Category: Outdoor Survival

Letter Re: Save Your Wine-in-a-Box Mylar Inserts

Dear Jim, For the ‘Survival Minded/Preparedness Bent’ all the things we use daily should be reconsidered for alternative uses. For my part, I drink wine, the good stuff mind you. It comes in a box! Interesting thing about it is that each box that is consumed leaves behind another useful tool for any ‘rainy day’ event. The bladder in the box that holds the wine is about 15″x15″. It is quite durable and contains a very efficient valve. The valve is self sealing and easily removed from the bladder itself. When the wine is gone, I remove the [box insert …


Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Jim: Thank you for response on the mobile survival fantasy. I think it is dangerous for the average Joe to believe that he can be a mountain man. Sure, some can, in some climates and locations with lots of training. Even then it’s dangerous and unpredictable. A twisted ankle can be the end of you. Remember too, those mountain survival stories were from the days when the wildlife in this country was at much higher levels. For most of us it means being cold, wet, tired, hungry and thirsty in the woods and being targets on the streets. (“Nice pack …


Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Dear Jim: See this piece on Survival Preparedness as: “The Ultimate “Contrarian” Investment for 2007 — Be Prepared” The author knows a lot about economics (excellent web site), but one can certainly critique his “Batman in the Boondocks” or “mobile refugee” survival strategy. Regards, – OSOM JWR Replies: I’m dismayed to see such strategies proposed again and again, usually by folks who have never actually attempted to fill–much less actually shoulder–their “everything that I’ll need” backpack. It is incredibly naive to think that anyone can “head for the hills” with just what you can carry, and survive for an extended …


Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Sir: I live in Curry County [Oregon], and on occasion travel the road over the mountains to Galice. I think that the primary lesson to learn from his tragedy is that you have to know where you are. The SOP for being lost in the woods is to “hug a tree” and wait for rescue. That doesn’t always work around here, and Mr. Kim wasn’t necessarily wrong in trying to walk out for help. Several years ago, in March, a guy was found on that same road, frozen, sitting in his pickup waiting for rescue. He’d been missing since November. …


Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Mr. Rawles: I followed the search and rescue story [the tragic death of James Kim–stranded on a remote Oregon logging road] in the news recently and was struck with very emotional feelings about their ordeal. Apparently he and his family did the right things, but in the end bad luck and a lack of proper survival gear was disastrous. Putting myself into his shoes I feel that I too would have definitely tried to hike for help after a week of hunkering down and waiting for rescue. See the series of Google Earth images showing his path while trying to …


Letter Re: Walking Sticks for Self Defense

James: Regarding walking sticks, I’d suggest folks look at two sites. One would be Cold Steel, where they can assemble a pretty stout, flexible and lethal combo from their waxwood poles, their Bushman knives, and steel sections applied to the staff near the ends. The Bushman’s sheath can be leather or parachute cord “strapped” onto the staff, and when needed be affixed to the end and voila! … staff becomes spear. Alas, they no longer have the staffs on their site, but the Bushmans are there, and the rest is a simple exercise in measurement and a half-hour of handiwork. …


Letter Re: An Amazing Tale of Survival: Nine Months Adrift in the Pacific

Dear Jim, I think this would be a good story to link to on SurvivalBlog. Three fishermen survived on a 25 foot boat for nine months at sea, doing drastic things to ensure their survival. Two of the men on the boat died because they didn’t have the will to live (there were originally five on the boat.) As a sea kayaker who takes safety very seriously, it is a sobering story. Take care, – C.R.


Letter Re: The Importance of Storing Salt for Preparedness

Jim: I asked about this a long time ago and no one knew what I was talking about they thought I was talking about those salt blocks you buy for cattle and stuff: so I tried to find myself where the old “salt licks” were in those old westerns we always read. Here was what I found after three hours of research. There is an Internet resource that says there are over 1,400 [“Lick” or “Saline” locales] all over the USA. But they don’t list individual ones just how many per state. For those places I can’t find [listed licks], …


David in Israel on “When the Only Tool You Have is a Hammer” Syndrome, and Building a Post-TEOTWAWKI Shelter

One of the most frightening aspects of attempting survival especially in North America is surviving the survivalists. These pseudo-survivors dutifully stock up arms and ammunition at great personal expense but fail to do any other planning expecting to presumably live off of the spoils of the MZBs (mutant zombie bikers) who they eliminate. A physical therapist once gave me a bit of wisdom about his trade and people in general; “every back problem looks like a surgical fix to a surgeon and chiropractic care is the sure cure to a chiropractor”. (Clearly the good doctors do not do not fall …




The Ultra Light Bug-Out-Bag By “Springmtnd”

Can you carry your bug-out-bag (BOB)? If your vehicle breaks down or the roads are impassable can you carry on your back the BOB that was intended to be carried in your vehicle? Just having shoulder straps on your car BOB doesn’t do it. The BOB in your vehicle is not optimized for carrying on your back. This article will introduce you to some of the techniques ultra-light back packers use, techniques that you can use to create ultra-light BOBs for you and your family members if you need to travel by foot. These will be subsets of your vehicle …


Product Review: Safecastle’s New Compact “ScramKit”

A SurvivalBlog reader in Montana recommended that I take a look at the new compact “ScramKits” being offered by Safecastle. I must say that I’m impressed. They pack a lot of survival gear into a very small space. Their “Responder Personal” kit is in effect a miniature “Get Out of Dodge” (G.O.O.D.) kit or “bug out bag” (BOB) that you should keep in your car’s glove box or center console box at all times. This kit fits in its own heavy duty belt pouch (available in three different colors) with ALICE/MOLLE attachments  I think that the ScramKit makes the ideal …


Letter From a UK Survivalist

Dear Jim: I am a UK-based wilderness survival instructor and have been enthusiastically reading the content of your website as well as your postings on FALFiles for some time. Although bushcraft and wilderness survival has become quite a popular subject in this country over recent years, the UK does not have a strong Preparedness/ Survivalist movement at the present time. Something that I believe is partly to do with the Media perception of survivalists as paranoid nutcases. However, through my work as a bushcraft and wilderness skills instructor I have recently noticed a marked increase in the number of “normal” …