Ideally, when we wanted to buy a survival item, we just walked into the backyard and pulled off a fully ripened $100 off our money tree. Unfortunately, money trees do not exist and being adequately prepared for even a “most likely” survival scenario can be expensive. If you are on any type of a budget,…
(Video) This Hobo Fishing Kit Lets Anyone Catch Fish Almost Anywhere!
Fishing is a lot of fun, but it also is a potentially life-saving pursuit if you find yourself in a survival situation. Fish live virtually everywhere and when protein and nourishment are critical, they are a relatively low-energy method of eating. In a survival situation, where every action tends to expend much-needed energy, fishing is ideal…
Why Survivalists Must be Aware of THESE Deadly Smells During a Survival Crisis
Aromas are a tricky thing. Good smelling stuff can calm, energize and excite us. Awful smelling stuff can produce results that range from smirks to gagging all the way up to nausea and even passing out. In a survival crisis, most of us will experience a lot of the latter and not a whole lot…
What NOT to Do When Prepping for a Disaster
Almost every survival advice on the Internet deals with stuff that a survivalist has to take care of in order to make sure they are prepared when a survival situation hits. Covered a lot less is what many survivalists do that is wrong or at least ill-advised. Realistically, most learning is done by harvesting lessons…
Hiding Firearms – Pros, Cons, What to Do and What Not to Do…
In a true, hardcore survival crisis – say like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, civil authorities have an obligation to restore and maintain the peace. That means, in some cases, they will take drastic measures such as imposing curfews, searching persons and in the more dire situations, confiscating firearms. In the…
Why an Emergency Survival Kit is a Must for Medium-Term Survival Situations!
Hardcore survivalists generally have just about everything you could want for a temporary, shelter-in-place survival situation. For the rest of us, well, we generally have enough food and water to last a few days and whatever bread, milk and food we bought in the hours immediately preceding a predicted event. If the event was not…
Doomsday Versus Practical Survival – Which is Smarter?
One of the great debates of survival preparation is the degree to which someone should be prepared. Some feel a doomsday scenario is the optimum goal, while some do not even prepare. Both pose their own challenges and the right amount of preparation certainly is beyond the unprepared, but probably falls short of preparing for…
3 Survival Benefits of Mouthwash Beyond Having a Clean Mouth. #3 Surprised Me!
Survival situations demand we become innovative and use household items in ways we never would have under normal circumstances. The mouthwash industry takes in over $1B from Americans annually, which means virtually everyone uses some form of mouthwash that contains alcohol and is an antiseptic. The same things that make mouthwash so effective at killing…
A Massive Disaster Could Strike at Any Moment. Here’s Some Common Sense Advice on How to Make it Through:
While preparing for a mass, doomsday survival situation is important, it is far more important to deal with the type of survival scenario most of us will face – a shorter-term, inconvenient situation that will require a moderate level of preparation. To be clear, that is not to say preparing for the worst is a…
Simple But Awesome Uses for a 2-Liter Bottle
Almost all of us over the course of a year throw away a multitude of two-liter bottles. Whether they originally hold soda or water, juice or some other liquid, we use them and discard them without much thought. In some communities, many are recycled, but all too often, they end up at a dump somewhere,…
Laundry to Garden: How to Utilize an Irrigation System with Graywater
With very few exceptions, whether for drought, conservation or expense reasons (or a combo or all three,) most of us try and save as much water as possible. If your life in a drought-stricken area or an area that has low rain totals during the late Summer, saving water might not even be an option…
A Guided Trip Can be a Dream Come True – Or a Nightmare. Here’s What Everyone Should Know:
A guided fishing or hunting trip can be one of the best experiences in a person’s life – or it can be a disaster ending up with disappointment and resentment. Too often, clients view guided hunts or fishing expeditions as solely a “client – Guide” relationship and the reality is that any good hunting or…
Strange but Useful Hygiene Items Found in the Wild
An overlooked aspect of survival is hygiene. Proper hygiene is not just important because after days in the wilderness you look like a mess and smell bad. Maintaining personal hygiene also is one way to ensure you do not pick up an infection or disease or exacerbate a wound situation to the point it becomes…
Hiking or Camping on Federal Land – Don’t Get Lost and be Prepared!
There are not really any reliable statistics that track the subject, but each year, at least hundreds, if not thousands of hikers, workers, fishermen, campers and hunters go missing on federal land across the country. If you do go missing, the extent and quality of search and rescue efforts largely depends on where you live…
4 Common Ways a Person Can Die in a Survival Crisis
Unfortunately, as common sense survival has gained in popularity, so has an unrealistic look at what to expect in an actual survival situation. This is particularly true in a longer-term, devastating survival scenario – one where infrastructure is down for weeks or months, traditional authorities are only dealing with crisis and an unprepared populace is…
This Well-Known Company is Going to Sell Solar Roof Shingles. Will They be the Ultimate Off Grid Power Solution?
Too often, the debate on Anthropogenic climate change inserts its ugly head into common sense energy alternatives, which turns off people who could use these innovations. Saving energy or using alternative energy to fossil fuels might save the planet – but either certainly helps the pocketbook. The critique on alternative energy sources has usually been…
How to Cut Feathers to Construct Survival Arrow Fletchings
Making your own arrow fletchings is one way to get closer to your weapons as you strive to get back to the basics as it pertains to hunting. It also is a good skill to know just in case you find yourself in a survival situation and your traditional or “go-to” approach to defense or…
(Video) How to Put Together a Homemade Vertical (A-Frame) Hydroponic System
Hydroponic farming is one alternative to traditional, soil-based farming that utilizes enriched water to provide nutrients to plants while avoiding the need for massive amounts of garden space and soil. With a little innovation, just about any vegetable can be grown hydroponically in just about any setting – even in many urban backyards. Since self-food…
A Prepper’s Ultimate Food Storage Checklist
Of all the steps you can take to ensure you make it through a survival situation, storing enough and appropriate food ranks in the top three in terms of priorities. In an acute survival situation, where you cannot get out to the market – or the market no longer exists or functions – your store…
Why THIS Item Must be at a Prepper’s Side When Doomsday Arrives
One of the great debates regarding doomsday protection or self-defense is what caliber ammunition to use, particularly if you are protecting yourself or loved ones during a home invasion. Everyone obviously has their own preferences based on what they are comfortable with and can reasonably control in terms of firepower, but one type of ammunition…