Tabla de contenidos para January/February 2020 en Survivor's Edge

“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a stalwart phrase that rings true to every ingenious and creative person who feels his aptitude for invention and discovery outweigh his need for careful planning and preparation. There’s no need to prepare for an emergency, says Mr. Improv, whose motto is “Fake it ’til you make it.” I’ll just wing it when I get there. Although it’s a very solid theory people hold that the forest will provide all that is needed—timber for shelter, game for food, water for thirst and a bevy of many of the basic needs of anyone in a woodland survival situation—why risk it? “…WHY START OUT WITH NOTHING WHEN YOU CAN ALWAYS PLAN FOR A POSITIVE OUTCOME WHILE PREPARING FOR A NEGATIVE SITUATION?” Improvisation is a great…

GRIT AND DETERMINATION COUNT FOR MORE THAN LUCK WHEN A DAY HIKE GOES AWRY. Neil Parker thought he would be home by lunch. The 54-year-old member of the Brisbane Bushwalking Club was climbing up a waterfall, one of the more strenuous parts of the three-hour hike along Cabbage Tree Creek. But as he climbed up the rocks along the side of the steep face, they gave way. As he fell roughly 18 feet, hitting the side of the rock wall and bouncing off a ledge, Parker broke both his leg and his wrist before landing in 3 feet of water. “My left foot just below my ankle clean snapped in half,” he remembered, but “the fact that I didn’t sustain a head injury, I think, is quite amazing.” But that…

As the article suggests, there are a multitude of canoes and kayaks out there, but not all of them are suitable for our survival purposes. What follows are the ones I have used or would use. HOBIE MIRAGE COMPASS This single-person kayak is a sit-on. It measures 12 feet and has a width of 34 inches, which means that it’s very stable, and that’s something I want in my watercraft. Unlike some other similar kayaks out there, the Mirage Compass comes with foot-activated paddles, which leaves your hands free to do other things like fishing, though you can always go back to the paddle when needed. Its open deck and carrying capacity of 400 pounds allows you to carry all sorts of gear and supplies. (hobie.com) OLD TOWN DISCOVERY 119…

THE NUCLEAR AGE BEGAN IN 1945, AND ALTHOUGH THE UNITED STATES HOPED TO HAVE A MONOPOLY ON ITS NEWEST TECHNOLOGICAL TERROR, STOLEN SECRETS SOON SPREAD AROUND THE GLOBE. THE LIST OF COLD WAR “ATOMIC SPIES” IS EXTENSIVE, BUT MOST FAMOUS AMONG THEM ARE JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG. FOUR YEARS AFTER THE U.S. TESTED TED ITS FIRST NUCLEAR BOMB IN JULY OF 1945, THE SOVIETS FOLLOWED WITH THEIR OWN TESTS. THE U.K., FRANCE AND CHINA JOINED THE NUCLEAR AGE BY THE EARLY 1960S. In the 1980s, at the zenith of the saber-rattling between Russia and the United States, average citizens on both sides were pitched into a spiral of fear that the entire world would be reduced to a smoldering ball of scorched earth without warning. In 1983, Carl Sagan and…

MYTH 1: Fallout from a nuclear war would stay around for years and kill everyone. TRUTH: Fortunately for all living things, the danger of fallout from radioactive particles lessens with time. The amount of radiation received from these particles follows what is known as the 7:10 Rule of Thumb. According to FEMA, “the 7:10 rule states that for every sevenfold increase in time after detonation, there is a tenfold decrease in the exposure rate. In other words, when the amount of time is multiplied by seven, the exposure rate is divided by 10. For example, two hours after detonation, the exposure rate is 400 roentgen per hour. After 14 hours, the exposure rate will be one-tenth as much, or 40 roentgen per hour. MYTH 2: All of the food in…

Whenever I’m putting together a survival kit, travel pack or bug-out bag, I try to make sure I’m covering all the bases by adhering to the acronym F.I.N.D. M.E. F.A.S.T. FIRE: A kit should always include several ways to make fire. Include tinder and extenders such as candles to use until a fire is going strong. IMPROVISE: You want to maintain or repair what items you have. What you don’t have, you want to be able to make. This category includes tools such as knives, hatchets, saws, pliers, rope or other cordage, etc. NAVIGATE: You’ll want maps, compasses, GPS units, and pad and pencil to leave messages and to note landmarks in case you have to backtrack. DRINK: You need water and a way to contain it and carry it…

It’s important to remember that while we might prepare for a world without the rule of law, we’re not quite there yet. Do your homework and ensure that the items you wish to carry on your person are legal in your area. The last thing you want to happen is to end up facing fines and other negative consequences because you didn’t know it was against the law for you to be in possession of a set of lock picks, for example. It’s also advisable that you only employ the gear and skills discussed here when it won’t be in violation of the law. For example, if you’re taken into custody by a law enforcement officer and you decide to use your carefully hidden handcuff key to get free and…

When DMOS decided that it wanted to reinvent the shovel, its engineers really had to think outside the box. Its first product, the Stealth Shovel—a compact, collapsible snow shovel—was widely praised, so the bar was set high for the introduction of its next shovel incarnation: the Delta Shovel. The best thing about this tool is that it’s doubletelescoping handle and folding head offer the option to contort the shovel’s body into a small space only 24 inches tall, meaning it can be used in virtually any position. The blade is made from 3-millimeter-thick 6061 aluminum riveted to a 12-gauge cold-rolled steel brace that houses the receiver for the aluminum handle. The detent retention pin offers three options: folded closed, shovel mode and a halffolded hoe mode. The T-grip handle at…

Do you think that there’s no harm in tossing a piece of trash on the ground or throwing an empty bottle or potatochip wrapper out the window of your car? If so, think again! Being just a single person, it’s very difficult for someone to see the full extent of the trash discarded throughout the world. Perhaps these staggering numbers will put your simple act of littering into perspective. 2.12 BILLION tons of waste are trashed every year. This is enough to fill trucks that would circle the globe nearly 24 times. Americans throw away an incredible 28 BILLION pounds of food a year. Plastic bags are the second most common type of garbage found on beaches, with Americans using on average 500 PLASTIC BAGS per person per year. 99…

It’s one of those dog days of summer. Sweat drips from my brow as I thread a final trout onto my fish stringer. It’s been a limit out day. The other fish had been gutted, tied to the base of some aquatic vegetation and submerged in the stream to keep cool. But in the short hike back to my truck, flies swarm their flesh. One of the greatest banes of fish meat is that it can spoil quickly, so I hurry out of the water and fling open my truck door. A blast of insulated heat rushes from the cab, and I notice that the ice in my water bottle had melted. There’s no overpriced cooler with state-of-the-art insulation in my back seat, but I do have four boxes of…

You’ve likely seen morale patches decorating packs or hats. These Velcro accessories carry everything from American-flag symbolism to catchy phrases to company logos. Morale is something often missing in emergency and survival situations when everything is stacked against you. For this reason, the morale pouch was developed by Estela Wilderness Education. Similar to the medicine bag carried by indigenous people of the Americas, the morale pouch contains items that one would consider sacred or important to a person’s sense of being. A positive mental attitude can be helped along by some creature comforts. If life is all about the little things, a few positive little things can help the survivor a great deal. These items are lightweight and yet have a heavy impact on a bad situation. Each is proven…

The wait is over. Although Victorinox has offered a line of kitchen cutlery for some time, the Outdoor Master series is the company’s first foray into the fixed sports/outdoors knife market. With the same great quality and design we’ve all come to love about the Victorinox Swiss Army knife, the Outdoor Master Mic series brings the power of its solid reputation to a new market. I’m a proponent of carrying a smaller companion blade any time you carry a large knife—like the Wenger Tracker—into the field. When Victorinox introduced its new line of fixed blades and I saw the Outdoor Master Mic S, I knew it was the right knife to accompany the Wenger Tracker for this issue of Survivor’s Edge. SMALL KNIFE, BIG POWER The Outdoor Master Mic S…

1. DTLGEAR OUTDOORSMAN First-Aid Kit This is not your everyday discount-store-quality first-aid kit. Designed by an EMT, the lightweight and compact kit is not only usable by one person on themselves but contains all of the essentials needed to help you get out of an inopportune emergency situation. Weighing 1 pound and 14 ounces, it’s extremely packable—perfect for hunting, fishing and shooting sports—and it’s available in four colors with three different options for tourniquet and gauze combinations. MSRP: $100. (dtlgear.com) 2. EOTECH Model EXPS3 HWS Built for close-quarters engagements with fast-moving targets, the EXPS3 HWS is an operator-grade holographic weapon sight made for two-eyes-open shooting. The sight features night vision capabilities and an adjustable quick-detach locking lever for easy installation and removal. It weighs 11.2 ounces and is water resistant…

As the water level is returning to normal after a flood, a host of new dangers become evident. In your arsenal of equipment for when the water recedes, include rubber gloves, boots, thick and sturdy pants, protective eyewear, shovels, plastic bags, clotheslines and an alternate and trusted water source. DAMAGE & DEBRIS If there was damage to buildings or displaced debris from the storm surge, it’ll more than likely be lurking just under the water’s surface. Nails, screws, shards of glass and metal and a host of other sharp objects are waiting to be stepped on. Also, watch for downed power lines, broken gas pipes, damaged buildings and polluted drinking water. What to do: In addition to wearing proper shoes or, better yet, boots, consider including tough denim or canvas…

Unless you live next to a body of water, chances are that you’ll have to transport your canoe or kayak at some point. If you do, it’s very important that you properly secure it to your vehicle. Whether you’re putting it on top of your car or in the back of your truck, the load needs to be secure. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen improperly secured canoes and kayaks fly onto the road. For very little money, there are straps available, and it’s money well spent. Don’t use bungee cords or twine. Make sure that you secure your load to racks or tie-down points, and don’t just drape the strap over the top of the craft—make sure to use the tie-down points on your craft.…

When studying different groups of people who spend significant amounts of time living off the land, one thing that stands out is their commitment to simplicity. They just can’t afford to get too fancy. When complicated things break (and they do), they are much harder to replace. When simple things break (if they do), they are generally easy to fix or rebuild. Such is the case with tarp shelters. Although the popularity of tarp shelters has really caught fire over the last few years, in actuality, the idea has been in practice for centuries. For example, when looking at primary sources from the Rocky Mountain fur trade era, you can see multiple examples of simple canvas structures being used. Longhunters are also credited with using canvas shelters. Thankfully, we don’t…

How do you safeguard the nerve center of the operations charged with defending the United States in the event of a nuclear attack? You drill a mile-long tunnel into the granite heart of a mountain in the Colorado Rockies, making sure that the tunnel will deflect most of the blast in the event of a detonation of up to 30 megatons within one nautical mile of the center. Inside the mountain, you construct a steel complex (behind 25-ton blast doors) inside a shell of granite 2,000 feet thick, built from 3/8-inch thick continuously-welded low-carbon steel plates supported by steel structural frames. The metal walls act as a Faraday cage to absorb electromagnetic-pulse weapons. You mount this structure on more than 1,300 steel springs, each weighing half a ton, which allow…

In an emergency situation, you are beset on all sides with decisions that need to be made. Some are immediate: Is this earthquake big enough for me to duck and cover? Do I hear an active shooter approaching and should I take action? And some can be prioritized at a lower level to be handled later: Should I purify more water before nightfall? What’s the most effective way to signal for help? But there’s one decision that should always be on your mind in any emergency or disaster situation: Should I stay or should I go? Is the widespread looting and social unrest going to force me from my home? Will the flood levels from this ARkStorm inundate my house? Are the forest fires rampaging in this direction? Should we…

Probably in your cache of go-gear is an axe, a shovel, a saw and an all-purpose knife of some sort. They’re handy to have in an emergency and you’d be foolish to stray far from your house without them nearby. However, they take up a lot of room and, overall, they’re heavy to carry and bulky to store. Instead, consider combining them all into one with Aclim8’s Combar: a hammer, entrenching tool, saw, axe and knife. Made from heavyduty materials (aluminum, titanium and stainless steel), the Combar is as rugged as they come. The tools are compact to keep the overall design small, and the locking mechanism is secure enough to hold the exposed tool in place under vigorous use. Admittedly, the release apparatus is a little fiddly, especially when…

Everything is on the internet today—from the classic works of Homer to the quotations of Homer Simpson, from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal and from tips on survival to tips for picking up chicks. Of course, not everything is equal when it comes to important information or, more precisely, knowledge. Throughout history, knowledge has been power. Having the tools to build civilization, the weapons to defend it and even the words that keep conflicts from happening are all thanks to the use of knowledge. But what happens when knowledge is lost? It can result in a “dark age”—at least a temporary one. While today’s scholars don’t believe that the Dark Ages following the fall of the Western Roman Empire were in…

BECAUSE YOU’RE READING THIS PARTICULAR MAGAZINE RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE PROBABLY A VERY PREPARED PERSON, READY TO SURVIVE NO MATTER WHAT MAN OR MOTHER NATURE MAY THROW AT YOU. YOU MOST LIKELY ALSO HAVE A VAST ARRAY OF GEAR, EQUIPMENT, TOOLS, WEAPONS AND BASIC SUPPLIES SUCH AS FOOD, WATER, SHELTER- AND FIREMAKING ITEMS STORED AWAY AND READY TO BE UTILIZED IF NEEDED. BUT WHAT IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THESE ITEMS WITH YOU FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, BUT STILL HAD TO SURVIVE OUT IN A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT? COULD IT BE DONE? THE ANSWER LIES NOT IN WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE, BUT RATHER IN WHAT YOU CAN FIND SCATTERED ACROSS YOUR IMMEDIATE AREA, AND IT’S ALL THANKS TO THE CARELESSNESS OR RECKLESSNESS OF OTHERS. WHETHER YOU CALL IT TRASH, RUBBISH, JUNK OR…

Laura Zerra doesn’t know the meaning of taking it easy. This contestant from the Discovery television show Naked and Afraid keeps her usually barefoot pedal to the metal as she crisscrosses the globe in search of action, adventure and the opportunity to forge her very own knife creations. From a very early age, Laura didn’t follow the traditional path of a young girl. She spent her playtime exploring her surrounding outdoor environment, stalking wildlife through the woods and absorbing everything Mother Nature had to offer. Through high school and later during her college years, Laura dug deeper into the many facets of the natural world. From ethnobiology to bow-building to obtaining skins and hides from highway roadkill, this young and talented outdoorswoman gathered her skills through real-life “hands-on” experiences. After…

If given the capability to hike farther faster and with less fatigue on the trails, I’m going to venture to say that nine out of 10 readers would readily accept. This improvement can be earned through dedicated training, or it can be quickly had by selecting less burdensome equipment. The concept of ultralight gear is one often associated with granola-eating, Birkenstock-wearing, progressive-Seattle-type hikers, but in reality, it’s a decision-making process applicable to all backgrounds and outdoor pursuits. I recently applied the ultralight philosophy to a threeday pack commonly associated with bugging out and emergency prep, and here’s what I found. MESS KIT At some point, the human body needs to refuel. The average person eats three square meals a day and needs fluids to wash it all down. On the…

A Native elder once told me that “Nobody knows everything, but everybody knows something.” This statement is one that I’ll keep with me always. Over the years, I have learned the lesson of keeping my ears and eyes open and my mouth shut. Sometimes our own worst enemy is our tendency to run our mouths and shut off all of our other senses. There are many things that we can’t learn from books and articles. These resources are great places to start, but there’s nothing that replaces firsthand experience. That experience includes your own and the experiences of those who have “been there, done that.” As I feed my family with what I harvest from the wild (by hunting, fishing and foraging), it pays to listen to the sage advice of…

Brandon Lattie, 27, was enjoying a lakeside stroll with a friend when a black bear appeared. As the bear charged them, Lattie’s friend ran off in the opposite direction. Now the bear’s sole target, Lattie tried to run into the woods, but the bear was hot on his heels. With no chance of outpacing the bear, Lattie jumped into the lake. “It happened so fast I couldn’t even think, so that seemed like the right thing to do,” he said. The bear swiped at Lattie’s back before jumping in after him. Though the bulky bear was slowed down by the water, Lattie’s shoes were stuck in the murky lake bottom. That was when the bear pushed him underwater. Already out of breath from running, Lattie knew that he had only…

For thousands of years, humans have traveled from Point A to Point B by water. Our waterways have always been nature’s “highways,” and nothing has really changed. The only thing that has changed is the way we look at things. In today’s world, why travel by water when you can just hop in the car or take a plane to get where you need to go? Long trips that took days or even weeks by water now take only a few hours with alternate modes of transportation. Let’s think long and hard on this. Our over-reliance upon motor vehicles may actually be putting our very survival in jeopardy. If something bad should happen, those same motor vehicles that make our lives easier may not be around, or at least the…

IT happens all the time. Someone is injured and unable to walk, and the only person with them is left with one of two choices: stay with the injured person and hope that someone finds them both or leave the injured person alone and go seek help. Neither are good options. Now there’s a better option—the Agilite Injured Personnel Carrier (IPC). The IPC is a brilliant yet simple solution to a very real problem—how to get a casualty to safety. Although the IPC was developed for the military, it could be a real lifesaver for anyone who finds himself having to transport an injured, disabled or elderly person in an emergency. The IPC was created to replace the fireman’s carry and allow military personnel to carry an injured individual in…

In the late 1970s, several events occurred that made it clear why the advanced computer systems used by NORAD still required human intervention. On November 9, 1979, a test simulation of a missile attack on North America was accidentally transferred to the operational side of the 427M, the warning and response computer inside Cheyenne Mountain, which directed nuclear retaliation. The simulated data was mistakenly interpreted as an actual attack, and the simulation’s missiles showed up on warning consoles in the command post and on the computer screens of command centers nationwide. The false attack data were visible for roughly eight minutes, before NORAD officers finally verified that it was in fact a simulation that had somehow crossed to the operational system. Intense interest both among the general public and members…

If I’m going to depend on any survival kit, I want each item in it to be gear that I’ve tested and know to be worth carrying. So, whatever I spend—a lot or a little—I want to assemble the contents of my survival kits myself. Naturally, I customize my kits according to the situations I’m likely to face. If I’m on or around water, for instance, my kit might contain a flotation device, an inflatable raft and perhaps more substantial fishing gear. If I’m in the desert, I nix the raft but bring the water. Still, there are some items that I always want in any kit, including several ways to make fire, more than one way to navigate and a multi-tool or Swiss Army knife. Any piece of gear…

AT FIRST BLUSH, IT MIGHT SEEM LIKE THERE WOULDN’T BE MUCH IN COMMON BETWEEN PREPPING AND ESPIONAGE. AFTER ALL, WHEN ONE THINKS OF SURVIVALISM, THE IMAGE THAT PROBABLY COMES TO MIND IS SOMEONE WHO IS HUNKERED DOWN AT HOME, PEEKING OUT FROM BEHIND CLOSED BLINDS TO MAKE SURE NOBODY IS SNEAKING UP TO STEAL THEIR CAREFULLY CURATED SUPPLY OF MRES. A SPY, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS USUALLY IMAGINED AS BEING WELL DRESSED, SOPHISTICATED AND PERHAPS MORE DARING THAN WISE. The reality is that the two have far more in common than different. Both are concerned with planning and preparing for their safety and well-being. They both engage in regular training and practice exercises to keep their skills sharp, and they each invest in a range of gear designed to…

The Great Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant centers of knowledge in the ancient world. So important was the Great Library that Alexandria was known as the capital of knowledge and learning. More than 100 scholars were housed within the library to translate writings by Greek authors as well as works from Egypt, Assyria, Persia and even Buddhist texts and Hebrew scriptures. The library contained the works of Homer, Plato and Socrates as well as names lost to world when it was destroyed in a fire some 2,000 years ago. Julius Caesar is among the key culprits in its early destruction, as he set fire to the Egyptian fleet, which spread throughout the city, damaging the library and its contents. Some 300 years later, the…

Like an oasis in the middle of a vast desert, an abandoned automobile can be your saving grace when you have no gear and are facing Mother Nature’s wrath. One obvious use of a found vehicle would be for instant shelter, but your protection from the elements would depend upon the amount of time the vehicle has sat abandoned. The longer the time outside, the more holes from rusting would occur, creating more openings for rain, snow or sun to come through. Remember, though, any amount of shelter is better than no shelter. When it’s time to move on, you need to butcher the vehicle. The internal wiring can be used as cordage for future shelter-building endeavors, small-animal snares and securing just about anything. The seats, if still intact, can…

LAURA ZERRA! Books are good and internet videos are helpful, but a one-on-one session with Laura Zerra answering your survival and outdoor questions is downright incredible. This service, provided by Laura herself, gives the average Joe access to the amazing information and life experiences that she’s acquired throughout her lifetime. From survival to hunting to skinning, knifemaking and much more, all facets of her nomadic lifestyle are open to your curiosity, so ask away! There are times when you may need the real scoop on a subject that other sources of information just can’t provide. Laura will give you the full truth on the topic, and the information you receive may become invaluable when a survival scenario or outdoor emergency hits you head-on. Use your own phone or Skype for…

A possibles pouch has traditionally contained the gear needed to address backcountry issues. The contents of a possibles pouch can address fire making, cordage, water purification and other common needs the backpacker may have. So, I wanted to create a lightweight possibles pouch that could be carried easily and used frequently to replace larger items that occupy more space and add more weight. Additionally, I wanted the contents to be easily identified and waterproofed should I decide to toss the possibles pouch into a canoe or kayak or in case it gets drenched in the rain. Here’s what I came up with. Starting with an extralarge Kifaru Pullout pouch as the main container, I filled it with aLoksak pouches, which are the most durable transparent waterproof bags I’ve found. Individual…

101 SKILLS YOU NEED TO SURVIVE IN THE WOODS BY KEVIN ESTELA This book, written by my friend and fellow writer Kevin Estela, is a must-have in any library. As the subtitle, The Most Effective Wilderness Know-How on Fire-Making, Knife Work, Navigation, Shelter, Food and More, suggests, everything from harvesting food to tying knots is covered. FORAGING WILD EDIBLE PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA BY CHRISTOPHER NYERGES Once again, I turn to a friend, Christopher Nyerges, whom I consider to be one of the best in the survival game. It’s important to know what you can eat and what you should stay away from, and that’s covered here. While this is not an exhaustive reference, it’s a great place to start. MEDICINAL AND OTHER USES OF NORTH AMERICAN PLANTS BY CHARLOTTE…

If you’ve been around knives at all, you’ve heard of the Tracker, designed by Tom Brown Jr. and made famous in the movie The Hunted. The Tracker design was first introduced as an all-purpose survival knife over 20 years ago and has perhaps one of the most distinct profiles in modern knife history. The many curves and nightmare grinds on the Tracker were all designed with intent, each serving a different function in the field. There have been some really great iterations of the Tracker design over the years, and the recent offering by Wenger Blades easily hobnobs with the best of them. Having had the pleasure of testing a couple different knives by Dave Wenger of Wenger Blades, the Tracker is just as impressive as any of his other…

The Iridium network update hasn’t just increased the odds that your satellite messenger will find a hotspot; it also has the potential to support a wide array of services that could revolutionize how we communicate in the outdoors: high-quality voice calling, emails, pictures—even internet access. Somewear, in response to user feedback, has already begun to update its interface to better support backcountry communications, including adding the ability to customize tracking down to 1-minute intervals. CHARGE UP When the only thing your PLB had to do was send a single SOS signal, you could go years without ever worrying about recharging. But more modern devices can tear through battery life at an alarming rate if you aren’t paying attention. Hint: Make good use of airplane mode. It’s essential for outdoorsmen and…

Forget what you’ve heard about bear attacks, the ragged jaws of sharks and being ripped to shreds by a pack of ravenous wolves. The biggest danger to people around the world is the lowly mosquito, as it is responsible for killing more people than all the world’s wars throughout history combined. Even today, with advanced medicine, clean sources of water and global awareness of malaria, mosquitoes are accountable for killing 1 to 3 million people and infecting 200 million more each year. According to the World Health Organization, a child dies from malaria every 2 minutes. Living in the United States provides some protection from this global menace, but not complete protection. Our risk level for contracting malaria is low thanks to a 1950’s program called National Malaria Eradication that…