There are hundreds of likely books to seek out...
David Morrell's Testament (family pursued by domestic terrorists into the wilds), First Blood (source for the movies but more realistic and far superior action), Last Revile (I think that is how you spell it - US Army troops pursue Pancho Villa's raiders into the harsh Mexican countryside).
David Palmer's
Emergence - post-apocalyptic tale of survival featuring a child prodigy. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's False Dawn - brutal tale of post-apocalyptic survival. Stephen King's The Stand and Robert McCammon's Swan Song - two similar epic studies of post armageddon survival.
Some of Dean Ing's 80's work fantatically embraces gadgets/survival themes. These days he seems to concentrate on spy thrillers. He debated how to survive not only Ma Nature but also nuclear war.
Barry Sadler's Phu Nam sniper series, especially the first two (the first one, Phu Nam, I think, is set in Vietnam and the second is set in the wilds of South America).
Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld and World of Terres series. Though both are outright science fiction, the protagonists repeatedly demonstrate a hardcore survivalist mentality and creativity in wilderness settings.
Robert Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky (a science fiction look at surviving in a hostile environment and the problems it poses to human society - my fave Heinlein novel).
Hank Searl's The Shipkiller (a man whose wife was murdered by a massive ship pits himself against the world and the sea for a chance to sink the vessel).
Jeff
