Faraday Shields

Everybody throws around the term Faraday shields or Faraday cages, but let’s be specific about what it is and how it is a must item for preppers.

Named after an expert in electricity, Mr. Faraday, the Faraday shield is a highly important item that is easy to build and vital for the protection of your delicate electronic equipment like radios.

Modern electronics, like a walkie talkie or the ignition system in your new car,* operate at very low voltages inside the box of circuits. The electronic parts inside, like chips or integrated circuits, can not survive large electrical pulses—conditions as simple as high static electricity and as complex as strong electric fields and especially EMP pulses like that from an atomic explosion or CME radiation from a storm on the Sun. Delicate electronics, and that means everything today, must be protected from strong electric fields. One exposure to a big discharge or pulse, and POOF your extensive collection of radios are turned into junk.

Whatever item you have that has delicate low-voltage parts inside—radios, cel telephones, bugs and bug sniffers, televisions, video and digital cameras, and computers and the like—must be protected. Dangerous pulses travel through the air like radio waves, are invisible, and not detectable in advance. You will not feel them. You can not reliably guess when pulses may come; they travel near the speed of light and provide no advance warning. Thus, you must store your electronic items inside a Faraday shield.**

How Faraday Shields are made

A Faraday shield can easily be made by you at home. The goal is to make a box of metal that completely encloses all the delicate items you have. A simple example is to build a frame of wood or metal, say a two foot cube, and wrap that frame totally in copper window screen, the copper kind of screen that keeps flies out of your home windows. Include an opening lid. Tightly nail or clamp all joints so there are no gaps in the screen. Be sure the lid closes and makes tight contact around its edges with the screen around it. Attach a AWG 16 copper wire tightly to the screen to create a ground wire (long enough to attach to a ground rod).

The result you want is to have the screen block incoming pulse. You put your electronics inside the shield and leave them there. You may use a small wire to penetrate the shield to use to charge up the batteries while in the shield cage, but making any opening must be very small and sealing around it is necessary. The shield can be stored anywhere dry.

Test your Faraday shield by putting a walkie talkie inside the shield with it on receive. That is, the walkie talkie should be making background noise. Nearby, transmit with another walkie talkie to see if the one in the shield receives the signal. If the radio inside the shield hears nothing, your Faraday cage is done. You can also use a portable AM radio, tuned to a station. If the AM radio stops playing when inside, then the shield is ok. The grounding of the cage is an added step sometimes not necessary but a precaution.

Some preppers will use a new metal garbage can as a Faraday shield. That should work good if the lid makes total electrical contact with the can all around the edges. The point is to enclose the electronics completely with metal.

You could wrap individual items in metal, like the copper screen but not thin foil, but because the item must be totally covered, it will not function. A prepper may think he could wrap the body of his walkie talkie, but with the antenna sticking out, the radio will be killed by the kinds of pulse we are talking about.

Old tube-style radios and very old cars or trucks are less delicate for pulse attack. Those items have their own draw-backs as you should know, but at least they have a fighting chance of surviving pulse.

There is no escaping the damaging effects of pulse unless you are underground or in a shielded building. You will just have to have a Faraday shield to prepare for that awful future day which we all pray will never happen.

—

*Modern vehicles, your car or truck, have electronic ignitions and other wiring that is in danger of being knocked out from an electrical pulse. Most studies say that the car will be completely disabled—it dies, it will not start, it will not run—and the damage is permanent. The car battery will still be useful, but the car is dead. Shielding a vehicle is not easy; it would involve placing it inside a Faraday shield that totally encloses it—top, bottom, and all sides. Too, if the vehicle is in use and is hit, you can strip it for parts, but its electronics are fried forever.

Some concern needs to address your motor generator, the thing that has a gasoline motor that generates 120 volts of AC that can run your appliances. Like a non-electronic motorcycle, a generator is very simple and not likely to be affected by pulse. However, attached electric extension cords can act as antenna to feed pulse back to the generator, so it is better to have it unplugged and turned off to be super safe. See the irony noted below.

**An ironic fact is that if your electronic device is IN USE and thus out of your Faraday shield, it will be damaged. This fact provides the prepper with a real dilemma. Inside the shield, the items will not function. Outside the shield and in use, the items are in danger of pulse destruction. Thus, it helps to have back-up copies of your electronics, one inside the shield and one in use. It is highly unlikely you will receive more than one pulse, so once the pulse flashes, you can take all the gadgets out for full use.

CMEs from the Sun do give warnings which scientists can tell people about. However, the damage of huge CMEs is so great that storing electronics immediately upon any warning is a very good idea.

Access the Outernet with Lantern

Being prepared begins with being informed. Until now, there has been no way to reliably receive information in the event of a disaster that compromises terrestrial networks. This could happen from a natural disaster or military conflict that destroys the physical infrastructure, a cyber attack, or censorship of information analagous to what happened in Egypt during the Arab Spring or when Turkey blocked Twitter. Fortunately, we have created Outernet, a satellite-based broadcast system delivering critical information to the entire world for free.

Here are some features of Outernet that make it an absolutely critical addition to your disaster kit:

Completely independent of terrestrial disaster interference

Outernet is satellite-based, so Earth-based disaster would not affect our ability to broadcast. Similarly, we have several transponders based all over the world, so any one transponder going down would not affect the viability of the system. Outernet also pulls content from hundreds of continuously updated sources, so the information we distribute is not centralized.

Lantern is solar-powered, compact, and can charge your device

In standby mode, Lantern (Outernet’s first receiver) continuously receives information from small satellites in orbit that pass overhead at regular intervals. This is a low-power state, giving Lantern extended battery life. To use the information on Lantern, turn its Wi-Fi hotspot on and connect. Lantern’s solar panels can be used to charge Lantern and Lantern can plug into your device to charge it as well. For the next three days, our first receiver called “Lantern” is available for pre-order on IndieGoGo. We raised our goal of $200,000 in just five days and now, at the end of our campaign, we are trying to reach $500,000 to let us increase our broadcast bandwidth from 2 MB/day to 10 MB/day. We also publish plans to let anyone build their own receiver.

All information is completely anonymous

Because of the way information is delivered over Outernet – a one-way data broadcast – it is impossible for user behavior to be tracked. It is not a question of us protecting your privacy and then getting a subpoena forcing us to turn over your information – we can’t. Think of how a radio station could not track what songs you listen to on your radio.

Here is how it works:

To go back to the radio analogy, Outernet is a lot like FM radio except we broadcast information instead of music. We use radio waves, just at a different frequency from FM radio. Instead of using radio towers, we use satellites. Just like a FM radio, a Lantern or homemade receiver turns the radio waves into information. An FM radio turns them into songs, Lantern turns them into files. An FM radio then uses speakers to create sound, which is heard by your ears. Lantern uses a Wi-Fi hotspot that your phone, tablet, computer, or other Wi-Fi-capable device listens too.

By purchasing a Lantern, you are not only adding a cutting edge piece of communication technology to your disaster kit, you are supporting Outernet. Right now, 4.3 billion people on Earth do not have Internet access. That is another way of saying that over half of humanity cannot access the largest library ever built. Imagine what we could accomplish if everyone on Earth could get an education, read the news, and reach their intellectual potential. What great things would we accomplish?

Bartering for Survival in a Post-Collapse Society

It’s easy for people to think they don’t need to worry about preparing for a disaster because they have the financial resources to carry them through tough times. They’ve become accustomed to relying on money to take care of their problems, assuming their finances will help them weather any storm. What about bartering?

The truth is, no amount of money will protect you if the U.S. suffers a total financial collapse, something many experts believe could happen in the near future. Peak oil, currency collapse, an EMP attack—any number of events could easily bring the country to its knees, decimating our savings or keeping them locked up in banks for months or even years. There’s also the very real possibility of inflation making our currency virtually worthless.

No matter how fat (or slim) your bank account may be, it’s critical to recognize there may come a day when currency is unavailable and/or completely useless. If our economic system collapses, it’s likely that the goods we’ve stockpiled and the skills we possess will be the only things that hold any real value. In this situation, many of us will have to barter these goods and skills to survive.

To see this in action, you don’t have to look farther than Greece, where many now rely on bartering after the country’s economy came crashing down in 2015.

“In Greece there’s a major liquidity problem,” butcher Thodoris Roussos said in a recent New York Times article. Roussos trades his meat for items like tires, part of an online bartering system that’s helped him stay afloat during the crisis. “People are finding it more convenient to trade because money is not readily available,” he adds.

Of course, there’s no guarantee we’ll have the Internet or even electricity in a post-collapse society, so protecting yourself in such an event means two things. First, you need to make sure you have the necessary supplies for your family’s survival. Then you’ll want to stockpile additional supplies for bartering.

For your personal stockpile, start by storing enough food and water for your family for 72 hours. Once you have that, you can graduate to storing enough for one month, three months, six months, one year and even longer. You’ll also want to collect as many non-food items as possible, such as clothing, blankets, flashlights and batteries. It’s important to stockpile these items in at least two locations, in case you’re forced to flee your home.

When you’ve covered your own family’s needs, you can start stockpiling items and acquiring skills likely to help in a post-collapse society where bartering is the only form of commerce.

Which items should you hoard for bartering? The list is limitless, but you’ll do better to focus on those items that will give you the biggest return on your investment. That is, choose items with a long shelf life that are likely to be very valuable later compared to their current cost.

The most valuable items in a post-collapse society will likely be food and water. However, trading any extra essentials from your stockpile is risky, given that we won’t know how long it will be before we can buy those items in stores again (if ever). Instead, you’ll be better off stockpiling things that others haven’t but will be in high demand, like coffee, cigarettes, alcohol and candy.

Some other items that could be valuable include:

• Gasoline and oil
• Soap
• Candles
• Tools, nails and other hardware
• Reading glasses
• Personal hygiene products
• Toilet paper and paper products
• Medicines
• Lighters, matches and other fire starters
• Flashlights and batteries
• Paracord
• Clothing
• A wide variety of non-GMO seeds.

In addition to supplies, you’ll want to consider which skills you currently have or would like to develop that would be useful in a post-collapse society. These may include:

• Medical services
• Hunting
• Farming
• Construction and carpentry
• Welding
• Blacksmithing
• Sewing
• Gun repair
• Small engine repair
• Appliance repair.

Finally, it’s critical that you take steps to protect what you’ve stockpiled. That means making sure you’ve stored up enough weapons to protect your store, and never revealing the extent of your supplies to those you barter with. If you do, you run the risk of getting robbed.

We need only look at what people endured during the 20^th century’s world wars to see that when supplies get tight, people have little regard for the law or human life. In this kind of situation, you simply can’t rely on money. You’ll only have your wits, your skills and whatever you had the forethought to store ahead of time.

7 Things You Would Need If Your Home Lost Power Right Now

For most of us, power outages are a bothersome short lived event. But what happens when we experience outages that last several days or a week? Statistically speaking, there is more need to be prepared for power outages now than in years past. According to recent articles published in climatecentral.org and energyblogs.com, power outages have doubled (on average) every five years. It’s no surprise that 80 percent of all outages are caused by weather events such as storms, ice, hurricanes and tornadoes. With power outages on the rise, it’s time to talk about being prepared for those times when the power goes out. Before we continue through this article, I want you to do something that will help your perspective. Get a flashlight, pen and paper. Place the pen and paper on your dining room table along with your fully charged laptop or smart phone that you are reading this article on. Go shut off the main power breaker to your home. If you don’t know how to examine and identify breakers on your electrical box, you have one action item for your list already. With your home mostly dark and silent, let’s talk about 7 things you would want to have if your home lost power right now.  

Light

• You will need to have flashlights available at the very least. If you have small children, you already know that they are fascinated by flashlights but haven’t quite grasped the concept of batteries not lasting forever. Keep a few emergency flashlights around that will not fall victim to a curious toddler. One flashlight per adult family member is a good idea. Most department and hardware stores will carry a large enough selection of flashlights to make your head spin. Get extra batteries while you are at it. An LED lantern is a nice addition to your kit. Candles and lanterns work as well. Be sure to consider key safety issues when using open flames for light, heat or cooking.

Water

• For humans, several days without water creates a big problem. Consider keeping one gallon of water per person per day stashed for drinking and cooking. If you have three people living in your household and would like to be prepared for a five day power outage, you will need 15 gallons of water. Clean water in sealed containers can be purchased at your local department store. Larger containers for preserving water can be purchased online at preparedness outlets.

Warm blankets and clothes

• Depending on the climate you live in, heat for your home may be a convenience or a critical necessity. If you have a fireplace, be sure you know how to safely use it if your electric heat becomes unavailable. Outdoor and camping stores carry various propane heaters. Be sure to get familiar with how to safely use your chosen heater in the event of a power interruption. Some heaters are not designed to be used in a confined area. Failure to observe basic safety guidelines (usually listed in the documentation that came with the heater) can result in personal injury or death due to fire or CO2 emissions. Aside from producing more heat, having extra blankets and warm clothing for such emergencies will go a long way. Additional blankets and heat retaining clothes can be purchased at a department store. If one member of the family enjoys making custom clothing or blankets tailored to your needs, materials can be purchased at a store like Joann’s Fabrics. They can also can be ordered online at supply sites like www.yourfleece.com. This provides you with the flexibility to make items that suit your specific needs perfectly. Each family member should have an extra blanket in addition to normal bedding. A warm sweater, hat and socks will make life in a colder home much more bearable. Adjust these suggestions to your climate.  

Emergency food and cooking equipment

• Obtain a small camping stove and an ample food supply that will store well. Canned or dried foods work exceptionally well during power outages. Simply multiply how many meals you will need for your household each day times the number of days you would like to be prepared for. You may be surprised to find that many grocery stores are now carrying food that is specially packaged with long term storage and simple preparation in mind. A visit to your nearest army surplus store will undoubtedly turn up emergency food rations that can be purchased ready to store in the pantry. Online emergency food suppliers such as www.foodstorage.com offer the widest range of choices. 

Personal medications

• This is a key item that will change drastically from household to household. Consult your doctor for emergency supplies of medications such as insulin or other must have prescriptions that you can not live without. A little planning in this area will prevent personal medication needs from becoming a life threatening emergency. Over the counter medications and emergency supplies such as ibuprofen, aspirin and anti-diarrhea medication can keep small issues from becoming a major inconvenience.  

Prepare your freezer.

• Your freezer may already be a great preparedness asset with just a few inexpensive additions. Besides the food that is already stored in your freezer, place water bottles in every unused space so that they will freeze and provide your goods with cold ice for days after a power outage. Besides helping the food in your freezer to keep longer, you are storing that much more clean water. In the event of a power outage, drape a spare sleeping bag over the freezer. The added insulation will keep food longer so long as family members avoid getting the sleeping bag caught in the door when closing the freezer.

Hand crank weather radio

• Will you survive without a radio during a power outage? Of course you will. But these radios with a hand crank to charge them can really be a sanity saver. Weather reports and local news may keep you informed as to when the power may come back on. You may be surprised at how kids who once shunned such archaic forms of entertainment may suddenly grow to treasure the voices that come out of that little magical box. Hand crank radios do not require batteries. While these radios used to be a novelty item, they can now be obtained at most department stores as well as preparedness sites online.

After considering the basic items that you will need in the event of a power outage, your note pad should have some action items listed that need your attention. Before you get up and turn the main breaker back on to your house, list any other items that you feel are needed in the event of an extended power interruption. Don’t forget to add a few items that are purely for the morale of your family. A deck of playing cards, coffee grinds, wet wipes and munchies are not essential for survival but do contribute to your family being safe and sane when the power does come back on.

Cool Survival Tips

No one wants to imagine something going wrong during exciting travel or vacations, but it’s an unfortunate fact that sometimes accidents happen and we find ourselves caught with limited resources in the wilderness for a few days. These events don’t have to be catastrophic, though, and with a little foreknowledge, you can face up to any challenge. Here are ten cool survival tips we found that anyone can do!

*Here is a link to a broader list of essential survival tips

 Finding Kindling

• To start a fire, you need kindling – logs and branches will not start to burn easily on their own. Kindling in the wild, however, is not hard to find at all. Dry pine needles make excellent kindling, as well as the wispy seeds from a thistle plant. Some fungi that grows on fallen dead trees can also be fibrous and easy to burn. For this, look for Coal Fungus (like little black lumps of coal) or Horse’s Hoof Fungus (named for it’s shape and similarity in appearance to a horse’s hoof). These can be used to help start your fire, providing warmth, light, signal, and a way to cook.

Keeping Warm with Foliage

• Warmth is important – hypothermia can be deadly. If you find yourself lost during the cooler months, you can help insulate yourself by stuffing dry – must be dry, this is important! – leaves between layers of clothing. You can do the same between your bedroll and the ground – or your body and the ground, if you don’t have a sleeping bag – to keep off the cold ground through the night.

Finding Water

• Water is one of the most important needs you have, and you’re not always lucky enough to get lost beside safe, flowing water. It is possible to find water – especially after a rainstorm – that is safe to drink by squeezing out moss. It won’t taste amazing, but it will be fresh, and will keep you hydrated. Another option, early in the morning, is to tie fabric – like a shirt that is mostly clean – to your ankles and walk through dew-covered grass. The fabric will collect the dew, which you can squeeze to store and drink.

 Daytime Signal Fire

• Obviously one of the biggest goals when lost is to be rescued. Fires tend to have less visibility during the day. However, with green branches – that is, branches that still have green leaves on them, or are green in the stem when you break them from the tree – can help increase the daytime visibility of your signal fire by producing a lot of smoke. Green branches smoke more than brown ones because of the water content contained within. A second perk of smoke from green branches – the smoke can help keep some of the bugs away.

 Finding Food

• Food, while not as important as water or shelter, is still a need, especially if you find yourself having to travel long distances. There are a few wild resources available, however, that can provide some sustenance. The dandelion, for example – it grows in a large number of places, and the entire plant is edible. It can be eaten just like a salad.
• Acorns can be eaten, but should be boiled first – acorns produce tannin, and when boiled, the tannin leeches into the water. This water – a sort of tannin tea – can be drunk to help ease stomach troubles (such as diarrhea) but should be used in moderation.
• “Berries” are often a quick go-to, but some are poisonous, even deadly. There is a rule of thumb to remember – “White and yellow, kill a fellow. Purple and blue, good for you. Red… could be good, could be dead.” While not completely foolproof, it provides an easy-to-remember guideline.

 Cattails – Nature’s Walmart

• If you can find Cattails, you are doing great! These beauties are known as “Nature’s Walmart,” because of the multiple uses provided through the entire plant. The woody tip is filled with fibers that can be used for kindling, and the stalk and roots are edible.

 Tinfoil and Cleaning

• If you have to get lost, getting lost with tinfoil is the way to go. Tinfoil has many uses, but the one we’re going to cover here is one that many people don’t think about – keeping cookware clean. This is important because it helps prevent mold growth – which can be very dangerous. A small balled-up piece of tinfoil can be used as a scouring pad to clean any cookware or dishes. without wasting precious water. With this, your cookware or containers can be used for as long as you need them while lost, without having to worry as much about mold-caused illness.

 Counting Daylight Hours

• Traveling at night can be particularly dangerous, but there’s a way to find an estimate of how many hours of daylight remain. Hold your hand sideways, flat, with your palm facing towards your face and your thumb tucked in, the base of your pinky at the horizon line. Each finger represents about one hour – if the bottom of the sun is touching the top of your hand, there are roughly four hours left.

 Directions with Analog Watches

• You don’t always have a compass along when you wind up in a scenario where you need one. Most everyone knows the simple direction-telling “Sun sets in the West and rises in the East.” If you need slightly more specific directions or are having trouble locating where you are, there’s a way to create a makeshift compass using an analog watch – specific to which hemisphere you find yourself in. In the Northern Hemisphere: Hold the watch face up, parallel to the ground, with the hour hand facing the sun. It doesn’t matter what time it is, as long as the hour hand faces the sun. Halfway between the hour hand and 12 marks South – directly opposite is North. It will be the smaller of the two angles – the direction with the shortest distance between the hour hand and 12. The Southern Hemisphere is almost identical, except it’s 12 that you will be facing towards the sun, with the point between 12 and the hour hand being North.

 Getting a Spark – Cell Phone Battery Uses

• These days, almost everyone has a cellphone, while lighters are often in shorter supply. Not everyone knows how to start a fire using other means, either, and the sticks rubbed together we see in movies is actually quite difficult. It’s possible to get a spark using your cellphone battery that can start a fire, though. Using your cellphone battery and a piece of conductive material (such as that tinfoil, or a knife) over a bed of prepared, dry kindling, you can get a blaze going. Just connect the positive and negative terminals of the battery with the conductive material, and it will do the rest.

7 Urban Shelters to Keep You Safe

The idea of urban shelters may seem far-fetched to some. After all, cities are no place to wander around once disaster strikes. Theory says you either bug into your apartment and wait for the whole thing to be over or you bug out before everyone else.

Theory and practice, however, don’t always match. Keep in mind you may not be at home when it happens and, more importantly, that you may not be able to get home. Whatever the case, I suggest you put some thought into what you’d do if your apartment building became unavailable and you’d be unable to bug out.

#1. A Space Blanket

Can this be considered a shelter? Definitely. Anything that can keep you warm can. Obviously, this won’t protect you from rain or snow very well but, still, it’s a good thing to have inside your get home bag or even your everyday carry. Your purse or laptop bag surely has enough room for one. It’s small (when packed) and lightweight. (a smaller, purse size emergency blanket.)

#2. Cardboard Boxes

Sure, there’s also the possibility of you finding a large cardboard to fit in, but the most likely scenario is that you’ll need to assemble several of them together. You’re gonna need a few tools to do it, such as a knife and duct tape. If you live in the city, chances are you won’t have a fixed-blade survival knife on you but you might have a pocket knife.

To make sure your shelter lasts well if it rains, you may want to add an outer layer of plastics (such as trash bags). Another thing you can do is use your emergency blanket we just talked about to insulate your cardboard shelter.

This is by far the best article on urban cardboard shelters you can find.

#3. A Dumpster

Yeah, I can sense the smell just by thinking about it too, but you may not have a choice. Careful, though. If you’re too close to the action, angry mobs may want to set your shelter on fire to prove a point to local authorities or law enforcement.

Needless to say, you’ll want to clean it before you use it.

#4. Your Car

Obvious, right? If you have a properly equipped car, you can spend weeks or even months inside and you don’t have to worry about rain, hail and so on. Now, this doesn’t mean your car can withstand any adversity but it’s a lot better than sitting inside a cardboard box.

The biggest when it comes to sleeping in your car is in regards to carbon monoxide intoxication. You may be tempted to leave the engine on to stay warm but this could be fatal if your car has certain flaws. This is even more dangerous if the car inside a garage or some other closed space. There have been cases of people dying like this. Besides, you’d just be wasting fuel you’d otherwise use to get home or to bug out.

Much better to stock up on things that can keep you warm such as:

• wool blankets (wool is great because it allows your body to breathe, making it better than polyester)
• hand warmers
• hats (much of the heat released by the human body goes through the head)
• tea candles (careful about lighting candles inside your vehicle) or some other type of emergency candle
• extra clothes

#6. Abandoned Buildings

Yes, there are safety concerns if you go down this route. People might already be inside (you won’t be the first one who’s thought about it), maybe someone will come and surprise you at a later time… you don’t really know what can happen. Still, this could work as long as you do your due diligence.

One of the things you can do today is to walk around your neighborhood and spot any abandoned buildings. If you make a mental note of each, you can check them out every once in a while to see if they’re truly abandoned, maybe even go inside to see what it’s like and spot all the potential exits.

#7. Bivvy Bags

Think of bivvy bags as weird hybrids between tents and sleeping bags. An ultralight bivvy bag, on the other hand, can be added to your get home bag. On the other hand, if you have access to your sleeping bag, you’re either at home or you have your car, in which case you probably won’t have to sleep on the cold, wet streets of your town or city.

Final Word

Well, there you have it. 7 great options for urban shelters in case your home is compromised and have no way to go. Speaking of which, there’s also an 8^th one: your actual home… even if it’s already been destroyed! Provided the danger is over, nothing should stop you from making shelter inside your own home.

Ambassadors of Harmony-2009 International Barbershop Chorus Champions

Surprise Valentine's Singing

Blowgun & Slingshot Review (Video & Transcript)

Blowgun & Slingshot Review (Video & Transcript)

Shane: “Hey! Welcome back YouTube, Shane here with Lonewolf Survival and we’re out here at wild cat camp ground area. The Home of our Wilderness Survival School and today we are going to be talking about alternative hunting techniques and some tools that you can use. Today we will be reviewing sling shots, the different types, the pros and cons, the good ones and the bad ones, different types of ammo and then what you can actually take with the sling shots. I’ll be showing you a couple different techniques that you can use.

Dan and Paul today will be reviewing blowguns. Also for small game hunting and some of the different types of ammo and different techniques you will be using as well when hunting small game. So thanks for join us and I am going to turn it over to Paul and Dan now and they are going to talk about blowguns.”

Dan: “Hey You Tube! This is Paul.”

Paul: “Hey Everybody!”

Dan: “With LoneWolf survival. Today we’re going to be covering a couple of primitive hunting techniques for smaller game. Later we will be covering wrist rockets, but for now we are going to cover blowguns. These are things you can get with minimal investment and won’t take a lot out of your pocket.”

“The fact of the matter is they come in a lot of sizes, shapes and different methods. What we go for is about a 3ft so it’s not going to take a lot of space in your back pack and it’s something you can carry pretty easily. I shoot with a standard, pretty much nothing to it. Loads up from the back and sight in the front. Paul has a little bit different set up that he is going to show you.”

Paul: “Hi, mines a breach load. It’s got a chamber here, load the dart in from the back, push it up so it’s ready to shoot. The different tips we use are broad head, field tips, and blunt tips for knocking things out of the tree. These things are really good for rabbits, squirrels, snakes, birds and other small game.”

Dan: ”Another great thing about these things is you’re actually not going to scare off everything within a mile radius. They tend to be pretty quit. You’re not going to take down a deer but you will definitely eat for the night.

So, we’re about to cover a couple different shooting techniques, breathing techniques and things like that. Alright, so basically there is a couple different ways you can go about this. If you wanna take your time and really dial it in the goal is to come up and as you’re aiming at your target you are breathing in your breath. So the goal is to when you’re lined up with it to have your full inhale and then blow all at once. You can actually get a lot more velocity than you think you can with these things.”

“What you’re gonna do is when you bring it up and get it right about where you like your target you’re gonna focus on the target. You will actually get double vision and see two different blow gun barrels. That is how you’re going to gauge your center. You want your target to be between the V of your blow gun then you’re gonna aim a little bit low. Once you get use to shooting like that and seeing where your dart is gonna hit you can dial in how you personally shot to how you aim. Paul is going to demonstrate.”

Paul: “Just like that.”

Dan: “Alright. So what we’re looking at here is about a four inch spread between me and Paul at roughly ten to twelve yards. So you’re looking at pretty good accuracy at close range. You’ll be able to take down good, small game. You know, making you a good dinner. You may not be taking down a deer, but it gets the job done. So that goes for blowguns and now we’re actually gonna go over to Shane and he’s going to show us some sling shots and wrist rockets.

Shane: “Hey welcome back Youtube. So I am gonna be talking about sling shots and wrist rockets. Remember safety is always first and foremost when you’re using any kind of…

Dan: “Sorry bro, I was looking for these.”

Shane: “Really? So, like I was saying, safety is first and foremost so make sure you always have a back stop when you’re shooting. So, I wanna talk about the different types of wrist rockets and what we are looking at today. You have multiple wrist rockets. You have the folding type of wrist rockets, cross man, daisy, all these different companies make these. These are really good to go in your back pack or compact. Not as accurate as your larger scale wrist rockets and the original bands that come with them are not as strong. Now you can switch these out with power bands, all different kinds of bands you can buy. We’re gonna be shooting some of these.”

Then you start moving into the high end wrist rockets. You start moving into the fixed wrist rockets with the pistol grips. This is actually one that Crossman makes, Barnet makes wrist rockets. This is a high end, this is a Duck Commander. This is a Zombie Hunter Barnet with a power band on it. It also has a site on here. So all these different types of wrist rockets that you can use.”

Then I want to talk to you about the REAL high end wrist rockets. This is actually one that I picked up at a prep show that was kind of funny story. It was actually on clearance. I paid fifteen dollars for it. Worst wrist rocket I’ve ever picked up in my entire life. These retail at about 200 bucks. It come with a whisker biscuit, it come with an arrow, with a flashlight, a tactical wrist rocket. The bottom unscrews and has a compass in it and a place for extra ammo. The problem with this is it is very uncomfortable to shoot and this is about the third band we have put on it. So don’t think you have to spend a lot of money on one of these in order to get something that is accurate.”

“So that is kind of the layout. We’re gonna shoot each one and then I’m gonna talk to you about ammo real fast. You can buy the steel shot ammo like you can find at any of the sporting goods stores or Walmart. Or you can go to your local dollar store and buy glass marbles. These are really great for hunting small game. So when we look at wrist rockets and we think about what we can actually take with it. Squirrels, rabbits, birds, and things of that nature. You’re gonna have to work on your accuracy.”

“You’re gonna have to make sure you maintain these things. You are gonna have to make sure that the band itself doesn’t get dry rotted as well as the band on the back. The great thing about the wrist rockets and sling shots is you can shoot almost anything out of them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a marble, a steel shot, a ball bearing, a rock, it doesn’t really matter.”

“So what we are gonna do now is we got some targets set up and we’re gonna do some different practice shots with some different ones. I am gonna show you a couple different techniques because there are actually a couple different techniques when using the wrist rockets like this. So let’s go ahead and get set up and show you a couple different shots down range.”

“Okay so now I’m gonna show you a couple different techniques. Now most people with conventional sling shots or wrist rockets are going to hold the back strap against their forearm and they’re gonna aim straight down between the two shafts like this. That is the conventional way.”

“Now the second way is to take the wrist rocket or sling shot like you are shooting a bow and arrow. As I get untangled here. So What I am gonna do now is actually rotate around to the side and I’m gonna draw across all the way back to my chin here. Fire that way. This works the same with all sling shots and wrist rockets.”

“What I’m gonna do now is I’m gonna bring Paul and Dan in and we’re gonna get set up and we got a few targets set up down range. We are all going to take multiple shots at these to show you the destructive force that these actually have and how capable these are at actually hunting and taking out small game either with the marbles or steel balls themselves. So we’ll be back in just a minute.”

(Firing at cans)

Shane: “Okay so we’ve had a couple different targets set up. A couple monster cans of Mountain Dew bottles. You can see the destructive force that one of these sling shots can do at about 30 or 40 feet. There is one of the marbles; I’ll keep that one for later. Recycle my ammo. So you can see what kind of damage these things can do at close quarters. The different types just pick what’s best for you, what’s best for your hand. What’s comfortable, just try a few out. These are really inexpensive. Like I said they range anywhere from twelve dollars on up. A good ones gonna run you about twenty four to thirty bucks. You don’t have to buy a two hundred dollar one to have a good sling shot.”

“Small game, squirrels, birds, rabbits are not going to stand a chance against this and this is something that takes up a little bit of room. Not a lot of weight to it and I can take this anywhere I need to go. This is a really good alternative to carrying a rifle or a bow or something like that. So make sure that you do your homework. Different projectiles. You can actually shoot gobstoppers and jaw breakers out of this thing to.

“Until next time, I’m Shane with Lone Wolf Survival. Be safe and have fun.

Wilderness Survival Skills Pt 4/4: Gear, Rescue, and Survival Discussion

Tyler: “So we are here at Boulder Outdoor Survival School and we are learning primitive skills that can help you in a survival situation. Alright so let’s say I don’t know anything. I know I need gear, I don’t know what gear I need to get. Where do I start.”

Kristen: “Hmmm, you’re in a survival situation is that true? Well, you know, everything starts before that situation actually happens. You need to let people know where you are going. If no one is looking for you, then no one is going to find you. So, leave a note in your car if you’re going on a hike letting them know where you plan to go and when you plan to be back. Let friends know. Know the area, have a map of the area on you.

“So actually these skills begin before you even leave the house.”

Tyler: “Ok let’s say I was dumb and didn’t let anyone know where I was going but I was smart enough to bring some kit with me. If there is one thing, and maybe a few more but primarily one thing that I need to bring, what do you think that would be?”

Kristen: “I would say at this point in time a steel blade is probably the most important thing in ones survival kit IF you have access to clean drinking water.”

Tyler: “Okay so why do I want a knife as opposed to a canteen.”

Kristen: “The land offers plentiful resources to allow you to do everything that you would do with modern gear so long as you’re actually able to access it. Sometimes plants, bushes, trees, need an aiding device in order to gather and harvest and use them for purposes, like let’s say your hot rock boiling inside of some kind of container that can’t go in a fire.”

Tyler: “So why would you hot rock boil something inside of a container?”

Kristen: “Water purification is very important. Whenever you have the opportunity to purify your water you should, even if you trust that resource. Things like Giardia and Cryptosporidium water borne illnesses usually have an incubation period of 7 to 10 days and then after that you can have diarrhea, vomiting and you end up losing mass amounts of water. So to avoid this, purifying and filtering your water is absolutely important.”

Tyler: ”So I have my knife but I don’t have the skill set. I go to blade HQ and buy myself a knife. What can I do first? Where should I go first to learn how to make that container to boil water, to learn how to make traps, how to make shelters?”

Kristen: “Well I’m gonna back you up a second. Actually the first thing I need to know is knife safety. I know that it could be a dangerous move to take my knife out of the sheath if my hand is over the blade because it may cut me. So I am going to be careful taking my knife out of the sheath.”

“I know that carving towards my femoral artery is going to be a poor decision so I’m gonna make sure that as I begin to use my knife that I am taking care of what I call my blood bubble. Making sure that my follow through never goes where it is going to hit me. Safety comes first.”

Tyler: ”So if you find yourself hiking or lost, or you find yourself in a vehicle that is broken down. How long can you expect before getting rescued and what are some things that you can maybe prepare ahead of time just in case something like this happens?”

Kristen: “If you have told someone where you are going, most likely in the United states you will be rescued within 72 hours. If you have not told anyone where you were going you will be missing for a while before someone realizes you are gone. I would say a week to maybe two weeks is more likely.”

“The top Items that I would want to have in my car or on my person if I were stuck in a survival situation would be a sturdy knife. I would love to have it be a full size tang, mid-size blade up to a small chopper.”

“I would want to have a metal canteen or some other type of water carrying device that I could also use in the fire to boil and purify my water.”

“I personally like to have a 5×5 foot piece of cloth. Wool is my preference because it wicks well. It doesn’t tend to smell after long term use and it doesn’t catch on fire if an ember comes and hits me.”

“Another great piece of equipment to have is a military poncho. They are great to protect you from the rain immediately. Just put them on. They are great for shelter and wind protection. Just like a 5×5 sheet of cloth it is great for hauling material. I would definitely want to have a poncho on me.”

“Rope. Rope is awesome. There are a lot of natural materials that you can use to make rope, BUT para cord is my favorite thing to take with me. I like to use para cord that is about 550 pound weight because inside of a para cord there are multiple strands. You can attach each strand together and have a longer piece of rope that will still give you close to 100 pound poundage.”

“Other items I would want to have on me might include a wool sweater and wool socks. Eventually something to cover my head with because we lose a lot of heat through our core and our head.”

“For rescue stuff I would like to have a signal mirror on me. Being able to make a fire is critical for a lot of different reasons. Three fires in a row is an SOS signal to anyone in the world. Being able to make fire, having a Bic lighter, Vaseline cotton balls, pitch wood, a bow drill kit or hand drill kit on me. Definitely an item I would want to have. A fire making item.”

Tyler: “So I know one issue at night time is you get your great roaring fire set up, you fall asleep and wake up and it is gone. What is your solution to that problem?”

Kristen: “There is not a huge solution to that problem. Which is why as far as staying warm is concerned it is very helpful to use other insulatory materials VS fire. The coldest point in the night is usually the early morning. That is the time where we are totally asleep or really could be sleeping and our fire goes out or our hot rocks that we put underneath us are finally cold. Amassing your coals can help protect them and keep your fires going a little bit longer but the truth of the matter is if you want your fire to last all night long you will need to continually feed your fire wood. So you will have to wake up to do so.”

Tyler: “So once I’ve got my gear and I put that in my car kit and I find myself lost. I’ve calmed myself down and figured out where I’m at. Now what? What do I do?”

Kristen: ”If you know that you’re only going to be out there for a week and you need to take care of yourself and the area that you are in does not provide you with resources to maintain you core body temperature or does not provide you with a water source then you need to go find those things. If you leave the spot where you are last found, you want to leave a trail. Just like Hansel and Gretel. It can be pieces of a cloth that are wrapped around trees. It can be making sure that your foot prints are very deep and very easy to back track upon. It can even be a huge fire with smoke coming out of it that you can see. You go check an area and then come back to that point if you haven’t found what you are looking for. Then you go and check another area for those resources and come back to that point. Once you have found what you are looking for you can then move locations.”

“The resources that you need to pick up relate to thermal regulation and to water location. Hydrating. You need material that are going to help keep you warm and dry and finding water is apparel. Dehydration kills very quickly.”

“So how do we locate water if we have no idea where it is? One thing we can do is try to get to a high spot. The more we can see of the land the better our chances are of either seeing the low points where water runs. Even seeing reflection of water is possible from long distances or just getting a better understanding of how the land is moving so you have a better idea of where water might be. If I see sand for miles and I see a mountain in the other direction I will probably head for the mountain. I see grasses, I see bigger trees, more likely t have water than the sand.”

“What are animals doing? There may be tracks everywhere but when you want to look for water you want to look for where animal tracks are converging. Where multiple different species of animals, you find that their prints are coming together into one trail. Most likely that trail is leading towards water.”

“Another thing you can do at that vantage point is look for a change in vegetation. There may be lots of things that are green around you but you see no water nearby. If you look for a change in vegetation, things that are brighter green or I see, for example a cotton wood, some leafy things following in sort of a river like pattern that might be a great indication of water. So that vantage is huge. Get to that high point.”

“Look for things that always reside in water. Like frogs. If you hear frogs you should walk towards the frogs. Other wild life that tends to be in riparian zones that you know of, if you see any of them follow them. On that note, almost every creature needs to drink. So if there is animal life around, don’t fret, there is water around.”

“If you’re trapped out in the wilderness, for however long, and you take care of your priorities of survival, the truth of the matter is what you need to do is accept that just like our ancestors it is totally possible to live at peace in the wild. When you are afraid of nature it is scary. When you learn about it, and utilize its resources and they comfort you and you except the sunrises and the sun sets, you’re gonna do just fine. Resistance to your scenario is probably going to kill you. Acceptance until you can actually get to a point where you enjoy the natural world will save your life.”

Tyler: ”So what do you mean by maintaining a good or positive composure?

Kristen: “In times of duress we often have spikes of adrenaline which can be helpful or hurtful. What I mean by mental composure is the ability to calm oneself and utilize your natural energy that is going to happen in a survival situation in the right way. Panicking, yelling, a lot of anger and frustration, these are not helpful to your success. Sitting down, leaning against a tree, looking at something that you know like a bird or the sky that you see every day is going to make a better starting point for you to make good decisions.”