Category: Hunting and Trapping

Top Six Outdoor Survival Skills, by Jonathan Gardner

25

I love searching the Internet and libraries for bushcraft and outdoor survival-related videos and books. Now I have something to tell you. Many of these lists you read are wrong. If you do a search, there will be a general consensus of the top five skills being Shelter, water, fire, and so forth. I’m going out on a limb in reporting that they are wrong. Not all wrong, but it is not what you should study. Most of the listed are not skills. Water is not a skill, I’m not going to give you a tutorial on how to make …


The Protein All Around Us, by Oregon Bill

46

It was the fifth raccoon that I had permanently discouraged from killing our chickens. “If we ever had to eat these in an emergency, our family would put on weight” I said to my wife. I was joking of course. She surprised me with her reply: “Well, why don’t we give them a try so we know if it would ever be worth it?” She had grown up eating wild meat, and our family commonly ate what we raised or hunted, so it sounded kind of like a new adventure. Here is some of what we learned that might be …


The Long View- Part 2, by J.M.

8

I try to have a long view, one that is both near and far in perspective. Whenever significant events occur, I do a quick review of my potential events risk analysis to see if anything’s changed that might impact how I’m prepared. In this article, I am taking a look at the preparations required for a long-term scenario, in the event of a major societal break down. We have covered the need for repairs and tools to make repairs, when items or parts and supplies won’t be easily replaced or shipped to us. Food (continued) Yesterday, we also covered a …


Acquiring Small Game Quietly- Part 1, by S.D.

17

In the event of TEOTWAWKI, procuring food, including acquiring small game, can be not only a benefit and a help making supplies last longer, but it can also be a lifesaving ability. Small game is prevalent just about everywhere until the hunting pressure is on and then it disappears. I have seen this first hand on our small six-acre lot. We hunted the rabbits on the property one year with our archery equipment, and although the rabbits won overall, we harvested a few, or two, over the course of the season. Visible Rabbit Population Decline Despite our inability to make …


“Surviving” an Airedale– Lessons From a First-Time Owner – Part 2, by S.M.

Crate Training Your Puppy: 8 weeks to 10 months This was the most difficult stage with our Airedale. The crate was located in our family room, so he was integrated with us most of the time, except when sleeping. We purchased a large wire crate for the house and a separate 10’ x 10’ exercise pen for outdoors with a top cover from Tractor Supply purchased during a Labor Day sale. The top was included free. Most breeders begin crate training as pups. This is an effective training method for your dog and creates a secure den-like atmosphere where the …


“Surviving” an Airedale– Lessons From a First-Time Owner – Part 1, by S.M.

Our adventure in Airedale parenthood has been rewarding, educational, and reinvigorating. This breed is not for the faint of heart; they are active, tenacious, self-directed, and the strongest 65-pound animal I’ve ever experienced. With careful consideration, proper training, and responsible puppy parenting, you can enjoy the same incredible journey we’ve had. After the passing of our beloved Boxer, we longed to add another canine addition to our family. We knew we wanted a larger dog again and wanted a dog with spunk similar to that of our Boxer. Having still another elderly dog, as well as a small dog and …


I Love Sharp Things, by Phil M.

In any survival situation a defective tool is pretty much worthless and will cost you dearly in frustration or even your life. I’m sure you can think of a lot of examples. Effective tools are a big part of my life and most all of them need to be sharp, and some of them very sharp, like chisels and planer blades. When I started thinking of all the tools that I keep sharp the list started running into the dozens, everything from a potato peeler to a chainsaw. A lot of you are like me in one way or another …


Letter Re: Tracking Dogs

Dear Editor:I would like to relate my experiences with tracking dogs that are not even trained. We had a beagle who was born mostly blind. She was a pet. She had an incredible sense of smell that I have seen in other trained hounds, but not in a pet. We would bring her to our children’s high school, which had 2,000 students. I would put her in the front of the multi-building facility and command her to “Find the kids.” She would start off walking making big S-shaped turns as she headed to and between the buildings. All of a …


Letter Re: The Fallacy of Hunting as a Survival Technique

Sir, I have been concerned about the mindset of hunting in national crisis for some time. The general assumption that one can hunt to feed one’s family long term is likely to prove empty. I had the privilege of living with my grandmother just after I was released from submarine duty. We spent many evenings talking about the old days and the days to come. She bore 12 children and was in her 30’s during the depression. My grandfather was a wood-walking, ax toting lumberman. He managed mills all over Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. My grandmother ran the mill store …


The Fallacy of Hunting as a Survival Technique, by D.V.

Many people rely on wild game as a regular part of their diet. In Michigan, where I live, deer season is a holiday with schools and companies at minimal staff, as a healthy part of the population is out in the woods partaking in one of our oldest traditions. And like all great endeavors, some hunters are successful and some are not, depending upon skill, preparation, and just a little bit of luck. For those hunters who were able to kill a deer (if they are traditionalist), they are able to provide their families with meat. For some, this can …


Survival Trapping: The Efficient “Hunter”- Part 1, by J.C.

Trapping animals is a skill that is as old as time itself. From a simple stick-triggered rock deadfall to modern day legholds and automatic snares, these devices increase the efficiency of gathering that all-important meal. There are many myths surrounding trapping and most notably the modern leghold style traps. It’s best to dispel some of these myths in the beginning, so as to not bog down the discussion of their use in the field for both survival and non-survival situations. It is best to refer you to the National Trappers Association for more detailed information on the myths and misunderstandings …


From Debt to Rural Independence, by R.T. in Georgia

You may read that the first thing you should do when prepping to prep is to get out of debt, but there is not much depth beyond that in the description of why you should get out of debt. My family has made a journey from debt to sustainability over the last seven years and absolutely the main thing that enabled that to happen was getting rid of our consumer debt. This is a quick description of one family’s fortune, what God allowed us to do and the opportunities that were made available to us when we took the challenge …


Guest Article: Are Mountain Lions More Important Than the Safety of People, Children, and Pets? – Part 1, by William E. Simpson

In the late 1980s, it was determined by a relatively small group of financially- and politically-biased scientists and their lobbyists that the population of mountain lions (aka: cougar, puma) in California was dangerously low. So, they launched a massive media campaign to convince Californians that there was a genuine problem, giving rise to the 1990 California State legislation that provided a “protected” status for mountain lions. However, there was no overwhelming body of scientific evidence supporting such a claim. If there had been such credible evidence supported by a collective of unbiased and objective wildlife biologists, forming a majority opinion, …


Letter Re: How To Obtain Protein From Alternative Sources Without A Firearm

Just a note about small animals: Don’t count on them for the bulk of your diet. Take for example crayfish: The calories for your effort may be very small. There are approximately 3.5 calories in a crayfish tail. (There’s more if you eat the head but not much more.) I’ve seen traps bring in around 50 crayfish on a good day. Therefore, for enough crayfish for a 350 calorie snack, you’ll need at least two traps, and that’s on a good day. Double that for average days. If you want 1/4th of your calories of a family of four to …


Two Letters Re: How To Obtain Protein From Alternative Sources Without A Firearm

Dear HJL, Here’s a low-cost alternative to metal traps-– build a trapping pit. Trapping pits have been used since the Stone Age to put meat on the table. A deer trail or other evidence of animal activity is located, then a deep pit is dug and lined with stone or wood planks to prevent escape. Spikes or sharp sticks are mounted on the bottom of the pit to kill or injure the prey, and the hole is covered with a tarp or branches to disguise it. My family has stored up a dozen or so 4’ re-bars and a couple …