Notes for Monday – October 27, 2014

October 27th, 1858 was the birthday of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. He died January 6, 1919.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel which can be assembled in less then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol, by ShepherdFarmerGeek – Part 1

In a few days my former-Navy-nurse daughter will fly out to help stand up a brand new 100-bed treatment facility for the International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Ebola is not a theoretical threat anymore. Now it’s personal.

My daughter has always loved being in the thick of things and has been fascinated with Ebola since childhood. Now, in just a matter of days, she will walk into a room filled with sick and dying Ebola patients, and all her training, grit, and compassion will be tested. She will eventually come home on a rotation and be under medical isolation here, in our home, for three weeks until she is cleared.

So you can understand that it troubles me that there is no “official” treatment routine for Ebola patients. I do know that most African patients are receiving only Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), which is a special mixture of salts to replace water lost to diarrhea or vomiting, or IV rehydration in a few locations. There are no other drugs, no other testing, and only minimal monitoring. Their own bodies will either fight it off or succumb. There are too many victims, and Ebola is spreading too rapidly for expensive and complex Westernized high-tech medicine, even if that would help, which clearly is not always the case.

However, we can do better.

I’ve spent the last month immersed in Internet research compiling, for my own family, to develop our personalized “Ebola Treatment Protocol.” It’s for people, like us, who might not have access to advanced medical care if and when Ebola comes to town. It’s based on the best information I can find, and there’s a lot of it.

I’m risking my own precious daughter’s life and our own lives, should this become an epidemic or pandemic in the United States. I’m betting that these measures will help. They’re not a cure, but they’re a lot better than doing nothing or just ORS.

We’ve started our daughter on these supplements. We’ve sent this protocol to the orphanage she founded in Kpando, Ghana, at their request, to give them something, some tool, that they can adopt and adapt should Ebola sweep through their community next. Also, we’re helping them select protective equipment, which unfortunately will not be up to newly announced standards (also see this article.)

I’m not afraid of Ebola, neither for myself nor my daughter. It’s just another potential threat that can be analyzed and prepared for, just like an economic collapse, earthquakes, EMP, wildfires, and more. I take my own advice, which is to trust God and be prepared.

Don’t go off half-cocked. If Ebola burns through our country, you’re going to have to have an eye for detail and do it right every time. There’s a lot more to do than have a treatment protocol in hand. You’ll need protective equipment, and you’ll need to figure out how to set up your own sickroom and the procedures for getting in and out and decontaminating and handling blood and vomit and maybe bodies. Make a plan. There could be a limited window of time when the best equipment and supplies are available.

It could be ugly, or maybe nothing will happen! That’s MY prayer, but only God knows. Don’t get sucked into all the Internet conspiracy talk of how it started and who stands to gain. Don’t lose the focus on what you’re going to DO about it to prepare. The goal of knowledge is action!

Some outstanding Internet resources can be found at these links. Please read them all:

There are many references in the Protocol Endnotes to explain why I included a particular supplement or procedure. I’ve worked on this for so long I can hardly see straight, but please don’t take my word for ANY of this. Do you own research. Draw your own conclusions. Make your own “protocol.” Just remember this: the best treatment is prevention!

“O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid:
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years,
in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy.” – Habakkuk 3:2

Trust God. Be Prepared. We can do both!

(Tomorrow, Part 2 will outline the Proposed Ebola Treatment Protocol.)

Scot’s Product Review: Hatsan Model 125 Sniper Vortex Air Rifle

For the prepper, air rifles offer quiet shooting that can be done for hunting, pest control, or practice. Quiet is always good. While these guns do make noise, it is a lot less than virtually all non-suppressed firearms. The sound signature is different as well; they sound more like an air nailer or stapler than a gun. They also can cost less to shoot, since you are just buying pellets and not a cartridge case, primer, and powder. There is even a chap in England selling kits to make your own pellets http://airgunpelletmaker.weebly.com/ , if you want more independence.

When most folks think of air rifles, an image of a *Daisy Red Ryder often comes to mind. Red Ryders make great trainers for kids (and grownups), but most people don’t take them seriously, even though they remember the admonitions about how they can put your eye out. Many of us also might remember assassinating the odd bird with them. Despite the dangers they pose to eyes and small birds, with their smooth bores, dainty 5.1 grain .17 caliber steel BB’s, heavy triggers, and rudimentary sights, they only have about 1.4 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle and little accuracy beyond 15 feet. They have enough energy to cause injury but not enough to be reliable killers of small game. Their redeeming feature is that they are fun to shoot for young and old and with only 13 or so pounds of cocking effort, they’re easy to plink with all day.

There are other types of air rifles, however. I first became aware of them when I read Mel Tappan’s influential work Survival Guns published way back in 1977. One type of these guns is used in Olympic target competition and capable of stunning accuracy, though they don’t offer as much power as we might like for hunting. These guns also have astonishing prices. There are, however, other types of air rifles– ones that provide enough power to cleanly kill small game and sufficient accuracy to hit them. They also have prices more of us can afford.

In this realm of air riflery, there are several variants that preppers should be familiar with– spring piston, gas piston, and pneumatic. In the spring piston gun, a powerful spring is compressed and then released when the trigger is pressed. This drives a piston forward that creates a column of compressed air, which propels the pellet to the target. The gas piston is similar, but it uses a gas-filled piston, somewhat like one of the ones that holds up your car’s trunk lid, instead of a spring. An advantage of the gas piston is that it can be left cocked for longer periods without stressing the mechanism. Pneumatic guns have reservoirs that hold compressed air, which is released to shoot the pellet. Some pneumatics have pumps on the gun, while others, called pre-charged pneumatics (PCP), use high pressure tanks to hold the air. These tanks can sometimes be removed from the gun and replaced with a full one. Most folks, using this sort of gun, take them to a dive shop and have them filled there, though there are home pumps available. The joy of this sort of air gun is that it can be fired several times without pumping or cocking, much like a repeating firearm. Lewis and Clark carried this kind of air rifle on their great exploration of the American West in the early 19th century, while the Austrian Army equipped soldiers with them in the same time frame.

One thing that usually surprises people first using a spring or gas piston gun is that they recoil. It is a rather odd recoil impulse in that it usually first goes forward and then backwards. This derives from all the stuff ramming forward to compress the air that drives the pellet and then the release of the air pushing back, unlike the simple rearward push you get from a firearm. This back and forth recoil makes these guns hard on scopes. Some target air guns have parts working in the opposite direction to cancel this recoil. Pneumatics have less recoil, which is an advantage, since recoil can affect accuracy.

You may notice that I’m leaving out CO2 guns. I admit to dearly loving them for their fun and ease of shooting, but the requirement to purchase costly CO2 cartridges leaves me cold. I can see the cartridges being very hard to come by in any sort of crisis. To an extent, the PCP guns can fall victim to this sort of issue, if one doesn’t buy their own pump for their gun. There may not be a SCUBA shop open to refill your tanks if the grid is down. PCP guns are also pricier than a spring or gas piston gun, when you consider the problem of filling the reservoirs with air.

Overall, I like the idea of something that I can power by my own hand, and that pretty much means a spring or gas piston gun. The gun I’m reviewing– the Hatsan Model 125 Sniper Vortex Air Rifle – is a gas piston made in Turkey that goes for $270. When I picked it up from UPS, the first thing that crossed my mind when I grabbed the box was that this thing is heavy. The Hatsan website credits it with nine pounds, which is around the weight of my M1A and quite a bit heavier than the light barrel AR carbine I often shoot. All that weight, however, I was promised a powerful and sturdy air rifle. It didn’t disappoint.

The rifle comes with a 3-9x scope made in China. I would probably want to spring for a better scope. All the years I spent using Leica, Canon, and Nikon cameras left me pretty picky about optics, and this is a bargain scope. It is actually reasonably clear; the key drawback is that it can’t be adjusted for parallax. If you are using a scope at a different range than it is set for parallax, any shift in your eye position will affect where the reticle appears to be aimed at. The higher the magnification, the greater the problem is. Scopes for centerfire rifles are usually set for 100 yards, which is an excellent compromise. Rimfire scopes are usually set for 50 yards, and again that works out okay for the most part. Air rifles, in my view, are best served with a scope that can be adjusted for distance, especially if it is capable of higher power settings, because they are shot at closer ranges, which seems to make the adjustment pickier. This scope is not adjustable, and while I’ve read that you can unscrew the front element to adjust it, that voids the warranty. Also, I fear that might let moisture into the scope. I view this scope as something to enjoy using until I could afford a better one. A scope is far easier to use than iron sights, so it is a definite plus to get it as part of the package.

The rifle has iron sights with bright fiber optic inserts. The rear sight is an open notch and adjustable for elevation and windage. They provide a good sight picture, and the adjustability is welcome on an air rifle, as the trajectory can vary significantly with different pellets.

The Hatsan shoots the included .22 caliber 14.66 grain lead pellets at more than 900 feet per second. This is approaching the power of a standard velocity .22 short, which has killed many a squirrel. At point blank range, it had no problem shooting cleanly through 3/8” plywood. It also managed to get about half its pellets through the plywood at 20 yards. This puppy has serious power. It clearly exceeds the .22 Aguila Colibri and Super Colibri rounds I often use for rodent extermination around the chicken coop.

Just for a point of reference, here are some energy levels:

28 foot pounds .22 caliber 14.66 pellet from Hatsan .22 air rifle
8 foot pounds .22 caliber 20 grain Aguila Colibri
16 foot pounds .22 caliber 20 grain Aguila Super Colibri
32 foot pounds .22 caliber 29 grain CCI CB Long
44 foot pounds .22 caliber 29 grain CCI Short Target

The Colibris often will not exit a larger rodent, while the Super Colibris usually goes through one. I haven’t had a chance to take any with the Hatsan, but I have no doubt they would do an impressive job.

The energy levels for the firearms ammunition were taken from the ammunition manufacturers’ sites. The energy for the Hatsan was computed from the average of 10 shots fired over a chronograph, using this calculator. I could have done the math myself, but this was easier.

Hatsan claims 1,000 fps with this gun, but they don’t specify what pellet they are using for the measurement. I didn’t get that high a velocity, but they may have had lighter pellets. The best velocity I saw was about 930 fps, which thankfully was with one of the most accurate pellets. I was clearly getting enough power out of it to easily do in squirrels or other rodents and most types of birds.

The noise levels were interesting. The Hatsan actually has a noise suppressor on it. While I don’t have a meter for sound levels, I found that the .22 Colibris seemed slightly quieter out of a rifle with an 18 inch barrel, but they had a gun sound. The Hatsan seemed slightly louder but, as mentioned before, made a sound that was more like that of a pneumatic nail gun. If I heard it, in other words, I wouldn’t think “gun”, but I might be curious about what it was. In either case, you wouldn’t hear either of them very far. My son had trouble hearing them fired immediately outside the house or in the garage through one wall. The Hatsan was definitely quieter than the CCI CB Long or a .22 short. I don’t have a suppressed .22 to compare, but I suspect that would have been quieter than the air rifle.

This style gas piston gun is operated by breaking the barrel open and inserting a pellet in the chamber. It is kind of like a double barrel shotgun, though it swings 135 degrees, which is quite a bit further than your scattergun. It takes considerable force, around 45 foot pounds to be precise, to operate the action. This compresses the gas piston and resets the trigger. The safety is set “on” when the barrel is opened. The effort it takes to cock it is the flip side of all that power. My nine-year-old son could do it, but he had to work at it. The effort makes you consider the purpose of this rifle, and I think of it as more of a hunting or pest control rifle rather than a high volume plinker. It is certainly fun to plink with it, but after 20 or so rounds, it starts to wear most of us down a bit and shooting begins to lose its appeal. I found a 50-round string for testing to be pretty tiring, in fact.

This model Hatsan has a synthetic stock that seems quite sturdy. It has an adjustable cheek piece that is very nice for lining yourself up with the iron sights or a scope. The stock has rubber-like inserts to improve your grip, and there are some spacers you can install to lengthen the adult-sized stock. It has ¾” wide sling swivels. The front one is mounted on the left side of the fore arm; the rear one is mounted on the toe of the stock. I feel that the sling mounting could be improved. This is a heavy rifle, so I would prefer a 1¼” sling. It is hard to mount the forward swivel since the barrel has to break, so it is on the side of the fore arm. Since I’m left-handed, it would have been nice to have a mount available on both sides.

One of the interesting things about this sort of air gun is that you need to hold it lightly. With firearms, we usually pull them back into the shoulder snugly to control recoil. Since the recoil is simpler with a firearm, just a push back, we can get pretty good accuracy with a tight hold. With a spring or gas piston air gun, more is going on. The piston rams forward making the gun jump before the pellet can clear the barrel. We then get backward recoil from the blast of air released. There simply isn’t much way we can control all that. Trying to do so can cause problems, because it is so hard to do it the same way for each shot. Many air gun experts recommend that we should use a very light hold that allows the gun to recoil freely. This means simply letting the fore end rest on your open hand while only exerting light pull on the pistol grip. I’ve had trouble doing this, as I am so used to using more power in my hold. I have had to make an effort to give it a chance, and it seems to work.

The trigger on the rifle is adjustable. It came set at 5.5 pounds and is reasonably crisp. I decided to leave it as is because my son has been shooting it and I think making it too light is not a great idea for young shooters.

Air rifles do need maintenance. A Hatsan spokesperson suggested cleaning the bore about every 500 rounds and that they really like Ballistol for the cleaner. While there is obviously no powder or copper fouling going on, the barrel can lead up in a high velocity gun, like the Hatsan, and that will affect accuracy.

I liked the fact that Hatsan says that you should get at least 20,000 rounds from this gun before needing service and that it can be rebuilt, as needed.

I wound up with two of these rifles. The first one was disappointing in accuracy. It initially had about a 40 fps variation in a 10-shot string and averaged about 850 fps with the 14.66 pellets supplied with the rifle. Air rifles need a break-in period, so I wanted to shoot it some and see what happened. Hatsan said to give it 500 shots before making a final judgment. The velocity variation dropped to 20 fps at around shot 500 and accuracy improved. However, it then got worse, and after a few more shots, the velocity suddenly fell off by 200 fps and accuracy and velocity became very erratic. I contacted Hatsan and they replaced the rifle.

The second rifle showed far more consistent velocities from the start with only a 16 fps variation in the first 10 shots, which averaged 930 fps with 14.66 grain pellets. Accuracy was far better from the start; it was possible to consistently hit a quarter at 25 feet, which is pretty good in my book. By 200 rounds, I was getting a 10 fps variation in a ten-shot string, which is quite acceptable and what Hatsan told me to expect. Accuracy also improved a bit while the velocity stayed at an average of 927 fps in a ten-round string, again with the supplied pellets.

I suspect there was some issue with the piston seal from the start with the first gun. I was very happy that Hatsan was willing to replace it.

Accuracy is a key issue with air guns. While air guns like this one are quite powerful for what they are, they are still limited in muscle. When you don’t have much power to apply, it needs to be applied precisely to a key spot. Pellet guns tend to be somewhat sensitive to pellets, and I found that to be true of the Hatsan. Interestingly, the first one didn’t like the ones that came with it, but the second one shot them extremely well. I tried a range of American, German, Spanish, and Czech pellets ranging from a bit over 13 grains all the way up to 25.39 grains. Both rifles I tested did well with the Czech JSP pellets, while the second one also did extremely well with the Hatsan Vortex 14.66 grain pellet. I’m sure that the second rifle could hit a quarter with every shot at 25 feet using these pellets if I did my part.

I would be happy to have more information about caring for the rifle in the instructions. There isn’t much about maintenance. In the old days, you were expected to follow a rather specialized maintenance schedule on some air rifles using special lubes on springs and piston seals. I didn’t see any recommendations for any of that. I also didn’t see any dire warning about firing it without pellets, which is something that devastates the seals in an old German gun I own. I would presume that dry firing is not good, as it means slamming the piston forward without resistance, much like dropping the slide on an empty chamber with a match tuned 1911.

I like the rifle quite a bit and see a real use for it in a prepping situation. It has a very respectable price to performance value point. While I’m not a fan of the scope, it is great to get it with the rifle to tide you over until you can get a better one. If I decided to add one to my battery, and I think I will, I would spend time with it to determine the most accurate pellet and then lay in a good supply. Air rifles tend to be a bit picky with pellets, and the one I tested might have different tastes from the one you get. The idea of making my own is appealing, but the manufactured ones are not really expensive. You could buy a lot for $100.00. One thing I did discover, however, when I dug up some old pellets from the early 1980’s is that many of them had oxidized to the point I won’t use them. If you buy a bunch, it might be smart to vacuum pack them or seal them up with some oxygen absorbers to be sure they would still be usable years down the line. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie

Recipe of the Week: Uncle Bud’s Stew, by Mrs. H

My husband has celiac disease, which is much more serious and complex than just a gluten allergy. The following is an old family recipe that I adjusted to make it gluten free.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound stew meat (I prefer to buy a piece of meat and cut it up myself. I‘ve used boneless chuck roast and sirloin steak among others)
  • 1 can gluten-free cream of mushroom soup (I’ve used both Amy’s and Health Valley)
  • 1 small can mushrooms
  • 1 batch homemade dry onion soup mix (This is comparable to the Lipton’s dry onion-mushroom soup mix that I used to use. Recipe follows.)

Directions:

Place beef in 1½ quart baking dish. Pour soup over top and add homemade dry onion soup mix. Stir. Bake at 300° for 3 hours. About 30 minutes before it’s done, add the can of mushrooms. I serve this over a baked potato; you could also serve it over rice. I just add a couple potatoes to the oven rack about 1½ hours before the stew is done. I don’t wrap them in foil; I just throw them on the rack with the stew.

The following is my recipe for homemade dry onion soup mix:

  • 4 tsp. gluten-free beef bouillon granules (I use Herb Ox Sodium-Free Beef Bullion; 4 teaspoons is equal to 4 of the packets.)
  • 8 tsp. dried onion flakes
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • ½ tsp. garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • ¼ tsp. salt

This is a very low-sodium as well as gluten-free recipe. If you would like to thicken up the gravy a bit, mix ¼ c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour with water to make a paste. Add this when you add the mushrooms.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letter Re: Blacksmithing

HJL,

If you want to be an effective survival blacksmith, it is essential you practice as much as possible now, when supplies are plentiful so that you will have the skills to actually produce something useful. If you start later, you will waste resources that are scarce and time which will be precious during TEOTWAWKI.

Denis A, a new blacksmith already in training.

Odds ‘n Sods:

New York hospital treating Ebola doctor DENIES suffering ‘staff shortage after nurses called in sick out of fear of being infected with deadly virus’. – RBS

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ER Doctor: What Scares Me Even More Than Ebola. – I.S.

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SurvivalBlog reader T.P. suggested this book for our readers: Buying A Used Shortwave Receiver A Market Guide To Modern Shortwave Radios

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Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required. – D.S.

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Everyone’s favorite “Crazy Russian Hacker” demonstrates how to get just a few more minutes out of your phone: How to Charge Your Phone with 9v Battery! – T.P.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Note: The Constitution is more important now than it ever was, as it is the one and only possible unifying entity for the American people against the criminals of the DC US. If we embrace it, with all of its flaws, then we will have a standard, and a goal, to work towards in our efforts to Restore the American people and country. We will also have a yardstick by which to measure the degree of criminality of those that have usurped the American people.

If we do not embrace the Constitution, including its flaws, then we will be destined to fight one another more so than the all consuming fire raging around us. In the end, all will be consumed by the fire, even the victor of our struggles against one another. The only victory possible then is against the fire; the fire that is their criminality against the us, the American people, the American country.”

Posted by “kchrisc” in the comments section of this article on ZeroHedge

Notes for Sunday – October 26, 2014

October 26th is the anniversary of the death of American-born RLI Trooper Joseph Patrick Byrne, in Rhodesia, in 1978.

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Camping Survivalis starting their sale of Mountain House products today, offering 25% off of #10 cans and 15% off of pouches and buckets.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel which can be assembled in less then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Meat Prices Soar While Deer Populations Explode, by KAW

This headline could sum up a multitude of news reports over the last few years. Droughts and severe winters have left the United States beef herd size at a 63-year low. In response, beef prices have increased steadily with hamburger topping $4 a pound this year. Pork prices have jumped due to porcine epidemic diarrhea that has killed millions of baby pigs. Inflation, a growing human population, and a higher demand for meat in emerging economies also contribute to ever-increasing meat prices. Ironically, America’s deer herd has exploded in the last 30 years. The deer population in North America when the Europeans arrived has been estimated to have been over 50 million. With uncontrolled hunting, by 1900, they had been reduced to less than ½ million. Since being protected and reintroduced in many places, the deer population has rebounded to become a major overpopulation problem that exceeds what the land can bear. Presently, there are one or more species found across the continental U.S., southern Canada, Alaska, and northern Mexico, and the deer herd is estimated to now be higher than ever before. By some estimates the deer population can more than double in one year. There are more than a million vehicle/deer collisions each year with over 100 human deaths and a billion dollars in repair costs. Damage to gardens, landscaping, and agriculture and permanent damage to woodlands and prairies cost Americans millions more.

This is a scenario that repeats itself across my state each summer. A farmer has observed severe damage to his crops from deer and complains to the State Game and Fish Commission. Typically a group of Game Wardens, Sheriff Deputies, and others go to the designated crop field within the next few nights with spotlights and rifles. It is hot, the flies and mosquitoes are swarming, and the deer are covered in ticks and deer lice. The deer are shot and left for the buzzards and coyotes to eat. A lot of times the deer are intentionally gut shot so they will run into the woods to die. This keeps the carcass out of the way of farm equipment. Nobody likes to do this, but something has to be done. It would be much better if these deer could have been killed in the winter and the meat not gone to waste.

Preppers/survivalists are the ideal people to help solve this problem. They already own guns and know how to shoot. Many of the skills and tools needed to kill deer and process the meat are valued by people who want to be more self sufficient. In fact, mankind has been given dominion over all the animals and has a duty to not only keep populations in check but also to make sure none go extinct. You would think only in the land of plenty could there be high meat prices and an overabundance of deer at the same time. Still, we do have people in this country who cannot afford to buy as much meat as they would like. These facts beg the obvious question, “Why don’t more Americans kill deer to reduce their grocery bill and at the same time reduce the deer population?” I can think of numerous reasons I have heard over the years: “I do not have enough time.” “There is too much work involved.” “There is no place to hunt.” “I don’t like the taste.” I will admit that it takes time and work to hunt, kill, and process your own meat, but I think the skills that will be learned and keeping the population in check justify the effort. The expense will be less than the cost of store-bought meat, if you can hunt close to home and already own a suitable gun. Having a place to hunt will depend on where you live and who you know. People not liking the taste of venison, in my opinion, is the biggest hurdle to overcome. For this reason, I would like to tell about my family’s journey to venison becoming our main source of meat.

Squirrel and rabbit hunting was the only hunting I had experienced until deer first began to repopulate our county in the early eighties. The first deer I ever shot was a small buck the day before my eighteenth birthday. No member of my immediate family had ever killed a deer, since there had not been any deer in our county for over 50 years. My mom cooked it, and we did not let any go to waste, but it was not as good as the beef and pork we raised on our farm. I did not kill another deer for six years. By then I was married and living in a county with a higher deer population. My wife had tried venison before we married and said it tasted nasty. We tried fried tenderloin in homemade biscuits and had our local meat processor make sausage, burger, and steaks, but it still didn’t taste as good as store-bought meat. Paying the local deer processor was expensive as the cost ran between fifty and one hundred dollars for each deer, depending on the cuts requested. I kept on hunting, because I loved it, but I would not shoot a deer unless it was a big buck. I was trophy hunting instead of meat hunting. We would not let the meat go to waste on the few, old, large-antlered bucks I killed each season, but sometimes a ravenous appetite was required to choke it down. Over the years I finally learned how to make even an old buck’s meat a treat to enjoy. Now we meat hunt first and primarily kill does, because their meat is not as tough and has a milder taste than a rutting buck’s. The killing of does is also the most effective way to keep the population in check now that our county is overrun with deer. On those rare times when a trophy buck happens along, the adrenaline still flows and he does not get a free pass. However, our focus is on meat rather than on antlers.

The taste of poorly processed and poorly cooked venison is probably the biggest reason we have a deer overpopulation problem. If every deer killed would be served up tasting like a grilled Black Angus steak or Prime Rib, we would not have very many deer. People usually acquire tastes for what they normally eat. Lots of foods eaten in other cultures and countries we would find unappetizing. That being said, venison can taste almost like steak with enough preparation. Beef is aged in a cooler to improve its taste. I do not have the facilities to do this for my deer, so I learned to improvise. There is a lot of written material and videos on skinning and butchering a deer that explains the process in much better detail than I can here, so I will concentrate on what happens after the butchering process. When I kill a deer, I try to get it deboned and in the freezer as soon as possible. Deer meat does not ruin very fast, but why take a chance? I shot a deer with a bow and arrow one afternoon and did not find it until 10:30 the next morning; still, the meat was just fine. The temperature did not fall below seventy degrees that night. Normally I do not even gut a deer if I can debone it immediately. After skinning, I cut the backstraps, or outside tenderloin, off each side of the spine from the neck to the hindquarters. (This is the best cut of meat.) Then the hindquarters and shoulders are removed. The hindquarters are the second best cut of meat. Any meat on the neck or carcass that can be used for burger is cut off. Lastly the inside tenderloin on each side of the inner spine is removed. If you want fried deer heart, make a cut between the upper ribs and reach in and pull it out. Watch detailed videos on butchering processes, if needed. I then debone the hindquarters and shoulders; all the deboned meat is wrapped and goes into the freezer. The bones and carcass go to my big dog. What is left after that– the head, hide, and guts– gets buried by a young fruit tree that will not start bearing for a few years. A few days before we need some meat, we remove a package of meat from the freezer to thaw. After thawing I use a fillet knife and a pair of catfish skinning pliers to trim and pull any fat, ligaments, or linings from the meat. It is important to remove anything that is not lean meat. A lot of the wild taste that people do not like is in the fat and blood. Ligaments and linings are difficult to chew, therefore, removing them is essential. The lean meat is dark colored; the fat, ligaments, and linings are white. I remove all the white and feed it to my dog, which prefers this over the best, store-bought dog food. Then, the meat is soaked in cold saltwater for about half an hour and rinsed repeatedly to remove blood. This is an important step, as the salt water helps get rid of the wild or strong taste people are not used to.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of meticulously trimming the meat and the removing the blood through soaking in salt water and rinsing. These two steps directly affect the quality of the finished product. To trim one hindquarter properly takes me at least 30 minutes, and I have been doing it for years. Commercial processors of deer will not spend the time to trim the meat meticulously. After the trimming and rinsing, steak-sized pieces are cut and submerged in saltwater in a covered dish in the fridge for at least one day and up to four days. When ready to grill, take them out of the saltwater and dry rub a seasoning salt for steaks on both sides. Then grill them at 500 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes on each side, until there is just a little pink left in the center. My wife never liked venison, and my youngest daughter is picky, but they both love deer cooked this way. The pieces that are too small to be eaten as a steak should be ground for burger or used in soups or stews. For a good burger on a bun, beef or pork fat have to be ground in with the lean venison, after the venison has been trimmed and rinsed. One of the best burgers I have eaten was ground venison blended with bacon ends at a ratio of 3 lbs of ends to 7 lbs of lean venison and then cooked on a George Foreman grill. Whatever way you choose to cook your venison, it will be better if it is trimmed properly and most of the blood is removed. Some areas in the United States do not have an overpopulation of deer or any deer, and unless you want to travel to an area that does, you cannot kill what is not there. Some of the telltale signs of deer population levels are road kill and visual sightings. Contacting your State Game and Fish Commission or talking to a local game warden is a quick way to determine local population levels. Having deer close to home makes it much easier to hunt them. If you can hunt private land that has a decent deer population, then you have it made. If not then public land is your next option. The first thing I do is find all the public land that is open to hunting within a two hour drive of home. The reasons I limit myself to a two hour drive are time and money concerns. This includes State Wildlife Management Areas and Federal lands. I go to my state’s Game and Fish website for state lands and United States Fish and Wildlife Service, B.L.M., or Corps of Engineers for Federal lands. Also, you can ask other hunters and game wardens about public land hunting opportunities in your area. I have hunted numerous public land areas over the past 25 years. The first thing I do after deciding on a particular spot is to study maps of the area. It is easy to look at maps online, and you should print one to have on your person when going to your chosen spot. With an old fashioned compass and a map, getting lost should not be an issue. Some of my most memorable and satisfying hunts have been when I used maps and aerial photos to pick an exact place to hunt on public lands. I get up in the wee hours of the morning and drive as close to my chosen spot as possible. I then take my rifle and gear and hike into where I want to hunt taking compass readings as I go. Most of the time, I climb a tree and settle into my portable tree stand well before daylight. As the sun rises and I can see my surroundings for the first time, it is almost like Christmas morning to find out if I have chosen a good place or not. It is probably better to scout the area first, but sometimes I like the challenge of hunting a new spot without prior scouting. More skills are required to hunt unfamiliar terrain on public land than hunting well known, private lands. That being said, I do appreciate being able to have good hunting land close to home. This allows a quick afternoon hunt when I get off work on week days and a deer in the freezer before bedtime, if I am lucky.

These are some of the benefits of deer hunting and processing your own meat:

  • Help keep deer populations at a healthy level.
  • Learn to use maps, compass, and GPS.
  • Practice and increase proficiency with guns and possibly bow and arrow.
  • Maintain all weapons and gear associated with hunting.
  • Learn and practice tracking, scouting, and general outdoor skills.
  • Spend less time watching T.V.
  • Learn to identify what deer feed on and that you can eat some of the same things.
  • Save money at the grocery store.
  • Gain an abundance of low fat and totally organic meat.
  • Learn how to butcher and process your own meat.
  • See beautiful sunrises and sunsets, while getting fresh air and exercise.

I would like to encourage all those living in and close to deer overpopulation areas to do their part to keep populations in check. Experiment and learn to process and cook venison so it will be appreciated. Teach others to do the same. Last season we killed eight deer, and we just finished eating the last batch. This season will open in another month, so we should have killed one more to make it all the way through the year. Maybe, if enough people start utilizing deer meat, beef and pork prices will come down, due to reduced demand, thereby making meat more affordable to the people who can’t hunt.

Letter Re: Police Depositing Gloves in a Trash Can and Ebola in NYC

Hugh,

With the dynamic population of rats in New York, we better hope that they don’t become a reservoir for the Ebola virus, like pigs and bats apparently are. Endemic pandemics are NO FUN for ANYONE! This is a very big deal in the concrete jungle and perhaps a perfect storm with cold dry weather on the way, which enables the virus to survive longer on surfaces and perhaps even go airborn for long distances. We should be completing our preps for this one.

FB

Odds ‘n Sods:

Bellevue staffers call in ‘sick’ after Ebola arrives. – T.P.

While I don’t think this Ebola scare has come anywhere close to threatening a significant portion of the population at this time, this article underscores a critical aspect of societal collapse. Fear is a significant driver; when people stop showing up for work, the economy quits as well. Imagine if we had 10,000 infected here rather than just a few.

o o o

6 degrees of government control. – Avalanche Lily

o o o

SurvivalBlog reader K.K. has informed us that a large amount of leftover warehoused UNI-SOLAR stock was recently liquidated. A number have shown up on eBay for incredibly great prices. (The original link is sold out, but there are more more here)

“I sent a few of these to a missionary friend in Africa four years ago (at over $400 each!!)  She rolls them out each day to charge the laptop and batteries for lights and the panels are still going strong. I own some personally and have to say I am more impressed than with any other panel I have had.  The only drawback is that they take about twice as much roof space as a monosilicon panel to produce the same amount of power, but they weigh only 17lbs and can be rolled up pretty tight.  I can easily carry two with me in a duffle bag when going out to the cabin.  If any of your readers are looking for panels, these are hard to beat.”

o o o

Japan warns of increased activity at volcano near nuclear plant

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David;
as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
which have been since the world began:
that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us;
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember his holy covenant;
the oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
that he would grant unto us,
that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him,
all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
to give knowledge of salvation unto his people
by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God;
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:67-79 (KJV)

Notes for Saturday – October 25, 2014

Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel which can be assembled in less then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.