Preparedness Tip Saturday

    This tip is very helpful in preparing for power outages. Refill clean soda bottles with water and keep them in your freezer. Not only will this lower your electric bill, but in the event of a power outage, the bottles will keep the temperature of your freezer down for longer. Also, if needed, the bottles can be thawed and the water used for drinking or hygiene. I would recommend boiling the water before using it as drinking water. 

ILBE Rucksack Dump

     Today, I just wanted to quickly show y'all what my pack looks like when it's fully packed. This was for a single overnight trip, with temps in the mid 20 degree range.

ILBE Packing List

Top row, Left to right:
1. Kelty Cosmic 20 Synthetic sleeping bag, inside of stuff sack. 

2. 2 closed cell foam pads rolled up, tied with a bit of string.

Gear in my ILBE rucksack for a winter overnighter.

Next row, Left to right: 

1. ILBE Pack lid. It contains my first aid kit, my Coast headlamp, homemade alcohol stove, and other tools.

2. Condor Water Bottle Carrier.
It contains a fire kit, a few emergency supplies, a buddy burner, Olicamp cup, homemade 1 quart Billy can, and 40 oz stainless steel water bottle.

4. Yellow poncho. It's a standard poncho. It works.

5. Molle Frag Grenade Pouch. It contains assorted survival supplies.

Bottom, Far left:

1. USMC ILBE Rucksack

Bottom, Right side:

1. Blue sack: My food bag. Contains all of my food, utensils, etc.

2. White sack: Homemade tyvek stuff sack, with a cheap 6x8 tarp inside.

3. Large red bag: Clothes bag. This contains all of the spare clothes that I might need. It always has extra socks, a warm hat, gloves, and thermals.

4. Green sack: Shelter kit. This is a stuff sack containing a 5'X6' ground cloth, 6 tent pegs, a ridgeline, and enough paracord to pitch my tarp shelter.

5. Small red bag: Personal hygiene kit. Contains toothbrush, babywipes, etc.

Not shown: Water. I took 1 gallon with me on this particular trip. That's 8 pounds right there. I have to get a water filter.

Pocket and belt contents. I had a knife, compass, and a few other things on my person. I will go into more detail on those items soon.

So, what do y'all carry for an overnighter? 

Thanks for reading guys! And if you enjoyed my writing, check out my new book:

Budget Bushcraft & Camping 

EDC Pockets: Kershaw Skyline Review

EDC Pockets: Kershaw Skyline Review

Here's a review I did a while ago on the Kershaw Skyline. I can't stress enough how great this knife is.

Preseason Excitement

Hey ya'll, I wanted to post something a little different this time. Trapping season starts here very soon, and I wrote up a brief write-up on how it feels once the season draws ever closer. Feel free to let me know what you think of the writing style.

Preseason

            It’s the middle of July, on a hot, humid morning. I’m headed to the hardware store. But I’m not crossing off things on honey-do list, nothing around the house needs fixed. The opening day of trapping season is in 93 days, and I’m getting supplies.

            I only have a short shopping list. Last week it was quick links and chain, this week I’m after rebar and washers. My swivels arrived in the mail a few days ago, and I’d like to prep my stakes by the end of the week, but I still haven’t even cut the PVC for my cubby hole sets. I still have a few dozen Conibears that need to be dyed, and a pile of footholds that need looked over to make sure no coyotes did any damage. This is the first year I’ll be using dog proof traps, so I need to setup and familiarize myself with them, especially since they’ve been sitting in the shed for a week. While I’m here, I might as well replace the pliers that are now at the bottom of a pond where I was scouting for muskrat last month. That pond had runs and tracks everywhere though, so I should probably pick up another dozen 110’s at the convention next month. That’ll be more traps to clean and dye, but I’m hitting muskrats hard this year. It will be worth it.

            Summer is always busy for me. It’s the trapping pre-season. It’s the time for scouting, prepping, tinkering, and planning. Some might find it a bit stressful to have so much to do, with a deadline that, I swear, comes sooner and sooner each year, but not me. I love everything about trapping, and making sure everything is ready by the end of October is exciting to me. With every task that I cross off of my to-do list, I feel relief. Not only because I have one less thing to worry about, but also because that means opening day is that much closer. With every trap dyed, every trail scouted, I get a little closer to getting back to what I love. As soon as I’m out on my line, checking and remaking sets, all of this work will have paid off. Of course, actually running the trap line involves just as much, if not more work, but that’s ok. It will be worth it. This is what we love.

            I suppose I’d better get busy, I’m nowhere near ready for the upcoming season, and my to-do list keeps growing. It sure is a nice day today, though, and I obviously need bait for those cubby hole sets, so I believe I’ll just go fishing...

         

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