Posts

Posted on

Back from the batcave

Good morning,

Sadly it has been awhile since you have heard from me, but that doesn’t mean I have NRA Training Logo Suite-INST-3CSPOTbeen stagnant, I bring word from the batcave.

 

I have been busy in the field, we have completed a couple of gun safety classes. I really enjoy these classes because I feel very strongly about how important they are. If you feel that you need to own and/or carry a firearm, I believe it is your responsibility to become highly proficient with its use and safe handling. I believe you should have to show competence, not just a written exam. Just like an automobile, show me you can parallel park.

Backpack

 

My steadfast partner in crime has been insistent that we start offering pre built Bug out Bags. So we have been doing a lot of research so we can be sure to offer what we feel are the best solutions for the different type of bags we all should have. In the not too distant future you should see a selection of prebuilt solutions being offered. We believe everyone should be prepared for the unforeseen, and look forward to offering the best bags you can get. Stay tuned.

 

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry – Trapping with snares

We live in a society that has trained us to eat meat on a daily basis. Fortunately we are moving away from this paradigm, as we have learned it is both unnecessary and problematic to the long-term health of our planet. That being said, when we are in a survival situation it may become necessary to our survival to harvest some fauna from the earth. Chances are you will not be packing around your hunting gear, if you even have any, when the need arises. So this will focus on methods that use your natural surroundings and a few basic tools.

There are many types of traps at your disposal. Snares, deadfalls and pits to name a few. If you are reading this I am assuming you have a certain level of readiness, like a pocket knife and some paracord.

Lets talk about snares, the two we will talk about today are spring snares and drag snares. Of these the spring snares are the most complicated of the two.

rabbit-snares

This is an illustration of what I call a drag snare. it is designed so that all that is needed is a well placed loop of cordage and the animals instinct to flee for successful operation. If you look closely you will see the loop is fashioned with a slip knot that will become tight when strained. This ensures that your prey does not escape. Placement is the key ingredient to success. Try to find an animal trail and place the loop so that your prey will pass through it while traveling normally. Make the loop the size of your intended prey. 3-4 inches for rabbits 2-3 inches for squirrels. You don’t want to catch a bear.
spring_snare

spring snare is quite effective but way more complicated in the setup and reduces your chances of releasing an unwanted captive, as it is more aggressive. But it tends to be more successful because it uses the critters body weight to maintain tension on the snare once it is tripped.

The single most important message I want to pass on is;

Traps are indiscriminate and must not be forgotten!

If we decide we need to set traps for our survival, we must be responsible in their placement and management. Taking life to maintain yours should never be taken lightly, be a good steward.

 

As alway,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry – Big Leaf Maples

Most people know big leaf maples best for their helicopter seeds and large leaves but they also have beautiful off-white edible flowers that are a delicious addition to your spring diet.090426bn

The flowers are best harvested when the trees leaves are just beginning to open up. The longer you wait to harvest the flowers the less tender and more fibrous the flowers become.

To harvest them you want to break them off at the base of the green stem. And to eat them you can simply just take a bite – stem and all. They are also great mixed into a Bigleaf Maple Flower (4)salad or fry them up for a delicious treat.

Even though maple syrup comes from maple trees, big leaf maples are not commonly used for this. It’s taste is more earthy than traditional maple syrup. The maple syrup you put on your pancakes, assuming it is real, is most likely from sugar maples.

Wild Foods & Medicine has a great article on identification, preparing the flowers, and tapping the trees for syrup.

So, take some time and add these great little flowers to your salad or make it fun and fry them up with the kids for a delicious afternoon treat!

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry – Dandelions

Dandelion comes from the french words – dents de lion – which means teeth of lion. It gets its name from the jagged edges of its leaves and the beautiful yellow flowers that some may say resemble a mane. They are a great wild edible because you can eat every part of the plant – from root to flower. The best part is that they are probably growing in yourdandel08-l backyard right now.

A great time to harvest these weeds are when they are in their flowering stage and growing rapidly. That is when you know the plant is fresh and ready to be harvested.

After you harvest the plant, you can throw the leaves and flowers into a salad. This will add a nice bit of bitter and color. The root of the plant can be eaten raw and is also delicious when roasted.

Roasted dandelion root tea is one of my favorite types of tea and is a great detoxifier. Check out this article about the potential benefits of dandelion root tea.

It is always a good idea to harvest where no pesticides have been sprayed. Wash your greens before eating them and most importantly, enjoy! Don’t be afraid to try something new because you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

identification-2    060

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry – Wild Edible Plants Identification Book

First off, a huge thank you to Trackers Earth and John Kallas for their presentation on Wednesday. It was insightful and just in time for our early spring.

John Kallas of Wild Food Adventures gave us a look into what it takes to harvest wild edibles. He stressed the importance of choosing a proper identification book, gave us a taste of how to identify a few edible plants, and shared a few of his recipe ideas. Trackers Earth organized the event and provided the venue.

Let’s begin!

 

Choosing the right identification book

It is important to choose a proper identification book. If the descriptions or photographs are not thorough enough, the book could leave you in a dangerous situation.

Some things you want to look for:

  • quality over quantity
  • culturally/historically established foods
  • photographs of the different stages in a plant’s life

It can be challenging to confidently identify an edible plant and there are many that have poisonous lookalikes. Take your time when identifying plants and if you’re ever hesitant ask an expert. It could save your life.

John Kallas has a great book entitled: Edible Wild Plants. This is a great place to start and will provide you with many opportunities for foraging this spring. He also includes great recipes for your wild edibles!

My next post will talk about a few of the wild edibles that are found in the Pacific Northwest.

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry – Fish

Are you hungry? Are you out in the backcountry without your normal food stores? Never fear, the NW is stocked full of all sorts of options to keep you fed and strong.

Probably the most abundant source of protein rich food is fish. In my opinion, we are blessed with having some of the best native fish in the country but then, I’m biased.

There are several methods you can use to secure your share and more of fish in the streams and lakes of the NW. If you are traveling away from your home, you should have supplies with you that can aid you in dealing with unexpected events. I call it a vehicle preparedness kit (VPK), which we will be talking about later.

Fishing gear is one of the tools I recommend having in your VPK. My kit has fishing yo-yo’s, a good supply of fishing line , assorted lures, weights, and hooks. However, you can catch fish with nothing more than paracord and a knife to start. Enough chit-chat? Let’s get specific.

  • Catching fish with a few twigs – If you know where to put them, you can catch fish with just a few twigs by setting up a trap near the bank in the slack
    fishing-trap4water. You want to make the entrance wide on the outside and narrow on the inside, like so – \ /, this will keep the fish in the corral. Be sure your twigs go far enough up the bank and are tall enough to keep the fish in the trap. Now, just get yourself a grasshopper or a worm – both of which you could eat yourself. But doesn’t a nice trout sound better?trap_3
  • You can also use rocks and the natural lay of the river or lake to trap the fish (see diagram on left). This is a great way to feed a large group seeing as it gives you the best chance of catching a considerable number of fish with minimal effort. It is relatively non-invasive and easy to remove once you have what you need. Remember to respect the natural flow of the world around you or it just might stop providing for you.
  • Using fishing Yo-Yo’s – I love these things because you set them and forget them. In case you didn’t know, fish like the water beneath the trees on the shore. This is to our advantage because Yo-Yo’s are basically automatic reels. You newmechan-1285090991-18402hang the reel from a branch hanging over the water, bait your hook, pull out enough line to put the hook where you want it, and set the trigger. When a fish hits the hook it trips the trigger and the Yo-Yo reels them in – all the way out of the water. So, once it is set you can go set another one, start boiling water, or work on whatever other chore needs doing. Check the Yo-Yo occasionally until you have caught something.
  • Of course, you can always just get yourself a long stick and use it like a pole, as long as you have your fishing kit.

These are just some of the ways you can catch fish in the wild, but I consider them the most practical.

 

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

Posted on

Food in the Backcountry

Hello all,

An official welcome into the month of March – the days are becoming longer, the leaves are sprouting, and the flowers are blooming!

This is the first post in the series about food in the backcountry. You’ll learn how to pack lightweight nutritious meals, how to forage safely, how to trap, and much more.

 

Just a reminder:

There is a free talk this Wednesday hosted by Trackers Earth. John Kallas will be teaching us about foraging wild edible plants in the Pacific Northwest. I’d love to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1653305501591568/

 

“It’s fun to get together and have something good to eat at least once a day. That’s what human life is all about-enjoying things.” Julia Child

Posted on

Survival Hacks – Leaves

 

Leaves are a great and underused resource – they can be used for food, shelter, water collection, medicinal purposes, etc. – and they are readily available here in the Pacific NW.

vinemaple-fall-treeFood and Medicine: We are lucky to be in a bioregion that flourishes with edible plant life. It is important to study up on native plants and their uses. An entire culture flourished here with the natural environment not too long ago.

One of my favorite medicinal plants here in Cascadia is Plantain. You can find plantain in your backyard and it is easy to mash up and turn into a poultice. To use: pplantainlace the poultice on minor burns, stings, small cuts, etc. and cover it with another leaf. It is full of antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties.

A great reference book for this region is “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska)” by Pojar and Mackinnon.

There are also great communities that practice these skills… Trackers Earth PDX even has a wild edibles talk coming up March 9th. Check out the group here: trackerspdx.com

Event here: http://trackerspdx.com/trackers-presents

backgrounds-1423865796-NEXT_graphic_journey_rainwaterharvesting_leafWater Collection: There are multiple ways to collect water using leaves and both require some patience and creativity.

  1. You can harvest rainwater by positioning large leaves so that they collect and drain water into a container. Stems placed in the container will leave more surface area available for water collection and the water will conveniently run down the stems into the container.
  2. You can distill water by taking advantage of the transpiration that occurs naturally all day, everyday. All you need is some clear plastic – a clear plastic garbage bag would work well. While still on the tree or bush, gather up a large amount of leaves and wrap the bag around them. Tie the bag closed around the stems, making sure not to break them (you want the leaves to stay alive). Then let them sit in the sun. Water will transpire and collect in the bag. Important: Collect water from plants you know are safe. For example, you don’t want to collect water from poison oak or plants sprayed with pesticides. Stick to plants you can identify as safe and have many leaves (the more leaves the more transpiration).debris-hut-17

Shelter: Shelter is something very important and also very comforting. A nice roof over your head is sometimes necessary to stay dry in this climate and it is also very comforting to be shaded from the sun and hidden from view. Leaves make great shingles and fine insulation. You might even think about setting up a water collection system with your shelter – keep yourself dry and hydrated!

It’s important to remember the value of the resources around you and to let your creativity flow. You can find most of what you need in our natural environment.

 

Posted on

Survival Hacks – Fire good

You should know by now one of my favorite topics is fire. I believe it is the most important tool outside of what you carry. Being able to start a fire can be the difference between life and death or just simply make your life a lot more comfortable and tasty.

So let’s get started with my favorite fire hacks:

  • Empty toilet paper rolls stuffed with dryer lint: This is my favorite because of both its simplicity and thrift, it is completely free and way too easy to make, to not have one on hand. Simply collect the dryer lint from your dryer, if you use communal dryers you could collect everyone’s, then simple stuff it loosely into an empty toilet paper tube. You can also cut a paper towel tube in half and make two. These make excellent tinder.
  • Cotton balls smothered in petroleum jelly: Ok, this one isn’t free and uses new materials, but it really works well. Just like it sounds, take a few cotton balls and saturate them with petroleum jelly – I usually stuff them in an old pill bottle, but a film canister would work, too. Oh wait, we don’t have those anymore but you get the idea. This is also excellent tinder.
  • Tea lights: These are so cheap and light that you should carry a few and they have so many uses that I consider them indispensable. For example: they replace tinder with a self-sustaining mini fire.

Of course all of the above hacks assume you have a lighter or matches, they are not ways to make fire without the former, they are simply aids. Which gives me the idea – we should talk about how to start a fire without a match or lighter. Keep your eyes open for that in an upcoming post.

 

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared

 

Posted on

Survival Hacks – Know them, Love them, Use them

This week we are going to focus on survival hacks tips. Mostly simple things, but some more sophisticated. But all of them worthy of your attention and application. Some of the hacks will be valuable in your everyday life as well.

We don’t always need to shell out our hard-earned dollars for solutions to common needs. Some, actually quite a few of them can be met by repurposing normal everyday items that would otherwise be considered trash.

So keep your eyes peeled for this weeks post filled with useful hacks.

 

As always,

Stay Vigilant and Be Prepared