Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

Letter Re: How to Butcher a Squirrel

Dear Sir, I write to correct a glaring omission in the now-archived SurvivalBlog article "How to Butcher a Squirrel", by B.T.: There was no mention of scraping the "Vel" from inside the skin as this is the only fat available on a squirrel or rabbit.   Eating only lean meat protein can take a lot of energy to digest and if under cooked it may result in it taking more energy to digest it than you get from it so you deplete your reserves instead of adding to them.   Without this fat you have wasted the energy held within. Many …


Some Seed Saving Advice, by Lydia S.

Currently I have a couple hundred tomato seeds in my supplies. For the moment, I am focusing on cv. “Raincross Rock” as that is saved seed for a variety I happen to be developing. If I continue to grow and save this variety each year, those few seeds pretty much means that my friends and family (and hopefully many generations into the future) will be assured of a bounty of tomatoes each year. Such is the promise of seed saving! However, not every plant in every place is a great candidate for seed saving. Plants have rules, too, and while …


Building a Fire in a Post-Collapse World, by Entropy

Recently (based on a suggestion by a SurvivalBlog reader) I began a Meetup Group for Emergency Preparedness.  One of the Meetup events that I’m soon to host is entitled “To Build a Fire”.  Hosting this Meetup which I originally conceived as simply a fire building class has forced me to think logically about tactical fire building in a WTSHTF scenario where you are forced to build a fire for survival purposes.  I’ve synthesized these ideas into this article. By “tactical” what I mean is “low observability” because technically no true definition of tactical perfectly fits this discussion.  However people should …


Letter Re: Is There Utility in Melting Silver for Ingots?

Mr Rawles:s Silver alloys cannot be refined by just melting and skimming the dross from the top–no precious metal alloy can.  Silver alloys usually contain copper as a hardener, some of the new sterling used in jewelry is alloyed with other metals to keep it from tarnishing.  Simply melting silver will not cause the copper to rise to the top and oxidize. Separating silver from copper requires nitric acid and should not be attempted at home.  I’m not sure how some of the other alloys are refined.  Furthermore a home chemist will never get scrap silver refined to .9999 or …


Keeping Honey Bees for Survival by The Bee Whisperer

Why Keep Honey Bees? Wandering into the woods and staying lost for months is something I love to do. I have been an survivalist for 24 years, and have been keeping bees for more than 10 of those years. With these experiences under my belt, I have begun to teach people how to be a survivalist, and one subject I focus on is the art of beekeeping. Before I tell you the benefits of having bees and some cheap ways to keep them, I suggest that you find a book about beekeeping to help you understand the terms I use …


An Overview of Handloading .45 ACP by Pat Cascio

I’ve had numerous requests from SurvivalBlog readers for some articles on reloading, and in particular, on how to reload. It is beyond the scope of any single article to teach anyone how to reload in several easy steps. There are many videos and reloading manuals available that can teach you, step-by-step, how to reload. There are also some on-line courses you can take to teach you how to reload. There isn’t anything magical about reloading, it’s really pretty simple and enjoyable – I’ve been reloading for more than 40 years now, and I personally find it a relaxing way to …


Prepping: It’s Not Just for TEOTWAWKI, by Choctaw Prepper

In this day and age of being able to go to a store and get practically anything you would ever need or want, the concept of preparing for a disaster escapes some individuals.  The time of “Victory Gardens” and canning your surplus vegetables and fruits have fallen by the way side in our current culture.  Our society sees people storing vast amounts of food and supplies as paranoid because they are simply not accustomed with the practice, nor do they see the need.  Most people cannot conceive the idea that they can be left without food or water, or that …


Letter Re: Lead: The Other Precious Metal

Dear Sir, First, before I get started, my thanks to you for this blog and your books. I’ve invested in metals: Gold, silver, check; “Real” copper pennies, nickels, check; Lead…what? lead? Yes, lead. To me, as a reloader and bullet caster for more than four decades cheap lead in the form of Linotype and wheel weights was taken for granted. But now, with the new regulatory push from the EPA, lead will soon no longer be used as the balance weights on our wheels. This will dry up the last major source of inexpensive used lead [that is in chunks …


Letter Re: The Little Things

This experience was thought-provoking, and many of D.M.L.’s ideas were interesting.  But there were two ideas that have not been tested or proven, so at this point they are only ideas.  First, J-B Weldwill not repair a cracked Briggs & Stratton two piece fuel tank.  They are made of black HDPE, and there is no proper glue for that.  I have personal experience with this.  HDPE is heat welded when two pieces must be joined.  You have to determine your Briggs & Stratton model number and order a replacement gas tank from Amazon.com.  I got mine for my Briggs & …


Letter Re: Home Heating in the American Redoubt States

Sir; I enjoy your site and have learned a lot from you and others of a similar mindset.  I enjoy the fact that the info you present is from the perspective  of  a Christian.  I have been looking at land in Wyoming and while there is some very affordable land I have to wonder how anyone is going to heat their abode when “cheap oil” is gone.  I cannot find land that is in my budget that has any trees. I have spent most of my life in the southern US and some time in Central America and I cannot …


Letter Re: Do It Yourself Oil Extraction

Jim:  While researching briquette presses for fuel production, I stumbled on an article about using similar presses for extracting oils from seeds and nuts. In this case, the focus was on bio-diesel production, but I felt it was helpful for other uses as well. We preppers often hear of the importance of fats and oils in the diet, along with the difficulties in storing these items, so having the means to produce your own is a benefit.  For the Do-It-Yourselfers in the audience, you can check out a Journey To Forever article which details how to build the equipment needed to …


Letter Re: How To Butcher a Squirrel

Mr. Rawles,   I had been planning to get a pellet gun for some squirrel problems here at my home. But after reading Will T.’s response to “How to Butcher a Squirrel” I instead bought some Connibear 110 traps.  I got the traps via mailorder and set them last night following Will’s advice. I used paper towels coated with peanut butter as bait.  I came out this morning and to my surprise there was already a dead squirrel hanging in the trap.  These traps are very simple, discreet, and efficient.   Thanks! – Paul B.  JWR Replies: A key advantage of …


Letter Re: How To Butcher a Squirrel

James Wesley: With respect to the recent posting on squirrel processing, I suggest that anyone seeking squirrels for food, not sport, leave the guns at home.  Save the ammunition and preserve the silence.  Use of a 110 Connibear trap on the side of a tree is much more effective and surreptitious.  There are a lot of ways to set them, but the easiest is to place a couple of screws into the side of a tree about an inch apart and set the trap so that it clamps itself to the screws while remaining in the horizontal plane.  A bit …


How To Butcher a Squirrel, by B.T.

It would seem these days the world in which we live is anything but predictable. Who is to say you will always be able to run down to the corner gas station and fill your tank? Or drive thru your local fast food chain for a quick fix, when those hunger pangs kick in? In the event of an economic crash or other disaster, food and other supplies may be very hard to obtain. You may not be able to make your regular trip to the local Wal-Mart or other grocery store. Store shelves will go bare very fast, and …


Letter Re: Making Your Own Fuel Briquettes Making Fuel From Waste

Hi Jim; I stumbled across the idea of fuel briquetting while on an appropriate technology web site and have found the idea is very popular in the developing world, particularly in areas where wood for fuel is scarce. Most of us are familiar with the formed charcoal briquettes used in barbecues, and you can use charcoal in this type of press, but practically anything burnable can be used to create briquettes: straw, grass clippings, rice hulls, paper, sawdust, leaves, animal dung… use your imagination! The end result will look different depending on your source material, but all will get the …