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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
How much ammo should I stockpile for SHTF? If teotwawki happened tomorrow, how much ammo should I have? What types of ammo should I have for SHTF? How much ammo should I have for teotwawki?
Those are all questions that I see repeated on the forum over and over, time and time again. So lets talk about them just for a minute.
Lets break down ammo into 2 groups – personal defense and hunting.
Pistol ammo: How much pistol ammo do you “really” need? What will your pistol be used for? Will it be for personal defense or hunting? Are we talking 22 long rifle, 9mm, 45acp, 40S&W, 357 magnum, 41 magnum, 44 magnum,,, or something else?
From the price stand point, its going to be a lot cheaper to stockpile 5,000 rounds of 22 long rifle, then it is to stockpile 5,000 rounds of 357 magnum. Its going to be cheaper to stockpile 5,000 rounds of round nose, then 5,000 rounds of hollow points. Do you “really” need to stock up on hollow points, or is it something that you just want to have?
Pistol ammo used for hunting: Except for 22 long rifle, this is going to be your magnum calibers – 357 magnum, 41 magnum and 44 magnum. In this group I would put a number of at least 500 rounds. That 500 could be divided in half – 1/2 stored at your home, and 1/2 stored at your bug out location / remote camp. If you have to leave your home, and only have time to grab your pistol – this leaves you with 250 rounds once you reach your bug out location. Keep that 250 rounds in mind for later.
Pistol ammo for personal defense: This can be just about anything, (except the 22 long rifle, and 25acp) – 9mm, 40S&W, 45acp, 357sig, 357 magnum, 41 magnum, 44 magnum,,,,,,. For this group, I put a number closer to 1,000 rounds per caliber.
Dividing ammo between people in the group: Some kind of situation has developed – a new disease has broke out, china launched a nuclear strike against the major cities,,,,,, whatever has happened, you have enough time to grab some gear and get out of town. You and your family safely arrive at your bug out location, and a few days later your buddies show up. These are people that you made plans ahead of time. To streamline ammo purchases, everyone has bought a weapon that shoots the same caliber. For the sake of discussion, lets use 357 magnum.
The United Nations has reported that North Korea may not have enough food for its people in 2011. While food production has remained about the same, or shown slight improvement, the population has continued to grow.
So this brings up the question, what happens when a nation with history of trouble making runs out of food?
Normally, I would say that North Koreas communist buddies would help it out. But with the recent Russian crop failures, who knows whats going to happen.
Representatives from the United Nations have recently traveled to North Korea to discuss the problem.
Some type of disaster has either arrived or is heading your way – whether its an earthquake, hurricane, food shortages due to a new disease outbreak,,,,, you and your family need to get out of the city. You have made plans to stay at a bug out location with some friends, but the problem is getting out of the city.
Fuel – the very first problem your going to run into is having enough fuel to get out. Once the panic buying starts, fuel is going to be one of the first things people buy up. Everyone will be filling up their gas cans, cars, trucks, generators, 55 gallon drums,,,, and as a result, the gas stations will be cleaned out. The first people to leave the cities will help finish off the fuel supplies in rural areas. So don’t think that your going to find a gas station in a small town to get fuel, its not going to happen, everyone else will beat you to it.
Maps – as the major roadways become clogged with cars and trucks, your going to need to find an alternate route. When parts of southeast Texas evacuated for Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Rita, people from Houston, Port Arthur, Bridge City, Lumberton, Orange,,,, sat in line for hours. On high 69/96/287 leaving Port Arthur, Texas – people were running out of gas sitting on the highway. The highway department had to send tanker trucks out to fill peoples cars and trucks up with fuel to keep the lines moving. What normally took a 1 hour drive, took more like 10 hours. If you know a route around the major highways – take it.
If you were going to pick two firearms – 1 small caliber rifle, 1 medium or large caliber rifle, or a shotgun, which firearms would it be? These do not “have” to be considered survival rifles or a survival shotgun, but firearms that you may shoot with all year long. The two firearm combination should be diverse enough to take everything from small game to the largest game in your area. Someone that lives in Alaska and who might run into a grizzly bear will have different rifles needs then someone that lives in Texas or Florida – because there aint no grizzly bears in Texas or Florida.
The purpose of a “survival firearm” is a little different then a Main Battle Rifle (MBR). While an MBR is designed for the military and combat, survivalist need something that is not expensive, very reliable, and effective for harvesting wild game. Which would be the better invest, a single M1a or 3 Marlin 336s in 30-30? Price is a factor here. For certain people money may not be an issue. But for most people, dropping $1,000 into a single rifle is just not feasible.
Marlin model 336 and Marlin model 60:
Whitetail deer taken with a Marlin 336 in 30-30
Marlin model 336 – chambered in 30-30 is more then adequate for just about anything in the southern United States. The recoil of the 30-30 is not excessive, the ammunition is popular so it can be found just about anywhere, the ammunition is not expensive – so its not going to cost a fortune to stockpile 30-30 ammo, the rifle itself is not expensive – so buying more then 1 is not going to break the bank.
Lets just say that I like the Marlin 336 so much, that all three of my sons have 1. In all, my family has at least 4 Marlin 336 rifles.
When a new rifle cartridge is developed is does not take long for the public to form an opinion. From there the cartridge will take off and get popular, or its going to be forgotten about and will fade away to history. The popularity of the 30-30 is a testament to its reliability and stopping power for deer sized game. If the 30-30 was not an effective round, it would not be as popular as it is today.
Marlin model 60 – probably one of the best 22 rifles on the market. The model 60 is a tube fed, semi-auto rifle chambered in 22 long rifle – and its reliable and accurate.
The light weight of the Marlin model 60, combined with the 22 long rifle, makes this a great rifle for hunting squirrels and rabbits. This rifle is capable of taking anything smaller then a coyote, and without destroying a lot of the meat.
As I’am sitting here thinking about old friends, people that I knew from years ago, and some of the games that I used to play on the PC – I wonder why people look back and think about the “good ole days?” These times are pretty good, there is nothing wrong with right here and now. So why does 10 years ago seem like it is better then today? Maybe we forget about the worries back then? Maybe the memory seems like things were less stressful back then? I dont know, but there are a lot of things I miss about the late 1990s.
One thing that I miss was my job at Allied Fabrication in Rose City, Texas. Those people were some good people to work for. But when the work got low, they let me go. When I was working at Allied, I would come home, eat dinner, then make my bike ride, and do my workout. Then there were the camping trips with my buddies into the bayous around Orangefield and Bridge City, Texas. And then there was taking my family to the camp for the weekend.
Then there is the regret, like the time one of my sons ran over some brush that had been cut down and jammed a stick into the gear shift linkage. I got onto him a little hard about that. But he should not have been riding through where the timber company had cut the trees. There was a trail and he should have stayed on it.
Something else I regret, I feel that I did not spend enough time with my family. Sometimes we get consumed with what “we” want, instead of what the family wants.
One of the survivalist mindsets that has been around for a long time, is that you need 1 years worth of food stockpiled; that you should have 1 years worth of food for every member in the house. If someone has the time and money to manage such a project, then good for you. But personally, I do not have the room, money, or time to put towards maintaining a 1 year food stockpile. Its no easy project to maintain all of that food without letting it expire or spoil. Expiration dates need to be kept along with a running inventory. If you eat out of your food stocks to keep everything rotated, then list will need to be kept as to what was eaten and what needs to be replaced.
I never have been one that subscribed to the “massive stockpiling of food” mindset. Stockpile food – yes. But not to the point where rotating your food and keeping track of inventory consumes a lot of your time. Over the years I have seen people that have dedicated a massive amount of time to their food stockpile – everything from calorie counting, to spreadsheets that list every single little item.
My plans are more like stockpile what you eat, and have normal food rotation. Instead of having 1 or 2 jars of pickles, have 3 jars. Instead of having 2 or 3 cans of ravioli, have 4 or 5. Instead of having 10 pounds of rice, have 30 pounds, instead of having 1 jar of honey, keep 2 or 3 in stock.
On top of that, I keep a nice stockpile of seeds for gardening.
I look at survivalist food preps as layers:
1st layer – the frozen food in your freezer. If kept cold, this might be able to supply most families with 3 – 5 days worth of food. The thing is, stand up freezers do not stay cold without electricity. Once an upright unit is opened a few times, all the cold air is gone. Chest freezers stay colder longer, and have some good quality ice chest on hand, like a 5 or 7 day coleman extreme.
2nd layer – MREs or eversafe meals. 1 case of MREs should be enough food for 1 person for about 6 days. Each case has 12 meals in it – eating 2 MREs daily should give 6 days worth of food.
3rd layer – is your canned and dried foods.
4th layer – is your long term survival food supply – your livestock and or garden.
I would rather have 4 – 6 months of food stockpiled, and enough seeds for 2 or 3 years worth of gardens, and that stockpile requires little rotation. Then to stockpile 12 months of food, and have to dedicate a lot of time and effort into keeping that food rotated.
The only real solution to long term survival is having livestock and a garden. So why not make the garden and livestock part of your plans to start with? To me, stockpiling food is a short term solution to a long term problem. Having several months of food stockpiled is a great idea, but it only addresses part of the problem. To address the “whole” problem, and to have a well rounded solution, then there must be a start and finish point.
Starting point – to have stockpiled food for an instant solution.
Ending point – to have a self-sustaining farm with livestock and garden.
During the great depression of the 1930s, whitetail deer and wild turkey were almost hunted to extinction in certain areas around the USA. From what I understand, the East Texas wild turkey was hunted to extinction levels, and birds had to be imported from other parts of the nation to restore the population. The same thing happened to the whitetail deer population in East Texas. The one animal that does not seem to be affected from hunting is the wild hog. Even though the majority of the 50 states has an open season on wild hogs, their population is still thriving.
One of the big differences between wild turkeys, whitetail deer and wild hogs – is the amount of off spring that can be produced. Deer and turkeys reproduce once a year. Wild hogs are like rats, they reproduce all the time.
Wild Turkeys – If you harvest 3 wild turkeys out of a flock, they will not be replaced until the following year. Female wild turkeys can lay about 12 eggs at a time. Survival rate of the turkey poults (chicks) is determined by a lot of factors – such as, if there are fire ants close to the nest, and the raccoon population. Fire ants will attack, kill and eat the turkey chicks. Studies have shown that the higher the raccoon the population in a given area, the lower the survival rate of egg laying animals. Whether its ducks or turkeys, raccoons will raid the nest and steal the eggs.
Whitetail Deer – Whitetail deer reproduce once a year, and the doe may only drop 2 fawns at a time. Out of those 2 fawns, only 1 may survive into adulthood. Several factors help determine yawn survival rate – fire ants (yet again), wild hog population, coyote population, wolf population, bears,,,,,,. If a wild hog finds a newborn fawn, they may kill and eat the fawn. Hogs are omnivores, meaning they eat just about anything and that includes yawns. Does will not start reproducing until they are 1.5 – 2.5 years of age
When picking the caliber for a survival situation, several factors should be considered:
Effective stopping power – how effective is the caliber against a given target. The 22 long rifle is great on small game, but terrible on grizzly bear. So use a caliber that is appropriate for the target.
Recoil – how much recoil does the caliber have? Try to pick something that most members of the family can shoot. There are people out there that will buy a 454 casull with no thought to how well their 14 year old daughter can shoot the pistol.
Price – how much does a box of ammo cost? Its not cost effective to buy some odd-ball caliber that cost $30 for a box of 50 rounds – not when you can get other calibers for a lot cheaper.
Pistol and Carbine – does the caliber have a pistol and carbine rifle option? Lets take the 357 magnum for example. There are lots of pistols for the 357, and several rifles, like the Marlin 1894 and the Henry Big Boy.
My 5 top picks for a survivalist pistol calibers:
5. 22 long rifle – effective on small game, ammo is cheap to stockpile, wide range of pistols and rifles on the market.
4. 38 special -low recoil, easy to reload, lots of brass and good selection of bullets for reloading.
3 & 2. 45acp and 9mm – two of the most popular rounds of all time, easy to reload, wide selection of pistols and a few rifles.
1. 357 magnum – effective on deer sized game, easy to reload, wide range of pistols to pick from, a few rifles to pick from.
Special mention:
41 magnum
44 magnum
40S&W
357 sig
I’am pretty sure there are a lot of people that would like to see the 44 magnum listed in the top 5 – but due to the excessive recoil, the 44 magnum has to get a special mention.
It was on January 16, 2010 when my son and I went to go see the Book of Eli. If I remember right, it was cool night, not too cold through. To say that the movie is a “survival movie” might be a little misleading. Through the course of events the hero of the movie, Denzel Washington runs into several situations that might be considered “survival” in nature – such as personal hygiene post SHTF, finding food and water and dealing with thugs.
Lets just fast forward to the end – the Book of Eli probably has one of the best endings that a movie could ever have. Denzel Washington recites the Bible to Malcolm McDowell, who in turn takes notes and has the Bible published.
Power struggle – Whats interesting in the movie, is the power struggle. Water is rationed as a hold over the peoples head, when in fact there are underground streams with enough water for everyone to have plenty. The antagonist of the Book of Eli (Gary Oldman) restricts the flow of water to maintain a control over the people. Since the people do not know how to access the streams except by a water pump, they become submissive.
When it comes time to head out to the woods, I usually take a few minutes to think about what I’am going to be doing and what kind of gear I may need. If I’am going on a simple day hike, I might bring the Maxpedition Falcon-II Pygmy, if its an overnight trip I might bring the Vulture-II and if its a short trip or hunting trip I’ll bring the Maxpedition Noatak.
Lets start with the Maxpedition Falcon-II Pygmy – which is my favorite dayhike / warm weather overnight bag. Even though the Falcon-II Pygmy has capacity of only 1,400 cubic inches, for you ultralight backpackers out there that should be plenty of room.
One of the reasons why I like the Falcon-II Pygmy so much, its a light pack that is not big enough to bring the essentials. From time to time I see people post in the hiking and camping forum about some of the stuff they bring on a camping / hiking trip, and I just have to ask myself “why?” There was this one time a couple of my buddies and I went on a boating / camping trip on the Bayous near Orangefield, Texas. One guy brought a 5 gallon water cooler – like you may see on a construction site. Inside the cooler is where he had his snacks – chips and other junk food. Instead of bringing a sleeping bag, tent,,,,, other supplies he brought a water cooler, with a blanket inside and junk food.
Some of the stuff that I took on my last hiking trip with my son and nephew:
Dimensions:
18″(H) x 9.5″(W) x 5.5″(D) Main Compartment
12″(H) x 7.5″(W) x 2.75″(D) Front Pouch
12″(H) x 7.5″(W) Slip Pocket
Capacity: 1400 cu. in. / 23 liters
How much ammo should I stockpile for SHTF? If teotwawki happened tomorrow, how much ammo should I have? What types of ammo should I have for SHTF? How much ammo should I have for teotwawki?
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