Non-Electronic Navigation, by Noil

In the modern world more and more people are dependent upon their electronic devices to get them from point A to point B. But what happens when those devices stop working? It can happen either through a natural cause such as a geomagnetic storm, or something man-made like electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a terrorist [cyber] attack, or war. What the majority of people do not realize is that the GPS satellite network is owned and operated by the US Department of Defense. In a case of martial law or an act of war on US soil, civilian access to GPS may be restricted. There are also times when you may be going on an adventure where clear line of sight to the GPS satellites is not possible, such as heavy forest, mountains and jungle locations; all cause problems acquiring GPS signal. And there is always human error that has to be considered, such as leaving the GPS turned on and running the batteries out, breaking the GPS unit, or losing it. Without the knowledge of how to use more traditional navigational methods, your likelihood of survival is decreased.

This article has been broken into several sections, proceeding from the simplest compass navigation to the more complex issues of dealing with maps and magnetic declination. Also included is a section on primitive navigation, which is the worst-case scenario when you have no gear at all with you. The objective is to take my military and survival knowledge on navigation and put it in an easy-to-use guide for anyone from an absolute novice to outdoor enthusiast to use.

Compass Only
Learning how to use a compass is easy and could one day save your life.
Every compass has the four directions, North, East, South and West, which are represented with N, E, S, and W on the compass dial. There are a lot of different types of compasses out there, but regardless of their design and purpose they will always have the four directions on them.
The easiest compass to use is a simple map compass that consists of a dial and direction of travel on the base. Within the dial will be the four directions N, E, S, and W, an orientation arrow, orienting lines, and the compass needle. It does not get much simpler than this. Most compasses will have two different colours on the compass needle: some are white and red while others are red and black and some are white and red with a dot of white at the tip of the red. So which way is north when there are so many colour variations?

  • Red & White with glow-in-the-dark white – White is north.
  • Red & Black – Red is north.
  • Red & White with white dot at tip of red – Red is north; the white tip is glow-in-the-dark material.

For this tutorial red and black will be used for the compass needle, keeping inline with the basic map compass. The red portion of the compass needle will always point to magnetic north, no matter which way the compass is facing.
To go in any other direction other than to the magnetic north, you will need to move the direction of travel arrow to the direction you wish to go. The compass dial will have a scale; most are from 0 to 360 degrees, but there are compass dials that range from 400 to 0 degrees. The degrees are used for navigation between the four directions. For instance if you wanted to go half way between N and E on a dial with 360 degrees it would be a direction of 45 degrees. This sounds easy enough, now how to do it:
Hold the compass out away from yourself but in a position that is comfortable and where you can still read the compass. You will want to make sure there is no metal around the compass as metal will throw off the reading.

With the compass held as flat as possible, let the needle find magnetic north; then turn the dial, aligning the N with the tip of the red part of the needle.
Carefully turn the base of the compass to align the direction of travel arrow to the desired direction you wish to go in. Be sure to keep the red part of the compass needle pointed at the N or else you will go in the wrong direction. It is a common mistake to turn the whole compass rather than just the base. It is often a good idea to redo the reading to make sure you come out to the same location on the compass twice before heading off.

Now that you have a reading, walk in the direction of the direction of travel arrow, while keeping the red part of the compass needle pointed to the N. Always be sure to check your course several times to avoid getting off course. Ideally a check should be done at around 80 meters (262.46 feet); checking frequently means less course correction.
Don’t make the mistake of staring down at the compass and walking through the wilderness; you will find that you will walk into something, off something, or trip and get hurt. By checking frequently you will be able to navigate the wilderness, reducing the risk of injury. The easy way to do this is to use landmarks that are in your direction of travel. That way you can look at the landmark to keep you close to your course.

How do I really know I am going the right way? There are primitive navigation methods that can be used to ascertain the four directions. When using a compass but when doubt still remains, look at the position of the sun. In the northern hemisphere where I am located, at noon the sun is in the south; if you are on the southern hemisphere, for you the sun would be in the north. So if you are in the northern hemisphere and need to be heading north but the sun is blinding you, then stop! You are going south, the wrong direction! Just reverse this for the southern hemisphere; if you are wanting to go north and the sun is on your back, then do a 180 degree because you are facing the wrong way. Using these primitive navigation tricks with a compass will give you the confidence you may lack.

So remember:
In Northern Hemisphere sun at noon is South
In Southern Hemisphere sun at noon is North
Easy way to remember is the sun is pointing to the equator.
This method will help you get out alive if you are in the wilderness without a map, but yet you know that in a given direction from your current location there is a road, town, river or another object that is big and hard to miss.

There are inherent issues with this method of navigating. It’s not very accurate: if you were looking for a small campsite deep in the wilderness, this method would not help you. But it will keep you from going in circles, what happens to most who are lost in the wilderness; the key to getting out is going straight. A good rule is to bring an accurate and appropriate-scaled map with you to any location you are not familiar with.

Compass with Map
You have your basic compass that was used in navigating with just a compass, but you were smart and also brought a map; this section will teach you how to use your compass with that map, to find small sites with precision navigation.

When using a compass with a good map, your odds of survival and making it out greatly increase. You can look at the map to determine major navigational obstacles as well as most likely areas of rescue or self-rescue. This is an important lesson that should be learned by anyone going into the wilderness; not only will you be able to safely navigate the terrain and make it precisely where you meant to be, but you will make it there alive.

In this example to navigate using a map you will be on a wilderness trail at point Alpha kilometer / mile 0, and your objective is to reach point Charlie kilometer 43 / 26.71 mile without going through Bravo point. This will mean you will have to leave the trail and go cross-country. To determine your course, lay out the map and take the edge of the compass that runs parallel to the direction of travel arrow (the longest edge is usually the parallel edge) placing the bottom corner of the edge on point Alpha and the upper corner of the edge on point Charlie. Point Charlie can be located any place along the edge and not necessarily at the corner. An alternative easy-to-remember method is to use the direction arrow of travel as a way to line up the compass so it points from Alpha to Charlie. It is very important to make sure that the direction of travel arrow is pointed towards the other checkpoint, in this example point Charlie; failure to align the direction of travel arrow to your checkpoint will result in going the wrong way. There is great debate on whether or not one should draw a line on the map to mark the direction of travel. When I was in the military, my maps were placed in a waterproof map case, and with a special waterproof pencil I could draw lines, make notations, etc. without damaging the map, but since most people likely will not have such luxury it is not a good idea to draw a line; it does not add anything to the precision and often puts the map at risk of being damaged and covers up important details. You should make the investment in a waterproof map trail case; it will keep your maps dry and you can further tie it to your pack so you won’t lose it on the trail.

No one will complain if you take the time to recheck your work; it is very important even with a map to redo the reading and make sure it is right.
With a direction of travel set you might think you are ready to head cross country. That would be a wrong decision; the compass has to be oriented to the map before it is useful. To do this lay the map flat or stabilize your map case.

On your map there will be lines that run North to South; these lines are called meridian lines. On your compass dial you will see similar lines that run from the N to the S; these lines are called orienting lines. To orient the compass to your map you will need to line up the compass orienting lines to the map meridian lines. In order to do this, carefully turn the dial of the compass while keeping the edge / direction of travel arrow aligned from point Alpha to point Charlie. Ignore what the compass needle is doing for now. Be absolutely sure that the North on your map is also N on your compass dial when the orienting lines have lined up to the meridian lines; if not, your reading will be wrong. Both the meridian north and orienting north have to match up; all maps designate the direction of North; find it so you know which way to line up the lines. It is also important to make sure the edge of the compass base or the direction of travel line remains in alignment between the two points. Failure to check these things will result in course navigation errors.

With the meridian and orienting lines aligned properly and our compass edge or the direction of travel arrow still aligned on the two checkpoints, we have our compass bearing. I like to make a note of the compass bearing; it is a personal preference, because it is extremely important that once you have the bearing, the compass dial or base not move; movement results in a different bearing and consequently navigational errors. With a compass bearing you can store your map safely and navigate using the compass only, as in the first section. The difference here is you are actually navigating with a bearing to a precise location.

Holding the compass as flat as possible, you need to turn your whole body until the red part of the compass needle aligns with the N on the compass dial. Do not turn the dial or the base of the compass. Remember always make sure red is in the north position, or you will never reach the destination. To walk with the compass and navigate, take a minute or two; hold the compass out in front of you while keeping the red compass needle pointed to the N and not turning anything on the compass; look down the direction of travel arrow and pick out something that stands out that is in line with the compass bearing. This will be your landmark so you can walk safely through the wilderness. It is important to pick something that is easy to see in the middle-ground. Repeat and check your direction like before at around every 80 meters (262.46 feet) and you will make it to checkpoint Charlie without having to go through checkpoint Bravo.

Compensating for Magnetic North
The compass needle points to magnetic north, which is where the magnetic fields of the earth align at the northern magnetic pole. This is often mistaken for the North Pole. The North Pole is actually very far from the magnetic pole. It is important to note that the magnetic pole moves often from year to year. The difference between magnetic north and true north is called “magnetic declination”. Because the location of magnetic north moves, it is important to figure out the magnetic declination before leaving home or see if there is a notation on your map as to what the magnetic declination is.

Why should you be concerned with this? Topographical maps are situated to true north rather than magnetic north, so your compass bearings will be off by the amount of the magnetic declination. As well, most modern maps, especially hiking and trail maps, use a grid called the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). This UTM grid is used for charting a location that lies between 84 degrees North and 80 degrees South, which covers most of the earth’s surface. Note that the UTM grid does not have a real north pole; however, the orientation of the grid matches closely to the meridian lines of maps.

How this grid correlates to your map is pretty clever: typically the average hiking map will have a 2 centimeters grid setup; with this distance the map scale is 1:50,000, therefore on a 2 centimeters (7/8ths of an inch) grid distance the actual distance is 1 kilometer (0.62 miles). This is very useful when planning an extended tour in the wilderness to determine how far a person can go in a day or where resources or locations are in terms of distance from your current location.

As great as the UTM grid is, to use it properly as a navigational tool you need to know how much difference there is between the UTM grid and magnetic pole. Plotting a course is the same as in the Map with a Compass section, with the added complication of making sure not to align the orienting lines to the east – west UTM grid lines. Now for the tricky part … once you have your compass bearing, you need to account for the number of degrees of magnetic declination. Sometimes this will mean adding degrees, and other times it may mean subtracting degrees. These degrees come from the angle between the UTM grid lines / meridian lines and the magnetic north location.
By now you will have concluded that magnetic declination varies by your geographical location; this is why it is important to figure this out ahead of time before departing. If you have forgotten to do this before heading out to the wilderness, don’t panic.

To figure out the magnetic declination in the wilderness, look at your map grid from your current location and note the grid azimuth. Did I just lose you? Okay, here is what you need to do: find where you are on the map, then measure the angle from the nearest north meridian / UTM grid line to your location. To do this ideally you should have a protractor.

Now that you have found where you are on the map and have your grid azimuth, now look for a very distant distinctive feature; the further away the object is, the more accurate your declination will be. With your compass, aim the direction of travel arrow at the landmark. Now turn the compass dial so that the red compass needle points to N, and when the compass needle is correctly aligned, look at the degrees on the compass dial where the base of the direction of travel arrow is. Note this number, for it is the magnetic azimuth.

To find magnetic declination, take your grid azimuth and subtract your magnetic azimuth; the result is the magnetic declination.
If visibility is an issue in determining a landmark, there is still a way in which to find the magnetic declination. A method used in the military: with your compass edge, draw a straight line passing through your current location on the map and your destination and extend the line across any of the map borders. Now take your compass to where the line you just drew intersects with the map border, positioning the direction of travel arrow in alignment with the line you drew, then align the orienting line with the map edge while making sure that map north and compass north are both in the same direction. The magnetic declination will be the distance from the north orienting line to your direction of travel line.

If the map marker for magnetic north is to the right of the true north line, then subtract the declination value from the magnetic north bearing you took for your destination. If the map marker is to the left of true north, then you will need to add the declination value to your magnetic north bearing for your destination.
For example, in my location the declination is 6 degrees easterly; if my bearing for my location was 140 degrees, I would need to subtract 6 degrees from 140, which would give me a bearing of 134 degrees, which would allow me to use the map that has not been adjusted for magnetic north. If I were in the west and my declination was -10 and my bearing was still 140 degrees, I would need to add 10 degrees to my bearing, making it 150 degrees.

On a lot of modern maps there will be located somewhere a line that points to MN (Magnetic North) and another line from the base of the MN line that points a star symbol (True North), and between these two lines will be a number in degrees, which is the magnetic declination at the time the map was made. You may also notice a GN symbol; this represents the UTM grid (“grid north”) , and the line with the GN indicates the declination of the UTM in relation to true north. Because magnetic declination changes, it is important to make sure your map is up to date with the correct information.

How bad can it be if you are only off a few degrees? Well, it can be downright disastrous; an error of 1 degree after 16.09 kilometers (10 miles) will result in you being off course by 280 meters (920 feet). If you compound this error by ten degrees after the same distance you will find yourself off course by 2.79 kilometers (1.73 miles); in a wilderness situation that is the equivalent of being on the moon and will be completely devastating to the person.
Using the methods described here, anyone should be able to navigate their way through the wilderness safely and confidently, but it is important to practice, navigating at home while you can rather than trying to learn these skills when you are in the wilderness and lost.

Primitive Navigation
What if the worst-case scenario happens? You are so lost, with no hope of finding your way without your trusty compass and maps. It now has become a real issue of survival. It may seem as if there is no hope of ever getting out of the wilderness. I will explain various means of finding your way when you have absolutely nothing to navigate with.
The shadow-stick compass is a very old and tried and tested way to get a general direction, much like navigating with a compass and no map. Put the stick in the ground free of vegetation, take a small stick or stone, and mark the end of the shadow. Now wait 10 – 15 minutes and then mark where the end of the shadow is now. You will notice it has moved. Draw a straight line between the two small markers that mark the end of the shadow. This will tell you the east – west line. The first small marker is the west direction and the second small marker is the east direction.

To find the north – south line, look east and draw a line perpendicular to the east – west line. To the left will be north and to the right will be south. Or if you can’t remember what is left or right … the line moving away from the sun is north in the Northern hemisphere, but if you are in the Southern hemisphere, the north and south direction is reversed and the line moving away from the sun is south.
The longer you wait to place the second marker, the more accurate the shadow stick compass becomes.
If you find you have to travel at night, the shadow compass will still work with a bright moon. The advantage of the night shadow compass is that you can further verify your observation with the use of the stars.

Stellar navigation is not that hard and it is a fun time to learn about the various constellations and the stories behind them, which makes this a great activity in which to include children in the learning process. In the Northern Hemisphere to find north you need to locate a star called Polaris, which is the North Star. To find Polaris is simple: find the Big Dipper (just about everyone can find that), and the two stars that close the dipper part furthest from the handle point to Polaris, which is the first star in the handle of the Little Dipper. Polaris will also be a fairly bright star. However, this method will not work if you are above 70 degrees latitude or are in the Southern Hemisphere. The cool thing about the stars that even in the Southern Hemisphere there is a way to navigate. You will need to find the Southern Cross, which is a constellation of four stars called Crux. Two of the stars in Crixa constellation point to the Southern pole. The Southern Cross looks like a cross with a fifth star off center from the lower portion of the cross. For people in Australia, this is depicted upon the flag of Australia.

To find your east – west direction, you need to find the constellation of Orion, which can be seen in both hemispheres. In Orion’s belt are three stars: the lowest of the three stars is West and the highest is east. On a clear night one can see the whole constellation of Orion including the bow; his bow always faces west; therefore, just remember Orion always looks west.

Should you find yourself unable to find Polaris either because of heavy cloud cover or because the terrain works against you, there are other methods that can be used. The first method is using a single stick. Find a bright star that will be easy to find later. While lying on the ground, look up at the star and point the stick directly at it; since it is important to repeat the same observation position several times, you may wish to use a rock to mark the placement of your head when you observed the star the first time. Ideally you will want to wait an hour, checking on your star every 15 minutes and noting the direction of travel. If the star is tracking to the left, you are facing north; if the star tracked up, you are facing east; if the star tracked right, you are facing south, and if the star tracked down, you are facing west.

This same method can be done using two sticks like the shadow stick compass. You will want two large sticks that are a meter to a meter and a half in length (3 to 4 feet). It is important to have one stick larger than the other. Place the larger stick in the ground. With the first stick in place, sit on the ground by the stick. You now take the shorter stick and aim the top of it in line to the top of the bigger stick, which will in turn aim at a bright star. As in the one-stick method, wait an hour, checking the star positioning every 15 minutes. The second stick in this example takes the place of the stone and provides you with the exact same observation position. Just as in the one stick method, if the star is tracking to the left, you are facing north; if the star tracked up, you are facing east; if the star tracked right, you are facing south, and if the star tracked down, you are facing west.
Another method that can be used to determine direction is called the “Watch” method. If you have an analog watch, hold it out in front of you as you would hold a compass. Use a twig or something to cast a shadow directed to the center of the watch. Now for the tricky part: you need to turn the watch until the shadow splits the distance between the hour hand and 12 in half. When this happens 12 will be pointing South and 6 will be pointing North. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, this would be reversed: 12 would be pointing North and 6 would be pointing South.

Should you find yourself out in the world without your trusty analog watch or you just have a digital watch, this method will still work for you. Simply draw yourself a clock face on the ground. With your big circle in the dirt draw a line that points to the sun; this will be the hour hand. When you have done that, draw a line to the 12 position where it would be in relation to your hour hand on your dirt circle. Halfway between your dirt hour hand and 12 is South.

Any of the methods described in the foregoing will get you going in a general direction; when done properly they are as accurate as navigating with just a compass with no map. So if you know your survival depends on going in a particular direction, for example if the interstate highway is to the east of your location about 4 miles away, this will get you there. It won’t help you find pinpoint locations.

Suburban Survival Revisited, by The Suburban 10

In April 2010 I submitted “Suburban Survival”. a set of ten steps I was going implement in order to get ready for TEOTWAWKI. Boy… did I underestimate the power and importance of survialblog.com! First and foremost I thank all of you who responded and gave a cold slap of reality. I thought I was going to be in good shape, but now my view and attitude are vastly different. How did it change? It really started when I bought and read Jim’s survival book. It offers solid fundamentals and interesting insight that I am adapting to my particular situation. My situation? Bleak! I consider myself an up beat happy guy; I am a realist, not pessimistic. If the Schumer hits the fan (love that phrase), I am stuck here, on an island with 3 million other people.

My revisited suburban 10 focuses on what my family and I need to survive on in the most simple and minimal terms. No more fantasies about ramming through traffic to get to my underground bunker or of building a stockade around the block with my clueless neighbors and leading them though the battles. One of about ten close friends I approached about ready preparedness is on board with me… others think I am over reaching and most think I’m nuts. They rely on flash lights and 16 oz. water bottles for an emergency, so I don’t respect them enough to let it bother me.

My view on firearms was wrong plain and simple. You need to be equal with or have an advantage over your foe. I decided to obtain a pistol permit. It is not that easy… Here in Suffolk County, New York it takes six months of background checks, a notarized application,  three non-family members to verify that you are sane, a call to your work place, and or any of the those three non-family members and or a neighbor (work place for me) and  interview at police headquarters, fingerprinting and photo identification. The cost ($105) is relatively low compared to neighboring Nassau County. New York City is s for me. There are 80,000 pistol permits in Suffolk County and I now have one of them.

Most of my training is at the police range. I thought bowling was enjoyable, but the shooting range is far more exciting. Most of my training by a friend with years of experience, I read the manuals slowly, and asking questions and share thoughts at the range. I feel confident and capable with my firearm, a 9mm Springfield Armory XD. Most everyone at the range I meet loves to talk about their guns. I listen and learn as to what appeals to them in a firearm. I also got a Henry Survival .22 that my wife uses. It weighs just two pounds the entire rifle breaks down into the stock. Both items and gear fit in my  back pack (no gun cases). I Clean and care for my own weapons because they are expensive finely crafted machines. The economy of 9mm and .22 caliber rounds is what suites my budget and at least my wife has something in her hands that she now uses quite well.

I’ve found lots of great ideas on SurvivalBlog.com and the beauty is that it is a community of like minded individuals who continually improve. I came to the cruel reality that there is really nowhere to run to… If my home is reduced to nothing but a lean two with a fire pit so be it. It will be home and worth defending. Simple and Minimal for what ever the duration until things get normalized (what ever normalized will be). If we are chased out we will head east away from New York City with our go bags and camping gear and fight to survive as nomads.

Before I get to my new list, two thoughts:

I believe we, as frequent readers of SurvivalBlog.com need to form a simple means of communicating that we are willing to work with and help each other if the Schumer goes down. If we are in turmoil and I am approached by a fellow human: I would like to be able to use a name that demonstrates that we are like minded and on the level. Let’s say I came up to you and said: Do you know a man by the name of Jim Rawles. If yes, then we are like minded and more apt to do fair trading. If not, then I am cautious or at an advantage because this person is most likely ill-prepared. I just started asking if people know of him and one did and was very like-minded. The list is growing fast I am sure.

My second thought is, I love the America I knew, I hope and pray for the America I know. Shame on the ones who just don’t want to take a little extra time, energy and money to just do some kind of preparation! I know many of you reading this are preparing, but for the rest of the population they have the potential to be a burden to everyone. I hope to have enough supplies for charity, but don’t count on me if you bought a flat screen television instead of a $250 water purifier.

 

Present Status of the Suburban 10

1. Wood Stove- two cords of wood stacked and covered. Gather and hand splitting what I find on the curb.

2. Big Berkey Water Purifier and an above ground swimming pool with 5,100 gal. of treatable water.

3. Several Buckets of red wheat berries and a grinder. (Hope to buy a bucket a month)

4. Two firearms and 600 rounds of ammo (would like to have 1,000 rounds and a shot gun).

5. Entering 5 KM races, keeping my kids active and aware, eating right and working out with my 3’ staff.

6. First aid kit with N95 masks. (Plan to get medical training and more supplies).

7. Go Bag for each member of the family. (Not yet complete)

8. Stocking up on more camping and fishing supplies. Had some good garage sale finds lately. Such as Candles, Oil Lamps, 20 gallon propane tanks, and knives just to name a few.

9. Thanks, Praise and Prayer- These are the good old days so smell the roses now. I thank the Lord each day that I can live in comfort. I hope for the best, but routinely and steadily prepare for the worst. Purchase a little at a time, but buy!

10. Listen and Learn from those who know. Make a list of those who have a skill set that can be of use to you if it is TEOTWAWKI and have the silver coins to make it worth their while to help you.

Conclusion
I am about half way (50%) to the point of where I would feel confident and comfortable in my preparedness. What is your percentage of progress? Thanks again to all of you at SurvialBlog.com for all the great insight and information you provide. We can make it through the tough times ahead and the world will be a better place!

Guest Article: Using Expired Medications – Antibiotics and Antiviral Medications – Part 1, by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

1

My first guest post on SurvivalBlog.com generated an abundance of questions and concerns.  Among the most popular was that of using medications beyond their expiration date.  Are they safe?  Are they effective? 

It’s easy enough for me to say I think it’s safe, but is there any science to support my opinion?  I spent the week looking into the facts, and found some fascinating information.
To start with, just what is a drug expiration date?  In short, the date (required since 1979) does not indicate when a drug goes bad, but rather a date through which the drug is guaranteed to be good.  Compare this to what you might find on a can of beans:  the “best if used by” date.  
How are these dates determined?  In two ways. 

The first is by real-time testing.  Medications are stored under manufacturer-recommended conditions (which does not mean in your hot, humid bathroom over the toilet).  At given intervals the medications are tested for appearance, drug content, and stability.  Nowhere could I find that they are tested for safety specifically, but if the drug itself is present in acceptable amounts, it seems reasonable to conclude it is still safe. 

Secondly, drugs are tested under high-temperature stress conditions to simulate longer time periods.  Logically, if a drug is only two years old, five years of stability testing is unlikely to have been performed.  However, if a medication remains stable for a specified time period under adverse conditions, one may presume it likely stable and therefore safe for much longer periods.

Expiration dates are only found on the original packaging and apply to unopened meds that have been stored as directed.  This is in contrast to the date on your actual prescription bottle, a “do not use beyond” date.  Pharmacists commonly purchase pills in bottles of 1,000 then dispense them into smaller containers, generally with a shorter expiration date.  The latest this will be is a year beyond the original prescription date.  Although the original bottle may have a date 2-3 years in the future, your own bottle will be dated for 1 year or less from purchase, due to uncertainty about actual storage conditions and patient use.   
 
One tip on stocking up, then, is to request your prescriptions in the original packaging, typically bottles of 100 (usually not 90, as insurance often prefers, though there are exceptions).  Your doctor will not necessarily know this information, but you can look it up in a PDR to save time.  A used Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) can be purchased on Amazon for under $5.  Generic drugs are not in the PDR.  You will have to ask the pharmacist for information regarding your own prescription.  

The primary source of information regarding the prolonged stability of medications comes from the Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP) database.  Rather than discard millions of dollars worth of expired drugs stockpiled for emergency use, the government tested representative lots for extended stability.  These stockpiled drugs are aimed at emergency use for injuries and infections rather than chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and asthma.  The most useful data for the layman is related to drugs to combat bacterial and viral infections.

In 2009 as a result of the H1N1 scare, two anti-viral (anti-influenza) drugs were granted an Emergency Use Authorization (which has since expired).  Relenza was granted approval for up to one year after the original expiration date, whereas Tamiflu products were approved for up to an additional 5 years.  Tamiflu is easier to use, has fewer side-effects, and comes in blister-packs of 10.  A full dose is one 75-mg tablet twice daily for 5 days, to be started within the first day or two of true influenza infection (which is not always known, a discussion for another day). 

Several antibiotics tested for extended use were found to be safe as well, for an additional one to several years.  At this time I am unsure whether the tested drugs were brand-name or generic, but I am looking into the question and will address the specifics in Part 2 of this article.

Interested in a free teleconference on the use of expired medications?  Sign up here.  I’ll discuss more info that I’ll be including in my upcoming book, Armageddon Medicine.

About The Author: Cynthia J. Koelker, MD is the author of the book 101 Ways to Save Money on Health Care explains how to treat over 30 common medical conditions economically, and includes dozens of sections on treating yourself. Available for under $10 online, the book offers practical advice on treating: respiratory infections, pink eye, sore throats, nausea, diarrhea, heartburn, urinary infections, allergies, arthritis, acne, hemorrhoids, dermatitis, skin infection, lacerations, lice, carpal tunnel syndrome, warts, mental illness, asthma, COPD, depression, diabetes, enlarged prostate, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and much more.

Dr. Koelker has recently started a new medical blog on surviving TEOTWAWKI, ArmageddonMedicine.net. She welcomes your questions, comments, and critiques.

Letter Re: Self Sufficiency Christmas Gifts on a Budget

Just a note to Richard C. and others who are interested in creating books from public-domain sources.

I think it’s a great idea to give knowledge as a gift, especially in the form of books. However, I’m not sure that Richard’s plan is an economical one. Most people have ink-jet printers, with high cost ink cartridges. Plus the added danger of the risk of fading and lack of water-fastness in most ink-jet inks might make the information unusable for the long term. Another option is using a laser printer, which will deliver a lower cost per page and will have much better long-term durability. However, both methods are going to be time-consuming and will require some sort of binding at the end of all that printing.

These days, there is another way that might interest readers, which is print-on-demand services like CreateSpace.com, run by the Amazon.com folks (there are others out there, I just researched this one for a project of my own). According to the pricing guide on their Web site, an 8″ x 10″, black and white book of 100 pages is only $3.66. A 200-page book is $5.50. The final product looks like a regular paperback book, complete with full-color cover. You’d also pay shipping and handling, but I’m sure you can see that this can be a significant time and money saver, especially if you want multiple copies of the same book. Putting multiple books in the same binding can further your savings.

And after his book is finished and printed for his family at Christmas, he can leave it up on Amazon.com for others to purchase and make a profit on his work if he likes. The gift that keeps on giving! Cheers! – Jason R.

Economics and Investing:

RBS mentioned the Foreclosure Rate Heat Map

Gerald W. spotted this piece that confirms what SurvivalBlog readers heard several months ago: Government Prepares To Seize Private Pensions

From G.G.: One third of Britons don’t have enough savings to survive just Five Days out of work

Items from The Economatrix:

Banking Collapse Scenarios Fall/Winter 2010

Why You (Probably) Need More Gold

Pay Garnishments Rise as Debtors Fall Behind

US Housing Market Faces New Threat from Foreclosure Row

World Financial System Not Sustainable

Dollar Depreciation and the Higher Cost of Living

Earnings Reports Push Stocks Higher, Dow Up 76

Wall Street Begins to Fear Nightmare “Foreclosure-Gate”

Gold Surges After Japan Says it is Considering New QE and Geithner Guarantees Currency Wars

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“….Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!” – Rudyard Kipling, “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”, 1919

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 31 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Learning Traditional Skills, by R.I.P.

1

There is only one sure thing about plans: at some point they have a good chance of failing. Not necessarily because the plans were faulty, but because it is nearly impossible to plan for everything. The universe has a way of ensuring that we get to experience the widest range of possibilities. So what if, after all your preparing, storing food, water, fuel, fortress etc., etc, what if you suddenly do not have access to all of that? We don’t have to go through all the ways that this might happen, I’ll let your imagination work on that. So, could you survive if there was nothing between you and nature, none of the “stuff”, the baggage that we store up like squirrels and carry with us like turtles, tending to make us just as slow and cumbersome as turtles? Could you survive and provide for your loved ones if there was nothing between you and the Creator?

If you are interested in learning so called “primitive” skills, then there are many books on the subject, so I am not going to go into full detail on how to do each thing, that would require an article the size of an encyclopedia. So I will leave the research to you, and just give some tips here that you will not find in most survival books, the tips that come from experience and could mean the difference between success and failure, i.e., life or death.

The Crucial Four: Food, Water, Shelter, Fire.
There is always debate as to which of those is more important. It comes down to common sense. If you are in the arctic in winter, shelter is number 1. If you are in desert during the day, water might be first priority. In the jungle at night, you might prefer fire. Food is actually very low in the list. One can go for weeks without food. Three days is about the limit for going without water, though this can be stretched, and extremely hot, humid climates will decrease the time. You will only last a few hours to a few minutes under hypothermic conditions. So in most situations, the two most important things are water and shelter. When you want warmth, think shelter before fire. Anyone who has ever spent a very cold night with nothing but a fire knows that one could freeze to death that way. If all you have is a fire, better to make a very small one, save on your wood, use very small branches, and sit with your legs around the fire. If you have a blanket, wrap it around you to make a bit of a “tipi” with the fire in the middle and continuously feed it throughout the night.

When it comes to building shelters, for cold weather a debris hut is best. This is the simple two short poles in a triangle, with one long pole from the apex of the two short poles to the ground. Then ribs of short sticks are laid against the ridge pole to form the sides, twigs and brush is put on top of the ribs, then leaves, needles and such debris is piled on top. This is a stereotypical shelter, however, what most survival books do not stress is just how much debris is needed. If you wish to survive freezing temperatures, you will need to keep piling debris on until you can shove your hand into the debris and touch the ribs, and have the debris up to you armpit. That is the minimum! Any colder than 30 degrees or so, you need 3, 4, 5 feet of debris. But this is not all. When you first begin to build shelters, you might have a tendency to think of them like a house, a nice roomy little shelter. In cold conditions, this could kill you. The shelter must be barely bigger than your body, and when you finish piling debris of the outside, your job is not over. Drag leaves inside and stuff into every crack, between every rib, then pack the space where you will sleep until you can barely worm your way into it…then add more. It will pack down before the night is over, don’t worry. The only mistake you can make is not adding enough. Then pile an armload of debris outside the opening that you can pull in behind you to seal the door. (you enter feet first) What you are trying to do is create a cocoon around you with as little air space as possible, so that your body heat can warm your space. Don’t be afraid to cover your head with debris. A bandana can be your best friend for so many things, and here it will help keep leaf mold out of your lungs. If you have fire, warm rocks at your feet, head and on your stomach are nice. Just be sure not to use river rocks, as they have a tendency to hold moisture, which when heated can cause the rocks to explode into dangerous shards. Whether in a shelter or by a fire, stuffing your pants, shirt, hat or bandana, and socks with debris, until you look like a Michelin Man can really help keep you warm. Cattail down is really nice and warm, especially comfortable in the socks.

Water.
Water can so easily become the gold of the future. Books will tell you how to make solar stills, use purification tablets, filters, SteriPens etc. You may not have these things, so here are a couple of thing that may help. First learn the indicator species in your area for water. That is, plants, animals, birds and insects that like water. Things like Willow, Slippery Elm, and River Birch usually indicate moist areas, though not always surface water. You might find spots to dig for seeps though, or high moisture soil for a still. Also things like Sycamore and Grapevine that can be tapped for water. Always learn the dangers though, things like Canadian Moonseed, which looks similar to grape, but is poisonous. Some plants will help kill bacteria or boost the immune system against bacteria or viruses. These include things like Echinacea, Olive Leaf, Golden Seal. Water with a high tannin content tends to have less of the tiny varmints, they have a hard time living in such water. Watch for birds, learn the ones of your area that are fond of water. In some places it might be Blue Heron or Belted Kingfisher, other places it might be the Loon or Geese. Turtles or toads do not necessarily mean that water is close by.

Don’t forget dew as a water source. Just sop it up with a rag and wring it into your mouth or a container. Be careful about doing this in fields that might have been sprayed with herbicide or fertilizer, and obviously never along roadsides. You can make a filter that will catch some of the larger “animals” in surface water, though it will not help much with stuff like Giardia or chemicals. Anything of multiple layers that you can pour water through will help. Here is a filter that I made one time, to give an idea. I cut a large bull thistle stalk and snipped the prickly leaves from it. It was a hollow stalk about 2 1/2 inches long and 3 inches diameter. I stuffed grass in one end then proceeded to pack it with layers of cattail down, charcoal, sand, gravel, then repeated the layers, filling the stalk about 2/3 full. Then poured some pond water in and let it seep down. It will take a while to drain through. When I did this, I first took a drop of the water and put it under a microscope, it was crawling alive with tiny creatures. After seeping through the filter, there were none. Again, this will not eliminate viruses and certain bacteria, but in a pinch it is better than nothing. If you wish to boil the water, that leads into the subject of…..

Fire.
Aside from flint & steel, magnesium, batteries & steel wool, (which by the way should be the finest of wool, 0000) magnifying glass, using the striker on an empty Bic [disposable lighter], etc., we will look at the more natural methods. These would include bow drill, hand drill, pump drill, fire piston, fire saw, fire plough. We will stick to bow drill, it is the one you will find mentioned the most in your books. However, if you made and tried to use a bow drill the way it is illustrated in most survival and army guides, you would most likely die of exhaustion before you could get a coal. Here are a few tips. First, practice now, not on the trail. This can not be stressed enough, with any skill. The fireboard should be no thicker that 3/4 inch, the thickness of your thumb is generally good. Flatten and square off the top, sides and bottom. Burn the spindle well into the fireboard before cutting the notch. Make the edge of the spindle hole in the fireboard about a 1/4 inch in from the edge of the fireboard. The notch should be about a 1/8th of a pie, and should apex almost but not quite to the center of the hole. The notch has to be big enough to collect dust for a coal and allow air to reach the coal, but not so big that the dust cools or the spindle pops out of the hole through the notch. The spindle should be fairly sharp on the handhold end, and rounded on the fireboard end. Spindles can have a diameter anywhere from “OK size” (that is, when you make a circle with thumb and index finger–about an inch) to pinky size. Thumb size is generally best. If it is for a small child or someone that does not have much stamina, the smaller the spindle, the more pressure you will be applying per square centimeter, and so generate more heat, quicker. However, a larger diameter spindle will make a larger coal, so can be better in wet weather. Every set is made to your proportions, though eventually you will be able to get a fire with any set. The best length for the spindle is thumb tip to pinky tip when the fingers are extended into the sign for Y or “telephone”. It needs to be very straight and scraped free of lumps. Burn a good socket into the handhold, then re-sharpen the end of the spindle. Then lubricate the socket with anything that will varnish and allow the spindle to turn freely in the handhold without burning down and sticking. This can be anything from body oils, earwax, tallow, oil or soap, even pine tar or cedar boughs. Depending on the wood, it may only need to be lubed once, or several times before you get the coal.

On the fireboard end of the spindle, you want it to burn away, so be careful to not touch this end to your skin, as the oils from your body will make the spindle and fireboard varnish and no dust will be produced. You can tell it is varnishing if it gets a shiny look or squeaks like a turkey call. When this happens, scrap the shine from the spindle and fireboard hole, or just add a few grains of sand into the hole and continue bowing. In choosing your wood, dig your fingernail into the wood. If it leaves a dent, you can probably make fire with it. (unless it is treated wood, which is good practice though) If your finger goes through the wood, then no, it is not good for beginners. A harder wood is better in wet weather, as you can bow it for a while and let the heat drive the moisture from the wood. Softer woods like yucca, which usually give a fast hot coal when dry, when wet the fibers usually just spin. Don’t use green wood. The bow can be anywhere from 4 inches to three feet. But make it the length of your armpit to wrist, with enough of a curve that the string does not lay on the bow when strung. The string needs to be tight enough that, when the string is wrapped around the spindle, if you let go of the spindle it will pop out of the string, but not so tight that it bites into the spindle, creating ridges. Lots of things can be used for string, try different things. Natural fiber cordage (we’ll get to that in a bit) leather strips (tend to stretch a lot) reverse wrapped VHS tape (also stretches) use your imagination. When on the bow, just grab the string with your fingers as you bow, and squeeze to tighten as needed. Place either a small tinder bundle or a leaf or something under the notch for the coal to build on. When the string is wrapped around the spindle, the string should be between the spindle and the bow. Now, form is everything. Turn your foot so that it is pointing toward the side of your body. Place the fireboard under the arch, as close to the hole as you can without the spindle rubbing on your foot. Then kneel with your knee a comfortable distance from the heel of your fireboard foot, the calf of your kneeling leg pointing directly behind you to form an L with your other foot. This position may seem uncomfortable at first, but provides the best support and balance. Wrap your handhold arm around your fireboard leg, and clamp your wrist to your shin. Place the handhold so that the spindle is directly under the center of the the palm.

Start slowly, holding the bow level, adding more pressure and speed, and making use of the full length of the bow. Smoke Does Not Mean A Coal! After you think you might have a coal, keep bowing about 20 more times, or until you can no longer move your bow arm. When smoke continues to rise for more than a few seconds after you stop, you have a coal. Remove spindle and gently blow to give it life. When you see the glow, gently tap the fireboard to loosen the dust from the notch, and take away the board. Gently fold the tiny living coal into a waiting, very finely shredded tinder bundle, being careful not to knock it apart. You do not have to hurry, depending on the size, a coal can last 15 minutes on it’s own. At this point it needs two things: food (tinder packed around it) and air (don’t pack too tightly). Hold the bundle to the sky and gently breath into it until it burst into flames. (Watch for singed eyebrows!) Now, you have fire, what are you going to boil your water in? If you have a metal container, great. A plastic one you might be able to rock boil in. Again, do not use river rocks. And they do not have to be boulders either. Just medium stones to large pebbles that you can pick up with tongs made of branches. If it is a plastic container, don’t let the rocks set on the bottom and melt through, If you are not in a rocky area, you will have to make do with coals, the charcoal will help purify the water. Just be careful with the type of wood you use. If you do not do not have a container, there are several options, one of the best is coal burning. Find a log or piece of wood that you can manage. It needs to be seasoned but not rotten. It can not be green or wet, or else when it heats up, the moisture will expand and cause the wood to crack. If it is very cold weather, first heat up the wood Very Slowly by the fire. Add a few coals to the center of the wood. The idea is to let the coals burn into the wood for a while, scrape off the char, then add more coals and burn a little deeper, until you have a container. You can blow gently on the coals to speed up the process, or set it where the wind will do the job. (watch it though, on a windy day it can burn right through the leeward side of the bowl) Do not blow hard, as an overheated coal will make the wood fissure. If you have a reed or other hollow stem, you can direct the air more effectively. Take your time, and feel what the wood needs, You do not have to have a huge mixing bowl. When you have it burned to the size you want (provided you can not see daylight through the cracks) scrape it well. Waste nothing, save the charcoal, it can be used for many things. You can press cordage into small cracks to help seal them. After the wood is scraped, put some sand or grit in it and use the end of a stick to stir the sand hard against the bowl, to help smooth it. Then take a smooth stone, pebble, knife handle or whatever, and begin to run it over the inside of the bowl, pressing very hard. This is called burnishing, and you will see the wood start to look shiny as you compress the fibers together, This helps to seal the wood so it will not be as likely to crack when you add water, so go over every inch really well. If you have or eventually obtain an ingestible oil or tallow, rub the wood well with that. In the meantime, if you use the bowl to mash some kind of nuts, acorn, hickory, pecan etc., the oil from the nuts will help seal it. But even without that you can now rock boil in your container.

One of the most useful items you will find in survival is string. For bow drill, bow, snares and a million other things. If string is not to be had, you need to know how to make cordage. Cordage can be made from nearly any strong and pliable fiber, from cadmium to fur, though to be feasible it needs to be at least 3 inches long. This is really fun to experiment with. Every grass, fern, bark, and your mate’s hair will become an object that must be tested. The technique is simple: Hold two bundles of fibers with the fingers of one hand. With the other hand, grasp the bottom bundle, close to your fingers, and twist it away from you. Holding that twisted bundle with two fingers, use your other fingers to pull and wrap the top bundle over the twisted one, toward you, lapping it tightly so that the top bundle is now on the bottom. You now twist this new bottom one and repeat. If done correctly, after a few laps, you can let go of the ends and they will not unwrap, as the fibers twist back on themselves and hold their place. It should look like rope. Before you reach the end of your fibers, 1-3 inches depending of the length of the fibers, you want to add more. It is best not to do this all at once as it not only makes a thick spot, but a weak point. Instead, vary the length of the fibers, and add new fiber a little at a time to keep the diameter even, tucking each new bit into the center of the bundles to help make the finished cordage smooth and even. With a little practice this can be made quickly. Some inner barks can be used while fresh and moist. Fibrous cedar bark makes great cordage if harvested before it begins to break down, but it is soft and stretchy, so can be hard to use for bow drill. Dogbane (wash hands thoroughly afterward, it is poisonous) Nettles (slide the stems between a split stick to remove stinging hairs) chinaberry bark, wisteria vine bark, dried morning glory vines, mulberry bark etc. etc. One of the very best plant fibers for cordage is yucca, so if you are fortunate enough to live in the south, you can locate some of this great material. In the north, well, you just have to find a nice landscaped area that has yucca, wait until dark.

This is one of the strongest fibers you will find, the entire plant is amazing, but that is an article by itself. Clip a few leaves at their base (be careful of your eyes when reaching down into the plant, the tips of the leaves are very sharp) These can be either fresh or the dried ones at the base of the plant. With fresh ones, they can either be peeled into strands as-is, or first scrape the stiff green layer off the outside, or, if you have time, ret them. Retting is putting the leaves in water and leaving them until the outer green layer begins to rot. You then can simply pull the leaf between your fingers to scrap this off, and it leaves you with very soft white fibers…and very smelly hands. To peel the fiber one of the best ways is to start at the thick base, make a slice with a knife or fingernail halfway between the front and the back of the leaf, then grasp one side with your teeth, the other side with one hand, and with the other hand lightly pinch where the two sides separate, sliding your hand down as you pull them apart. This helps the fibers to separate evenly, so that you end up with nearly full length strands. A good way to separate many types of fibers. Keep separating until you have the fibers as thin as you wish. You can make cordage as thin as sewing thread, thicker for bow drill or bowstring. For a stronger cord, take two lengths of cordage already made, or bend one in half, and begin to reverse wrap them. Twist the bottom strand toward you and wrap the top strand away from you, over the back of the bottom strand, the top strand becoming the bottom. Hope all of this has not left you completely confused, it is much easier to show than to figure out how to describe in print. The good thing about natural fiber bowstring is that it will not get as limp and stretchy as sinew, leather or other animal based strings tend to do.

Food.
The first rule of wilderness living is conservation of energy. What you put into getting food must be weighed against how much nutrient you will get back, and how long it will last. Plants don’t run away. So they are good to learn, learn them well. Figure out if you can identify plants easier by photos or drawings or paintings, then select a field guide that you feel comfortable with. Then get to know the field guide well. Put it somewhere that you have a few minutes every day undisturbed. (by the bed, in the bathroom, beside the percolator) Just look at the pictures. Soon, when you go out into the field, or drive down the road, you will begin to recognize plants, even if you do not know their names yet. Peterson has one of the best guides for medicinal plants. National Wildlife Federation puts out very good field guides that show multiple photos with every description. Some things look so completely different than any other plant on earth that I would consider them perfectly safe to identify. But then an amateur looks at it and says “oh that looks just like this other plant…”….! At first it may look like a sea of green, but do not get discouraged, within one summer of keeping plants within your awareness, that sea of green will begin to fragment into a plethora of colors, shapes, and personalities. A very good book to help get you started is Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification, by Thomas J. Elpel. Remember that trees are a winter survival food, most are edible, the cadmium or inner bark can be cooked or dried and pounded into flour. (remember though, conservation of energy).

Whenever you go into the wilderness, the first thing you do is pick up a stick. For defense and offence. A throwing stick should be kept in the hand at all times, not stuck in the belt or pack where it will stay as you watch that rabbit tail disappear or that fat snake slither into a crack.

Traps and snares are great, as they do not require you to be on duty for them to work, and you can set many at a time. But they need to be practiced now, or if you go into a survival situation you may spend an entire afternoon trying to get that dratted figure four deadfall to stay up. Or you may get it to stay together the first time, because the notches are so deep that a herd of stampeding elephants could not knock it down, so how will that chipmunk? Get really good at two kinds of dead falls and two kinds of snares. If you learn only deadfall’s and go into an area like mine, where there are few large stones, then you will either have to find a log that is not too rotted and not too long (good luck) or tie sticks together to make a door-like deadfall, weight it with something……time, energy. It can be done, but better to take the easiest route in survival. The drawback with improvised snares is the time consumption of making cordage, and that you must make sure that the snare does it’s job, or the cordage can be easily chewed through. Two of the best and quickest deadfall’s are the figure-four and the Paiute.

You can find a drawing of a figure-four in most survival books. A paiute is by far my favorite though, as it is so fast and has less chance of fouling the fall with one of the sticks. It looks like a figure-four, except that the horizontal bar is not a stick but a piece of string, tied at one end to the stick that is at a 45 degree angle holding the deadfall up. The other end is tied to a very small twig. The string is wrapped around the upright stick at about the middle, the twig is hooked behind the upright, with 2/3 of it sticking out. Then a baited stick is placed with one end against the end of the twig and the other against the underside of the deadfall. If bait is not available, you can place this trap on a trail and use a brushy stick instead of a baited one, when the animal brushes against it it works very well. The two snares that I would recommend learning first is the rolling snare and the T-bar snare. Both are simple, but too complicated to try to explain in print, without pictures. You should be able to find these in books though, or something similar. For bait, open your awareness. What is around you that is chewed on? Here in my area we find a red topped mushroom that the squirrels love. However, in order for bait to work, it has to be something that they really want, something unusual or that they can’t normally reach. In other words, don’t set a trap with a wilted mushroom in the middle of a mushroom patch. Be careful of your scent. Rub your hands with soil, cedar boughs, ash, charcoal, anything that won’t turn their ire. Be careful about using some very strong scented plants as that can make them cautious. Rub the peeled and notched places on the traps with dirt to camo them, don’t think that animals are so unaware that they will not notice these. Make your traps elsewhere and carry them to your spot, spend as little time and leave as little scent there as possible. Learn to recognize tracks and trails, and the age of tracks, don’t place a trap on a trail that was made two weeks ago when the path lead to a now dried up water hole. Good places to look for animals are transition areas. This is where woods meet field, field meets swamp, etc. Good times to find animals are transition times. When night meets day, day meets night, summer meets fall, and winter meets spring. Remember that animals are smart. If you are setting in a blind with two inches of frost eating through five layers of wool, most likely the deer are bedded down, you are the only one crazy enough to be out there.

Don’t forget that snares can be used for fishing. When you are learning the plants look also for those that have some part that can be put in a small body of water to stun fish. I could go on for a few days, but maybe there will something here that will be of some use to someone.

Here is a list of recommended reading, the ones written by those who have actually lived what they write.

Outdoor Survival:
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness by John & Geri McPherson
How to Survive Anywhere by Christopher Nyerges
Wilderness Survival Handbook: Primitive Skills for Short-Term Survival and Long-Term Comfort by Michael Pewtherer
Any books or field guides written by Tom Brown, Jr.

Plants:
A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs (Peterson Field Guide), by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (Eastern & Central, and Western)
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places, by “Wildman” Steve Brill
Feasting Free on Wild Edibles by Bradford Angier
Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods by Thomas S. Elias & Peter A. Dykeman
Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas J. Elpel
A Field Guide to Venomous Animals and Poisonous Plants: North America North of Mexico (Peterson Field Guide)

Bowmaking:
Bows & Arrows of the Native Americans by Jim Hamm
Making Indian Bows and Arrows, The Old Way by Douglas Spotted Eagle
American Indian Archery by Reginald and Gladys Laubin

Flint Knapping:
The Art of Flint Knapping by D.C. Waldorf
Flintknapping: 100 Pounds of Attitude with Angela Parker (video)

Tanning:
Deerskins Into Buckskins: How To Tan With Natural Materials, a Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers by Matt Richards (available as a book and a DVD)

Tracking:
Tom Brown’s Science and Art of Tracking by Tom Brown Jr.
Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking by Tom Brown Jr.
Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species by Mark Elbroch
Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks: Third Edition
The SAS Guide to Tracking by Bob Carss
The Tracker’s Field Guide: A Comprehensive Handbook for Animal Tracking in the United States by James C. Lowery
Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign by Paul Rezendes

Letter Re: A Source for Free Firewood

Mr. Rawles,

I wanted to express a word of caution about wooden pallets. The company I work for throws away many pallets each week and I had the same thought about using them as a free supplement for my wood burning stove. I am a biochemist so before burning any pallets the scientist in me needed to know more about what chemicals I might be exposing to my family.

What I have learned is that many pallets, especially those used in international shipments are treated with a fungicide/pesticide called 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBE). This chemical can cause irritation of the skin, mucus membranes and the digestive tract. So I recommend the use of gloves when handling pallets, also anyone who has breathing issues should wear a mask when cutting old pallets. One study found that approximately 10% of the pallets tested came back positive for E. coli which is a concern for anyone with a weak immune system and children.

The information I found showed that 2,4,6-tribromophenol is readily absorbed by the body, but fortunately it is also quickly excreted in the urine and feces. This basically means that the compound is lethal only in extreme doses and casual occasional exposure should be okay. [JWR Adds: But I’d avoid any unnecessary exposure, since TBE has not yet been fully tested for carcinogenicity, endocrine disruption, neurodevelopmental effects, and reproductive system effects. And since this chemical is used as a flame retardant, so it doesn’t make for good kindling!]

I agree with your recommendation about any wood that has been treated to resist rot, some of the chemicals used to treat this lumber are toxic. The US has stopped the use of the most toxic of these chemicals, but unless you are absolutely sure where the pallet came from don’t take any chances since some foreign countries do not have the same restrictions we have in the United States.

I have begun collecting pallets I felt are free of chemical exposure and besides the obvious use as firewood I have started looking to use them for fencing around my garden and possibly about an animal pen. – Bill

Letter Re: The Really Poor Man’s Guide to Arms and Ammo

Mr Rawles,
First off, I must say that I enjoyed your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”. My perspective on firearms comes from an Infantry (though National Guard) mindset. I hope after a little editing this is worth posting for the Really Poor Man.

My friends and I are in our mid- to late-20s, with incomes between $12 and $14 an hour. One has 3 kids and a wife, another has bills (car note payments) and all of us try to find time and have money for limited recreation. When dealing especially with my friend who has a family on a $12/hour income it produces a Unique challenge. Our other Unique challenge is that we have all gotten into buying ammo a little late, politically speaking. My first answer for the Financially Strapped, and what I tell my friends is “Buy Ammo and Food First” I have extra firearms, I would rather that a friend bring 1,000 rounds of 7.62×39, and pass them my SKS, then then have them bring an AK [and little or no ammo] and drain my limited (4,000 rounds) ammunition for what would be my primary rifle. As for food, beans, rice, and multivitamins will at least feed the person. (10 people who prepared can support the one who didn’t (as charity), but one person who prepared cannot support 10 others.)

Okay, I digress. My Arms and Ammo Recommendation for the really poor man are as follows:

Note that if you know that you are going to be with people who shoot American calibers, then use the following approach as a last resort. I believe in trying to maintain standard calibers in a group. (we are using 7.62×25, 7.62×39, and 7.62x54R, and soon .s22, and 12 gauge as our standards) and you can never have enough ammo.

Rifle:

Mosin Nagant 91/30 (7.62x54R) $80 to $120 1 spam can 7.62x54R (440 rounds, corrosively primed) $120 (after shipping) [JWR Adds: See my warnings on corrosively primed ammunition, and cleaning commendations.]

Pistol:

TT33 (7.62×25 pistol) $200- to-$300 1 spam can 7.62x 25 (1,224 rounds noncorrosive) $180. (There is Yugoslavian corrosive available much less expensively.)

You now have a rifle, pistol, 1,600+ non-reloadable rounds that won’t go bad for decades. This recipe is not perfect, but it gets you in the game, for personal defense and hunting large game, on a budget. [JWR Adds: Full metal jacket (non-expanding) ammunition is not legal for hunting in many States. Be sure to consult your State’s laws.]

Body Armor
I’ve seen that some people are buying body armor, and have had friends ask about it. I am not an advocate of wearing it. But if you are considering it, consider your health and finances. I have a bad knee, the extra weight for me will decrease the life of my knee, putting me out of service sooner. It will limit mobility, and its only good for so many shots, and I believe it has a shelf life. Either remove your Kevlar helmet [and wear a shapeless boonie hat] when concealed in the field (since the round shape of a helmet is not natural and it can give away your position), or break up its outline with camouflaging materials.

As for me, the infantry motto is “shoot, move, and communicate”. Getting shot isn’t in the motto, but if I do then I’m gonna die comfortable. I’ll take my mobility. – J.M., 11B Infantryman

 

Economics and Investing:

Loyal content contributor Susan H. sent us this: More Bad News: 10 Things You Should Know About The Latest Economic Numbers

Paul Craig Roberts: America’s Third World Economy. (Thanks to Siggy for the link.)

K.T. sent this: Seven Cities About to Sink.

Courtesy of KAF: Fed Undaunted by Uncertain Prospects for Money Printing

Also from KAF: China Currency Reserves May Hit $2.5 Trillion, Stoking Tensions.

Sue C. highlighted this piece of commentary: Three Weeks That Will Rock Wall Street.

Items from The Economatrix:

Gold, Get It While You Can

US Consumer Debt Deleveraging = Commercial Real Estate Market Collapse

No Way Out of the Greater Inflationary Economic Depression

Dr. Gary North: Bernanke to Light The Fuse on Monetary Inflation Bomb

What Does The Global Currency War Mean?

Dr. Gary North: Why the Gold Price is Rising

Jobless America Threatens To Bring Us All Down With It

US Cities Face Massive Pension Deficits

Odds ‘n Sods:

Bob G. spotted this: Ammo Long Term Storage Tips

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K.T. mentioned a web site that houses some rare photos of Assorted Black Ops Toys.[ JWR’s Comment: Some of the conclusions drawn in the captions ramble off into incoherent UFOlogy, so I ignored them. Still, it is a great collection of photos. It is fun seeing photos of the fruition of some of the codeword programs that I had heretofore only read about in text descriptions. Shrouded even deeper in secrecy, of course, are the compartmentalized intelligence products derived from some of these platforms. Those may not see the light of day for a century or more.]

   o o o

Individual preparedness for terrorism: Are you ready? (Thanks to The Baker for the link.)

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Rented Books and Custom Pants: Clever Newbies Buck Retail’s Downturn

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 31 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.