in a Tree: How Three Men Vanished at Sea

    Bilge Pump Handle in a Tree: How Three Men Vanished at Sea A single stainless-steel bilge pump handle lodged eleven feet up in a red oak turned a failing maritime search into a rescue that found three men alive after two and a half days adrift - but why was that handle in a tree, and how did one short radio transmission send everyone looking the wrong way? This episode drops you into the moment Earl Porter called in late July 2019 and into a search that missed its mark until a utility worker’s find flipped the story. In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Maren B’s departure to the moment rescuers redirected their efforts, tracking the radio logs, the plotted GPS position, and the assumptions that kept search teams moving away from Heron Island - could one misunderstood word have cost precious time? Person: Charles Collins Person: Felix Ruiz Person: Person: Don Tapper Date: July 17-18, 2019 Location: Heron Island - The bilge pump handle was stainless steel with its mounting bracket still attached and lodged eleven feet up in a red oak. - The Maren B called a four-second radio transmission at 15:19 consisting of two words: "Heron Island," then static. - Collins logged a radio transmission at 14:47 with vessel name, MMSI number, and an approximate GPS position about twenty-two nautical miles northwest of the Talliston channel entrance. - Seas were reported at seven to nine feet by 14:00 on July 18 after the storm wobble to the north. - Earl Porter discovered the handle while tracing a downed power line on a Tuesday morning in late July 2019 and stood under it for a full minute before calling. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

    Bilge Pump Handle in a Tree: How Three Men Vanished at Sea
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About

When the world goes sideways, will you be ready? Survival Instinct is your ultimate guide to mastering the wild, the unexpected, and the extreme. Dive deep into real-life survival stories, essential bushcraft skills, and preparedness strategies that could save your life. We dissect critical decision-making in high-stakes scenarios, from wilderness survival to urban collapse, ensuring you're equipped with practical knowledge for any emergency. This isn't just theory; it's hardcore, actionable intelligence for those who refuse to be caught off guard. New episodes drop daily, Monday through Sunday, at 9:00 AM EST, offering a fresh dose of survival wisdom every single day. Each episode provides expert insights, gear reviews, and techniques for self-reliance, presented in a no-nonsense, direct format. This podcast is for preppers, outdoor enthusiasts, adventurers, and anyone serious about developing resilience and an unshakeable survival mindset. If you're ready to transform fear into preparedness and instinct into skill, you've found your tribe. Subscribe to Survival Instinct now and sharpen your edge.

Information

  • Creator
    Creator at Obomedia
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    57
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 OBOMEDIA Creators
  • Show Website
    Survival Instinct