7 Must Have Items for Wilderness Survival

7 Must Have Items for Wilderness Survival
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If you are going out into the wilderness, you should make sure you are going well prepared with the right items for survival. Sure, no one wants or expects to get into a life threatening situation.  However, in the wilderness, anything can happen at any time. In this article, we have complied 7 must have items for wilderness survival; let’s get started!

A Survival Knife

The number one must have item is a survival knife. It has many uses in everyday activities.  In case you happen to find yourself in a dire situation, your chances of surviving are increased if you have a knife.

Look for a sturdy and reliable survival knife which you can keep on your person. Consider getting a knife which has 4-5 inch carbon steel blade and flattened back edge. This type of knife can easily split kindling, skin an animal, filet a fish, and even cut through the forest and the vegetation.

The knife can also be used to; create weapons, open packages, create fire starters (like bowing a drill), build an emergency shelter (by cutting branches or cutting tarp), cut clothing for bandages (in case you do not have the first aid kit), and so much more. Keep in mind, your choice of knife is crucial to your survival.

A Heat Source

A means of making fire is essential when you’re out in the wilderness. Your survival may completely be dependent on whether you’ve the capability of creating a fire.

Match boxes are a great source of heat because they are an easy and quick way of starting a fire, keeping warm, finding way through the darkness, making emergency smoke signals, burning parasites like ticks, among many other uses. However, they can easily get ruined if it rains.

Therefore, it is wise to keep a water tight lighter available. Also within this realm, you might want to make sure to bring a good tactical flashlight. This will help for situations you might run into at night.

A Map and Compass

Although modern technology has brought about many changes in this area, when going out into the wilderness, you should always bring with you a map of that area and a compass. This is particularly important in case the area has poor cell coverage, or in case you experience technological glitches, or even accidentally damage your phone. A map and a compass might be the only tools that can lead you to a safe location. Learn how to read a map and navigate with the compass.

Some Sort of Shelter

Wilderness survivalAnytime you happen to enter the wilderness, you should carry with you a cover for unexpected overnight stay. A cover is something you should always bring with you even if you are just planning on a quick afternoon hike.

Having a cover which you can easily pull out and erect a shelter will help protect you from the rain, cold, animals, among others. Even a simple tarp which you can throw over the branches is enough. You should also consider bringing warm covering for your body.

Depending on where you get stranded, keeping warm might proof to be difficult, but it’s essential for survival. Make sure you bring warm, insulating clothing.

Cordage Rope

While it is possible to make ropes out of the plant materials, you do not want to waste valuable time with such unnecessary tasks. Bringing with you a strong rope can be of great help when it comes to making shelter, setting traps, or even climbing terrain.

A rope can also come in handy when you need to escape, or when you need to climb out of a potentially dangerous situation. Paracord will work great for this, and it doesn’t add too much weight.

Stainless Steel Water Container

You will most certainly need water when you are out in the wilderness. That being so, the type of water container you carry the water with can make all the difference. The ideal type of container to use is a stainless steel water container.

It’s not only durable, but it can also be put over the fire to melt snow or boil water, making it safe for drinking. Take a stainless steel water container which is sturdy enough and big enough to carry enough water for long treks.

First Aid Kit

When going out into the wilderness, you should carry a first aid kit with you at all times. It’s an essential item which should never be left in the car or at home. Make sure the kit has the basic first aid items like bandages, band aids, sterile gauze, tape, burn creams, ointments, scissors, soap, personal medications, among such other items.

It’s super important to make sure you’re as prepared as possible for the situation you’re putting yourself in. You don’t need to have everything you might need for any situation, because you have to keep in mind you have to carry all of it, but make sure you have the essentials.

 

Street E&E

Street E & E
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Street E&E isn’t the best book I have ever read, but taken as part of a systematic education it is useful.

I do think every prepper needs some understanding of escape and evasion, but I also think it is easy to go too far with it.In this book, the author tells you how to survive when you’re outflanked and outgunned. Rather than clashing head-on with every problem that comes along, you need to learn to apply hit-and-run tactics, utilize the environment and use your enemies’ weaknesses against them.

This is something that can be pretty useful. However, I still would not recommend buying Street E&E until you have mastered more essential skills. It is in interesting thing to think about, and there are some useful tidbits in the book, but there is an element of Mall Ninja in the idea. Especially for us typical blue collar citizens.

There is no doubt that Animal MacYoung knows his stuff, but I think that in this case, the book is a captivating book title more than a finished work.  There are probably much better sources of information for the same or similar money.

Check out my downloads section for free PDFs.

How to Fix Loose Micro-USB Cables

 

Can't Charge Your Cell Phone
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Every experience the frustration of when you phone port breaks and Can’t Charge Your Cell Phone unless you do all manner of acrobatics to hold the cable JUST RIGHT.

The video shows how I made a simple hack to fix the problem.

Well this does not exactly fix the problem, but it does give you extra time before you have to buy a new phone.  I have used this hack on my cheap streighttalk wireless phone to give me an extra six months between buying a new one.

All you need is a charging cable, a rubber band, and some tape.

The idea is that the metal band inside the charging port wears down so it does not hold the cable securely.  This is the reason why you can’t charge your cell phone.

A rubber band holds the cable tightly which reduces the need for the metal band.  You would think they would build a sturdier charging port, but I think it is planned obsolescence so you drop another couple hundred on a phone.  With as often as new phones come out and people trying to keep up with the Jones I would imagine a lot of people would not have the problem of wearing out your phone port.  However, I bet many of those reading this probably have.

Basic Electricity

Basic Electricity
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One thing the military does better than anyone is technical training.  In the military they take a raw 17 year old and in the course of a few months teach them highly technical skills that the young soldier or sailor must do under times of great stress.

This military based training manual on basic electricity is something every farm, homestead, or prepper library should have on the shelf.

This is an expanded and revised U.S. Navy training course text provides thorough coverage of the basic theory of electricity and its applications. It is unquestionably the best book of its kind for either broad or more limited studies of electrical fundamentals.

This book is divided into 21 chapters and an extensive section of appendixes. Chapters cover safety, fundamental concepts of electricity, batteries, series direct-current circuits, network analysis of direct-current circuits, electrical conductors and wiring techniques, electromagnetism and magnetic circuits, introduction to alternating-current electricity, inductance, capacitance, inductive and capacitive reactance, fundamental alternating-current circuit theory, direct-current generators, direct current motor magnetic amplifiers, and synchros and servomechanisms. Appendixes acquaint lay readers with common terms, abbreviations, component color-code, full load currents of motors, and cable types; they also supply trig functions, square and square roots, basic formulas, and laws of exponents.

This book supplies the reader with a complete basic coverage of all important aspects of electricity. And, drawing on its ample funds, the Navy was able to fill this text with dozens of illustrations so that the book becomes almost a multimedia teaching process.

This is an excellent text for classroom use or for home study. Students will also find it a valuable supplement to courses in which theory is emphasized while little attention is paid to application; it will also supplement a course in which this situation is reversed. In addition, Basic Electricity serves the lay reader who simply wants a knowledge of fundamental concepts of electricity or wishes to study more advanced concepts and applications. 1969 edition.

Kitchen DIY: Meatloaf in a Springform Pan

Meatloaf in a Springform Pan
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This was a kitchen experiment, it worked well, even though an experienced chef may say “Why”?

There really was no reason to try to cook meatloaf in a springform pan other than my wife learned I needed a springform pan to make cheesecake and then went on a diet after the first cheesecake.

I have to use the pan for something, and I thought if I use a springform pan for meatloaf, then removing the meatloaf would be easy.

This worked pretty well, but the typical meatloaf method of making a sling to lift out the meatloaf after cooking works well also.

In actuality I would rather post a video of an awesome cheesecake recipe, but they are an item I am forbidden to cook – so I wait until the wife leaves and clean up all the evidence.

I can only write about it here because she never reads this…..

I know this is probably a pointless post, but on this website I do what I do and post the results no matter if it works or not.  I figure if I show my failures and bad ideas you can see I am real.

This may be pointless and silly but its not pointless and silly if it works.