SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the relative effectiveness of perpper spray versus firearms, for defense against bears..
Does Pepper Spray Work Better Than Lead Spray?
Reader Davy F. sent us this: Does Bear Spray Work? The science is clear, right? Not so fast, according to, well, science.
Two Interesting New 9mm Pistols
Jon Patton, over at TGC News recently mentioned two interesting new polymer frame 9mm pistol offerings: The Springfield Armory Hellcat, and the BUL Armory Cherokee, made in Israel. The latter is a DA/SA design that seems to be a cross between a Baby Desert Eagle and a CZ-75. The deep $150 discount he mentioned on the BUL Armory Cherokee is only available if you e-mail the manufacturer directly at: “usa@bularmory.com“. By the way, I highly recommend subscribing to TGC News for their weekly video summary of gun industry news.
Hong Kong Police Shoot a Protester with a Live Round
Reader Joe B. spotted this: Hong Kong Police Shoot a Protester, 18, With a Live Bullet for the First Time. Joe asks: “Is this the beginning?”
Why Leftists Now Hate Thomas Jefferson
Reader DSV sent this link: Why The Left Moved From Loving Thomas Jefferson To Hating Him.
Swedish Navy Returns to Vast Underground Headquarters
Swedish navy returns to vast underground HQ amid Russia fears. Here is an excerpt:
“Sweden’s navy HQ is returning to a vast underground cold war fortress designed to withstand a nuclear attack, in what has been seen as a defensive move against a resurgent Russia.
After a 25-year absence, the navy will once again be commanded from beneath billions of tonnes of granite as the country strives to build up its defences in response to the perceived threat from Moscow.
The top secret naval base on Muskö, about 25 miles (40km) from Stockholm, resembles a cross between Tracy Island from Thunderbirds and the film set of You Only Live Twice, where James Bond grappled with arch villain Ernst Blofeld in his headquarters beneath a volcano.
Completed in 1969, it boasts cavernous underground docks that can shelter warships, with miles of tunnels, offices and a hospital.
On its return to Muskö on Monday, the Swedish naval command said the new location would offer greater freedom of manoeuvre.
“The move is based on the calculation that the Russians could use powerful weapons which demand the level of protection that only Muskö can provide,” said Niklas Granholm, a senior analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency.
Sweden’s army and airforce commands are also moving out of the capital and into more fortified locations, spreading their headquarters geographically to make them less vulnerable to attack. But the navy’s relocation is the most dramatic, and emblematic of a revival of cold war sentiment in the country.
“The Muskö base is unique from a fortification perspective, it is an underground area as big as the old town in Stockholm,” said Rebecca Landberg, head of communications for the Swedish navy.”
NYC to Fine People $250,000 for Using Banned Words
Reader G.P. sent this: NYC to fine people $250k for using “banned words”. Adios, Constitution of the United States.
Amazon’s Dystopian Plan to Be Everywhere
A hat tip to DSV for suggesting this: Amazon’s dystopian plan to be anywhere and everywhere.
A Hitlery Candidacy?
Some political analysts including Steve Bannon are predicting that Hillary (aka “Hitlery”) Clinton may jump into the Democratic Primary, at the last minute. If she does, then please forward the link to a 2016 YouTube video to any of your acquaintances who are Democrats: Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight. Note that it has had more than 15 million views, even though YouTube has consistently hidden it from search results.
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You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!
Re: Bear Spray
We’ve got a bear going around destroying chicken coups. Black bears are one kind of bear, Grizzily is yet another kind of bear. We’re not sure which one we are dealing with.
Electric fence is a good deterent, so is plywood with screws sticking up. A trick an old trapper friend uses. Next we’ll try 12 ga perimeter alarms. We carry both bear spray and lead spray. My preference is a brush gun load, big and heavy, even if it is slow. 220 grain RN in .30-06 is proven and it will bust through brush and travel straight, but bigger is alway better, but it is the best I got. A tough and fast 180 grain round nose in .30-06 at a bear minimum. A level gun in an equivilent to .450 Marlin is an ideal all around choice. Breaking the shoulder is a better shot that incapcitates. You’ll probably only get one shot in. Some believe a 12 ga magnum load of buck in the face is the surest way. They might be correct when it is up close and personal, and that is when a bear is real problem, then that would be the best bear medicine. And that would be an easy shot. It is about stopping the attack.
But I believe there is no guareenteed way to stop a freight train. Yet I believe the best way, if avoiding them is not possible, is to scare them away. By noise, then spray first, then gun shot, and then you’ll be prepared to shoot to incapcitate. A heart and lung shot is the second choice. The spray conditions the bear to associate the spray with the presents of people, and then the gun shot. Next time, just the whiff of the spay will send the bear away from people. But when there is food or cubs involved, all the easy ways are off the table.
It pays to have plan of action for the various senarios one might imagine, and to escalate the use of deterents and force, but when cubs are involved, do not hesitate with the lead spray. This is not just my humble opinion, but a consolidation of wisdom of many local hunters and trappers, with a many lifetimes worth of experience. Rule one, stay alert and make noise in the woods. If stepping in bear skat, leave the area.
Hitlery a last minute candidate in 2020? I hope she does! It will be yet another in-your-face repudiation of the lies, quid pro quo, and socialist ideals of that greedy sociopath!
Try the electric fence, with tin foil tabs covered with peanut butter. As they’re licking, a good jolt to the mouth is more than enough ….
RE: Swedish Navy
I gotta a feeling these moves are not just about a potential Russian nuclear strike. They are getting ready for the meltdown of Sweden, and Western Europe in general.
If you are northern European, a few of the larger Scandinvian islands in the Baltic, have at least a small military garrison. And the Baltic is a natural mote. Bornholm, Denmark is closest to Sweden, about 30 miles off the coast. It was once Swedish, and the dilect is noticably different in the northern part in the boomer generation. It is also home to the oldest standing castle in Europe, viking in origin, built around 1,065 A.D. Viking runestones mark the modern bicycle paths.
I know Bornholm best, and it would be my first choice. It is mostly inhabited by 40, and older Danes. Few if, any musliums, or foreigners in the population. It has a small garrision on the edge of Ronne, and there are plenty of retired carrer miltary as well.
It is a not a typical island economy. It is mostly fertile farm land, with small and large operations, grains, potatoes, and some chicken, beef and hog, and there are mature plantation forests established after WW2. 28% of the electricity is produced by wind mills, and diesel generators are on stand by. Although the fishing industry has died off, there are still the old fishing boats in the harbor. It once had a thriving fishing industry. I believe Bornholm could sustain itself. The island is essentally a big farming community supported by a few small, and one larger town, and port.
Property is cheap there, and there are plenty summer cottages to chose from. Old farms are also cheap. Ground water is easily found, and the soil is amazingly rich. The worm are just jumping out of the ground…Yet I am glad to be back in Montana.
Oh, my gosh. My first thought was it was a ruse, and what do they know that we don’t know.
Ground water may be easily found, but when you do the Gov’t will be ready to put a meter on it so they get their money for your water.
RE:Swedish navy base
These days,I have to find humor where I can.
Reporter calls a sprawling,50 year old huge complex”Top Secret”,then gives all the details.
Bwhaaaaaaa!
I second that!
Re. Leftists Now Hate Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson was a key leader in our secession.
Douglas Blackmon, University of Virginia, shame on you for failing to understand a fundamental belief of UVA’s founder. Mr. Blackmon, enlighten us. Specifically what do you celebrate every July on Independence Day?
Now what is it about ‘irreconcilable differences’ that WE don’t understand?
The Left has no shame.Theres is an evil agenda. No person,place,tradition,or belief is safe from their attacks.
There is a real demonic influence in the thoughts and subsequent actions of the Radical Left,Socialists,andCommunists.
They may win a few battles,but Gods people will win the war.Im sure of it!
Anything that makes America exceptional is what drives the leftists crazy. That is exactly why the want to take down everything that makes us great. They don’t see America as great, they see it as some sort of evil that needs to be fixed.
If you ask me the only thing that needs to get fixed are the leftists. But you can’t fix stupid.
I doubt if we will ever know or understand what it is that makes the Radical Left so angry.
The don’t seem to believe how good we have it.Maybe I should say had.
NYC banning words and fining people! This is the reason we have the Supreme Court. NYC needs to be slapped down over this one. Please, someone tell me why we pay stupid people to work for the government?
Joe, I agree with you on principle. That said, it is a State issue and one the people of New York must deal with. The U.S. Supreme Court has no jurisdiction.
re:
Swedes retreating
After reading about the continuing cascading collapse of Sweden, my thought about Swedes leaving their urban areas:
* How are all the mohammedans and other ‘refugees’ going to get their entitlement checks and food stamps?
* Who will pay their rent and utility bills?
* After all the Swedes leave Sweden, after sharia law is The Law, how long before the mohammedans and the other ‘refugees’ destroy each other? A week, two tops?
The mohammedans and other ‘refugees’ seem to be pretty good at fighting and destroying, and reproducing more fighters and destroyers as quick as they can pop ’em out.
Maintaining a complex society with strong diplomatic relations with their neighbors? Not such a good track-record…
The immigration of Muslims and 3rd world animals was always a trap. The elites prefaced all of this with years/decades of shaming of the 1st world “deplorables” accusing them of racism and unfounded hate of “the other”. This set them all up to accept the trickle/flow/flood of what would become the “enemy” in this trap. Now as the flow continues and the 1st world governments stick to the philosophy of punishing the citizens for “hate crimes” if they dare wake up and speak up, while simultaneously covering up the “replacement voters/citizens” crimes, it is becoming clear that there is only one possible outcome; civil war. But with every passing day more replacement citizens/troops in the coming civil war enter these countries and it becomes less and less likely that the good people of these countries will wake up in time to stop it OR to even win that inevitable civil war when it happens. Even today, when this trap/scam is more obvious to all of us I could be prosecuted in a dozen countries AND New York City for simply saying what I have said. This was and is the plan. By the time the people decide they must do something to save themselves and their country their government will have already confiscated their weapons AND they will be outnumbered (not necessarily in raw numbers but in numbers of violence prone young men). If I were a bookie giving odds I would say that Greece and Italy stand a 50/50 chance right now of not being overthrown by the invaders/immigrants. France and Germany have a slightly better odds of survival at this moment but getting worse every day. Sweden is toast. England is up in the air because it all depends on Brexit and what happens next but without Brexit it will also be toast. The US and Canada will be next.
I hate to say it but your analysis of the situation on is so on target that it scares me, I wish there was a peaceable solution but human nature being what it is that appears to be off the table. Remember that the problem is not the pawns but the leaders. The most effective way to kill a snake is to cute off it’s head. When the time comes for action keep this in mind, leaders first, mop up next.
Do you actually think the complex is a secret? The USSR/ Russians have known about it for years. Only us, the US general public do not know. I am sure that the people in the complex say, if you want it, Come and Take It. It will be very expensive! Expensive Indeed. That is why the US has men and women stationed in the general area.
About Sweden reopening an old naval base:
1. There might be a legitimate worry about an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) attack on Sweden.
2. With Russia located on the Baltic Sea too, a nuclear weapon attack is >less likely from Russia. The Baltic Sea makes for an avenue for an old-fishing ship to carry an EMP weapon.
[From Wikipedia: “The concept of the explosively pumped flux compression generator for generating a non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse was conceived as early as 1951 by Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union…”
3. Or, the reopened naval base could be a boondoggle, for the financial benefit of select Swedish politicians. The USA is NOT the only country in the world with financially-crooked, career politicians.
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Survivalblog has a number of articles on EMP attacks and the damage they may cause. … The Basic Preps recommended on Survivalblog would be suitable after an EMP attack. There are articles on Survivalblog about EMP protection for certain items.
You can’t be stupid around bears. Black bears mostly just want to be left alone. If you feed them (on purpose or inadvertently by being a slob), or if you threaten them (especially mama’s cubs), then you are stupid. If you move through black bear country and make some noise so they hear you, bear spray is really all you need for times when you might surprise them or otherwise have a brain fart.
Grizzly are a different story. We are like pork for some of them, and they almost always have an attitude about inferior critters moving in on their territory. With them, it is always about who has the drop. If they get the drop on you, neither bear spray or a gun is gonna do much to stop them from tearing into you. If you don’t get the chance to deploy it, you will be pretty much overwhelmed and unable to defend yourself from imminent harm. In wooded areas where griz have the advantage of cover, you best have whatever protection you have decided to use in your hand and ready to bring to battery instantly. I’ve been places hunting black bear where griz are also hunting them. The griz are the reason why I go in with rifle at the ready, expecting an ambush.
The facts is, a spray can will be easier to deploy in the moment than a gun. A spray can has an area of effect, whereas the gun must place the shot in a particular spot and with enough force to be irresistible. That means at least 1 1/2 tons of energy at the muzzle, which fairly precludes using any handgun. There are practical reasons why a spray can has been a better option in some encounters. There are also practical reasons why physically damaging the bear is more desirable than simple deterrence. Sometimes they don’t take the hint on the first can of pepper.
Re: Hillary 2020, what a treat. It is difficult to know who would be easier to beat;Bernie is basically out(too old(wouldn’t survive term)with a current heart attack and bribe conviction oncoming),Pocahontas should soon be facing conviction in college admission scandal(poster girl),conviction in election rigging. The rest are either non-starters or too little support.
I read the article in the Federalist about Jefferson. The author has no clue how the average liberal thinks or feels. The article was written to divide the country and dehumanize liberals. There are people on the left who are far from mainstream that advocate for policy and ideas that many on the left think go too far, won’t work, or couldn’t be implemented. Watch Bill Mahar who regularly pokes and complains about the left going too far with safe spaces, coddling people, and not going far enough where it matters all without incurring the wrath of the left unlike those on the right who legitimately criticize Trump and are attacked. Please note that on the left its ok to criticize aspects of a person, policy, specific behaviors, etc. while still agreeing with and admiring other aspects of a person, the same policy and different behaviors of the same person. The world is shades of gray, not black and white. Sharpton is not a liberal. Please remove than man from TV. There are also radicals on the right, like all the white supremacist, who do not represent the views of the average conservative (at least I hope not). I already read about the mural in San Francisco and was dismayed. Removing the mural was no different than ISIL or the Taliban destroying historic artifacts. Context matters. That mural was not meant to offend or intimidate. Liberals love the country just as much as conservatives, liberals just want different rules still consistent with the founding fathers’ goals and ideals and the Declaration of Independence.
Don, if “Liberals” love the country just as much as “Conservatives”, then they need to stand up. It seems that “Liberals” have allowed their party to be taken over by extremists (AOC and the Squad), foster hatred (Maxine Waters et al), and are desperate to destroy the Trump presidency (Pelosi and Schiff). We used to be a big happy family, fairly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats with a few Independents. Now, the family is fractured. The Mainstream Media has created an uncontrolled burn in the public discourse. I think what we all need to be doing is shutting off the “news” and practice our values in day to day life in our communities rather than jump on the various manufactured bandwagons. I envision a time, should SHTF for reals, that the only thing that’s going to matter is Who we are and How we treat others, factoring in Where we live, and What we’ve done to prepare for the long haul. I can appreciate your protest, as I have a very Liberal sister and a very Conservative sister. Both love God, and this country. Liberals need to condemn those in their party who are trying to seek and destroy rather than foster Freedom, which Liberalism used to espouse a long time ago. Conservatives need to not suck up the hatred out there and spew it back out – that does no good for anyone. I’m extremely conservative and opinionated, but I see the hate game and it’s really bad for all of us.
Gramma,
This isn’t really the right forum for a long political discussion and I doubt the moderators would let a well documented comment onto the page because it could contradict what they and many of the readers want to believe. Remember this, the country is run by the rich, not the liberals, not the conservatives, not the republicans nor the democrats. Those rich want their profits and wealth, frequently at our expense, and most don’t care about you or me, our rights, whether we can put food on the table, whether we get cancer, whether our water is safe to drink, if we can afford a roof over our heads or have a job. Most stay out of social issues and day to day living unless it interferes with profits or threatens to increase their taxes. Republicans do most of their bidding, the democrats help at times. I don’t watch news anywhere. Video news wants eyeballs because eyeballs equal advertisers which equal profits (unregulated capitalism at work) and to keep those eyes it has to be sensational. Some are more accurate than others, some pass off opinion as news or fact, some just make stuff up, and many put a slant on whatever they present to make people angry so they pay attention. It’s been sensational since I remember my first newscasts on local stations in the 1970’s over rabbit ears. If you want to know what is really going on read, the important stuff is boring, find magazines staffed by journalists, find websites staffed by journalists, journalists have the time to research, look at documents, read dispositions and laws, and talk with experts and participants. Find out their biases so what they present can be properly evaluated, apply common sense to what you read, is what they write consistent, what are the holes, what are the gaps, where is cause and effect, what do you read in other places that fits with what you have read elsewhere. Most importantly don’t look for sources that tell you what you want to believe. Look for sources that together weave a coherent picture of events and ideas. If you just look for sources or websites that tell you what you want to believe you become an emperor without clothes, you won’t know what is really going on, you will prepare for the wrong risks, make sub-optimal decisions, or from a military perspective you lose the battle and the war because you prepared for the wrong enemy. As for the people (not politicians) fighting Trump, know that they are fighting because of Trump’s behavior, because he is doing things they don’t like, agree with, are not consistent with their religious beliefs or that threaten national security. Every one of the tens to hundreds of millions of people would rather be doing something else like volunteering in their communities, spending time with their kids, growing gardens, watching a movie, hiking in the woods, helping others, spending time with friends, driving a camper across the country, exercising, volunteering at church, or saving the planet. Lastly, AOC has not taken over the party, though conservatives love her since they can portray the whole party to be as far to the left as her. Pelosi has actually tried to reign her in. Also recognize that some of the ideas in her blueprint are good policy, would decrease your healthcare costs and risk of getting cancer, would decrease your energy costs, would enable more people to get off government aid and support themselves, and would increase your standard of living. Some we aren’t ready for or aren’t so good. Republicans will fight all of them because your gain is some rich person’s loss. They are just policy goals, but laws are a political process. As to freedom, pages could be written, but everyone has a different definition of freedom.
Sounds like we agree on some things and disagree on some things. As it should be. I agree this is not the forum for a long political discourse and I doubt, as well, that JWR would allow it. Thank you for the response. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May we together restore our Republic at all costs.