http://www.survivalboards.com Survival Forum SHTF Survivalist Blog Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:08:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-08-26/coleman-perfectflow-grill-review/ Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:06:52 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=9268 This article is a review of the Coleman PerfectFlow Insta Start Grill Stove. The unit has 2 names - "grill stove", because there are 2 burners, 1 with a stove top and the other burner has a griddle. Last christmas I added a Coleman instant start grill to my wishlist, and sure enough someone got it for me. The reason why I picked the grill was because of the built in griddle. That way I did not have to worry about cleaning any pots and pans, just wipe the griddle down and the stove was cleaned up. I liked the idea of using the griddle to cook more food then can fit in a typical skillet. With a cooking surface of 12 inches by 10 3/4 inches, a lot of bacon and/or sausage can fit on there. The plan was to use the stove top with a small skillet to cook eggs or make toast, and use the griddle to cook bacon, boudain or sausage. Purpose: The whole purpose of buying the stove was to have a propane stove that my family can bring on camping trip to the local parks. For camping on the river I have a small single burner stove, but the Coleman Perfectflow stove could also be brought out to the river on camping trips. My wife and I keep a large plastic tote box filled with camping supplies. Instead of packing liquid fuel that can spill, we decided to get a propane stove. But that is not the way things worked out.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-08-19/calm-before-the-panic-buying/ Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:08:57 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=9083 There is enough fear mongering these days without my help. With that in mind, please remember that this article is just my personal opinion and it not meant to interpreted as fact. I feel that we are in a calm before the storm. Not necessarily a SHTF storm, but a panic buying storm. From August until the first part of 2012: August and September: Kids are starting back to school in the next few days, parents are having to buy back to school supplies, clothes, meet the teachers and get their kids shots caught up. Right "now" parents have a lot to think about and worry about besides prepping. Labor day: is right around the corner. October: Halloween in October. October and November: Hunting season starts. November - thanksgiving. December - Christmas and then New Years. People have stuff to keep their minds occupied until the first part of 2012. After the turn of the year, I look for people attention to turn towards world events and the direction this nation is going. After new years I think is when the panic buying mode is going to kick in - and especially after people start getting their income taxes back.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-07-04/uses-for-trotline-string/ Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:36:28 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=8142 Jug lines - this is where some type of float is used and the trotline is tied to the float. The float floats with the current of the river or stream, and goes where nature takes it. For most jug lines, people use 1 gallon beach bottles, noodles, or just about anything that floats and a line can be tied to it. Braided cord - in a pinch, trotline string can be braided to make a cord. While on a camping trip back in 2008 with my kids, we brought some new hammocks with us, and the new hammocks did not have cord included to attach the hammock to a tree. Well, there we were with hammocks and no way to hang them up. So what did we do? I got a spool to trotline string out, then my kids and I took turns braiding the string into a heavier cord. we got the hammocks strung up and everything was fine.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-07-02/cleaning-up-the-bug-out-location/ Sun, 03 Jul 2011 04:33:15 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=8081 Today started out around 8 am with a shower, breakfast bar, and a monster energy drink. From there my wife and I went to the local wal-mart, step daughters house, rented a carpet cleaner, sonic for a cheese burger, and the local feed and fertilizer store. From the feed store, we went to the camp to meet up with my parents and some other family members. After arriving at the camp, we cleaned out a spot for my uncles RV. My uncle and my aunt got on the hunting lease with my family, so their going to be parking their RV at my parents place. We had one person on a Craftsman chainsaw, one person on a pole saw, and 3 people pulling limbs out of the way. Some of my observations:

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-06-25/how-to-organize-a-tackle-box/ Sun, 26 Jun 2011 02:26:18 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7913 Last night I was going through my tackle box trying to get it a little better organized. The problem was that I had hooks and weights spread out over different section of the tackle box. The top of the box is mostly lures and a few weights and hooks. With the bottom of the box being an assortment of different hooks, weights and other supplies. After looking through my tackle for a little while, I realized that I fish for about 3 different types of fish - perch, bass and catfish. For perch I use split weight and small hooks. To organize my tackle box for perch fishing gear, I bought a small double sided container. On one side of the container goes hooks, on the other side goes split weights. For bass fishing I use artificial bait, like worms and lizards. A bottom section of my tackle box is dedicated to artificial worms, on top of the worm is a small double sided container like what I keep the perch fishing stuff in. In this container hooks go on one side and weights go on the other side. Unlike the round split weights for perch fishing, the weights used for bass fishing are oblong split weights used for making a texas rig so the bait does not get hung up in the weeds. For catfish I use a little bit larger hooks and some teardrop weights. A loop is tied in the fishing line, the end of the loop is inserted through the wire on the weight, then wrapper around the end of the weight. This makes the weight easy to take on and off the line.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-06-21/missing-gear-from-bug-out-location/ Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:23:54 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7794 Over the past 15+ years, I have been making it a point to keep certain types of survival gear at the bug out location. Whether its blankets, flashlights, knives, ammo, first aid supplies, water filter, hand tools, eating utensils,,,,,, I like to keep a general stockpile of gear at the camp. I don't know how much time and money has been invested over the past decade alone to make sure we have plenty of survival gear for some kind of SHTF situation. Now for a video about a bug out exercise on Labor Day of 2010. Labor day was used to test my families bug out plans.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-04-21/well-rounded-survival-plans/ Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:04:37 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7510 I think there is a tendency to focus more on preps, and less on being self-sufficient. Who "really" wants to check on the rabbits, goats, chickens and pigs after working 8 - 10 hours? In todays urban sprawl, finding land to have a small farm is rather difficult as well. For a survivalist to be self-sufficient, their not only going to need fruits and vegetables, their also going to need meats, protein, eggs and fat. The problem is, for most people living in the city, having farm animals is not an option. So its a win-lose situation - people move to the city to get a job, but have to leave their farm life behind. Here in Texas, its estimated that the average people has been removed from farm life for at least 2 - 3 generations. If some kind of long term SHTF situation happens, people will have a lot of learning to do. Those already living on a farm might adjust well, but those used to urban life and instant satisfaction might be a little disappointed. In the rural areas where I live, its not uncommon to see rows of pecan trees from the first settlers. But now, we are more worried about planting pine trees to sell for timber, then planting fruit trees. Its not enough to just buy preps, without developing a well rounded long term survival plan. Stockpiling rice, beans, pasta, powered milk and pancake mix in mylar bags is not a long term survival plan, its a temporary survival plan. Buying superpails, making homemade superpails, stockpiling MREs, storing food in mylar bags just prolongs the inevitable, and that is running out of food.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-04-17/another-weekend-has-passed-away/ Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:31:52 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7491 Have you ever had a weekend that you never wanted to end? Well, that is the weekend that I had this weekend. Things kicked off Friday with getting ready for Relay for Life here in Jasper County. TJ went to Beaumont to pick up my kids from my ex-wife for the weekend, so that saved me a LOT of time. After lunch I washed my truck, hooked up the pit, loaded up some stuff, left home about 5pm, drove to the Jasper County court house square, and setup for the relay. The thing that I spent a lot of time thinking about Friday was washing my truck. Because it was more then just washing off dirt, it was washing off memories. The majority of the dirt on my truck was from driving to the lease during hunting season. So the dirt had built up like memories, good memories. Like when my son got his deer for the 2010 - 2011 deer season. For the deer hunting story, visit this article - our first deer of the 2010- 2011 season. As I was washing the layers of dirt off, I was also thinking about the memories built around the truck over the past few months. Around 4pm my wife and my step-daughter show up and start loading stuff into the truck. We loaded up the canopy, ice chest, tables,,,,, and other stuff. they left a little before 5pm to go get ice. I left for the court house around 5. Got to the court house square, backed the pit into place, and started setting everything up. The event started at 7pm, and within minutes we had a line at our table. We were selling hotlinks - on a bun, stick, or flatbread. In all, we raised a little over $600, which was donated that night. I dont think there were as many people at this years relay as last year. The weather was great, so I dont know what the issue was.

Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-03-17/want-to-win-some-survival-gear/ Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:16:13 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7271
Full Story>>>]]> http://www.survivalboards.com/2011-03-08/survival-gear-salt-flashlights-and-seeds/ Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:24:18 +0000 Kevin http://www.survivalboards.com/?p=7158 A couple of weeks ago I posted a video on youtube talking about spreading your survival gear purchases out over time. Instead of forking out $400, $500 or even $600 at a time, just spend $40, $50 or $60 at a time. After a few trips to the store, your probably going to be surprised at the amount of gear that can be stockpiled. A couple of weeks ago my kids and I went to the camp for 2 days. While we were there we decided to walk around the property at night. The following is what I like to call the "can opener" effect - its were you get so involved with the bigger things that you overlook the small stuff. During the rush to get packed, all three of us forgot to grab a good flashlight. After looking through the flashlights that we have stockpiled at the camp, I realized that we had several hand crank flashlights, but no good quality LED flashlights. Hand crank lights are fine for inside the house, but when you need to secure the property, you need a good quality light. The only good quality light my kids and I had was the Surefire 6PX Tactical on my Ar-15. My daughter and my son were able to find some cheap led lights that were barley bright enough to see the ground. We walked around the property, looked at some stuff and then went back to the trailer. While my kids and I were walking around in the middle of the night, I made up my mind that some good LED lights would be in my next purchase. Purchases for March 6 2011 include: 6 - 1 pound 10 ounce containers of salt 100 rounds Winchester 9mm 115grain round nose 4 pack energizer AAA Lithium batteries 1 - Coleman 90 lumen LED flashlight 1 pound regular pinto beans (for the garden) 1 pound yellow dent field corn (for the garden) $1 worth giant noble spinach (for the garden) 20 pounds seed potatoes - hopefully to get planted next week

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