In this article we are going to be looking at making noodles to catch catfish. This type of rig may not be legal in all areas, so check the local laws before you do anything.
Buy some noodles from the local china-mart. The noodles might be seasonal, and should be ...
A few days ago I asked the SurvivalistBoards Facebook group a question, "Name one thing a first aid kit is not complete without." Some of the answers were helpful, and some were not what I expected.
I would like to thank all of the subscribers for helping out with this list.
Anti-bacterial ...
The past 2 days have been spent working on my truck, and working on some jug lines for an upcoming camping trip. When I started thinking about how much time and effort I put into getting the juglines ready, I was a little set back.
After talking to my wife, I ...
This past weekend I decided it was time to organize the ammunition at the Bug Out Location. We had ammo stored in 3,,, 4 different locations, which made taking inventory a pain in the rear end.
My wife cleared off a wire shelf so I could bring it to the camp ...
Deer season is here, instead of grabbing a pack, throwing some random gear in and heading out to the woods, lets take a look at some items that should be considered. The way I look at it, your pack needs to contain everything you need to track a wounded deer, ...
I like to take situations where people interact, watch how the people interact and then I make notes. As the level of stress goes up, the worse people seem to interact. A good example is Black Friday. For those of you who do not know what Black Friday is – its the day after Thanksgiving when retailers offer some great specials. The companies offer specials to get people into the store. Hopefully the people will buy more then just whats on sale. These specials offer people a chance to snatch up some great deals. Considering the current economic times, there are a lot of people looking for whatever deals they can find.
Here at the local wal-mart, a couple of people got in a fight over some towels – 1 person was arrested and 1 person went to the hospital.
What can you “really” say about a society where people fight over towels that cost $1.33.
For the most part things went well at the local stores – some people got upset that there were not enough items for everyone. The local wal-mart had some Emachine laptops for $198. My daughter and I got in line around 11:15pm – the sale started at 5am.
People were showing up anywhere from 3am – 5am wanting to get in line for the laptops. One guy and his wife got there around 4am, saw the line was established and all of the vouchers for the laptops had been handed out. From there the husband got rather upset, got a manager over to the line and got a little loud. The manager said there was nothing he could do, that the people in line were there before he was.
There seemed to be 4 types of people:
Group 1 – Willing to fight over the smallest items. This is the group that bothers me the most. These are the people that are willing to infect physical violence to get what they want. We are not talking about fighting over food during some kind of long term disaster, we are talking about people fighting over towels that cost $1.33.
If the people of group 1 are willing to inflict physical violence over small value items, what are the people of this group capable of during a disaster? If their willing to fight over an item that cost $1.33, are they willing to kill over an item that cost $5?
Group 2 – Get there early, establish your place in line and wait. I would consider this an orderly group and abides by the rules and laws of the land.
Group 3 – Get there late, and complain that people are ahead of them. I would consider this a group of trouble makers. The problem comes in when people from the violent group 1 and group 3 are 1 in the same. Where the people of group 1 can show up at anytime – early or late, people of group 3 show up late. These are the people that fail to size up the situation, fail to plan, and then get mad at others for their own failures.
Group 4 – the people that shop online and stay away from stressful situations with the public. After some kind of disaster, these are the people who pull from their own resources and will not have to stand in line for food handouts.
To me, this provides examples of types of people that we might see in some kind of disaster. The 2 groups that I worry about are the ones that are willing to inflict physical harm for access to the smallest items. And the group of people that get there late, and are angry that they missed they failed to plan ahead.
Food for thought – What shipping ports were to cities in the middle ages, airports are to the new age. This means that airports are the point of delivery for new infections.
During the middle ages, fear of the plague was so great that shipping inspectors had to inspect a ship before it could make port.
Today, people come and go freely with no disease inspection, or fear of spreading disease.
When a new disease breaks out, the first places to receive the infection will be the airports – the people that travel with the infected host and the people that work at the airports. The next layer are the people that service airport travelers – motel / hotel workers, taxi drivers, car rental employees, parking lot attendees, restaurant workers,,,,, anyone that has face to face contact with people that fly.
Ask yourself, how many layers back from the airport are you? Do you work at the airport, do you know someone that works at the airport, do you know someone that works in a service style business that deals with travelers? Do you live in a major city with an international airport?
It was probably around 1997 or 1998, some of my buddies were over at my house and we were talking about possible situations that would cause a wilderness bug out. We were talking about an outbreak of the plague, nuclear strikes, nuclear targets, radiation fallout, wind currents,,,,,,; it was one of those brain storming sessions we used to have.
Eventually the topic of firearms came up, choice of calibers, being able to carry plenty of ammo,,, and so on.
It was at this time I pulled out a large ALICE pack, a Mossberg 500 with 18.5 inch barrel and an H&K SP-89 pistol. As I look back on the situation, and what we were discussing, neither of those weapons would be good for survival.
The Mossberg 500 with 18.5 inch barrel and pistol grip would be a terrible choice for hunting. The pistol grip makes the weapon difficult to aim, and the short barrel means a poor pattern. If this shotgun would have had a stock on it and a longer barrel, then it would be a different story.
The H&K SP-89 is a great pistol for close quarters combat, but it would be a poor choice for hunting deer or wild hogs. The lack of a shoulder stock makes the pistol undesirable for certain situations.
After my buddies and I completed our brain storming session, I decided it was time to review some of my survival weapon choices. I had other weapons, so “why” did I pick those 2 for discussion? Why not talk about the SKS as a survival rifle, or maybe the AK-47, or what about the Remington model 700?
After talking about the advantages and disadvantages of a short shotgun and pistol combo, I decided to remove those 2 weapons from my choices.
If your going to pick a weapon (pistol, rifle or shotgun) for survival, why not pick on that you can aim, and effectively take wild game with?
What is it with people not being able to think for their self? Its as if some people just accept what their told as fact and never ask any questions. They just form a line to the stupid door and file in order.
Children – One example, my wife and I have a friend of the family that lets her children cry themselves to sleep. The oldest child, being 5 years old has some serious issues – such as yelling at the parents, hitting, fit throwing, and will not cooperate with anyone. When you ask the oldest child to do something, it usually results in a screaming fit.
What do I blame the childs problems on – lack of affection on the parents part. Someone told the mother that if the child is held too much, it will get spoiled. But what was not told – not holding your child can result in the child developing social problems. So instead of holding the child while its upset, the mother lays the child in the bed and lets it cry itself to sleep.
Lets put some thought into this issue – the oldest child displays social anxiety problems, and the parents keep doing to the same thing,,, but expect a different outcome? I see a life of medicated existence in the near future for those children.
Jobs – go to work for a company, spend your life working for a slave wage, and when your body is broken you retire and die in a pile of your own feces. Not exactly the way I want to live.
When your in school your told to get an education and go to work for someone else – that is NOT how you make money. You make money by providing a service, or manufacturing a product.
Someone explain why I should spend my life making someone else rich? I don’t think so.
Taxes – go to work, pay your taxes, only for the money to be sent over seas to take care of people who are not US citizens. Would you pay your neighbors bills? If so, I have an electric bill that needs paying.
Voting – why do people insist on voting for the 2 major parties? If you vote for the democraps and the republicants, and neither of them represent the will of the people, why continue to vote for them? Vote for the Libertarian Party – if you want real change, vote like it.
Friday evening my kids and I talked about if we wanted to go hunting Saturday morning and Saturday evening, or just Saturday evening. The agreement was made to go just Saturday evening – in part because we had a birthday party to go to at noon.
Saturday morning rolls around, we sleep a little late, get up, get our morning shower and breakfast. From there we started getting ready for my grandsons 2nd birthday party.
Behind the library in Jasper, Texas there is a fenced in park with 2 covered areas, bathroom and a play ground. Its a nice place for the family to have a birthday party, or just take the small kids to go play. The whole are is fenced in, so you don’t have to worry about the smaller kids leaving the park.
Everything went well at the party, I brought along a small grill to cook hot dogs – so we had cookie cake, cake and hot dogs to eat.
Around 1 pm or so we loaded up and headed back home. Between 1pm and 2:30 I played some Left 4 Dead 2.
At around 2:30pm told my daughter and my son it was about time to load up. I make it a point to ask my son if he is bringing a flashlight. I usually have to bring 2 lights and loan him 1. But this time he brought a cheap headlight he got last Christmas. We loaded up the gear, 2 Marlin 336 30-30, my Maxpedition Noatak backpack, a Gerber Big Rock from Rocky National, and a couple of flashlights – a 2 AA LED flashlight and a 2 cell D Maglight.
Next week is Thanksgiving. But like a lot of people, my family and I are having a get together this weekend and next week. This week we are having my wifes kids (my step kids) and their families over for a celebration. Next week on Thanksgiving, my wife and I are going to the house of my brother and my parents.
While talking to my daughter this morning, I stopped to think about how often people give thanks.
My family has been very blessed this past year:
Everyone in my family has a job
Everyone is well, and nobody is in the hospital
Everyone got to keep their home
Everyone has food to eat
Everyone has a little expendable income
Saturday evening my son got an 8 point whitetail deer that weighed in at 156 pounds. That deer will provide my family with enough sausage for about 4 – 6 months. If we can get a doe, we will have enough hamburger and sausage to last almost a year. I consider my family blessed that we have food in the pantry and a freezer full of meat.
On Thanksgiving, my wife and I are going to my mom and dads house and to my brothers house. Both of which had to rebuild after Hurricane Ike. My brothers house got something like 4 – 5 feet of water in it and my parents house got 9 feet of water. My parents house was considered a total lose, and it was demolished.
This is the first Thanksgiving my brother or my mom and dad have had in their house since the rebuild after Hurricane Ike.
I consider my brother and my mom and dad blessed that they were able to rebuild and move forward with their lives. A lot of people have not been so lucky. I know some people that have not been able to rebuild over 2 years later. Either they lacked insurance, or the resources to rebuild, or they were cheated out of their money by con-men.
So while we grumble about all the bad stuff, lets stop just for a minute and give thanks for all of the good stuff we have in our lives.
When your walking around a store – any store – and your doing your shopping, how often do you think about your survival supplies? Is it something you make a list of and make a special trip to town? Or do you incorporate your survival supplies shopping into your everyday life?
Lets take last night as an example, my wife and I went shopping at the local super wal-mart. While we were walking through the store, I picked up a 2 pack of strike on box matches. At 250 matches per box, that is 500 matches.
The last time I was at the camp I took inventory of my matches, and it came to like 6 or 7 boxes of 250 matches per box. So that equals out to around 1,500 – 1,700 matches. But I needed some for my house, so I picked up another 500. I also got a box of Remington 30-30 ammo, 12 gauge #4 shot, and a box of 12 gauge rifled slugs.
When we got to the food section, we picked up our grocery list for this weekend and 2 jars of olives – 1 jar for this weekend and 1 jar to put up.
My wife picked up some corn bread mix for this weekend. While we were standing there in the isle, I was wondering “how well corn bread mix would store in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers? The mix has an expiration date of 2013. So what would the date be if the corn bread mix was re-packaged for long term storage?” That is the kind of stuff I think about when shopping.
In 1 trip to wal-mart I picked up:
20 rounds of Remington 30-30 150 grain ammo
25 rounds 12 gauge #4 shot – #4 is great for squirrel hunting
15 rounds 12 gauge slug – good for deer or wild hogs
1 extra jar of olives – I really like olives
500 strike on box matches
The ammo is going to be put in their boxes and stored, olives will be put up, and 500 matches will be stored.
I see survivalist that put a lot of time an effort into their preps. If I put a “lot” of time and effort into it, I would probably get burned out. So I try to take the slow and steady approach.
While we are on the topic, take a look at this forum thread about survivalist burn out. I made 2 post on that page – scroll down to post #24 and #31.
One of the problems that I see, is that people put “too” much time and effort into survivalism. Its like they jump in with both feet, take off running, get tired and drop out of the race. Think like a turtle (slow and steady), or like a squirrel. A squirrel buries 1 nut at a time.
List of survival gear that I think would be useful in a post apocalyptic world.
1. Knowledge – This starts with having an understanding of how the human species acts during a long term survival situation. Find some history books on amazon about the black death of 1348 – 1350. Read those books and get a grasp on how people acted and what they resorted to. Some of the stories look like they came straight out of a Hollywood movie – like starving people digging up dead bodies to cannibalize the remains.
Part of your survival library should include resource material on gardening, raising livestock and farming.
First aid manuals with information on diseases and wound treatment.
2. Water filter – Without safe drinking water, life as we know it can not exist. Diseases like Cholera, Typhoid, E. Coli, Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis, Shigella and Salmonella can wipe out entire communities in a matter of days.
There are water filters, and then there are “water filters.” If you have a family with 4, 5 6,,, 12 people, then adjust your water filter size to fits your needs.
Then there is the problem of drinking water in an urban survival situation. Most people that live in cities do not have access to a water well or a creek or stream. Once the water gets cut off, thats it.
Happy Birthday Half Life, your 12 years old today, November 19th 1998 – November 19th 2010. I still remember the first time I saw you, it was at a LAN party in Little Cypress with my buddy Revy.
It was a cold, wet, typical winter day in southeast Texas. I had been invited to a LAN party to play some Quake Deathmatch. While we were taking a short break from the intense action, Revy called me over to his computer and asked if I wanted to see this new game called Half-Life. Revy fired up a new game and showed me the intro scene where Gordon Freeman is taking the tram ride into Black Mesa.
When I got home I told my wife about Half-Life and she bought me the game a few days later. It was a sad time in my life. My sister-in-law at the time was going through a divorce with her husband. On the day she left, my wife took her to the bus station while I stayed at home and play Half-Life.
Half-Life was a turning point in my gaming, as I played Quakeworld and Diablo less and less. When Team Fortress Classic (TFC) was released, it seemed brighter and more fresh then the dark maps of Quakeworld Team Fortress. There was Quake II, but HL seemed to handle better then QII, and the maps of HL were easier to follow then the maps of QII.
When Half-Life was released, a whole new phase in PC gaming started – we just did not realize it at the time. Shortly after the release of HL came TFC and Counter-Strike. From the release of TFC and CS, the Quakeworld servers dried up, and things would never be the same.
I still have that original Half-Life cd on my computer desk. But instead of playing with the CD version, I got Half-Life on Steam as well.
Happy birthday Half-Life, its been a fun 12 years.
There is a thread in the forum asking what rifle, shotgun and pistol combination you would pick for a survival situation. The shotgun has to be multi-purpose for urban defense and harvesting wild game. The rifle caliber has to be big enough to harvest deer, wild hogs, elk and maybe even moose. The pistol has to be for hunting and or personal defense.
Here are my picks:
Shotgun – Remington 870 or Mossberg 500, I personally prefer the Mossberg 500 because I like the safety location of the Mossberg 500 better then I do the Remington 870 safety. I also do not like the flap over the Remington 870 magazine well – I get my fingers pinched there when trying to load a round into the magazine. Between the 870 and the 500, I find the 500 much easier to load and shoot.
Rifle – FAL in 308, or Remington model 700 in 270, 280, 308 or 30-06.
The FAL – also known as the right arm of the free world has proven its reliability all over the world. The 308 Winchester should be able to take just about any wild animal in North America – except maybe that largest of bears.
The 270, 280 and 30-06 in a Remington model 700 prove their effectiveness on wild game every hunting season.
I like to take situations where people interact, watch how the people interact and then I make notes. As the level of stress goes up, the worse people seem to interact. A good example is Black Friday. For those of you who do not know what Black Friday is – its the day after Thanksgiving when retailers offer some great specials. The companies offer specials to get people into the store. Hopefully the people will buy more then just whats on sale. These specials offer people a chance to snatch up some great deals. Considering the current economic times, there are a lot of people looking for whatever deals they can find.
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