22 Absolutely Essential Diagrams You Need For Camping

From survival to s'mores, here's everything you need to know to ensure a flawless camping trip.  Read On

How To Build A Long Term Survival Shelter

 

your home or retreat is compromised in a long term collapse scenario, what are your options for shelter? 

Read on

Survival Foods For Hikers

 

Survival foods are not the most important thing in most emergency situations in the wilderness.  You survive weeks without eating if you have to, so it is usually more important to find shelter, water, and stay dry and uninjured. On the other hand, just knowing you can find food out there, and having something in your stomach, can do wonders for your state of mind, which CAN be crucial to your survival.

What then, do you need to know about survival foods? First forget the idea that you need to learn every last edible wild plant. I love learning about new edible plants, but very few of them provide enough calories to be worth the effort in a survival situation. What you need s to know a few basic categories of animals you can eat, and some of the most abundant and calorie-rich plants.

Survival Foods – The Animals

Mammals in North America can all be eaten (except for the livers of some arctic mammals). Since many carry parasites, wash your hands after handling them, and cook the meat if possible.

North American birds are all edible, and there eggs are too. I’ve even eaten seagull eggs cooked on a hot rock, and they tasted fine.

Fresh water fish in North America are all edible. Catching the fish is the difficult part, but they can be quickly and easily cooked over a fire.

Amphibians and reptiles are usually safe to eat – if you remove the skin. I have cooked snake in a stew and over a fire, and I recommend the latter.

Survival Foods – The Plants

Cattail is one of the most abundant and calorie-rich foods in the wilderness. The white part of the stalk at the bottom, and the new shoots, can be eaten raw or cooked. Flower spikes can be cooked like corn-on-the-cob when green. Roots can be mashed in water to release the starch, which can be added to soups. Pollen from the flower spike can be shaken into a bag and used in soups. Cattails grow in swamps or wet soil, and you really should get to know this plant.

The inner bark of pine trees is edible. It’s a good survival food to remember, because it is available year-round. That white spongy layer between the outer bark and the wood is what you want. Although it is mostly fiber, it contains enough carbohydrates to be worth boiling into a soup if nothing else is available.

Edible berries can be a delicious and filling survival food in the right season. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and blackberries all have their wild forms. If it looks like the domestic one (usually smaller) and smells and tastes like it, it’s safe to eat.

Of course it’s fun to know which mushrooms you can eat, and even which flowers are edible, but both of these have almost no calories. To quickly learn what you need to survive, concentrate first on the common animals and the most abundant and calorie-rich edible plants. Those are the survival foods that will most likely save your life.

What Items Should Be in My Car Emergency Survival Kit?

tterShare

What Items Should Be in My Car Emergency Survival Kit?

Everyone who owns a car should carry a car survival kit with them at all times. This is especially true for anyone who will be driving in remote areas. Even if you are simply planning a short drive across town, it is wise to have your survival kit with you in case of an accident or emergency. You never want to use it, but who knows when you may need it.

It can be easy to make your own survival kit at home or simply purchase one that is available on the market. Sometimes, it is necessary to add a couple of items to your personal survival kit even if the kit has been purchased from the store. Match the kit to suit your individual needs and location.

Don’t just buy a survival kit and toss it in the trunk of the car. Take a few moments to look over the items in the survival kit. The items in the kit are useless unless you properly know how to use them. Become familiar with the items before you really need them. An item that you can’t use effectively is not going to prolong your life in an emergency.

Always have a flashlight and batteries in the survival kit. An extra outfit is a good idea to keep on hand. Waterproof matches and candles are also an excellent idea. Keep a small can in your survival kit to use for melting snow. This will provide you drinking water. Road flares, jumper cables, and a small shovel are valuable tools to use. Keep a small stash of tools handy, such as a hammer, screwdriver, and adjustable wrench.

A pocket knife or survival knife can be one of the most versatile items to keep with you at all times in your pocket. Again, learn to use all of the features in this particular tool.

Keep a small supply of dried foods, energy bars, and bottled water in the vehicle. These will provide valuable nourishment to prolong survival until you can get the help you need.

Traveling in cold weather can be extremely dangerous. Always keep an extra blanket in the car with you at all times. Spare hats and gloves can help keep you warm and dry in an emergency. A bag of kitty litter can be helpful during snowy months. This item can help you to get the traction you need on the snow and ice.

Consider keeping a crank-style cell phone charger in your car emergency survival kit. This item may make it possible to charge your cell phone and call for help in the event of an emergency.

No one ever wants to use a car emergency survival kit, but it can save your life. Check your kit often to make sure all items are in place. Replace any items that have been used or removed. Consider practicing a mock emergency to refresh your memory on how to use some of the items in the kit. Taking the time to adequately prepare for an emergency can help you to survive in a serious situation.

Surviving In The Wilderness,the basics

Surviving In The Wilderness,the basics 

Wilderness Survival

Many people have died just a few miles from their homes since they didn't know how to adapt to the components. Deficiency of fluids can strike quickly, therefore it's very important before you're too weak to do, to find a water source. Look for flies, mud, moss or any other sign of a river or creek in the area.   Seek Shelter before you even consider food and This is just another task that should be undertaken. Attempt to locate a stone cave or shaded tree that can keep you dry and warm as possible. Take Inventory of Your Goods determine what benefits you have Once you know that you won't perish of exposure or thirst. 

When it doesn't look like much, the smallest of items could make a difference. For example, an additional t shirt could be torn up for bandages, or even a flame can be started by even a Dollar Bill.  Stay Positive With a good attitude your survival techniques will be for naught.  Depression from the wilderness is what keeps individuals from hunting and foraging for food.   It also allows minor wounds to annoy you and avoidable errors may be made. Irrespective of how dire your situation might seem, it is important to keep in mind that individuals have survived worse. The human desire to live is a remarkable thing. 

You may get through this, and one day, you may even be capable to turn it into a movie. These are only even a few tips for making it out from the wilderness alive. The absolute best thing you may do to ensure of your safety is to pack properly before you even leave for of your trip, so make certain you stock your lighter and Grab A Gun and/or knife before you hit out on your next camping trip. 

Hiker survival gear

survival gear tips

I found this on Pinterest! https://pin.it/rlx5qtrtfkmwmz

5 Ways to Use Hot Rocks in a Survival Situation

open fire cooking with hot rocks

Enlarge

Tim MacWelch

Cooking on rocks is a great option in a survival situation—you just have to pick the right rock. Here's what else you can do with a pile of stones in the field.

Fighting the cold? Need help cooking? Don’t underestimate the power of hot rocks! Stones can hold a lot of heat, and radiate that warmth for a long time when properly insulated. Start with rocks from a high, dry area. Never use rocks from a wet area. They may have trapped moisture which can cause them to explode when heated. Avoid glasslike or crystal filled stones. Don’t use slate or shale, either. These are prone to explosion and breakage near heat. Just grab some plain old ugly rocks from a high dry location, heat them up and enjoy the results.

1. Bed Warmer

For a warm and comfortable night, heat large flat stone to about the same temperature as scalding hot tap water. Wrap it in tough cloth or clothing, and put it in your bed or sleeping bag. The heat will soak into your cold bedding and you’ll drift off to a snug night of slumber. I’ve had rocks remain warm as long as seven hours this way.

2. Rock Boiling

Rock boiling can be used to prepare soups and teas, and boil your water to disinfect it. Collect about two dozen egg sized or slightly smaller stones to rock boil 2 to 4 quarts of water. Heat them in your fire for 30-45 minutes. Use sticks or split wood tongs to pick up the rocks and drop them into your water. Use one or two at a time, and rotate “cool” ones out and hot ones in.

3. Rock Frying

For small cooking tasks, chuck a flat rock into the fire for ten minutes to heat it up. Once hot, slide it out of the fire with a stick and dust off the ashes. Drip a little oil on the stone and set your food on the rock to cook. This is a dead simple way to make delicious fried foods, and you don’t even need a frying pan! And for a more permanent set-up, place a large slab of stone over a trench or on top of stone legs. Build a fire underneath, heat the stone, drop your food on top and listen to your meal sizzle!

4. Heat On Injury

For sprains, strains, cramps and other maladies, a warm rock can provide soothing comfort when held against the affected area. Warm stones can even help with problems that are severe, like hypothermia (cold exposure that can lead to shock and death). To treat this with hot rocks, place a warm stone under each armpit and between the thighs of the exposure victim. Wrap them up and repeat the treatment until their body temperature rises.

5. Punch Holes in Ice

Want some fresh fish, but you lack the tools to bore a hole through the ice? Step back a few thousand years and use something our remote ancestors would have used – a hot rock. Simply burn a large fire on the shore, heat up a large stone in the blaze. After an hour of heating, use a shovel to carry the dangerously hot stone to your ice fishing spot and set it on the ice. It will begin to melt the ice immediately and work its way downward. Soon the rock will melt through the ice and drop into the dark water below. Your ice fishing hole will be open, smooth and ready to fish.

Source: http://www.outdoorlife.com/5-ways-to-use-hot-rocks-in-survival-situation

14 Survival Tips That May Save Your Life Someday Vol. II

homemade arrow

In the case of an emergency, doing the right thing or having the right skill could make the difference between life and death, it can save your life or someone else's life. We have compiled a collection of some of the most crucial information and skills you should have to know what to do in an emergency or a disaster. It's really important that you and your family and your friends to have this knowledge.
More from the source

Don’t Fall for the Prepper Fantasy

Prepper Fantasy

Prepper Fantasy 1

4.11/5 (53)

There are so many thoughts and beliefs around what our own personal TEOTWAWKI reality will look like. Every prepper I talk to about any subject has their own take on what will happen, when it will happen, how bad it will get and in what order the chaos will or won’t descend into their world. I think that is natural and shows how we each have our own thoughts and creativity. Often these different perspectives are helpful to me by making me consider other points of view that maybe I had overlooked.

  

Each prepper has to take the facts as we see them and apply our own set of experiences, bias and guiding principles to any potential outcomes we foresee. Nobody can tell the future, so the best we have is history, combined with some individual common sense that hopefully leans on lessons from real history to tell us what to prepare for and guide us toward what we might expect. What each of us is actually faced with may be exactly what we anticipated, or it could be completely different. The trick is to not let a surprise do you in.
I think a lot of people have a best case scenario view in their minds of how the world is going to end and how they will fare through the upheaval. I call this the Prepper Fantasy. I don’t mean fantasy in the sense that preppers wish for events like this, but if something bad is going to happen, this is what they view as maybe the more ideal scenario. It goes a little something like this.

1. There is a global EMP or Financial Collapse or Pandemic that kills 90% of the world’s population in about 1 year.
2. The Prepper will have plenty of supplies and survival seeds to keep them alive. The garden will be started right after the catastrophe and they will hunt and fish for food all day long because they no longer have a 9-5 job to go to. They also have guns and plenty of ammo to keep the bad guys out of the house.
3. After the huge die off, the prepper will begin the task of rebuilding society with some incredibly talented friends (doctors, ex Special Forces, nuclear engineers, etc.) They will be able to barter for just about anything they need either with supplies they have or goods they are able to produce. The lack of money or banks won’t impact them.
4. This New World will be populated only with people who were smart, good-looking and tough enough to have survived through the bad times and we will be so much better off. Oh, and all of the women will wear leather bras and very tight pants. And they will have Ninja skills too.

Sounds like the outline of a movie plot doesn’t it? One of the many problems I see with this view is the timeline itself. While a global pandemic could make the rounds of the planet in under a year (see Spanish Influenza) there would need to be a lot of other things that fall nicely into place for this Prepper Fantasy to work out. Continue reading from the source...

The Noah Candle

We have roughly 12 hours of natural light from the sun and the rest of the time we simply flip a switch and out pours a flood of artificial light. But what happens when the switch doesn’t work anymore?

Crisco Candle

Since the advent of electric lights, candles have become more of a decorative item than a tool. But anyone that has ever been caught in a blackout knows the real value of a candle.
You can purchase many “survival candles” that last 12-120 hours, but did you know that you can create a candle that will last for up to 45 days using something that you probably already have in your kitchen?
All you need is:
a 48oz tub of Crisco or smaller. The large tub will get you the 45 life span and anything smaller will burn significantly less
a spoon
an old candlestick or something else that can be used as a wick
There are a few options when it comes to creating a Noah candle.  One of the first things you need to decide is if you want a candle that will burn brighter or one that will last longer.
For a longer lasting candle you will use only one wick and for a brighter candle you will use anywhere from 2-4 wicks depending on the size of the container.
Regardless of how many wicks you decide to use or the size of the Crisco tub that you choose, the directions are the same.
Take your spoon and remove a small portion of the Crisco directly in the center (for a single wick candle) if you are using an old candlestick. Then simply press the candlestick down into the shortening until it touches the bottom.  Use the shortening that was removed previously to fill in any divots.
Smooth the top of the Crisco down until it is completely flat, then trim the excess candle and wick until you only have about 1/4” of wick sticking out above the top of the shortening.
Light and enjoy.
If you are using a standalone wick, you may need to dig down to the bottom of the can in order to get the base of the wick to lie flat against the bottom of the tub.  Then simply melt the shortening and use it to fill in the hole that was left.
As a caution: the container of the Crisco is made of a paper material and as such may catch on fire if you place the wick too close to the outer edge of the tub.

Source:
https://survivallife.com/an-emergency-candle-that-noah-would-be-proud-of/

How To Build A Long Term Survival Shelter

Source:
http://www.shtfpreparedness.com/how-to-build-a-long-term-survival-shelter/

How To Grow Your Own Antibacterial Bandages

As I work on turning this one acre homestead into a self-sustaining Garden of Eden, I have two requirements for every single plant I consider putting in the ground: they must be either edible or medicinal. Preferably both.
Why? Because frankly I don’t have money or space to waste on frivolous landscaping. Everything from the plants to the animals must have a purpose.
More and more people are beginning to see the benefit of having a garden and growing your own food, but growing your own medicine could be equally as vital to your well being. What would you do if you couldn’t get the medical supplies or help you needed for a very long time? How would you manage?
As I plan my medicinal garden, I choose what to grow by studying different medical emergency scenarios and learning which plants I would be able to use if it ever came down to that.
One day as I was doctoring up one of my kiddos, the thought crossed my mind, “What if I couldn’t get any more of these band-aids? What could I use?” This question prompted me to delve into my herbal books and scour the internet for an answer. And I found a good one.

Young Wooly Lamb’s Ear settling down for the winter.

Wooly Lamb’s Ear.
It’s one of my favorites because it’s medicinal AND edible.
A Natural Antibacterial Bandage
Wooly Lamb’s Ear, botanical name Stachys byzantina, has been used for centuries as a wound dressing on battlefields. Not only do the soft, fuzzy leaves absorb blood and help it to clot more quickly, they also contain antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory properties. All of these factors make this plant a really great alternative to store-bought bandages (especially since many of them are made in China!).
Other Medicinal Uses
Wooly Lamb’s Ear actually has many medicinal uses. You can heat a few bruised leaves in a pot of simmering water, and use the cooled infusion as an eyewash to treat pinkeye and sties.
Drink a tea made from young, dried Wooly Lamb’s Ear leaves to help with fevers, diarrhea, sore mouth and throat, internal bleeding, and weaknesses of the liver and heart. (~Wikipedia)
You can bruise the leaves so that the juices are released, and put them on bee stings or other insect bites to help reduce the swelling. The same effect can be seen when used for treating hemorrhoids, or for postpartum recovery.



Still More Uses
As if Wooly Lamb’s Ear isn’t awesome enough, the list of uses continues.
Being soft and super absorbent, Lamb’s Ear leaves can be used as menstrual pads, or in place of cotton balls. It can even be used as toilet paper!
You can eat it as well. Enjoy young, tender leaves fresh in a salad, or gently steamed as greens.
 Are you growing Lamb’s Ear yet?
If you don’t have any of this important medicinal plant growing around your home yet, get some. If you can’t find any plants locally, buy some seeds and grow them yourself. It’s super easy, and much cheaper that way anyways. Lamb’s Ear make a gorgeous landscaping border, and grows well in containers. Plant as much as you have room for, ’cause it’ll come in handy when your stash of tp runs out!



How To Grow Your Own Antibacterial Bandages (Wooly Lamb’s Ear) From Seed
Starting your own plants from seed really is easy. Here’s how…
1. Fill a well-draining container with Seed Starting Mix.  A yogurt cup with holes poked in the bottom works nicely.
2. Wet the soil thoroughly. If you’re on city water, use filtered water for your plants. The chemicals in treated water can inhibit plant growth.
3. Plant 1-2 seeds per small container (thinning out the weakest seedling), or plant seeds about 6″ apart in a larger pot, burying them 1/4″ deep.
4. Keep the soil moist and the containers out of direct light until the seedlings germinate. As soon as you see the tops of the plants emerging, put them somewhere where they can get at least 6 hours of sunlight daily, or under a grow light. It helps to set the cups/pots in a shallow tray of water to keep the soil from drying out.
5. When the plants have at least three sets of leaves, they’re ready to be transplanted to a semi-shady place in your yard. Space them 12″ apart. They will multiply readily in good soil.
If you haven’t started thinking about growing some medicinal herbs, Wooly Lamb’s Ear is a perfect one to begin with. And in my opinion, you can never have enough!
Once you have it, don’t stop there! There are so many medicinal herbs you can be growing no matter where you live. Check out Grow Your Own Antibiotics for more great suggestions.

Source:
http://theprepperproject.com/grow-antibacterial-bandages/

EMP PREPAREDNESS

Power Grid

EMP Preparedness – How To Protect Yourself

What would an EMP attack really look like on US soil? How bad could the destruction be? What are your EMP preparedness survival options? What’s the best EMP Emergency Management Plan? What the heck is an EMP anyways?
Electrical Magnetic Pulse…seems technical. Seems complicated. Doesn’t really sound all that scary. Seems more like something you used to hear your boring physics professor talk about…right?
Today I want to discuss the following:

• What An EMP Is
• What Weapons Can Cause An EMP Attack
• How Much Damage and Chaos An EMP Attack Could Cause
• What Will An EMP Aftermath World Look Like
• What Your Only 2 Options Are For EMP Preparation

Electrical Magnetic Pulse

When a conductor moves through a magnetic field an electrical current is produced.
This is how the generators work at your local power plant. Likewise, when a moving magnetic field passes a conductor, a current is created.
Here’s a small EMP demonstration destroying a calculator.

But what if the magnetic field created is very, very strong when it passes the wire? What if the magnetic pulse is immeasurably strong?
The voltage and current generated will be extremely large. Perhaps large enough to damage the wire, especially if that “wire” is microscopic and lying on a printed circuit board.
Given a strong enough magnetic field, microelectronics can be destroyed by this electrical burst. Completely burned out.

So How Are These Large EMP Pulses Created?

The phenomenon is called Electro-Magnetic Pulse, or EMP for short. One way EMP’s can be created is during the detonation of a nuclear weapon.
During the initial energy release from a nuclear weapon a large electromagnetic field in the form of a “pulse” radiates outward. This pulse from the explosion will travel in a line of sight fashion. Any electrical wiring in the path of the pulse will burn out,
The nuclear explosion does not have to be very large to generate a dangerous EMP. At least dangerous for our computer friends, not so much for us.
Unlike the radiation released during the nuclear explosion, EMP is not particularly dangerous to people. Unless you have a pacemaker installed. But it will destroy unshielded computer systems.
Since EMP travels line of sight it can cover a very large area if the nuclear detonation occurs high in the atmosphere.
Most nuclear military weapons are not intended for high altitude detonations. This is because those detonations do little damage to the enemy and cause very little fallout. However, if one were detonated at high altitude the EMP would travel outward crossing everything in its line of sight.  Covering perhaps thousands of square miles.
Though the EMP magnitude diminishes with distance, it may still be strong enough at thousands of miles to fry most microelectronics.
This makes the nuclear EMP a near perfect weapon for a terrorist, rather than a conventional military force.
Here’s an interesting question. If you are a terrorist organization and could only lay your hands on one nuclear weapon. Would you want to blow up one city or detonate it high enough to wipe out the electrical systems for thousands of cities?
Aside from nuclear weapons there are EMP-generating devices called “explosively pumped flux compression generators.” These devices use a combination of electromagnetic physics to generate large pulses of electromagnetic energy.
The basic concept is to generate a electromagnetic pulse in a coil surrounding a metal core using current from a capacitor bank.  While at the same time compressing the coil into the core using explosives.
This change in core geometry causes a compression of the electromagnetic field momentarily before the whole thing shorts out and is destroyed.

So What Kind Of Damage Are We Talking?

Any device not shielded against a large EMP attack is likely to be damaged or destroyed.
We’re talking damage to the following:

• Power plants
• Laptops
• IPad
• IPod
• Smart Phones
• Cell Phone Towers
• Telephones
• Desktop Computers
• Mainframe Computers
• Routers
• Automobile Engine Management Computers
• Jet Aircraft Systems
• Air Traffic Control Systems
• Banking Systems
• Hospital Diagnostic Machines
• Televisions
• Internet Servers
• Refrigerators
• Thermostats
• Plus Anything Else With A Micro Chip

Which is damn near everything these days.
Can you imagine everyone within a thousand-mile radius losing all technology at one time?
How about a city like New York or Los Angeles, with 8-10 million people suddenly finding themselves in a pre-industrial world without power?
Things that will still work, however, are mechanical systems (i.e. guns and bullets).
So we’re talking instant anarchy.

EMP Preparedness: So Is There A Way To Protect Electronics?

Is there a way to protect your personal electronics or your home electrical systems?
There are several ways to protect against an EMP attack. One EMP preparedness survival technique is simple EMP protection otherwise known as electrical shielding.
If an electrical cable has a grounded external braided shield, the electromagnetic field will not penetrate the shield. It will induce a current in the shield which will be harmlessly released to the ground.
This is great, but what about devices, such as microelectronics?
You can shield entire devices using something known as an EMP Faraday Cage. Named for Michael Faraday, one of the early scientists in the field of electromagnetics.
Faraday discovered that electromagnetic fields will not penetrate a metal cage made of copper or other good electrical conductors. The fields impinge on the exterior of the cage. Since all sides of the cage are electrically connected to each other, there is no induced electrical current.
For current to flow there must be a differential in electrical potential.
When all sides of the cage are connected as one—there is no electrical differential potential. It’s as if there is a short-circuit before the current even begins to flow. Devices held inside the cage are protected from induced currents which can damage components.
Nested EMP Faraday cages are even better for EMP preparedness. This involves nesting a cage within a cage.
A simple EMP Faraday cage is a covering of aluminum foil. If you want to protect your devices, wrap them in a layer of aluminum foil. But take care, they must be completely covered with no gaps in the foil.
Also, if you wish to use multiple layers of foil, place a layer of insulation between them, something that won’t conduct electricity.
Just adding thickness of foil means nothing. The only reason to double wrap is to better prevent gaps in the foil.
A galvanized trashcan with a lid will work in a pinch. If you know something bad is coming, place your valuable electronics inside a sealed cardboard box and place that inside the trashcan. Ensuring the lid closes completely and seals.

Now that you have all your devices protected when the terrorist EMP event strikes you’ll be ready. Assuming you knew in advance it was coming and took these defense precautions.
So let’s say you did.
The “Event” happens and the lights go out.
You quickly retrieve your fully functional cell phone from the foil and trash can Faraday Cage. And presto, you have one of the very few functioning cell phones in the Northern Hemisphere.
Did your EMP preparedness survival pay off?
How many bars do you have? None?
Can you hear me now? No?
You pull out your protected laptop or IPad and boot up. Internet connection? Nope.
You’ve got a four hour charge on the device, great.  Now where are you going to plug in your charger (assuming you placed the charger in the Faraday Cage in the first place)?

• No sweat. I have a home generator—nope—it’s fried by EMP.
• Oh, but I have home solar panels—nope—fried by EMP.
• I have a windmill—nope—the inverter is fried.

Bottom line: The power is out and it’s going to stay out for a very long time (maybe even years).

• The utilities distribution system has been fried.
• Cell phone towers are fried.
• The water company’s filtration and pumping systems are fried.

Food will quickly begin to spoil and we just lost a war without firing even one bullet.
There are really only 2 EMP preparedness options:
EMP Diaster Prep Option 1 – Plan for an Amish survival skills future. Plan to revert to an 1860 agrarian society with the sort of survival skills our great-great-grandparents knew. But, our society has forgotten.
EMP Diaster Prep Option 2 – Store a complete, disassembled home electrical power generation system inside very large Faraday Cages. Solar and wind are your best bet—since you won’t be able to get gasoline or natural gas. Everything electrical associated with these systems should be boxed in Faraday Cages.

Most People Will Have To Take EMP Preparedness Option #1.

Why?  Because most people can’t afford to drop $10,000-25,000 on a home generation system. Especially one they do not plan to use immediately and then take extraordinary precautions to store it all.
Most people don’t have the resources for grid-independent electrical systems that work today. Let alone ones they keep stored in Faraday Cages.
However, if you do end up going with EMP Preparedness Option #2, you’d better be prepared to defend it. You’ll be the only one on your block, maybe your town with any kind of electrical power.
By the way, you EMP disaster prep Option #2 guys, I would wait until long after the attack before assembling your system. Any good terrorist or even a state sponsored enemy threat will be smart enough to allow us to install our spare power system trying to bring things back online. Then pop us again to destroy the rest of it.
An EMP blast from a single nuclear device at 20 miles altitude will cover a large portion of the US with EMP.
An enemy doesn’t have to destroy the entire nation to destroy its society and kill off large portions of the population.
Even the US Government admits as many 9 of 10 Americans could die within one year of a crippling EMP attack on our homeland.
There are simply too many people, and too few with survival skills, for a majority of our nation to survive with no electrical power for a year.
This means near the end of that year looting and rioting will be rampant—everywhere. It’s time to take EMP preparedness seriously and learn some real survival skills.

Your Best Defense Is EMP Disaster Prep Option #1

EMP Preparedness is similar to most other emergency disaster preps in many ways. You need to have a large food stockpile, a water storage and replenishment plan, skills to constantly replenish your food stocks. Throw in some defense skills to protect your resources and some basic medical supplies.
Food, water and medicine. You need regular amounts of food and water resources to survive and you need to be able to defend these precious resources from others.
It’s really as simple as that, but just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.  The best way to describe the survival skills you need to learn to prepare or an EMP attack is this:
The skills our great-great grandparents called everyday life we now call survival and prepping.
So look backwards in time for inspiration.
The closest modern day example is the Amish. By choice, they live without power. They don’t use it today and won’t miss it after an EMP attack. However, will the Amish be willing to defend their resources to the death? To me, this is the biggest challenge the Amish face, but you can learn them and throw in a bit of firearm training.
That’s how you prepare for life without power long term.

Prepare, Adapt and Overcome,

Just In Case Jack

Source:
http://www.skilledsurvival.com/emp-preparedness-you-only-really-have-2-options/?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=Organic&utm_campaign=EMPPreparednessBlogPost

Repurpose a Spoon Into an Arrowhead

This is a neat video that will walk you through the process of repurposing a spoon into an arrowhead. For folks that like diy projects this looks like it would be a nice indoor project. Possibly on a rainy weekend or in the winter when you really don’t want to be outdoors a lot. Brayden Casse shows you each step to make the arrowhead.

From heating and hammering the spoon flat all through the steps to the end where he polishes the arrowhead twice. He says that you don’t need a dremel to do this project but that it would make the job a whole lot easier. If you have an avid bow hunter in your family, imagine the look on their face if you presented them with a dozen of the arrowheads as a gift for a birthday or Christmas. Some folks are hard to buy for. I know a lot of dads get ties and cologne for every occasion.

This would be a great step away from the same ole same ole. They could probably be made into necklaces as well by soldering a loop to one side for a silver chain to go through. You may want to make the point a little dull if you were making a necklace out of the arrowhead though.

 

Source:

http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/repurpose-spoon-arrowhead/

 

 

More Snares and Traps DIY

How to Build a Small Game Survival Snare:

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Creek Stewart of Willow Haven Outdoor.
I practice and learn survival skills not because I need them on a daily basis, but rather for the one day when I must use them to stay alive.  Survival is the intersection between knowledge and necessity.    The outcome in a survival scenario can be dramatically influenced by practicing survival skills before you need them.  One such skill that requires thoughtful practice is How to Build a Small Game Survival Snare.  A primitive make-shift snare can be used to trap and kill a variety of animals for food in a survival situation.  This basic concept can also be modified and used as a “man-trap” or “perimeter alarm”–both of which are commonly deployed in guerrilla warfare.
While constructing a survival snare is fairly simple, it is often oversimplified with vague instructions and limited photos.  By the time you finish reading this article you will know the who, what, why, when, where, and how of the simplest and most efficient survival snare known to man.  If your knowledge ever crosses paths with necessity, this may prove useful.

The Why

For short term survival (1-7 days), food is not a critical priority.  Shelter, water, fire, and signaling are typically more immediate concerns.  At some point, though, you must put calories on the human furnace or suffer the debilitating consequences of starvation.
To my knowledge there isn’t one single primitive culture, tribe, or people where meat is/was not a critical component of their diet.  Modern equipment, farming, transportation, food processing, supplements, and complex supply chains give us the option not to eat meat if we choose.  Remove these luxuries for an extended period of time and the calories from meat once again become necessary for survival.  It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to source enough calories in a primitive survival scenario by gathering wild plant edibles alone–especially in cold weather climates or seasons.
Time and energy conservation are both very important factors to consider in any survival situation.  This is precisely why snares are such an important survival tool.  Once constructed and set, a snare will allow you to focus on other survival priorities.  And, it will keep working even while you are sleeping.  With 10 snares you can be hunting in 10 different locations at the same time while expending ZERO energy.  You become a one man hunting party.  Snares are a survivor’s secret weapon.  Not only are snares incredibly reliable and effective, they also require very few resources to build–in materials, energy, and time.

The Who

Before you even think about spending time and energy on building and setting a snare, you must first determine whom (or in this case which animal) your snare is targeting.  For survival purposes, small game represents your best chance of success.  While the snare design I will show you can be scaled up to catch animals as large as deer, it is more practical to target small game animals such as rabbit, squirrel, and ground dwelling fowl such as quail or grouse.  This snare can also be modified to fish for you as well.  Not only are smaller game animals easier to catch and field dress, but you can set numerous small game snares with the same time and material resources it would cost you to set one larger snare.  Setting snares is a numbers game.  The more snares you set, the greater your odds of success.

The When and Where

This snare can be effective in virtually any climate and any environment on any continent.  It can be deployed any time of the year and is equally effective day and night.  From desert to rain forest, I can’t think of a place where you can’t use some version of it to catch small game.
With that said, placing random snares throughout the woods is foolish and a waste of time and energy.  Though they can be baited to draw in animals, snares are most effective when strategically placed in-line with existing small game trails.  As you will see in the HOW section of this article, the heart of this snare is a noose which should be positioned across a frequently traveled small game path or shelter entrance such as a den or burrow.
To be successful, you must read the forest or terrain in which you find yourself.  You must look for signs of small game traffic and activity.  These signs include scat (droppings), tracks, rubs, scratches, signs of feeding, shelter or burrow entrances, food and water sources, and well-traveled game trails.
I took a walk in the forest here at Willow Haven Outdoor and snapped a few photos of some telltale animal signs that should catch the eye of a passing survivor.  See if you can identify the small game activity in these photos below:










The best place for the snare I detail in the next section is across a well-traveled small game path.  These paths, called “runs,” typically lead from the nest, shelter, or den to water and food sources.  Animals are the ultimate survivors and also live by the survival code of energy conservation.  Consequently, several animals may travel the same trail or path on a regular basis.  Animals travel the path of least resistance and strategically placed snares along this path can be very effective.

Finally…The What and the How

There are literally hundreds of different snare sets and designs–some of which are overly complex.  If you only learn one snare design in your life, it should be what I call the Trigger Spring Snare.  I wish I could take credit for the design, but it dates back to the beginning of mankind and versions of it have been used by primitive people in all parts of the world.  It has been time-tested, field-tested and survival-tested.  It is my #1 GO-TO Survival Snare set.
The Trigger Spring Snare consists of 4 components which can be readily sourced in nearly any survival situation.  These components are:

1. The Noose (made from some kind of cordage–preferably wire)
2. The 2 Part Trigger (carved from wood)
3. The Leader Line (also made from some kind of cordage)
4. The Engine (typically a bent over sapling)

The Noose

The noose does exactly what you think–it nooses the animal.  The most effective noose material is wire.  There are many different types of wire that will work.  The wire must be flexible.  It cannot be too thick or brittle.  When set in the shape of a noose (shown later), it must tighten easily and quickly when pulled upon.  Some examples are:

• Twisted copper strands from the inside of an everyday lamp or small appliance power cord
• Picture hanging wire
• Stripped wire from car or vehicle electrical systems
• Craft wire
• Headphone wire
• Wire from a spiral bound note pad
• An uncoiled spring (such as in a ballpoint click pen)
• Wire reinforced bras
• Wire from inside electronics such as toys, phones, and radios

If wire is unavailable, some kind of string or cord will have to do.  It must be strong enough to hold a 5-8 lb animal.  If it snaps under the force of a couple jerks between your fists then it probably won’t work well.



Here are several alternative cordage ideas:
The inner strands from 550 Parachute Cord

• Shoe strings
• Dental floss
• Fishing line
• Unwoven webbing
• Strong stitching material such as what is used to sew together leather and outdoor goods such as purses, wallets, cell phone cases, belts, jackets, and backpacks

If no modern wire or cordage is available, there are many natural plants and tree bark fibers that can be fashioned into suitable cordage.  Several excellent cordage plants/trees are:

• Milkweed
• Dogbane
• Stinging nettle
• Many inner tree barks such as cedar and elm
• Palm
• Cattail

Below is a photo of several cords made from reverse wrapping plant and tree bark fibers.  Remember, primitive cultures used this snare for hundreds of years with no modern wire or rope.  It takes more time and knowledge but is certainly possible.



The average length of your noose cord needs to be 18-24 inches for most small game animals.  To construct your noose you need to make a small loop in one end about the diameter of a pencil.  With wire you can simple make the loop and twist the wire back on itself several times.


With string, simply fold the end back onto itself and tie an overhand knot to secure the loop.


Then, run the other end of the cord/wire through the loop to create your noose.  The tag end is then tied to your trigger as is detailed in the next section.

The Trigger and Leader Line

The trigger consists of 2 parts: the HOOK and the BASE.  As you can see in the diagram below, the LEADER LINE is tied to the top of the HOOK and the NOOSE is tied to the bottom of the HOOK.  The ENGINE (typically a bent over sapling) provides tension to the HOOK which is secured under the BASE–until an animal disengages it by pulling on the NOOSE.  The LEADER LINE from the HOOK to the ENGINE can be any type of cordage.  It needs to be strong enough to withstand the initial “spring jerk” and then the weight of the suspended (and struggling) animal.

Several Trigger Modifications

When it comes to this style of trigger, don’t limit yourself to one exact model.  The same result can be accomplished in many similar ways.  You may have to improvise in a survival scenario.  It is the principle that is important.  Below are several trigger modifications that I worked up to give you a few ideas.
CARVED TRIGGER



This trigger style is simply carved from 2 hard wood sticks.  Notice the BASE of the trigger system that is staked into the ground.  The noose in the photo above is made from the inner strands of 550 paracord.  Below is another photo of a carved trigger snare.  This noose is made from the copper wires from inside an old lamp cord which makes an ideal noose material.  Notice how I’ve used little twigs to hold my noose in place.  This can be helpful to keep your noose exactly where you want it.


PRIMITIVE “Y” STICK TRIGGER


This trigger requires very little carving– simply find 2 sticks that branch how you need them and let nature provide your trigger system.  The noose in this photo is made from the fibers of a raffia palm tree.  This BASE is also staked into the ground.
PEG STYLE TRIGGER



Rather than having a BASE that is staked in the ground, the HOOK of this trigger system is secured on a peg or nail that you can place in a nearby log, stump, or tree.  I’ve even created triggers that have hooked onto nearby rock ledges.  This photo also features a “baited trigger.”  I have sharpened the bottom of the hook and stuck on a piece of bait (raisin) to lure an animal through the noose.  As soon as the bait is tampered with, the HOOK disengages.  Make sure the animal must put its head through the noose to access a baited trigger.

Fishing Modification

This same trigger snare principle can be used with a hook and line for fishing as well.  Instead of using a noose, attach your fishing line to the bottom of the HOOK TRIGGER.  When a fish pulls your line and disengages the trigger, the ENGINE will pull and set the hook in the fish’s mouth.  Make sure your TRIGGER HOOK is just barely set so that the slightest tug from a nibbling fish engages the ENGINE.  See the diagram below:

The Engine

Every environment is different and unique.  There may not be a sapling to bend over along a game trail.  Or, you may be in the middle of a prairie or field where there are no trees at all.  If so, you must improvise.  There are many ways to do this.  One way is to simply cut down a green sapling or branch from another area and stake it in the ground to use as an ENGINE.  Your LEADER LINE can also be weighted and run over a branch or make-shift tripod to serve the same purpose.  In the photo below I’ve weighted the LEADER LINE with a 10 pound rock that applies tension to the TRIGGER.  I used the bark from a root as the LEADER LINE and a NOOSE made from braided cattail leaves–this is a 100% primitive snare set.



In the set below, I used a similar principle except I erected a make-shift tripod to serve as an anchor point for the LEADER LINE.  Here, the LEADER LINE is a high visibility 550 Paracord.



Your ENGINE (whether a sapling, branch, or weighted system) should be powerful enough to suspend a small game animal in the air.  This helps to ensure a faster and more humane kill and also keeps your catch away from other predators who would certainly be very interested in a free meal.  If in doubt, you can test your snare ENGINE by using a 6-8 pound rock or log.
A NOTE ABOUT TIME AND ENERGY CONSERVATION:
The NOOSE from this snare system can be an incredibly effective snare by itself–without a TRIGGER or ENGINE.  By securing the tag end of the NOOSE to a stake or tree and placing it across a burrow/nest entrance or a very well-traveled small game run, a trigger system may not even be necessary.  This is a very popular method for snaring rabbits.  It doesn’t get easier than this.  Be prepared, though, for a live animal once you return in many cases.  See the diagram below.

Directing the Traffic Flow

As I mentioned earlier, animals will typically follow the path of least resistance to conserve energy.  Use this to your advantage by arranging sticks, logs, dirt, rocks, or other objects in such a way that funnels the animal into your snare NOOSE.
Try not to disturb the area too much if possible.  The more natural you leave it the better.  Animals survive on INSTINCT and will react if something seems out of place.  The forest is their home and they know it by heart.  Leave as little trace of your activity as possible.

Conclusion

I’ll end this article with a list of Survival Snaring Guidelines that I follow and for you to consider.

• Survival snares are for survival situations.  Primitive improvised snares are otherwise illegal.
• The more snares you set, the greater your chances of success.
• If moving from an area, disable all snares you’ve set.
• Check your snare sets several times each day if possible–especially in warm weather.  Your catch can spoil or be scavenged by other predators.  And, if you have a live animal, you don’t want it to suffer longer than it has to.
• If you kill it, eat it.  A diseased animal is the exception.
• Remains from previously snared animals make excellent bait for other snares–especially entrails.
• Meat is not the only survival resource that can be gained from snaring an animal.  The hide can be used.  Most animals have enough brains to brain-tan their own hide.  Bones can be used as tools, hooks, and spear points.  Intestines, sinew, and rawhide can be used for lashings and cordage.  Use as much of the animal as possible.  It has given its life for you.

I keep a handful of ready-made wire snares in my survival kit and Bug Out Bag.  They are extremely lightweight and take up very little space.  And, wire is a multifunctional kit item that can be used for a variety of tasks.
The key to survival is not about mastering a single survival skill, but rather about being well-rounded in a variety of skills that can help provide you with basic needs–and FOOD is certainly one of these in an extended survival scenario.  Energy conservation is very important and using snares to secure food is an intelligent use of time and resources.  I hope you’ve taken away something useful from this post.
Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,
Creek
____________________
Creek Stewart is a Senior Instructor at the Willow Haven Outdoor School for Survival, Preparedness & Bushcraft.  Creek’s passion is teaching, sharing, and preserving outdoor living and survival skills. Creek is also the author of the book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit. For more information, visit Willowhaven Outdoor.

Source:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/03/29/how-to-build-a-small-game-survival-snare/

45 Survival/SHTF Tips

Welcome back, here’s some pretty handy survival tips that may just save your buttocks in a survival / SHTF situation. All of the below tips are what I have picked up along my preparedness journey. I am open to people adding to the list or getting criticism on the tips because a little criticism helps people bloom and learn more. Without further ado here are AlfieAesthetics 45 survival / SHTF quick tips.

• If you have a Zippo lighter and it has run out of fuel, don’t worry about it. You can still make a fire with it. Take out the cotton that’s inside the lighter and use the flint to ignite the cotton with a spark.
• Carry some Aluminium foil in your bug out bag. The reason for this is if the ground is damp or wet and you can’t get a fire going lay out the foil and you will have an instant dry platform to build your fire.
• Placing some masking tape over your flashlight reduces your profile yet giving you enough light to get things done. This is a handy tip from an SAS Friend.
• If you carry a functioning analogue wrist watch then you can use it to find the north and south line. A little known trick but very handy. Hold your watch horizontal and point the hour hand towards the sun by set the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock mark to get the north / south line. North will be the direction furthest from the sun.
• Navigating terrain at night is simple. The stars will guide you. If you are in the northern hemisphere then the north star aka Polaris will guide you to true north. If you have a basic understanding of Stella constellations it is very easy to find. First of all find the big dipper aka ursa major or the plough and follow this line. This line leads straight to the north star.
• Having a guitar case for a bug out bag is very unconventional but very effective in its own right. You have the opportunity to pack a lot of gear without sticking out like a sore thumb. No one’s going to pester a guy for supplies if they think he is a loser carrying a guitar.
• If you can’t afford stab resistant vests homemade protection can be made with carbon steel tenon saws. Several saws combined with duct tape can create a stab proof, fragmentation and arrow proof plate to put in a plate carrier.
• Household bleach can be used to purify water. The ratio of bleach to water is 2 drops of bleach to purify 1 liter of water.(unscented bleach only)
• Toothpaste can be used to treat bug bites and insect stings.
• Tent pegs laid across 2 logs can be used as a make shift grill.
• A can a thorn and some string can be used as a hobo fishing kit.
• In wet conditions tinder can easily be acquired by shaving off strips of the inner bark of twigs and logs.
• Large rocks placed around a camp fire will absorb heat and even when the fire dies down they will still radiate enough heat to keep you warm. Also the hot rocks can be placed in a cup of water and the heat from the rocks will begin to boil and purify the water.
• If you are purifying water say from a swamp but it smells absolutely dreadful add some charcoal to the water while you are boiling it and it will remove the unpleasant smell and slightly improve the smell.
• The inner stands of 550 paracord are strong enough so you can tie equipment to your bag and make shelter without using up all of your paracord.
• A foil blanket duct taped to the inside of a tarp shelter can massively increase the heat potential of your shelter.
• Glow sticks should always be carried just in case you need to be rescued. Tie 3 feet of paracord to a glow stick and swirl it around to create a 6ft disk of light which will make it easy for rescue to spot you.
• A disposable rain coat or poncho is a very useful multipurpose survival tool. 1. It can be used as a rain coat. 2. It can be manipulated as a make shift shelter. 3. It can be made to create a solar still to gather and purify sea water. 4. It can collect rain water for drinking.
• Don’t rely on boiling water alone as your method for purifying water as you may not always have the luxury of a fire. Pack water purification tablets.
• Barbed wire can be made into make shift fishing hooks. If you happen to carry pliers with wire cutters in your kit then simply snip of some wire and fashion it into a hook and attach it to paracord.
• NEVER under any circumstances use untreated water to clean wounds. It’s common sense but I have seen many people wash their wounds in a river. Also, don’t submerge your hands in water if you have cuts or grazes.
• Animal entrails that you would usually throw away should be kept and used for bait for fishing, traps and snares. Always process your game far away from your camp. You do not want wild animals like bears other predatory animals picking up the scent and sniffing around your camp looking for a carcass.
• If you are stung by stinging nettles, remember the stinging sensation is caused by the needles injecting an acid into you. Combat this by spitting on the area immediately and scrubbing it hard with some clothing to get the acid off and out.
• Don’t waste time and valuable energy by chopping up logs with an axe or machete. Just give them a swift kick and snap them by force. You are not making furniture. They don’t have to be perfect.
• Pack a first aid kit.
• Don’t forget to pack copies of important documents in your bug out bag, birth certificates, medical records, insurance details etc.
• Pack a modest amount of cash in your bug out bag. Contrary to belief, cash will still be accepted even if all hell breaks loose. At least for a short while.
• When setting up shelter you need to keep off the ground. Laying on the ground is going to suck all of the heat out of you and you will end up being close to hypothermia before you know it. Laying on a ground sheet or a poncho isn’t going to cut it. Make a platform out of logs or gather up a bunch of leaves and weeds and create yourself a soft padded raised bed.
• When packing your bag put all of the light equipment at the bottom and the heavy stuff on top to maintain your center of gravity.
• If you are planning to move around a lot you should wear less clothing than you need. As long as you keep in continuous motion and keep your head, hands and feet covered and dry you can drop nearly all of your extra layers and still be comfortable. The key is to avoid sweating in cold weather as your clothes will get damp and your clothing will lose its insulating qualities and you risk getting hypothermia.
• Carry a pack of cigarettes. Even if you don’t smoke. Offering someone a cigarette can help you make friends or calm people down if they are suffering from stress or suffering from nicotine withdrawal.
• Smoke is a natural insect repellent. If you have a fire going then wave your jacket, trousers, sleeping bag or your poncho etc around in the smoke to keep the mosquitoes and ants from eating you alive. A fire is also a natural predator repellent.
• Carry spare socks in your bug out bag. At least 2 pairs. Socks can be used to filter the dirt and crap out of water, keep animal guts suspended in a tree and of course prevent you from getting trench foot and blisters.
• If you do get a blister thread a needle and thread through the blister to drain it and the thread will keep the holes made open and soak up any left over moisture. With this method your blisters will heal faster. If you feel you are getting a blister take a big piece of duct tape and place directly over the area, the tape will eliminate the friction and stop blisters from forming.
• The chewing gum in MRE’s contain xylitol which has a mild laxative effect. Chances are you will need that after eating an MRE.
• Don’t drink to much water on an empty stomach. This will mess up your body chemistry due to the imbalance of electrolytes which may cause you to go into shock. Balance your water intake with your water intake to cut the risk of this.
• Learn how to make the S.O.S Signal both in sound and in light. It looks like this  … —… the dots represent fast signals and the dashes represent slow signals.
• It may seem tempting to set your camp up next to a body of water but it’s a bad idea. Bugs that hover over the water will eat you alive in the night especially if you are set up next to stagnant, non moving water. Set up camp on elevated ground a modest distance away from the water.
• Raising both arms up into the Y position and back down erratically is the internationally recognized distress signal. Remember this.
• Depending on your global position it can be confusing to calculate KM into miles on the top of your head. The very simple way to make this calculation is to divide the amount of KM in half then add the first digit of the KM… – KM / 2 + (K) this will give you a close estimation . For example.. 50 KM / 2 = 25 + 5 = 30 miles… The actual conversion is 50 KM = 31.06 miles. So with this calculation you won’t be far off.
• Tobacco decreases stamina by limiting blood and oxygen to the brain. It also interferes with healing and blood clotting by destroying the platelets in your blood. It also reduces night vision because it causes restriction of the blood vessels in the eye.  So the tip here is stop smoking
• If you see an animal drinking from a water source.. That does not mean the water is safe for you to drink. Most animals have the ability to eat and drink things that are harmful to humans.
• If you happen to come across coconuts only drink the milk from green coconuts. The milk from an old / ripe coconut contains an oil that acts like a laxative and could cause you to have sever dehydration from diarrhea.
• Carry tin foil in your kit. If you loose your canteen you can fashion a cup from this and lay it by a fire and let it boil. Or you can drop some water purification tablets in it.
• If you lose your knife or machete you can make a sharp edge by smashing 2 rocks together. This has been done for thousands of years and works great.

  If you have any other survival / SHTF tips or you want to criticize these tips please send me a message and I will get back to you.

 

Source:

https://www.survivehive.com/general-preparedness/45-survivalshtf-tips/