Year: 2008

How To Make Den-Type Game Traps, by Terry B.

Den Traps are my favorite type of trap, and knowing how to make and use them may be the most important survival skill you ever acquire. Once you grasp this concept, you will have the ability to provide fresh meat for yourself, friends, and family, for the rest of your life. So, what is a den trap? Den Traps are the best permanent trap design ever invented. A den trap is simply an artificial den or burrow, built to shelter wild game animals until you are ready to harvest them. A Den Trap has many advantages over any other type …


Letter Re: Perennial Food Crop, Vines, and Trees

Mr. Rawles, I have a retreat in northern lower Michigan were I have begun staging my Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) supplies. I have several containers full of non-hybrid vegetable seeds, and a large amount of staples (wheat, corn, dry beans, dry pasta, amaranth etc.) approximately an 18 month supply for four adults. My question is do you know of any plants I can put on the property that I can let grow wild to help supplement my food storage until I can get my garden planted and ready to harvest. I have planted some raspberry bushes, and blueberries that …


Odds ‘n Sods:

One of our many subscribers with a Hushmail address suggested this TED Talk video: Adam Grosser: A new vision for refrigeration    o o o Cheryl N. sent us this: FDIC Gets Ready for Bank Failures    o o o Also from Cheryl: Wall Street Fears the Worst as US Housing Sales Continue to Fall    o o o A SurvivalBlog reader in Arizona wote me to mention that he just acquired several Wells Fargo vaults (about 5′ x 6′ and around 3,000 pounds each) along with several smaller but still large safes and fireproof filing cabinets. If any readers …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Unless derivatives contracts are collateralized or guaranteed, their ultimate value depends on the creditworthiness of the counterparties. In the meantime, though, before a contract is settled, the counterparties record profits and losses – often huge in amounts – in their current earnings statements without so much as a penny changing hands. The range of derivatives contracts is limited only by the imagination of man (or sometimes, so it seems, madmen).” – Warren Buffett, in a recent Berkshire Hathaway annual report


Note from JWR:

SurvivalBlog has now been up and running with daily posts for three full years. I’m pleased to report that there are now more than 5,000 archived SurvivalBlog articles, letters, and quotes of the day. These are all available for free, unlimited access. I hope that you find these resources useful and inspirational. My special thanks to the 2% of readers that have become 10 Cent Challenge subscribers. These subscriptions are entirely voluntary, and gratefully accepted. Your subscriptions and your patronage with our advertisers make it possible for me to continue to publish SurvivalBlog every day, without fail. (I haven’t missed …


Letter Re: Holster, Sling, and Web Gear Recommendations

Dear Mr. Rawles, I just read “Patriots” and “Tappan On Survival“. Both were greatly helpful and entertaining as well. Can you recommend any type of web gear to have ammo, handgun and rifle at the ready, both at home and on the farm? I see our military forces with all kinds of web equipment configurations, most notable is the hand gun in a thigh mounted holster. Front Sight taught me to shoot from a belt mounted holster and discourages shoulder holsters. It seems to me that a shoulder holster has a place, especially in a vehicle. Any thoughts on tactical …


Four Letters Re: What Will We Eat as the Oil Runs Out?, by Richard Heinberg

Jim: What scares me [in Heinberg’s article] is the use of words like “policy,” “regulations,” “controls,” “comprehensive plan,” etc. At the least, this is government control of the economy. At the worst, of our personal lives. (Population control.) He may have some technical points, but he is a bad sociologist. And a bad economist. A free economy may not be the most efficient, but it works very well when the social side is considered. There are all ready farmers of multi thousand acre places on the Great Plains, both US and Canada that are growing a few hundred acres of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

New SurvivalBlog reader Brad H. mentioned the old farmer’s standby product: Bag Balm. It is a medicated petroleum jelly that is marketed towards livestock but works wonders for dried skin on humans Brad notes: “Working winters in construction, my hands constantly become cracked. After a few days of using the balm, the crack is healed. I also use it for abrasions and small cuts and shortens the healing time. Most Agway [and other feed] stores carry the product.”    o o o Costa Rica Jones flagged this: Diesel-Powered Mitsubishi Racing Lancer Fulfills Every Post-Apocalypse Fantasy Ever, Has 480 Lb-Ft Of …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Self-sufficiency isn’t a sexy idea. At best, people who say they’re interested in being self-sufficient are stereotyped as dour, old-fashioned rural types. At worst, they’re seen as fanatical survivalists planning for an apocalypse. Economists also tell us that self-sufficiency is an anachronism. Instead, it is specialization that produces wealth, and economies – including the world economy – produce the most wealth when everyone, including countries, specializes in what they do best and then trades their products for the other things they need. The more specialization, the more connectivity among specialists, and the more trade along those connections, the better.” – …



Stock Market Suckers, by Vox Day

Suckers! Many conservatives are aquiver with excitement that George Delano is daring to brave the third rail of American politics, the much-beloved welfare program set up by his philosophical predecessor, FDR. It is true, of course, that Social Security is nothing but a government-run Ponzi scheme, that there is no trust fund, that as an investment it is a complete rip-off, that it rewards white women at the expense of black men and that it is an outrageous violation of the Constitution of the United States of America. But this does not mean that the Bush administration’s plan to allow …


Stabilized Gasoline From Three Years of Abusive Storage Performs Well

Jim – Last week, I rotated some gasoline that was put into storage ont he 1st of March, 2005. It was in plastic fuel cans with Sta-Bil added, per the directions. They sat in a storage garage subject to midwest summer temps for one year, in an un-cooled basement garage the other years. I poured the fuel into a 1/3 tank of gas in my car. No noticeable difference in starting or running of the engine. Almost 3.5 years – not bad – just wish I could have replaced it for te same cost I originally filled the cans for![It …


Two Letters Re: A Do-It-Yourself Denture Adhesive Formula

Jim: In answer to the recent query in SurvivalBlog about denture adhesives, Sea-Bond is an all natural wafer with [a very long shelf life–] no expiration. It sells for $5.99 for three boxes of 15 wafers each. It is the only thing I could find that would do. I’d stock up on these for long term use. – TD   Mr. Rawles, This formula comes from a book that I have in my arsenal of survival books, entitled “Formulas, Methods,Tips and Data for Home and Workshop” by Kenneth M. Swezey (I can’t tell you how many times over the years …


Odds ‘n Sods:

FerFAL (SurvivalBlog’s correspondent in Argentina) recently posted some interesting comments on resisting violent crime, in his personal blog    o o o The WRSA has another “Grid-Down Medical Course” scheduled in Everett, Washington, September 12th to 14th. Their training is inexpensive, and highly recommended.    o o o Pauly from Canada recommended the National Geographic documentary “Guns, Germs, and Steel” to add some historical perspective to Richard Heinberg’s recent article.    o o o Update: I spoke too soon yesterday when I mentioned that Detroit’s Big Three Auto makers are courting Congress for a $25 billion bailout. “Photo Tom” sent …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We are not only headed for a Depression, but a violent Depression that will be far worse than [the one that started in] 1929. Some experts believe the United States will fall into the chaos, bedlam and anarchy that tore apart Yugoslavia. I am not going that far, but I know our morals and ethics are not the same as they were in 1929. Moreover, we are a far more violent society and totally dependent upon a well oiled system for delivery of food and basic services.” – Mike Morgan