The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, we look at the threat that could be posed by feral dog packs.

A Future Feral Dog Threat?

SurvivalBlog reader Karen B. sent us this from The Los Angeles Times: In a remote corner of California, roaming dog packs leave a trail of blood and terror. JWR’s Comments:  In a deep economic depression or a societal collapse, situations like these are bound to become more commonplace, as dog owners turn loose pets that they can no longer afford to feed. And, as they multigenerationally breed into feral packs, they likely will become more wolf-like, in their behavior. Plan accordingly.  For folks who live in suburbs, I recommend laying in a large supply of 12 gauge shotshells loaded with #4 Buckshot. (Note that this is not to be confused with the much smaller diameter and more common #4 birdshot.) That is the best choice for stopping dogs, up close, with only minimal risk to the occupants of neighboring houses.

US-Made Weapons Used to Attack Our Allies

Bobby in Oregon sent this, from a news outlet in India: From India to Israel, US weapons being used to attack its allies. JWR’s Comments:  I have no doubt that a large portion of those are being sold by the Taliban, in Afghanistan. We can only blame the incompetent and corrupt Biden regime, for leaving those weapons in situ, when the U.S. withdrawal took place. Shame on them!  Oh, and speaking of Kashmir, a recent Itchy Boots motorcycle travel video graphically illustrates how India is ramping up their forces there.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 10, 2024

On January 10, 1901, the first major oil field in Texas was discovered, near Beaumont.

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On January 10, 1946, radar signals bouncing off the Moon were detected for the first time.

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When I made my annual 10 Cent Challenge appeal, on January 2nd, I had no idea that PayPal had just changed their link codes on December 31st, so most of our PayPal links were broken at that time!  My apologies!  Here are the updated links:

You can make a one-time payment of any amount, at the Ten Cent Challenge PayPalMe page.

Or subscribe for $3 per month (billed monthly):

Monthly PayPal Billing

Or subscribe for $36.50 per year (billed annually):

Annual PayPal Billing

Or become a Patron Of The Blog for $100.00 per year (billed annually):

Patron – Annual PayPal Billing

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $305 value),
  2. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  3. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $870,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 110 ends on January 31st, 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.

How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 2, by Elli O.

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.)

Now for the wings. Separate the wing at the first joint by using your knife, in the same manner as the feet removal. Due to the small amount of meat from the first joint to the tip of the wing, this part can be discarded.

Turn the bird around so you can see the neck. There is very little meat on the neck (although it is delicious and quite tender) so the neck can be cut short. You will need to remove the esophagus which can be found in the upper part of the cavity, as you go in from the neck area. The esophagus looks like a ribbed tube. Pull it out and discard it in your bucket.
You have now eviscerated your chicken. It is time to thoroughly rinse the inside and the outside of your bird. Remove any remaining feathers.

Your chicken can be cooked and enjoyed now or canned for later.

I have found that when I am processing chickens by myself, it helps to have a 35 gallon barrel cut in half horizontally and filled with ice water. Then after I get one bird plucked, it will go into the barrel until I get all the birds plucked. This seems to keep the process rolling smoothly, while keeping the birds from becoming an unsafe temperature.Continue reading“How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 2, by Elli O.”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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This news from Ohio should come as no surprise: Gun Crimes Fall after Constitutional Carry Laws Adopted, Study Shows.

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A new video from SurvivalBlog’s Editor-At-Large, Mike Williamson: Bjorn Bladeworks Machete.

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Some more wise commentary from Patrice Lewis: 17 things frugal people never buy.

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I have good news for any blog readers who are annoyed by YouTube’s anti-ad blocking software. There is now a free tool called uBlock Origin, available for both Firefox and Chrome browsers.  It is very quick and easy to install. No more YouTube commercials — hooray!  But, if you choose to use this tool then please toggle the ads back on, at SurvivalBlog. (Just click the big “switch” button.) Advertising helps keep SurvivalBlog afloat. Thanks. – JWR

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

” 168. The old question will be asked in this matter of prerogative, “But who shall be judge when this power is made a right use of?”  I answer: Between an executive power in being with such a prerogative and a legislative that depends upon his will for their convening there can be no judge on earth. As there can be none between the legislative and the people should either the executive or the legislative, when they have got the power in their hands, design, or go about to enslave or destroy them, the people have no other remedy in this, as in all other cases where they have no judge on earth, but to appeal to Heaven; for the rulers in such attempts, exercising a power the people never put into their hands, who can never be supposed to consent that anybody should rule over them for their harm do that which they have not a right to do. And where the body of the people, or any single man, are deprived of their right, or are under the exercise of a power without right, having no appeal on earth they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven whenever they judge the cause of sufficient moment. And therefore though the people can not be judge, so as to have, by the constitution of that society any superior power to determine and give effective sentence in the case, yet they have reserved that ultimate determination to themselves which belongs to all mankind, where there lies no appeal on earth, by a law antecedent and paramount to all positive laws of men whether they have just cause to make their appeal to Heaven. And this judgment they cannot part with, it; being out of a man’s power so to submit himself to another as to give him a liberty to destroy him God and Nature never allowing a man so to abandon himself as to neglect his own preservation. And since he cannot take away his own life, neither can he give another power to take it.” – John Locke, from Two Treatises on Civil Government. — (This passage by Locke is thought to be the  inspiration for George Washington’s An Apeal To Heaven naval flag design.)

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 9, 2024

On January 9, 1839, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre of France proclaimed his invention of the daguerreotype, the first commercially successful form of photography.

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January 9, 1943 was the birthday of gunsmith Paris Theodore, developer of the ASP modifications to the S&W M39 pistol.

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On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine published his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for spreading ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $305 value),
  2. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  3. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $870,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 110 ends on January 31st, 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.

How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 1, by Elli O.

This article won’t change your life. It won’t win any prizes. But it will give you the ability to take a small, live animal and humanely dispatch it then process it for personal consumption. So rather than read this less-than-riveting article, I would suggest you print it and file it away for when the time comes to use it.

A little background on my experience with both chickens and rabbits: I started raising layer chickens about 10 years ago and really enjoy the fresh eggs as well as the convenience of retrieving food for our family. After having layers for several years, I decided to try my hand at meat chickens. After all, how hard can it be to raise those little fluff balls for eight weeks and then butcher them? It shouldn’t be any different than raising the fluff ball layers, right? Wrong. Not hard but definitely different!

As far as rabbits, I have been raising New Zealand rabbits for about five years. The original thought was that when TEOTWAWKI happens, the rabbits would be the primary food source for our two dogs. The rabbits would prevent our family food supply from going to our beloved pets. Since then, I have enjoyed the ease of raising rabbits along with the quick turn-around of raising the next generation of food. Yes, rabbits can and do multiply quickly.Continue reading“How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 1, by Elli O.”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we look at another tarbrush smear against Redoubters in general and JWR in particular. (See the Region-Wide section.)

Region-Wide

Bradley Onishi (an outspoken “former Christian Nationalist” and “ex-evangelical minister”) published a book early in 2023 titled Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism–and What Comes Next. 

JWR’s Comments: Needless to say, I do not recommend his book, since it is surely incredibly slanted. There is a full chapter in the book about The American Redoubt movement. Onishi’s X-Twitter page is replete with zingers such as: “The White in “White Evangelical” has always been the most important part. It drives the ship. The car says Christian on the side, but the engine runs on racism, xenophobia, and nationalism.”  Notably, Onishi is also the co-host of a podcast called Straight White American Jesus.

I’ve previously warned SurvivalBlog readers about Onishi.  He runs with an interesting crowd. Onishi was a guest speaker at the National Atheist Convention.

In an interview with WNYC’s nationally syndicated The Takeaway, Onishi mischaracterized me. Onishi said in the interview:

“The American Redoubt is a movement that began about a decade ago, that really signifies Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. In 2011, the writer and survivalist James Wesley Rawles dubbed that region the American Redoubt because redoubt means refuge or stronghold. He said this is the last part of the country where we can gather and we can create a Christian separatist society and prepare for the collapse of the United States as we know it, the coming civil war, and the opportunity to rebuild the nation in our own image.”

For the record, I have never made a call to “rebuild the nation in our own image”.  Onishi, like so many other liberal Redoubt Haters, conveniently leaves out the fact that I’m an outspoken anti-racist and that from the very beginning, I created the American Redoubt movement to seek conservative Christians and Jews to relocate to the region. These glaring omissions are nothing short of character assassination. Onishi also took another swipe of his tar brush when he said in the same interview:

“If we take Idaho it is something like 93% white and so when Rawles calls for a Christian separatist movement, he’s doing so in the context where 9 out of 10 people in the region where he is talking about are white.”

“Context”??? Here, Bradley Onishi is using an equivocating weasel word that borders on slander. He seems to be calling me a racist without doing so directly. For the record:  I was attracted to Idaho because of its low population density, not for its racial demographics!

An aside: Onishi’s publisher, Broadleaf Books, prides itself as follows: “We are committed to publishing authors who bring thoughtful perspective to explorations in religion, spirituality, social justice, culture, and personal growth with credibility and authenticity.” Broadleaf Books is “an imprint of the adult nonfiction imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The oh-so-fringey and declining ECLA denomination has plenty of detractors and has inspired more than a million people to quit its ranks. It is perhaps the fastest-shrinking denomination in America. The ELCA is radically liberal, and even pays for abortions for any reason for those in their insurance plan, funded by church offering dollars! It has been reported: “The ELCA ordains practicing homosexuals and now also transgender pastors.” They are so far left-wing, in fact, that they’ve been chided by some liberal Lutheran church leaders. Here is a quote from an article about the ECLA “The once 5 million member denomination is now 3.7 million and growing smaller every month.”Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 8, 2024

On January 8, 1815, U.S. General Andrew Jackson defeated Great Britain in the Battle of New Orleans, the final engagement in the War of 1812.

On this day in 1997, the principality of Monaco began a yearlong celebration in honour of the 700th anniversary of the rule of the Grimaldi family, who seized power in 1297 and gained firm possession of Monaco in 1419.

On January 8, 1997 Mexican criminal Joaquín Guzmán (“El Chapo”), head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was captured in Los Mochis after escaping prison some six months earlier; he was later extradited to the United States, where he was convicted of various crimes.

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I’ve had several readers ask about the availability of the new edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. The new 2005-2023 sticks are now in production. They should be completed, in hand, and orderable by January 20th. Watch for an ad in the blog’s right-hand bar, in about a week. This year the archive and bonus books had to be on a more capacious 32GB stick. Altogether, the contents will be just over 22 Gigabytes. This will leave room for archiving any of your own crucial files, e-books, and photos/document scans on your stick. Each year the SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks sell out by March or April, so be sure to mark your calendar to place your order well before then. Thanks! – JWR

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Today’s feature article is a review authored by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

SecureIt HG-02 Pistol Case, by Thomas Christianson

The SecureIt HG-02 Pistol Case offers secure handgun storage which can be mounted in a variety of locations throughout the home to provide quick and reliable access. Available for $129 at the time of this writing, it presents a good value for the money.

Background

I have been searching for an American-made two-handgun lockbox for a while now. So when I ran across the SecureIt HG-02 Pistol Case, I was quite interested. I requested a sample from SecureIt for testing and evaluation, and they were kind enough to provide one. Before long, FedEx delivered a package to my doorstep.

First Impressions

The HG-02 was shipped in its product box with no additional packaging. The box was not sealed, and could be opened just by lifting a cardboard flap. The HG-02 was nestled securely in the box, with foam caps on both ends. By coincidence, the HG-02 has almost the exact same outside dimensions as the case for the Taurus TH9 that I was testing at the time. So when I returned the TH9 to Taurus, I was able to re-purpose the HG-02 product box in order to ship the TH9 in its case.

But back to the HG-02. After I removed it from the product box, I used the provided key to open the case. Inside I found a bag containing instructions and mounting screws. The simple instructions were printed on one side of a standard 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper.Continue reading“SecureIt HG-02 Pistol Case, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Potato and Egg Scramble

The following recipe for Potato and Egg Scramble is from SurvivalBlog reader G.G..  He notes:  “This recipe is hard to mess up, so you can cook it in a pan on your stovetop, or over an open campfire that is dying down. It serves four adults.”

Ingredients
  • 2 Diced Medium Potatoes, chunked or chopped
  • 1 Medium-sized onion, chopped
  • 2 Chopped Fresh Peppers.  (Any color pepper of your choice.)
  • 8 Eggs, stirred
  • 2 Tablespoons of Butter
  • Salt
Directions

  1. Cut just 1Tablespoon of butter. Drop that into your cast iron pan and put it over your fire. Spread it around, to coat the pan.

  2. Add the potatoes, peppers, and onions. Cook them about 20 minutes, stirring once in a while. Cook until the potatoes are tender. By then, the onions will be browned and the peppers will be cooked to a more mellow flavor.

  3. Crack and stir your eggs, in a separate bowl.

  4. Add the second tablespoon of butter.  Once the butter has melted, briefly stir in the eggs. But do not stir the scramble any further. Cover your pan. (Use aluminum foil if you don’t have a lid.) Allow the scramble to cook about 4-to-5 minutes until the eggs are sufficiently cooked through.
  5. Salt it, to taste, and serve.
SERVING

Serve this scramle hot from the pan!

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the prospects for the silver market in 2024 and 2025. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Silver Price Forecast: Top Trends That Will Affect Silver in 2024.

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At Seeking Alpha: Silver Production Shortage: Mexico’s Supply Has Dropped Off A Cliff.

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USGS: “Worldwide silver supplies will be depleted by 2025”.

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Silver Price Forecast for 2024 – XAG/USD Could Go to $28 Next Year.

Economy & Finance:

Bidenomics, in action: U.S. Manufacturing Contracts For 14th Straight Month.

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The US national debt surpassed $34 trillion on Tuesday, January 2nd. The long-term obligations are of course much larger. Re-paying that debt is now nigh-on impossible. And if interest rates spike, then just paying the interest on the debt will become impossible — leading to an inevitable default. This may sound a lot like the first chapter of my novel Patriots. I tried to warn people about this, back in the early 1990s…

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From The Sun: A stranger helped me tap my card at ATM when the card reader didn’t work – a day later only $5 was left in my account.

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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Apple lost $100 billion in market value in one day – more than combined worth of Ford and GM – and ‘lackluster’ sales of one gadget are to blame.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”