Know Prepare Survive

If you live in a woody region, such most of the United States, then your outdoor trips will greatly benefit from carrying an axe. Usable for more than cutting down trees and splitting firewood, a good and well-sharpened axe can be used to assemble shelter or procure food. However, there …

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” We often think of axes as a brutal tool, powering through the wood to smash the tree apart. Knives are the tool of finesse, delicately …

There are three items in my survival kit which I use more than any other: The first is a good knife. You can almost always use a good knife. The second is a good flashlight, to bring light to the darkness. The third is a bandana. More than one. I …

Firearms are a great equalizer. Some self-defense weapons require strength to use. Guns do not have this weakness. They remove strength from the equation and allow everyone to defend themselves equally. How you carry your weapon is up to you and your local laws. Citizens in Texas can proudly and …

Nearly everyone who lives in the American Midwest has a tornado story. Here’s one of mine: The closest I ever came to a tornado was one which skipped over my head. My family and I were hunkered under the basement stairs when the tornado came. Thanks to a large, steep …

Flashlights are just as important an EDC item as your wallet or a good pocket knife. I’m sure that if you don’t carry a flashlight with you right now, you think that you don’t need one. That’s how I used to think. But ever since I got an EDC flashlight, …

Communication over long distances can be difficult, even with modern technology. Smartphones lose signal and radio batteries die, right when disaster strikes. Then what do you do to contact rescuers? Fall back on older technology, and use a flashlight, signal mirror, or another source of light to send a message …

You’ve heard it before. Someone says that they will wake up at oh-seven-hundred, or will be finished with their task at twenty-three-hundred. It’s a way of saying the time, of course. But it’s a different method than the 12 hour clock most people use. Like many military skills, such as …

When it comes to emergency preparedness, the only thing second to a good survival knife is a good flashlight. The world is dark half the time. In a survival situation, access to light when the sun is down can mean the difference between danger and survival. Now, I’m prone to …

Anybody who lives away from the equator knows that it can get quite chilly in winter. Sometimes, central heating dies at the worst time, such as when it’s below zero and the roads are iced over. I’ve had to chop emergency firewood in the snow because a tiny electrical part …

There is no uncontaminated surface water source in the world. That may not be a technically true statement, but unless you’re drinking from a mountaintop spring right at the source, it’s a good thing to keep in mind to minimize risk. And even if you’re drinking from that supposedly safe …

  The golden standard for an everyday carry knife is one made by Benchmade. Even the name, Benchmade, speaks to the quality of the knives they produce. Handmade products are well made, but each product made varies. Factory-made products are consistent but lack the finish and polish of handmade products. …

Campfires have kept people alive for thousands of years. They provide warmth and comfort, cook your food, and can keep predators at bay. We’ve already covered how to start a fire, but that’s just the first step. If you want more than just a small flame, you have to build …

If you’re like me, you have a smartphone. I have half a dozen navigation apps on my phone, so I rarely get lost! But phones have several major weaknesses: battery life and signal reception. Both of those work against you when you’re tromping through the woods. So, just when you …

  Archery is one of the oldest skills known to man. The ability to take a sharp stick and poke it into a target way over there allowed early humans to be far more successful in hunting than before. Today, we have a variety of hunting tools. You can hunt …