Bushcraft and Survival Skills

COLD WEATHER SURVIVAL

It is more difficult for you to satisfy your basic water, food, and shelter needs in a cold environment than in a warm environment. Even if you have the basic requirements, you must also have adequate protective clothing and the will to survive. The will to survive is as important as the basic needs. There have been incidents when trained and well-equipped individuals have not survived cold weather situations because they lacked the will to live. Conversely, this will has sustained individuals less well-trained and equipped.

There are many different items of cold weather equipment and clothing issued by the U.S. Army today. Specialized units may have access to newer, lightweight gear such as polypropylene underwear, GORE-TEX outerwear and boots, and other special equipment. Remember, however, the older gear will keep you warm as long as you apply a few cold weather principles. If the newer types of clothing are available, use them. If not, then your clothing should be entirely wool, with the possible exception of a windbreaker.

You must not only have enough clothing to protect you from the cold, you must also know how to maximize the warmth you get from it. For example, always keep your head covered. You can lose 40 to 45 percent of body heat from an unprotected head and even more from the unprotected neck, wrist, and ankles. These areas of the body are good radiators of heat and have very little insulating fat. The brain is very susceptible to cold and can stand the least amount of cooling. Because there is much blood circulation in the head, most of which is on the surface, you can lose heat quickly if you do not cover your head.

There are four basic principles to follow to keep warm. An easy way to remember these basic principles is to use the word COLD--

C - Keep clothing clean.

O - Avoid overheating.

L - Wear clothes loose and in layers.

D - Keep clothing dry.

C

Keep clothing clean. This principle is always important for sanitation and comfort. In winter, it is also important from the standpoint of warmth. Clothes matted with dirt and grease lose much of their insulation value. Heat can escape more easily from the body through the clothing's crushed or filled up air pockets.

O

Avoid overheating. When you get too hot, you sweat and your clothing absorbs the moisture. This affects your warmth in two ways: dampness decreases the insulation quality of clothing, and as sweat evaporates, your body cools. Adjust your clothing so that you do not sweat. Do this by partially opening your parka or jacket, by removing an inner layer of clothing, by removing heavy outer mittens, or by throwing back your parka hood or changing to lighter headgear. The head and hands act as efficient heat dissipaters when overheated.

L

Wear your clothing loose and in layers. Wearing tight clothing and footgear restricts blood circulation and invites cold injury. It also decreases the volume of air trapped between the layers, reducing its insulating value. Several layers of lightweight clothing are better than one equally thick layer of clothing, because the layers have dead-air space between them. The dead-air space provides extra insulation. Also, layers of clothing allow you to take off or add clothing layers to prevent excessive sweating or to increase warmth.

D

Keep clothing dry. In cold temperatures, your inner layers of clothing can become wet from sweat and your outer layer, if not water repellent, can become wet from snow and frost melted by body heat. Wear water repellent outer clothing, if available. It will shed most of the water collected from melting snow and frost. Before entering a heated shelter, brush off the snow and frost. Despite the precautions you take, there will be times when you cannot keep from getting wet. At such times, drying your clothing may become a major problem. On the march, hang your damp mittens and socks on your rucksack. Sometimes in freezing temperatures, the wind and sun will dry this clothing. You can also place damp socks or mittens, unfolded, near your body so that your body heat can dry them. In a campsite, hang damp clothing inside the shelter near the top, using drying lines or improvised racks. You may even be able to dry each item by holding it before an open fire. Dry leather items slowly. If no other means are available for drying your boots, put them between your sleeping bag shell and liner. Your body heat will help to dry the leather.

A heavy, down-lined sleeping bag is a valuable piece of survival gear in cold weather. Ensure the down remains dry. If wet, it loses a lot of its insulation value. If you do not have a sleeping bag, you can make one out of parachute cloth or similar material and natural dry material, such as leaves, pine needles, or moss. Place the dry material between two layers of the material.

Other important survival items are a knife; waterproof matches in a waterproof container, preferably one with a flint attached; a durable compass; map; watch; waterproof ground cloth and cover; flashlight; binoculars; dark glasses; fatty emergency foods; food gathering gear; and signaling items.

Remember, a cold weather environment can be very harsh. Give a good deal of thought to selecting the right equipment for survival in the cold. If unsure of an item you have never used, test it in an "overnight backyard" environment before venturing further. Once you have selected items that are essential for your survival, do not lose them after you enter a cold weather environment.

Survival Fishing Hook Made From a Pop Top

Tags: Survival Fish Hook Beverage Can Fishing Bushcraft Wilderness Survival Survival Skills Camping TEOTWAWKI SHTF WROL

"Survival in the North Temperate Regions: Living Off The Land"

US Navy training film aimed at downed pilots telling how to hunt or harvest and prepare food, including animals, plants, fruits, berries, and nuts, between 45 degrees and 70 degrees north latitude (although much of the advice would apply anywhere).

"How to survive under emergency conditions in the north temperate regions."

After water, man's most urgent requirement is food. In contemplating virtually any hypothetical survival situation, the mind immediately turns to thoughts of food. Unless the situation occurs in an arid environment, even water, which is more important to maintaining body functions, will almost always follow food in our initial thoughts. The survivor must remember that the three essentials of survival--water, food, and shelter--are prioritized according to the estimate of the actual situation. This estimate must not only be timely but accurate as well. Some situations may well dictate that shelter precede both food and water.

ANIMALS FOR FOOD
Unless you have the chance to take large game, concentrate your efforts on the smaller animals, due to their abundance. The smaller animal species are also easier to prepare. You must not know all the animal species that are suitable as food. Relatively few are poisonous, and they make a smaller list to remember. What is important is to learn the habits and behavioral patterns of classes of animals. For example, animals that are excellent choices for trapping, those that inhabit a particular range and occupy a den or nest, those that have somewhat fixed feeding areas, and those that have trails leading from one area to another. Larger, herding animals, such as elk or caribou, roam vast areas and are somewhat more difficult to trap. Also, you must understand the food choices of a particular species.

You can, with relatively few exceptions, eat anything that crawls, swims, walks, or flies. The first obstacle is overcoming your natural aversion to a particular food source. Historically, people in starvation situations have resorted to eating everything imaginable for nourishment. A person who ignores an otherwise healthy food source due to a personal bias, or because he feels it is unappetizing, is risking his own survival. Although it may prove difficult at first, a survivor must eat what is available to maintain his health...

BIRDS
All species of birds are edible, although the flavor will vary considerably. You may skin fish-eating birds to improve their taste. As with any wild animal, you must understand birds' common habits to have a realistic chance of capturing them. You can take pigeons, as well as some other species, from their roost at night by hand. During the nesting season, some species will not leave the nest even when approached. Knowing where and when the birds nest makes catching them easier. Birds tend to have regular flyways going from the roost to a feeding area, to water, and so forth. Careful observation should reveal where these flyways are and indicate good areas for catching birds in nets stretched across the flyways. Roosting sites and waterholes are some of the most promising areas for trapping or snaring.

Nesting birds present another food source--eggs. Remove all but two or three eggs from the clutch, marking the ones that you leave. The bird will continue to lay more eggs to fill the clutch. Continue removing the fresh eggs, leaving the ones you marked.

MAMMALS
Mammals are excellent protein sources and, for Americans, the most tasty food source. There are some drawbacks to obtaining mammals. In a hostile environment, the enemy may detect any traps or snares placed on land. The amount of injury an animal can inflict is in direct proportion to its size. All mammals have teeth and nearly all will bite in self-defense. Even a squirrel can inflict a serious wound and any bite presents a serious risk of infection. Also, a mother can be extremely aggressive in defense of her young.

Any animal with no route of escape will fight when cornered. All mammals are edible; however, the polar bear and bearded seal have toxic levels of vitamin A in their livers. The platypus, native to Australia and Tasmania, is an egg-laying, semi-aquatic mammal that has poisonous glands. Scavenging mammals, such as the opossum, may carry diseases.

US Navy training, survival training film, survival, food, survival cooking, survival hunting, survival trapping, harvesting, survival food, wild edible plants,

Note: This article was written in 1989 for the American Survival Guide. Much has changed since then. Some of the information maybe be useful in thinking and planning for different SHTF scenarios, remember this is the authors particular perspective, not my own

BACKPACK SURVIVAL

There's a lot of confusion about what survival means. To some, it's getting through the aftermath of an airplane wreck in a desolate area. It can mean knowing when to avoid walking in radioactive wastes. Or, it can mean knowing how to barter with troops in the aftermath of riots, war, and looting. To others, survival has to do with avoiding danger and knowing how to deal with it when it breaks into your home in the dead of night.

Survival ideas abound and there are as many definitions and strategies as there are survivalists. Some have good ideas for survival and some have unsound tactics. Bad ideas can mean extra work or trouble in everyday life; bad ideas during a survival situation get you killed. On the job training doesn't work when you're dealing with poison and gunfights. Or survival.

One of the most dangerous ideas as far as I'm concerned is that of "backpack survival."

A "backpack survivalist" is a survivalist that plans on leaving his home ahead of a disaster and taking to the woods with only what he can carry out with him. He plans to survive through a strategy that is a sort of cross between the Boy Scout in the woods and Robinson Crusoe. The backpack survivalist plans on outrunning danger with a four wheel drive or a motorcycle and hopes to travel light with a survival kit of everything he might need to cope with the unexpected. He hasn't cached anything in the area he's headed for because, chances are, he doesn't know where he's headed. Somehow, he hopes to overcome all odds with a minimum of supplies and a maximum of smarts. Certainly it is a noble cause; but it seems like one destined to failure. And that's not survival.

(Let's back up a minute. Backpack fever or bugoutosis does makes sense when you're facing a localized disaster like a derailed train with overturned poisonous gas cars. A a potential nuclear meltdown, an impending hurricane, or similar disasters where there is a safe place to run to. During such a time, it makes perfect sense to retreat and come back when things settle down. Likewise, some people have to work in dangerous areas. For them, donning a backpack and heading for a retreat that they've prepared before hand is a viable survival strategy. These people aren't backpack survivalists.)

Let me make a confession. Yes, I once was a closet backpack survivalist. I had an ALICE pack and had it packed with all I could carry. As I learned more about how to survive, I realized I needed to carry more. Soon I discovered that, just for my family to survive for a very few days, I'd need a pack mule and/or a hernia operation... Something was very wrong.

Probably most survivalists start out the same way. Things are bad so let's bug out. Backpack survivalism is an effort to deal with the possibility of a major disaster. As backpack survivalists, we make elaborate plans centered around the idea of "bugging out" of the area we live in. We hope to travel to an area that is safer than the one we're in and plan on living off the land or on some survival supplies we've hidden in the area. On the home front, we carefully prepare a stock of supplies that we can quickly cart off in a car or van when things start to look bad.

As more and more plans are made and as ever more survival gear is purchased, the survivalist realizes just how much he needs to cope with in order to survive. If he is any sort of realist, he soon amasses enough gear to warrant a truck or more likely a moving van just for carrying the survival equipment. (And don't laugh, there are survivalists who have large trucks for just such use.)

Some brave souls continue to make more elaborate plans and some of these survivalists may be able to pull off their plans. Those who have really thought things out and have spared no expenses may manage to survive with a bugout strategy. But I think there are more logical and less expensive ways to survive a large crisis.

Forget all your preconceived notions for a minute.

Imagine that there is a national emergency and you are an outside observer? What happens if a nuclear attack is eminent, an economic collapse has occurred, or a dictator has taken over and is ready to round up all malcontents (with survivalists at the top of the list)?

Situations change with time. The survivalist movement and backpack fever first started up when gas guzzler cars were about all that anyone drove. That meant that a survivalist with some spare gasoline could outdistance his unprepared peers and get to a retreat that was far from the maddening crowd, as it were. (Read some of Mel Tappan's early writing on survival retreats. His ideas are good but many have been undone with the new, fuel efficient cars.)

With cars getting 30 or even 40 miles per gallon, it isn't rare for a car to be able to travel half way across a state on less than a tank of gasoline. The exodus from cities or trouble spots will be more limited by traffic snarls than lack of gasoline even if the gas stations are completely devoid of their liquid fuel.

Too, there are a lot of people thinking about what to do if the time for fleeing comes. A lot of people will be headed for the same spots. (Don't laugh that off, either. In my area, every eighth person has confided his secret retreat spot to me. And about half of them are all headed for the same spot: an old missile silo devoid of water and food. I suspect that the battle at the gates of the old missile base will rival the Little Big Horn.)

No matter how out of the way their destination, most survivalists are kidding themselves if they think others won't be headed for their hideaway spot along with them. There are few places in the US which aren't accessible to anyone with a little driving skill and a good map.

Too, there are few places which aren't in grave danger during a nuclear war or national social unrest.

Though most nuclear war survival books can give you a nice little map showing likely targets, they don't tell you some essential information. Like what the purpose of the attack will be. The enemy may not be aiming for military targets that day; a blackmail threat might begin by hitting the heart of the farmland or a number of cities before demanding the surrender of the country being attacked. The target areas on the maps might be quite safe.

And the maps show where the missiles land IF they all enjoy 100 percent accuracy and reliability. Anyone know of such conditions in war? With Soviet machinery!? Targets may be relatively safe places to be in.

Added to this is the fact that some areas can be heavily contaminated or completely free of contamination depending on the wind directions in the upper atmosphere. Crystal ball in your survival gear?

But let's ignore all the facts thus far for a few moments and assume that a backpack survivalist has found an ideal retreat and is planning to go there in the event of a national disaster... What next?

His first concern should be that he'll have a hard time taking the supplies he needs with him. A nuclear war might mean that it will be impossible to grow food for at least a year and foraging is out as well since animals and plants may be contaminated extensively.

An economic collapse wouldn't be much better. It might discourage the raising of crops; no money, no sales except for the barter to keep a small farm family going. With large corporations doing much of our farming these days, it is not unreasonable to expect a major famine coming on the heals of an economic collapse. Raising food would be a good way to attract starving looters from miles around.

Ever try to pack a year's supply of food for a family into a small van or car? There isn't much room left over. But the backpack survivalist needs more than just food.

If he lives in a cold climate (or thinks there might be something to the nuclear winter theory) then he'll need some heavy clothing.

Rifles, medicine, ammunition, tools, and other supplies will also increase what he'll need to be taking or which he'll have to hide away at his retreat site.

Shelter? Building a place to live (in any style other than early American caveman) takes time. If he builds a cabin beforehand, he may find it vandalized or occupied when he gets to his retreat; if he doesn't build it before hand, he may have to live in his vehicle or a primitive shelter of some sort.

Thus, a major problem is to get a large enough vehicle to carry everything he needs as well as to live in.

History has shown that cities empty themselves without official evacuation orders when things look bad. It happened in WW II and has even happened in the US during approaching hurricanes, large urban fires, and nuclear reactor problems.

So there's a major problem of timing which the backpack survivalist must contend with. He has to be packed and ready to go with all members of his family at the precise moment he learns of the disaster! The warning he gets that warrants evacuating an area will have to be acted on quickly if he's to get out ahead of the major traffic snarls that will quickly develop. A spouse at work or shopping or kids across town at school means he'll either have to leave them behind or be trapped in the area he's in. A choice not worth having to make.

Unless he's got a hot line from the White House, the backpack survivalist will not hear the bad news much ahead of everyone else. If he doesn't act immediately, he'll be trapped out on the road and get a first hand idea of what grid lock is like if he's in an urban area. Even out on the open road, far away from a city, an interstate can become hectic following a ballgame... Imagine what it would be like if everyone were driving for their lives, some cars were running out of fuel (and the occupants trying to stop someone for a ride), and the traffic laws were being totally ignored while the highway patrol tried to escape along with everyone else. Just trying to get off or on major highways might become impossible. If things bog down, how long can the backpack survivalist keep those around from helping to unload his truck load of supplies that they'll be in bad need of?

Telling them they should have prepared ahead of time won't get many sympathetic words.

Even on lightly traveled roadways, how safe would it be to drive around in a vehicle loaded with supplies? Our backpack survivalist will need to defend himself.

But let's suppose that he's thought all this out. He has a large van, had the supplies loaded in it, managed to round every member of his family up beforehand, somehow got out of his area ahead of the mob, is armed to the teeth, and doesn't need to take an interstate route.

When he reaches his destination, his troubles are far from over.

The gridlock and traffic snarls won't stop everyone. People will slowly be coming out of heavily populated areas and most of them will have few supplies. They will have weapons (guns are one of the first things people grab in a crisis according to civil defense studies) and the evacuees will be desperate. How many pitched battles will the survivalist's family be able to endure? How much work or even sleep can he get when he's constantly on the lookout to repel those who may be trying to get a share of his supplies?

This assumes that he gets to where he's going ahead of everyone else. He might not though. If he has to travel for long, he may discover squatters on his land or find that some local person has staked out his retreat area for their own. There won't be any law to help out; what happens next? Since (according to military strategists) our backpack survivalist needs about three times as many people to take an area as to defend it, he will need to have some numbers with him and expect to suffer some casualties. Does that sound like a good way to survive?

What about the local people that don't try to take over his retreat before he gets there? Will they be glad to see another stranger move into the area to tax their limited supplies? Or will they be setting up roadblocks to turn people like the backpack survivalist away?

But let's just imagine that somehow he's discovered a place that doesn't have a local population and where those fleeing cities aren't able to get to. What happens when he gets to his retreat? How good does he need to be at hunting and fishing? One reason mankind went into farming was that hunting and fishing don't supply enough food for a very large population nor do they work during times of drought or climatic disruption. What does he do when he runs out of ammunition or game? What happens if the streams become so contaminated that he can't safely eat what he catches? Can he stake out a large enough area to guarantee that he won't deplete it of game so that the next year is not barren of animals?

Farming? Unless he finds some unclaimed farm machinery and a handy storage tank of gasoline at his retreat, he'll hardly get off first base. Even primitive crop production requires a plow and work animals (or a lot of manpower) to pull the blade. No plow, no food for him or domestic animals.

And domestic animals don't grow on trees. Again, unless he just happens to find some cows waiting for him at his retreat, he'll be out of luck. (No one has packaged freeze dried cows or chickens at least, not in a form you can reconstitute into living things).

Intensive gardening? Maybe. But even that takes a lot of special tools, seeds, know how, and good weather. Can he carry what he needs and have all the skills that can be developed only through experience?

Even if he did, he might not have any food to eat. Pestilence goes hand in hand with disasters. Our modern age has forgotten this. But during a time when chemical factories aren't churning out the insecticides and pest poisons we've come to rely on, our backpack survivalist should be prepared for waves of insects flooding into any garden he may create. How good is he at making insecticides? Even if he carries out a large quantity of chemicals to his retreat, how many growing seasons will they last?

Did he truck out a lot of gasoline and an electrical generator with him? No? Do you REALLY think he can create an alcohol still from scratch in the middle of nowhere without tools or grain? Then he'd better write off communications, lighting, and all the niceties of the 20th Century after his year's supply of batteries wear out and his vehicle's supply of gasoline conks out.

I'm afraid we've only scratched the surface though. Thus far things have been going pretty well. What happens when things get really bad? How good is he at removing his spouse's appendix without electric lights, pain killers, or antiseptic conditions? Campfire dental work, anyone?

How good is he at making ammunition? Clothing? Shoes?

I think you'll have to agree that this hardly seems like survival in style. Even if our backpack survivalist is able to live in the most spartan of conditions and has the know how to create plenty out of the few scraps around him, he'll never have much of a life ahead of him.

Camping out is fun for a few days. Living in rags like a hunted animal doesn't sound like an existence to be aimed for.

The bottom line with backpack fever is that, with any major disaster that isn't extremely localized, running is a panic reaction not a survival strategy. Running scared is seldom a good survival technique and backpack fever during any but a localized disaster (like a flood or chemical spill) looks like it would be a terminal disease with few, rare exceptions.

So what's the alternative?

A number of writers, from Kurt Saxon to Howard Ruff, have already suggested it but I think that it bears a retelling.

What they've said is this: get yourself situated in a small community that could get by without outside help if things came unglued nationally or internationally. Find a spot that allows you to live in the life style you've grown accustomed to (and a community that allows you to carry on your livelihood) but which has the ability to grow its own food and protect its people from the unprepared (or looters) that might drift in from surrounding cities during a crisis. This spot has the ability to carry on trade within its borders and has a number of people who can supply specialized products or professional skills.

An area with two thousand to five thousand people in it along with a surrounding farm community would be ideal but sizes can vary a lot according to the climate and city. Ideally such a town would have its own power plant with a few small industries along with the usual smattering of doctors, dentists, and other professionals.

This type of community isn't rare in the US. It's quite common in almost every state. You could probably even take a little risk and commute into a city if you must keep your current job. (In such a case a reverse backpack survival strategy just might work, you'd be bugging out to your home.)

Western civilization stepped out of the dark ages when small communities started allowing people to specialize in various jobs. Rather than each many being his own artisan, farmer, doctor, carpenter, etc., men started learning to master one job they enjoyed doing. Each man become more efficient at doing a job and through the magic of capitalism western culture finally started upward again.

A small modern community like the one suggested above, when faced with a national economic collapse or the aftermath of a nuclear war, would eventually lift itself up the same way. It would give those who lived in it the same chance for specialization of work and the ability to carry on mutual trade, support, and protection. Such small communities will be the few light spots in a Neo Dark Age.

Which place would you rather be: in a cave, wondering where the food for tomorrow would come from, or with a group of people living in their homes, working together to overcome their problems? Even the most individualistic of survivalists shouldn't find the choice too hard to make.

in this vid you can see how i make fire with a clear plastic (PET) water bottle - the kind that you find everywhere (unfortunately... :( ).

i used charred cloth, horseshoe fungus and almost-dry cow dung to get an ember (you can use other natural tinder, too) and some jute twine to get a flame (you can use dry grass, tree bark fibers, dry leafs etc.).

i want to thank to my friend radu (aka m00thman) who gave me the ideea for this vid.

Tags: * bushcraft * bushcraft skills * firemaking * how to make fire * fire * tinder * start a fire * water bottle * plactic bottle * soda bottle * outdoor * outdoorsman * camping * survival * cooking

This is a simple fish trap based on the concept of a spring snare but modified to be more effective in more situations. The deadfall can be setup almost anywhere and has many advantages over a spring snare.

Tags: * survival fishing * primitive fishing * primitive trapping * survival school * dead fall trap * fish trap * primitive fish trap * fishing

Brothers Caleb Musgrave and Robert Munilla travel to the Boreal forests of Canada in the dead of winter (January) to film and demonstrate cold weather survival and wilderness skills. In this video, Brother Caleb, who grew up learning and living wilderness skills in this environment, along with Brother Robert show how to make the Sampson Post Deadfall, using a single tree. This trap was used by the Ojibway, Cree, Innu and a multitude of other sub-arctic cultures to catch furbearing mammals such as the mink and marten.

Tags: * Deadfall trap * trap * traps * trapping * survival skills * winter survival * Brothers of Bushcraft * camping * outdoors * educational * BOB * Bob * bob * Bug out bag * Bug-out bag * bushcraft * Canadian Bushcraft * cold weather survival

a day out into the woods after some serious rain, presenting the swedish torch - my way: you don't need to cut and split big logs, and you can do it with your sak saw (although i preffer my fiskars). i cheated a bit, using a mini-bushbuddy burner (made from a tea candle) to light the torch.

Will YOU die first? I give you a WARNING on who to WATCH OUT FOR. I also give you a warning for YOURSELF if you are in "The Big Three."

This article is taken from American Survival Guide July, 1993 volume 15 number 7 pages 56 thru 59 Name: One Effort, Multiple Results: Survival Homestead By: Richard R Doucet

The author is a retired U.S. Army sergeant with a background in infantry, logistics and administrative and security training. He currently heads his own security firm and is an adjunct faculty member with the University of New Hampshire teaching seminars on home food production.-The editors.

WHAT is a BOL (Bug Out Location) / survivalist homestead? It is a home in which you can live in a real-world/present-time economy and social order, yet at the same time practice on a regular basis the survival skills you may need later.

All of this is accomplished while still living a normal life-style with access to work, schools, emergency services and stores, etc. But most importantly, you will not be in conflict with criminal, firearm or building codes, zoning ordinances, EPA regulations or planning board requirements.

The BOL / survivalist homestead offers one more very important option. That of helping you now to live a better quality life at a cheaper price and allowing you to shift to more severe survival plans only to the extent needed to meet emergencies.

In planning a BOL / survivalist homestead there are three concepts which must be incorporated into your thinking from the start and which must be adhered to if the goals are to be met. They are:

- Plan A and Plan B-Plan A is that part of all planning of your homestead which has to do with dealing in the present/real world time frame. Plan B is the planning for whatever emergencies you feel could threaten you. Both plans must be such that they can co-exist in the same place at the same time.

- One Effort with Multiple Results- This concept is simply "working smarter, not harder," fine tuned to an almost absolute. Every effort must result in more than just the one primary result. It allows you to accomplish more goals with less expenditure of time and money, to facilitate the first concept.

- Reduce, Re-use, Recycle- This concept is taken wholly from the environmental movement. Re-using material and recycling waste allows you to reduce expenses thus build with less cash outlay. This is also a skill you will need in any type of breakdown of social order, where normal access to stores and services will not be available.

Applying these concepts in homestead planning is not the first step. The first step is deciding what you are planning for-what emergencies or crises you might have to face.

This is subjective and no two people will feel that any one set of possible emergencies will be what they have to be ready for.

The process of thinking this through is called threat analysis. Done correctly it can give you an accurate picture of what it is you should be getting ready for. At the end of my threat analysis I decided that the following were what I wanted to be ready for:

1. Short term cash flow problems.
2. Severe weather conditions.
3. Economic upheaval on a large scale.
4. Catastrophic world events.

The first task in establishing a homestead is to find the land. You can eliminate many present-time and cirsis-time security problems with proper site location. At the same time the property should be located so that you have reasonable access to work, entertainment, schools and emergency services.

Other important considerations are taxes, community growth plans, amount of land for your needs, zoning ordinances and building codes in the area where you plan to buy.

I chose my property because it was large enough (15 acres), had the right topography, available firewood, garden space, animal space, hunting and potential for water. Also the town has as part of its charter that the community will remain rural with little growth, no heavy industry or commerce and with farming as its main industry.

Crime, in normal times is a by product of growth and population density in urban and suburban life, and increased crime and civil disorder are the first results of cultural breakdown. My location has been chosen to avoid these to a great extent while still having reasonable contact with the real world.

Finally my location allows me to use firearms, garden, raise animals and build pretty much what I want for now and the future because of the absence of myriad zoning regulations and building codes that are found in so many other communities today.

Security was at the top of my list of priorities in planning my homestead on the land I acquired. A poorly laid out homestead will result in one that is more difficult and costly to secure in both normal and crisis times.

Just locating the house-compound on a hill went a long way in avoiding problems with criminals now -Plan A-and in possible lawless times-Plan B. The compound is hard to see from the nearest road, especially in summer. It is impossible to tell just what is on the hill unless you walk or drive at least half way up the driveway. By this time a would-be intruder or gang finds that the entire front of the compound area is blocked by a marshland to the east, extending a few hundred yards beyond my property line, and a deep dug pond connected to a series of beaver ponds that run nearly a half mile to the west beyond my property line.

This fine example of an engineer water barrier is the result of hard working beavers that moved onto the adjoining property the same year I bought my parcel. Within a few years they had backed up enough water to flood all the aforementioned area except my driveway. The total cost to me for this barrier was $600 to have the deep pond dug. This system serves as a second source of water for emergencies, irrigation , swimming, and draws a wide variety of waterfowl, mammals, reptilles and fish which can be a food supply- One Effort with Multiple Results.

The water barrier freezes in winter. To deny access to the main compound all year round I knew I would have to install some type of fence, which could be expensive. Instead, I stacked brush and tree limbs from land-clearng operations around the top edge of the hill on which my home-compound was located-Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. This created an instant barricade called an abatis. In most places it was around three feet high and as much as eight feet wide.

The next year native New Hampshire blackberries, that grow in abundance in the area, made their appearance and soon formed a living flesh-tearing barbed wire barrier where the brush had been stacked. Unlike a fence that deteriorates and has to be maintained every year, my barrier just gets thicker and stronger without me lifting a finger except to cut it back here and there it also provides a good amount of fresh fruit and attracts animals which, on occasion, end up on the dining room table-One Effort with Multiple Results.

In building my home I wanted a strong dwelling which was also aesthetically pleasing, practical for day-to-day living and would meet all the zoning and building codes and yet would meet the emergencies I plan for.

Solar Heating-I used a lot of rough-cut lumber, stucco and stone inside the house I used one-inch lumber instead of sheet rock for the walls and ceilings because of its structural strength.

The kitchen, living room, dining room and master bedroom are on the south side of the house. This side has large areas of glass windows to allow solar heating during the colder months. The colder the season gets the lower the sun is on the horizon. By Dec. 21, the sun floods almost straight through the south windows, keeping the inside temperature around 65 degrees F. By June21, the sun is now high in the sky, adding little heat to the house during warmer months.

Because solar gain heating can overheat a house in the day time, there is a need for something to absorb the excess heat during the day and radiate it back into the house later on. This is called thermal mass. It is achieved by having no basement and building instead on a concrete slab, sometimes called a floating slab or a monolith slab.

For additional mass-and protection from gunfire if the need should arise-I built a solid concrete block wall of four-inch thick blocks almost the whole length of the house.

This wall collects heat from the wood/coal stove to prevent overheating of the north side rooms and then radiates it back late at night. This stove except for the Ben Franklin stove in the master bedroom which is used only occasionally, is the only source of man-made heat we have had for the past three winters

Plans for this year call for the addition of a propane gas heating system. The gas system will be one that does not rely on electricity to function. Once again if the heating system is connected to house current the loss of electricity means no heat. The wood/coal stove will be kept for back-up, cooking and heating, and just for the pleasure of a wood fire in the winter.

The north wall of the house is just the opposite, as far as windows go, of the south wall. The smallest windows allowed by code are placed here. These are the bathrooms, toilet and bedrooms. These rooms remain empty most of the day and do not need as much light. The smaller windows reduce heat loss and restrict entry from the outside.

To further reduce heat loss the north wall is triple insulated. Standard fiberglass was installed, then one-inch rigid insulation over the studs, and 7/16-inch flake board over the insulation there are no breaks in this barrier except the windows, to allow heat to escape or cold wind to infiltrate the house if desired.

Lastly, all closet space was built into the north wall to create as much "dead space" as possible to further isolate the heat in the house from radiational cooling.

Still Room, Root cellar, Work Shed-Once the main house was up the still room, root cellar, and work shop/shed were added.

A still room was the part of a colonial home where fermentation of home made brews, "kraut" making and pickling were conducted. It was also used to store smoked foods, beverages and other preserved items. I use ours for most of the same reasons and it is also where the water pressure system, well, washer and drier are located.

The dryer is vented through the root cellar by way of a four-inch PVC pipe Part of the system is underground in the root cellar which has a sand floor. This section of pipe has holes in it so condensed moisture can drain into the sand and humidify the root cellar when the drier is used. The end of the pipe has a fixture that allows me to vent the air outside when it is too warm in the cellar or vent into the cellar when it is too cold.

Root cellars are generally constructed underground or in hillsides. Mine is above ground because, with modern insulating materials, it was just cost effective and time saving to do so. In the cellar I can store appropriate food stuffs to last until late spring when the following year's crops start to come in. This is also a good place to store jugs of water in the event we lose electricity.

The wood storage area at the entrance of the still room holds about a half cord of firewood. With this entrance facing south the sun hits the wood pile every day in the winter, melting snow left on it after it is brought in from outside storage. This means we can bring wood into the house night or day and any weather without making a mess all over the place with melting snow.

The summer kitchen is where all the initial cleaning of garden and animal products takes place. All waste can go directly to the compost heap. Waste water from the sink goes directly to garden irrigation after passing through a grease trap. The contents of the grease trap also go to the compost heap.

The Well-Most wells are outside the home and at some distance. Mine is unusual as it is in the still room of the main house.

Few people have the well in a building, other than a small pumphouse, because when the pump and pipe have to be brought up for service, equipment and often a truck have to be used to get the 150 or 200 feet of pipe-full of water- and the pump up.

My well is 700 feet deep and a truck with the proper equipment will be needed to haul everything up. For this reason, the door leading to the outside lines up with the well so the truck needs only to back up and start working.

Having the well in the still room also means there is no chance of freeze ups or busting pipes that are at least four feet underground. The well is also constantly under lock and key where it cannot be tampered with. All of this comes under Plan A should a disaster strike that is so far reaching as to reduce our culture's technology to pre-electrical days, I can remove the pump and pipe and still reach my water in comfort and safety any time of the year-Plan B. I would simply use a container just an inch or so smaller in diameter than the 8 inch pipe well shaft. The container has a flap valve on the bottom and is suspended by a rope. As it is dropped through the water, the valve is pushed open and the container fills. When pulled up the force of the water pushes the valve back down and seats it so the container stays full. Though the well is 700 feet deep, the water level is only 35 feet from the top when it is full. This gives me at 1 1/2 gallons per foot, about 800 gallons in reserve.

In New Hampshire, as in most states, you cannot get a building permit with out a state approved septic system plan. I applied Plan A by putting in a normal flush toilet as the main one in the home and a composting toilet in the master bedroom for back up-Plan B.

The composting toilet needs no special hook up except for a vent through the roof. When you lose electricity that means there is no well pump either, and thus no flush toilet. But the composting one will still be functional for at least three days.

Food-The only real answer to a reliable food supply during bad times is to produce your own, or most of it, all the time.

Producing your own food on a constant basis means you not only have a constant source of reliable food, but you also have the prepared land and facilities, tools and skills to keep going. You can do it all, from planting a garden bed to sowing, raising, cleaning, butchering and preserving your produce, meats and fish.

The most common argument against the whole process of home food production is the time involved, followed by cost. While this is a subject which merits an entire article in itself and there isn't enough space in this article to go into it in depth,suffice it to say that if you have the resources and time to establish your own home food production, you will find it well worth your while.

I have to admit that the initial efforts to set up garden space and small animal facilities is time consuming though not necessarily expensive. But, the set up time is a one-shot effort.

I have used many techniques-too numerous to include here- for saving time, energy, and money in producing food.

In growing tomatoes in the garden area for example, newsprint and grass clippings have been put down in the tomato bed to prevent weeds from growing and reduce the need to water.

For a few hours work a week in home food production from late April through October, you can raise prepare and put up (store) most of your food for a year. And doing so reduces your cost of purchasing the same amounts and types of food by half or more.

The lessons learned by early homesteaders still apply today.

1. Analyze possible threats to you
2. Choose terrain that lends itself to defense.
3. Plan security around the principles of "Avoidance." "Deception" and "Denial."
4. Reduce costs and effort as well as help the environment, by following the concepts of "Plan A and Plan B, "One Effort with Multiple Results" and "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle."
5. Assure yourself good shelter, reliable water and constant food.

Think about this as you reflect on your own plans to survive... now and later.

How to CLEANLY Field Dress a Deer in under 7 Minutes - WARNING GRAPHIC!

My first time to make an instructional video. Usually takes me 5-7 min to field dress a deer start to finish. However I haven't ever done it while talking before so it took a bit longer :) I made this video for my brother-in-law and decided to post it here. Sorry the camera angle isn't better but I hope it helps you in the field.

Note: If you want to keep your canopy (neck and head skin) whole for shoulder mounting, simply cut the trachea just above the top of the collar bone and proceed from there, or check with your taxidermist, for some the cut doesn't matter.

Tags: * Deed Deer * Deer * Doe * Buck * Rack * 4pt * Hunting * Gutting * Field Dressing * Venison * Safety

Lonnie takes you on a step by step tutorial through the process of how to make a bushcraft bucksaw.

Using the net we made in the netting videos to build a live capture trap for small game and birds.

Changes to the set up we should have made, but didnt were

1- use a bigger net
2 - use a shorter length of cordage between the net and main cordage.

Good practice though and unless you try, you will never know what you need to do make the trap even more effective.

Wild Food Procurement: Simple and comprehensive kit for bushcraft fishing and survival use.

Tags: * survival * fishing * bushcraft * wilderness * living * self-reliance * primitive * skills * dual * ozark * mountian * preparedness

The pine tree has a lot to offer the bushcraft enthusiast from a source of vitamin C to a colander! In the first of 3 films, survival expert Sean Collins demonstrates the uses of pine needles and cones in a woodland setting. In subsequent programmmes he talks about pine string and uses for a dead pine tree.

Tags: * bushcraft * outdoor sports * woodlands * pine needles * survival * pine tree * camping

Tags: * bushcraft glue * pitch pine uses * pitch pine * pine pitch * primitive glue * survival glue * fire sticks * pitch glue

Making a survival water transpiration bag still is similar to the vegetation bag, only easier. Simply tie the plastic bag over a leafy tree limb with a tube inserted, and tie the mouth of the bag off tightly around the branch to form an airtight seal. Tie the end of the limb so that it hangs below the level of the mouth of the bag. The water will collect there. The same limb may be used for 3 to 5 days without causing long-term harm to the limb. It will heal itself within a few hours of removing the bag.

CAUTION Do not use poisonous vegetation. It will provide poisonous liquid!

Survival Water Transpiration Bag

Survival Spring Pole Snare

The spring pole snare requires a small sapling and cordage to construct. The trigger for the spring pole is the toggle. It is designed to lift the animal off the ground; not allowing predatory animals to take your game. Remember, the trigger can not be so tight that the intended game can not set it off.

SURVIVAL SPRING POLE SNARE

Survival Fishing Spear

If you are near shallow water (about waist deep) where fish are large and plentiful, you can spear them.

(1) Cut an 18-24" long straight hardwood sapling, fire harden if green.

(2) Sharpen one end of the sapling.

(3) Shave two green saplings to serve as prongs.

(4) Carve barbs on the prongs.

(5) Notch main staff to support prongs.

(6) Lash the prongs to the main staff.

(7) Prongs that do not easily flex under the weight of a finger need to be shaved and thinned, prior to lashing.

(8) To spear fish, find an area where fish either gather or where there is a fish run. Place the spear point into the water and slowly move it towards the fish. Then, with a sudden push, impale the fish on the stream bottom. Do not try to lift the fish with the spear. Hold the spear with one hand and grab and hold the fish with the other. Do not throw the spear as you will probably lose it.

SURVIVAL FISHING SPEAR

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SURVIVAL FISHING SPEAR VARIATIONS

The water filter is a three tier system. The first layer, or grass layer, removes the larger impurities. The second layer, or sand layer, removes the smaller impurities. The final layer, or charcoal layer (not the ash but charcoal from a fire), bonds and holds the toxins. All layers are placed on some type of straining device and the charcoal layer should be at least 5-6 inches thick. Layers should be changed frequently and straining material should be boiled. Remember, this is not a disinfecting method, cysts can possibly move through this system.

Survival Water Filtration Devices

If the water you find is also muddy, stagnant, and foul smelling, you can clear the water--

• By placing it in a container and letting it stand for 12 hours.
• By pouring it through a filtering system.

Note: These procedures only clear the water and make it more palatable. You will have to purify it. ( ie. boiling, iodine, chlorine etc. )

To make a filtering system, place several centimeters or layers of filtering material such as sand, crushed rock, charcoal, or cloth in bamboo, a hollow log, or an article of clothing