Back in May, I pre-ordered the book “Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit”. When it arrived a short time later I read through it and was immediately impressed with the job the author Creek Stewart had done. As I was reading it the thought kept emerging that this book was exactly the sort of detailed how-to that we like to do here at Utah Preppers, but on a larger scale. As it turns out, the book initially started out as a blog post on the art of manliness blog. After receiving a good response, Creek decided to work on expanding the concept into a comprehensive how to guide.
Continue reading “Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag – Book Give Away”
Preparedness items at local Sam’s Clubs
I work near a Sam’s Club and sometime head over for a lunchtime visit. It is hard to beat a Polish Dog and soda at $1.50 for lunchtime frugality. While I am there I often browse through the store to see what seasonal items are on display. Over the last couple months I’ve noticed a few preparedness items at local Sam’s Clubs.
Living in the Past: Iron Age Reality
Yesterday I was linked to a BBC show on youtube that I found quite interesting. The video was a follow-up, thirty years after the filming of a show called Living in the past. The show itself was in effect a reality show, but not one designed on conflict, but the actual experience of a group living as a community in an iron age setting in England.
It’s quite interesting seeing a nice summary of their experiences, and how living a truly primitive lifestyle for 13 months changed the way they think.
Continue reading “Living in the Past: Iron Age Reality”
Homemade camping stove
Sometimes you just want a small stove for your tent. Wouldn’t that be nice to have an actual wood-burning method of heating a shelter that doesn’t cost a fortune, and is easy to carry around? Now dont’ get me wrong, I truly covet a nice stove for the wall tent I dream of owning some day, but reality hasn’t let that come into my posession yet.
Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!
Have you ever wanted to get real Military training for Long Range Shooting? I did! So I went to Sniper School with DOA Tactical and within 3 days I was hitting targets 1200 yards away – and that was just Level 1 training! By far, the best $800.00 I’ve spent! When the long range practice started, I had a hard time hitting 500 yards out – so you can see the rapid improvement I had. Here’s how it went.
Continue reading “Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!”
Group Stove Test: First Thoughts
Last weekend several of the UtahPreppers got together with some friends to begin doing some hands on tests to start preparing for winter. Recently several of us have acquired new stoves and we wanted to give a conduct some tests to compare how well they worked. For our first meet up we wanted to test a few stoves and other devices with the group. While we learned a lot we realized that we’ve got some more comprehensive tests to run through before we can highlight each of them adequately. But before we move along with the individual tests, we wanted to thank some of the people that helped make this first stove test so much fun and informative. Continue reading “Group Stove Test: First Thoughts”
Parents – Keep your kids AWAY from the rivers!
Last night was a pretty rough night, we pulled the body of an 8 year old boy out of the American Fork River here in Utah. He was the fourth kid to die in the local rivers in the last week.
When the Utah County Sheriff got the call about him falling in, I happened to be very close to the canyon just finishing up a picnic with my family. I immediately headed towards the canyon and was almost there when we (Utah County Search and Rescue) were paged. I was the third person on scene and was working with the Lone Peak Fire Department and several other local police and fire departments. We set up right across from Timp Cave and started watching the river for a body. Over the next hour, well over 100 members of the SAR Team and local PD/FD arrived and spread out over about 10 miles working our way up and down the river. He was finally found after I had been there almost 2 hours. Continue reading “Parents – Keep your kids AWAY from the rivers!”
Post Japan Earthquake Notes
One of the most important skills as a prepper is the ability to learn from our experiences and mistakes. Additionally, examples of others doing the same can help us learn the same lessons without having to go through the experience. To that end, I’m posting in an email that was forwarded to me, second-hand from the source. The email is from a lady whose family is currently stationed in Japan, and relates their experiences with the earthquake. What I like best in this is her own analysis on her preparedness level, and what she wishes she could do better.
Email edited for screen readability only (spacing), and redacting names.
Utah survival example in the news
There is an interesting example of Winter survival in the news today courtesy of KSL.
While these young men made an initial mistake that got them lost, they managed to remain calm and focused on survival. Creating a snow cave, starting a fire, etc. are all useful skills and as this example clearly shows can help to keep you alive.
Another aspect of preparedness is learning from our mistakes and other’s examples. In this case, if they had their avalanche beacon and some other gear, (perhaps some EDC items, or an emergency kit) they would have been located much sooner or not been lost in the first place, and been more comfortable while waiting for rescue.
Read the article and absorb any information you can so you can use that information if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
Hypothermia – Signs and Symptoms and Treatment
More about Winter Vehicle Preparedness Info.
To With more than half the country being inundated by massive snow and ice storms and much of the rest of the country having below freezing temperatures, people are at a very high risk for Hypothermia. Knowing what Hypothermia is and how to treat it not only prepares you to help yourself but most importantly, to help others. I’ve consulted several resources to try to put together a very comprehensive overview of Hypothermia. Those resources include the Mayo Clinic, my EMT Training Manuals, the CDC Guidelines for Hypothermia and the State of Alaska Cold Injuries Guidelines (Alaska knows more about Hypothermia than anybody, their standards are what we use here for Search and Rescue). Continue reading “Hypothermia – Signs and Symptoms and Treatment”
Making Fire Starting Candles
Continuing my series on Light and Heat, today I’m going to talk about making Fire Starting Candles. There are a variety of ways to do this, today we’re going to cover using cardboard egg cartons and dryer lint or cotton balls. This particular project will likely already be familiar to experienced Preppers and Boy Scouts. This post is aimed at those new to prepping who have never been exposed to this kind of thing.
Being able to start a fire is absolutely critical in many potential situations. It can literally mean the difference between life and death. Knowing many ways to be able to start a fire is an essential survival skill, practicing and maintaining those skills is just as essential. Continue reading “Making Fire Starting Candles”
Making Tallow Candles
One of the things that frustrates me in Preparedness is that many of the texts and resources out there don’t adequately cover “Pioneer Skills”. That is to say, they present material lists and instructions that include things that are only available via modern-day manufacturing methods. Often times what I’m looking for is how do I make something out of nothing – nothing being the great abundance that nature provides us with! This is very true when it comes to activities like candle, cheese and soap making. I want to know how to do it in a true collapse or long term survival scenario. Continue reading “Making Tallow Candles”