Outdoor Life — The Source for Hunting and Fishing Adventure

If you spend as much time outside as I do, sooner or later you’ll get caught in the rain. So what can you do when the weather turns foul, and you forgot your rain gear at home?

Trash Bag Poncho

The basic and multi-use trash bag is a hero when it comes to survival tasks. Lay a trash bag in a hole and catch the rain. Cover the roof of your shelter with it to minimize leaks. If it’s the standard black trash bag, you can even use it to melt snow for drinking water. [ Read Full Post ]

The art and trade of well digging has almost been forgotten by modern people. This is an unfortunate loss, because wells have historically been the center point for so many farms and towns, especially in the drier parts of the world.

While it is neither safe nor practical to suggest that novices in an emergency could dig their own well to find water, it does make sense to use a version of the classic well.

If we have a fresh water source that is muddy, stagnant or otherwise afflicted, we can dig a “Gypsy Well” to help clarify that surface water. This water filtration technique does not filter out contaminants, but it can filter larger particles from the water which makes most water disinfection techniques work better. This rough form of filtration of the water will make it look better and taste better. [ Read Full Post ]

Although the WetFire Fire Starting Tinder is not a new product, I am often surprised by the number of folks who have never heard of it, or at least never tried it.

Quite frankly, I love these things. The WetFire product is very lightweight; easy to ignite; and it is long lasting in both burn time and storage life. Each cube weighs just .16 ounces, and is capable of burning up to ten minutes at temperatures around 1300 F. They work in wet and windy conditions with ease. They even float and keep burning while floating in water. [ Read Full Post ]

The idea behind every-day-carry (EDC) gear is to not get caught with your pants down: Regardless of the scenario, you have something in your hands to work with. You might not always have the perfect tool for the situation, but at least you have something for when Murphy draws your name out of his hat.

So why not take a second to prepare for success and continued survival, by adding useful gear to something that almost everyone carries—a keyring.

For starters, you should have a light source. Whether you are in the country or the big city, nighttime can create a variety of problems for those who do not have light. A small flashlight on your ring can come in rather handy when the lights go off. [ Read Full Post ]

When you’re prepping for disaster or stocking your backwoods camp, you always need to have sufficient lighting sources on your gear list. Light sticks, candles and flashlights are good, but what about something that is fuel efficient and works in all weather?

That’s where oil lamps come into play, my favorite being the lightweight Dietz Original lamp. This classic lamp works indoors and outdoors, through wind and rain. At 10½ inches tall and weighing 2¼ pounds empty, this little lamp’s 8-ounce fuel capacity provides an 11-hour burn time. The heat output is around 900 BTUs per hour, and it puts out an average of 7 candle power with a half inch of burning wick exposed. [ Read Full Post ]

If you cut out all of the bells, whistles and tongue depressors from the average first aid kit, it begs the question, “What should be in there?”

What do you really need when the chips are down? What kind of medical gear do you need for the most common outdoor injuries? In the first part of this two-part post, we are going to look at the basic hardware of a good medical kit. Then, in the follow up, we’ll dip into the necessary medicines to keep you going until you can get to the doctor.

1.) Non-stick dressings: These versatile bandages are critical for bleeding control, and for applying pressure to open wounds and snake bites. You can even use them as emergency fire starting tinder. [ Read Full Post ]

Liquid bread. That’s what some have called beer. It’s a drink with life sustaining calories. Just ask Clifton Vial, who survived -17 degree temperatures by eating canfuls of frozen beer when his truck went into a snow drift near Nome, Alaska last December. If that doesn’t sound impressive enough, consider that our ancestors have been brewing for the past 10,000 years, in an effort to create a consumable item that lasted longer than other foods and provided a drinking source in which no human pathogens can survive.

Since ancient times, people have recognized that the consumption of alcoholic drinks was a way of avoiding water-borne diseases such as cholera. Beer was also frequently used on wounds as a disinfectant, and even as a sterile bath water for baby’s first bath. Sounds nice. [ Read Full Post ]