Wilderness Survival Kit

If you are planning a trip out in the forest, you are going to want to take along a wilderness survival kit. These kits are for your own benefit whether you think you will need them or not. If you get lost or if something happens, such as a fall that would prevent you from getting home, you need to have the right equipment. Keep in mind that you should alwayspack your emergency survival kit so that you have enough to last at least three days.

The first thing you will want is a lightweight backpack; polyester is a durable material yet lightweight and recommended for any wilderness adventures and the wilderness survival kit. The color of the backpack should be a bright color that stands out easily if someone is looking for you. The easier it is for you to be found, the quicker you can receive the help you need. The backpacks are made for children and adults, so that everyone has their own survival ingredients. This is very important for the survival of everyone, who explores the wilderness. Continue...

Wilderness Survival Equipment List

To be properly ready to venture out into the great outdoors, you should follow an wilderness equipment list that you can prepare before you leave. Any list will surely have items on it that make sense to you. However, your personalized list may include ashovel, an axe or a hatchet and a bow saw. The list is up to you and based on your specific needs.

Having a hatchet, bow saw and compass makes sense when you plan to be in the wilderness for a long period. The hatchet and bow saw can be used to create a shelter from thin trees or branches to keep the elements off you and to keep you warm. In the absence of a hatchet or bow saw, a large hunting knife can often be used for similar tasks. Continue...

First Aid Kit Ingredients

First aid kit ingredients are given in a comprehensive list below, should you decide to build your own first-aid kit. Years ago, I didn’t have the funds to buy a professional kit, so working from a list similar to this, I put together an emergency medical kit.

I had an 8”x20”x8” hard-sided old train/cosmetic case and filled it with items I picked up at the discount stores, pharmacies and even flea markets and garage sales (ace bandages, bandage scissors, etc).

I used this kits for years and there were many times it came in handy for cuts, bruises, splinters, etc. Thankfully, there was never a major emergency that required it’s use, but if there had been,
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Raising Rabbits

Raising rabbits is often proposed as a way of providing meat in the event of a post-SHTF world. When supermarkets are no longer the source for food, feeding one’s family will entail changing how one “shops”. There will be basically two choices: hunt for food or raise it, or some combination of these two.

If you are thinking about raising your own meat animals, two that are most often discussed for the small backyard farmer are chickens and rabbits. When comparing cost, efficiency and productivity of the two meat-producers, many prefer rabbits over chickens for the following reasons: Continue...

Distilling Water From The Sun

Understanding the basics of distilling water from the sun could come in very handy in a wilderness survival situation. One of the reasons why a tarp or sheet of plastic sheeting is listed on any good wilderness survival gear list is because either one can be used to collect or distill water from the sun.

This method is especially helpful in areas where it is hot during the day and yet, gets downright cold at night. Even in the driest desert this method of distilling water from the sun can be used to provide water.

The first step in solar water distillation is to dig a hole that’s about three feet across and about 18-24 inches deep. Place a pan or some type of container in which to collect the water in the bottom of the pit. Use the tarp or plastic sheeting cover the hole using rocks around the edges to hold it in place. Continue...

Solar Heater

A solar-powered heater is created by collecting the heat generated by the sun and using it to heat a building. The possible intensity of the heat collected can be verified just by climbing into a car that has sat in the sun. If that car is in the American Southwest, it is possible to bake cookies inside that vehicle just by the heat that builds up.

To build a sun heater you will need a few components depending on what type of heater you will be creating. Maybe you are ready to build asun-powered heater for your home or even a camping trip. The quantity of supplies needed will be based on the heater’s intended use.

The first step is to know how to build a homemade solar cell. This solar cell is what you will need to create your solar-powered heater, because it is what collects the heat of the sun. Continue...

Survival Rifle

Survival rifles are considered mandatory for survival because the caliber is larger. This means it can take down a larger target, such as a bear or elk. It is important to have the right caliber weapon when you are considering your safety. Gun Broker.com

Bears and other large carnivores can be extremely dangerous when they are wounded, therefore it is important that they are dropped with the first shot. You do not want to have to take a few shots to kill a charging grizzley. You better be a good shot and have a large-enough caliber rifle to kill it with a head or spinal shot. Continue...

Plants Used For Medicine

In a survival situation it’s a good idea to know the plants used for for health and healing. Even if one is not in a survival situation medicinal plants are often the best choice. Currently of the 250,000 identified categories of plants, only about 2% are used medicinally.

Some of the most common plants used for medicine, often available in the supermarket, drug store and even convenience store are: ginseng, Echinacea, and gingko. These plants target energy, brain health and immunity.

There are a number of plants used for medicine that specifically target the area of pain relief. Giant hyssop (Agastache urticifolia) is an analgesic that grows in the sandy soil of the American West where it can get lots of sun. An infusion or tea made of the dried leaves will provide relief from pain, such as that with rheumatism. It can also be used to treat colds and measles. Continue...

Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom seeds are those seeds that will faithfully reproduce after their own genetic kind. However, most seeds that are sold for vegetable gardening are hybrid seeds that have been genetically-modified to produce a plant with larger fruits, resistance to disease or bugs, etc.

While that may sound good on the one hand, what most people don’t realize is that hybrid seeds can be a threat to their very existence in a long-term survival situation. The problem is that the seeds from the fruits or vegetable produced by hybrid seeds cannot be saved and counted on to reproduce the following year a plant similar to the parent plant.

What this means is that in a survival situation if all you have are hybrid seeds you could find yourself starving. While those hybrid seeds that you’ve bought from those pretty seed catalogues might produce a fantastic garden the first year, saving the seeds won’t do a lot of good the next year. Continue...

How To Survive The Wilderness

Here are a few commonsense suggestions on how to survive the wilderness, but by no stretch of the imagination could this be considered a complete guide to survival. This is meant to be just some information to get you thinking.

For more information on how to survive the wilderness, there are a number of comprehensive books, written by survival experts, who have spent years in survival situations.

For some people it could be their backyard or the gang-controlled streets of their urban neighborhood. For the purposes of this article it’s the great outdoors, the woods, the mountains…anywhere away from civilization. Since there are a wide variety of “wildernesses” such as hardwood forests, coniferous forests, desert, rain forest, swampland, snow-capped mountains, the suggestions given here will apply to any situation. Continue...

DIY Solar Battery Charger

To build a do-it-yourself DIY solar battery charger you will need to solder the wire from back to front and front to back with three cells. You can wire the cells together for more amps (series) or for more volts (parallel).

You will have two wires on each side of the cell and you need to follow the solder lines that are marked on the cells. After you are finished soldering the three cells together using the back to front and front to back rotation, you now have to do the opposite on the other three, which will be front to back and back to front.

You will build a solar battery charger for a one point five (1.5) array with three cells. If you connect the first set to the second set, you will have a three-volt array. You will also have a wire coming off the front side for the positive connection and a wire off the back for the negative connection. Continue...

Outdoor Emergency Kit

An outdoor emergency kit is probably one of the easiest ways to avoid problems in the outdoors. Unless you have received wilderness survival training and know that you can go into the wilds with nothing more than a Swiss Army knife and survive for three weeks, then there are a few things you should always take with you.

Even if you are only going for a short day hike on a well-traveled trail, a survival fanny pack containing the items from the list below, could be a life saver. We’ve all heard stories about someone who went for a “little” hike and ended up being the object of a massive search and rescue effort. Too often the hiker wasn’t dressed appropriately, had not taken any survival gear and supplies and had not followed common sense wilderness survival tips. What had started off as an enjoyable outing, turned into a survival experience and media event. Continue...

Plants That Cure Illnesses

You may think that plants that cure illnesses are hard to locate or identify. This is not necessarily true. In fact many plants that cure sickness can be found in your backyard, or at least in your home state. There are even plants that are believed to cure cancers that cannot be cured by regular means.

Marijuana is just one medical plant that has been said to help those with cancer. While it cannot cure the cancer, it can make the sickness from the treatments go away. This is why it is considered one of the medicinal plants worth mentioning. Some individuals can legally secure this plant in order to help themselves. There are plants that can treat and cure illness that are far less controversial. Continue...

Seeds to Grow for Survival

Survival garden seeds are an absolute must for any long-term food storage program. No matter what type of preserved foods you store, freeze dried, dehydrated, canned or MRE's, sooner or later that food will run out. Not only that, but eating beef jerky and freeze-dried ice cream for every meal will get old real fast.

Even if you are not a real vegetable eater now, in a world where potato chips and Big Macs are no longer on the menu, raw carrots, fresh corn and broccoli will have a brand new appeal. However, without some planning now, you’ll be facing the end of your food stores with nothing to replace them.

That does not have to be the case. By purchasing a good supply of... Continue...

Basic Wilderness Survival Techniques

The Lewis and Clark survival schools offer training for wilderness expeditions. Even when you go into the wilderness fully supplied it helps to know the same type of survival techniques that Lewis and Clark used.

Most times when you are hiking a far distance, you want to take the minimal amount of equipment possible to make the backpack lighter, which is part of the basic wilderness survival techniques. During this time, you usually want to bring a minimum amount of food and hunt for the rest, which is more difficult to do given that there are laws governing the times of years in which it is lawful to hunt or trap.

The types of rifles we have today do make a bit of noise so it is important when learning how to hunt that you are good shot, otherwise you will find you do not have a second chance. Also, one of the basic wilderness survival techniques is the hunting rule that says that if you only wound your prey that you must track it until it drops or you can take a killing shot. Continue...

Build A Solar Heater

To build a solar heater you will need to understand what constitutes a solar heater. First of all solar works off of the sun; this means you have to have sun in order for the item to work whether it is a distiller, a solar panel on a home, or even a solar heater.

When you build a solar heater it must not only be able to collect the heat collected from the solar cells, but there must be some type of delivery system. Some solar homes use a type of collecting system such as a water tank. The hot water is then circulated throughout the house, usually via pipes under the floor. This not only heats the house, but it means no cold floors. Continue...

Best Wilderness Survival Knife

One knife that people find to be the best survival knife is the multifunction knife. There are many different types of knives, but choosing the right one might be difficult because there are so many.

The best knife is one that feels right in your hand and is not too big or bulky. You can buy a knife that has a fishing line, a weight and a hook, compass and a needle and thread. This is just one type of multifunction survival knife. You can also get a multi-function survival knife with a scissors, fingernail clipper and a screwdriver.

The solid-handle hunting knife is one that will not break under pressure. The lock-back knife is the ideal hunting knife for those that are unfamiliar with using a knife. A lock-back will prevent any accidents while you are using the knife. Continue...

Medicinal Plants

Prescriptions filled now will only last for so long. What are you going to do when that happens?

With this 37-page eguide you can have true peace of mind when it comes to you and your family's health needs. This full-color guide, provides detailed information for which plants to use for which conditions, recipes and a complete index.

You need to give herbal medicine time to work. In other words, these are not miracle plants. Sometimes it may take as long as three months or more before thesenatural remedies are successful. While you may notice a lessening of symptoms, it can take some time before you realize total relief or healing. Continue...

Urban Gardening

Urban gardening is the type of gardening that will be required in an urban survival situation. Even in these tough economic times, with food prices soaring, city dwellers are turning to container gardening and square-foot gardening as a means of supplementing their grocery bill. With a little forethought and planning even someone living in a tiny apartment can have a little garden of survival foods.

One of the easiest plants to grow in a container, typically a 5-gallon bucket, is the lovely tomato plant. Whether you like the Beefsteak tomatoes or the small cherry tomatoes, they can easily be grown on a small balcony or patio. Place rocks in the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket that has several drainage holes, and then fill with a mixture of potting soil and sand. Continue...

Alone In The Wilderness

Okay, say through no fault of your own you are alone in the woods, desert or mountains. Perhaps you were hiking with some friends and wandered off to see what was “just around the bend” while those you were with went the other way.

Maybe your vehicle broke down leaving you stranded, or your boat sank, or your plane went down. As you can see there are a multitude of reasons why someone could find themselves alone in the wilderness.

Once you get over the shock and realize that panic isn’t going to help, it’s time to get down to surviving. While you may only be alone in the wilderness for a few minutes -you can only hope - a few minutes have been known to turn into days and even weeks. Continue...

Build A Solar Battery Charger

To build a solar-powered charger you will need a few things. First, you need a windowpane cleaned on both sides so as not to prevent light from coming through.

You will need six to twelve solar cells; the number is up to you and depends on the size of the windowpane. You will also need 22- or 26-gauge wire, duct tape, a cardboard box and a diode blocker.

There are some tools such as a multi-meter tester that you’ll need, as well as a soldering gun with electronic or fine solder, a battery holder and some sun to test the cells. To build a solar battery charger, you do not necessarily need a solar battery charger schematic when you follow these do-it-yourself directions on how building a soloar-powered battery charger. Continue...