Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i American Outdoor Guide

A quality portable cooktop is a must-have for anyone who routinely goes on hunting, camping or fishing trips. I also believe everyone should have a reliable, and safe, portable cooktop for emergency preparedness. Emergency preparedness is a continuous what-if and may be called to action at any time and for a wide variety of reasons. What if your electricity or gas service goes out? You may have a gas grill but that’s not especially portable if the emergency requires bugging out. For less than a $100 investment, a portable cooktop could mean the difference between drinking safe water and eating well or not eating at all. When considering the purchase of a cook-stove (or any equipment), it is important not only to evaluate if it meets statements or advertising claims…

Time management is a term that is very popular in today’s fast-paced world of getting ahead. How many times have you heard, “There is just not enough time in a day”? Perhaps you have used it yourself. I know I have on more than one occasion. In this article I will discuss how time management, or better yet, the proper use of time, can save your life. While many of my examples mention snow and blizzards, the actions described here apply to any severe occurrence that may happen, no matter when or where it happens. In the big picture of survival we have no shortage of stuff. Our problem is taking the time to not only put that stuff together, but also learning how that stuff works. All of that…

Space is a valuable commodity to a prepper or survival enthusiast – there always seems to be not enough. To combat this dilemma when stocking your bug-out bag, hidden cache or home emergency kit, it’s wise to make use of the plethora of tools on the market today that include a special benefit: extra gear hidden within! Unnoticed at first glance, many survival products incorporate added utilities and equipment in discreet locations within the item. From knives hidden in handles of shovels or axes, to tinder compartments integrated into the frame of a tool, to saw blades that fold out from seemingly nowhere, this hidden gear is valuable and space-saving. Additionally, there are numerous hats, belts and other items that feature secret compartments to store your valuables or micro survival…

Rewilding is a term that describes the idea that if given a chance, over time everything will revert to its natural, wild state. We see examples of this in nature every day. Many parts of the country are overrun with feral hogs, the wild descendants of domestic pigs that escaped from their pens or were turned loose. We all have seen feral dogs and cats. The wild horses of the American West are the result of domesticated horses being turned loose, beginning with colonial Spanish horses. We see rewilding in areas that were settled then abandoned by humans and later reclaimed by vegetation and trees. While total rewilding, especially among humans, will probably never happen, this article will look at the benefit of learning and using skills from our past…

Name: Burdock (Arctium minus) Also known as gobo root Burdock is a member of the sunflower family, one of the largest plant families in the world. There are at least 10 species of genus Arctium throughout Europe; Arctium minus is very common throughout North America. Description Burdock is a common wild plant in fields, farmlands and along trails. Someone seeing it for the first time may think they are looking at rhubarb. Burdock is a biennial, meaning that it takes two years to produce seed. In the first year, it produces a rosette of rhubarb-shaped leaves. If you’ve never seen a rhubarb, the leaves are heart-shaped, or broadly ovate. The stem, however, is not red, as with rhubarb, but pale green. In the second year, the plant sends up…

Most of the country didn’t have much of an autumn, so here’s hoping winter exits quickly and spring approaches fast. Snow camping can be fun, of course, and there is something to be said for crisp winter air filling the lungs. But not much compares to the sight of spring wildflowers blooming. Mother Nature waking up is a glorious thing and something that is best experienced on the trail. Before you head out the door, make sure you have what you’ll need in case something goes awry. Let’s face it, for all of her beauty, Mother Nature can be fickle. 1 Expedition Watchband Compass Kit It starts with an oil-filled compass that is water-resistant down to 100 meters. It has a black face with glow-in-the-dark markings. The compass rests…

It’s important to be ready for any emergencies and disasters, right? But sometimes it’s easy to forget that the average person is on a budget and is very busy with all the other very important parts of life, such as holding a job, getting the children through school, maintaining the house, and all the other normal activities of a family life. We want to be prepared, but it seems as if all the gear and products of self-reliance require us to be a wealthy person to obtain them. Is there a way for the person of modest income to also be ready for emergencies? Absolutely! Preparedness is a state of mind. And just having lots of gear – even really good and expensive gear – doesn’t necessarily make one fare…

Power outages can happen anytime, and the duration may be minutes, days or much longer. As it is their business to supply power to consumers, utility companies are quick to respond in most cases – but as millions of customers in California’s more rural areas have discovered, power companies will intentionally shut off the flow of electricity for days at a time in the name of public safety. Utility companies recommend personal power generation as a critical part of a preparedness plan, and this is especially crucial for families that include someone with medical issues that depend on devices reliant on electrical energy – be it an electrically powered oxygen concentrator or a refrigerator for insulin. SIZE MATTERS Large standby generators are employed by hospitals, municipal buildings, public safety departments,…

For every pound of human on the planet there are nearly 300 pounds of insects – that’s a lot of bugs! Insects are just about everywhere, and they can truly bug you when you’re deep in the backwoods or having a picnic in your backyard. From mildly annoying to stress-inducing and irritating, the buzzing and biting of flies, mosquitoes and the stinging from bees can make any situation, survival or otherwise, much worse. Insects can also bring to you more than just an uncomfortable time outside. They can carry and transmit serious diseases, cause respiratory and other medical issues to those allergic and in many areas throughout the world, be the number one cause of death. The key to battling these tiny attackers of your tender skin is to be…

It all hangs by the flimsiest of threads. We believe ourselves to be a civilized, urbane lot. We go about our lives interacting socially and commercially, all working collectively to keep the hive thriving. Money moves, goods flow and information ties everything together. Right up until it doesn’t. Our tidy little world is awfully crowded, and we’re never more than a headline away from pure unfiltered chaos. Social unrest, currency collapse, the disintegration of our unstable power grid, natural disasters, terrorism or one of myriad other possible end-game scenarios can move large numbers of Americans en masse. When the balloon goes up, it really doesn’t matter how awesome your gear might be. If you are sharing the roads with a zillion other terrified families, it is still going to suck.…

What are the physical attributes of the ideal survival arm? Bugging out is a dynamic event defined by mobility, uncertainty, danger and chaos. A gun to pack for such an eventuality therefore needs to be compact, light, dependable and portable. Whether the weapon is tucked in a vehicle or slung across your chest, it needs to be sufficiently tidy as to not become an encumbrance. The gun needs to be an effective social tool that can do double duty as a hunting arm. The best survival weapon is the one you never have to shoot. If life really goes sideways you want to look scarier than the next guy. Whether it is dissuading feral animals or dropping the errant whitetail, a proper survival gun also needs to pack enough downrange…

Dana Benner’s article about “re-wilding” ourselves to be ready for catastrophic changes to our way of life got me thinking, as I hope it did you. He makes a good point about the need and benefits of learning to do things without modern conveniences. There’s nothing really earth-shattering about what he suggests because, aside from our modern expectations and practices, we’re not that far removed from what we consider a primitive lifestyle. In fact much of the rest of the world goes about their daily business having never known or experienced the benefits of many of the devices and conveniences most of us take for granted. Luxuries like being able to travel for hundreds of miles at a time, alone and in the quiet temperature-controlled comfort of a personal automobile…