Best | Prepper=Survivor

Backpack for Survival

Prepper Advice, Best February 14, 2013Backpack, Survival 0 Comment

Backpack for Survival

Before you can put together a survival backpack, you first need the right backpack. Having the right pack is important because, after all it will contain all the essential items that will keep you alive in a survival situation. Your pack should be water resistant or even waterproof. It should have kidney straps for securing the pack around your waist, along with ample padding. The waist straps will reduce the weight on your shoulders, and transfer it to your hips, and it keeps the pack from banging against your lower back as you walk.

People tend to overload their packs and this is problematic. A few hours along the trail and they have to decide what goes and what stays. They simply cannot handle the weight. Be honest with yourself and realistic. Your bag should be around 50 pounds. You should have about 25lb/11kg of water, and the rest food and gear. Water weighs 8.5lb/3.8kg per gallon and the recommended daily amount per person is one gallon. To lessen the weight on your shoulders and to allow more room for other items use a weight bearing web belt for around your waist. Use canteens that have pouches that can attach to the belt. Have one canteen on each side, and as you use the water from the canteens replenish from the pack. Do not carry water in gallon containers, because this makes the weight distribution difficult.

A note about water, the average adult requires between 2.0 and 2.5 quarts/liters of water daily just to maintain proper hydration levels. In extreme heat, you may require up to one gallon of fluids daily. The one-gallon a day recommendation under normal conditions considers personal hygiene requirements such as sponge baths and oral care. Do not forgo personal hygiene if water is available, this will help prevent illnesses by reducing the spread of bacteria.

Your pack should also have straps either on the top or bottom to attach a sleeping bag, poncho, tarps or a tightly rolled nylon tent. This frees up room inside the pack and distributes the weight evenly. If you do not have, straps use paracord to attach rolled items.

Military issue Alice Pack this pack can hold up to 80 pounds of gear and comes with a metal frame. The pack can be worn with or without the frame. Your pack should have straps and/or buckles on the harness for attaching flashlights, compass, knives, machetes or hatchets.

Pack Essentials

Your priorities are shelter, water, fire and nutrition you cannot survive without these. It is assumed you would have cold weather clothing on if it is cold and if the weather is temperate then add a cold weather coat, gloves and hat for changes in the weather. You will not have enough room to pack to many extra clothes, but you must have extra socks.

Socks will need to be changed quite frequently regardless of the weather. Sweating feet will cause blisters and if your feet become wet, they must be dried as soon as possible to prevent trench foot. Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure to cold wet conditions. If left untreated this condition can cause permanent damage and result in gangrene and amputation. Trench foot is not a result of frostbite. The temperature does not have to be below freezing to develop trench foot.

Water of course is a priority and along with your supply, you should have water purification tablets, and coffee filters so you can collect, filter and purify a water source along the trail.

Avoid canned foods because of the weight, instead consider Meals Ready to Eat (MRE’s). The packages are lightweight and are not easily damaged so they can be packed tight inside the bag. Each meal is roughly 1,220 calories each and the daily recommendation for an adult is two meals a day. You can also carry beef jerky and protein bars. Avoid high sodium and high sugar content foods.
Carry a quality fixed bladed knife many experts will tell you a quality knife is one of the most important items you can carry. You should also have a multi-tool knife.

Make sure you have rain gear such as a poncho and it must be large enough to cover you and your pack when shouldered. A quality poncho can also be used as an emergency shelter. Carry a small nylon tent if you have the room.

Have a sleeping bag, appropriate for the season, and keep it tightly rolled and secured outside the pack. Have two thermal blankets so one can act as a ground cover. Carry one or more nylon tarps that can be rolled tightly and secured outside the pack. Use for emergency shelter or ground cloths.
Carry fire-starting tools such as a magnesium stick, and Ferro rod in addition to matches. Have a camp axe, machete and/or a folding wood saw. Have nylon rope, fishing line and assorted hooks and tackle. Carry 20-24 gauge wire for animal snares, general bindings and gear repair.

Have a first aid kit along with personal hygiene items such as hand sanitizer, bath wipes and oral care items. Carry extra bandanas, sunglasses, flashlight, and personal protection. Consider a collapsible walking stick as well.

Common Survival and Preparation Mistakes

Prepper Best, Disaster, Lessons January 12, 2013December 28, 2012Mistakes, Preparation, Survival 0 Comment

Common Survival and Preparation Mistakes

Over packing, it sounds counterproductive because logic dictates you can never have too much, but you can have too much when it comes to preparing for survival. It is all about priorities. In some peoples’ minds, they assume they need what is currently in their home to survive away from home, which is impossible of course. If forced to evacuate you may only have what you can carry in a backpack or if you are fortunate, enough to be able to escape in a vehicle you have more options but the big screen television is not one of the options. There are things essential to your survival and there are the things you only think are essential.

Wilderness Survival Kits

People typically over pack and thus begin to leave their survival kit behind because it becomes burdensome.

Some may be confused and rightly so about what a survival kit is. Some believe you must have enough food and water in one to survive forever and will pack and pack until they cannot even shoulder the bag. A survival kit is designed to provide you the tools and materials to collect and purify water, hunt and fish for food and to build a shelter. It is not designed for you to carry all of the food and water you may need and it provides the tools to build a shelter were ever you might be stranded. Your kit is designed to take over if you become lost or stranded and the supplies you packed for the time you expected to be hiking or camping are depleted.

Stockpiling Supplies At Home

The wrong type of foods and containers.

There are situations where you may have to evacuate your home. You will need supplies for the trip and for when you arrive at a destination. People tend to believe they will always have their home to live in during a crisis and do not prepare for the possibility of leaving. To prepare for any situation you would need foods that can be packed and carried on your back. Some preppers have safe areas they plan to escape to using vehicles, but vehicles break down and safe houses or areas can be destroyed or even taken over by others. Keep in mind all foods must be such that they can literally be eaten from the can or package. You may not have time or the resources to start a fire and prepare foods such as dehydrated ones.
Prepare, for sheltering in place and prepare for the possibility of sheltering in the wilderness because your current location has become hostile. Home canning is ideal for long term survival but glass jars are not ideal for carrying in a backpack and dehydrated foods require water and preparations so have a variety of foods to suit whatever action you must take. Do not make any assumptions, you must plan and prepare for all possibilities.

Some may brag about how well prepared they are and encourage others to do the same

It is important that everyone prepare so everyone can survive and not be a burden to others but some will not prepare for whatever reason. The ones that did not prepare will be looking for those that did, some will ask for help and others out of desperation may try to take what they need. Do not advertise you are prepared because you will become a target once disaster strikes.

Putting all of your supplies in one place.

Having all of your supplies in one place is not ideal. You may be robbed and lose all of your supplies, you may have a fire or the disaster itself may damage your home. Cache supplies even if it is in the backyard in the ground or in a secure shed. Bury them in various locations so if you do have to evacuate you can supply or resupply as you move out. Cache provisions along the evacuation routes, making sure you have alternative routes mapped out with supplies cached along those as well.

Maxpedition Falcon-II Backpack

Emergency Shelter Tent

Emergency Blankets

MTM Survivor Dry Box

Coleman Stove

Coleman Heater

Emergency Drinking Water

Water Purification Tablets

Fresh Bath Body Wipes

Fenix Flashlight

Dust Masks

Champion Power Generator

Preppers Must Have List

Prepper Best, Disaster, Lessons January 8, 2013December 28, 2012list, must have, preparedness, stockpile 0 Comment

Preppers Must Have List

Before getting started, you must consider the amount of supplies needed for a specific time and then consider what happens when you run out of supplies. There are no guarantees and what you thought would only be a week may turn into several weeks or even longer and you find yourself running out of supplies. The must have list for anyone preparing for any type of situation must include the tools and materials to develop alternative sources of food and water.

Additionally, once you have calculated how much food and water you need and for how long assume your calculations are wrong. Friends, neighbors and strangers along with possible damage to your structure and supplies will have an impact on how long they last, thus your calculations are wrong. This emphasizes the fact that you need more than just food and water you must have the means to produce more.

1. You must have the ability to grow your own food for a prolonged crisis. This means you should be gathering seeds and materials needed to raise food in any environment to include one where the soil is contaminated. Foods can be raised without soil by using hydroponic methods.

2. You will need to the materials, tools and skill to preserve any foods you can acquire, by either canning, pickling, smoking, salt curing or drying.

3. Have the tools to take care of a garden

4. Materials to construct a greenhouse such as plastic or Plexiglas, and the frame work either PVC or wood.

5. You will need the tools for hunting such as long bows, firearms and cross bows along with trapping supplies.

6. You will need an energy source such as wood, coal or wood/vegetation pellets.

7. You need personal protection along with an evacuation plan if your area turns hostile and the most reliable protection is a firearm but do not limit yourself to just one type. You will have to consider the area you will be protecting when choosing a weapon. People in urban areas will have to choose differently than someone in a rural environment.

The list could be endless, but keep in mind you cannot possibly stockpile enough food and water to last you essentially your entire lifetime, so you will need a reliable and renewable food source you control. You will need the knowledge, skills, tools and materials to construct and repair your shelter, make tools, and essentialy start over if there is a total collapse of the financial and manufacturing sectors.

In addition to what you need to survive, you will need items for barter. Even if you do not drink alcohol or use tobacco products, you should have an adequate supply to trade for items you may need such as specific medical supplies. It is not recommended you trade ammunition or weapons, and only trade medical supplies if you have more than enough for you and your family’s use. You must always consider your family’s welfare first when it comes to bartering.