101 Uses for Paracord [infographic]

There’s a good reason why you don’t bring a lot of things with you when you go on an outdoor adventure. You may need a pillow for a more comfortable rest at night inside your tent, or a rope ladder to climb some treacherous terrains. But you don’t bring all of what you think you might need when camping or trekking or whatever you do in an adventure. If you did, you would be carrying your whole house with you.

This is where a modest piece of equipment comes in. A paracord looks like it won’t be much, but it can actually do so much. A paracord, which means a parachute cord, is basically a lifesaver. You need a shoelace? Use a paracord. Your leather watch strap ripped? A paracord will hold it together. You suddenly need to rappel? Paracord can be your lifeline. Aside from the obvious uses—such as tying an object to something or using it as a rope—there are a lot more that you can do with a paracord. You don’t have to be trekking in the countryside or camping in the wild to have a use for it. You can find that even in an urban setting, a paracord can be crucial to you.

Learn how to use a paracord in so many different ways in the infographic below.

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3 Types of Weapons You’ll Definitely Want in the Apocalypse

Scientists have worked out that after just three months of an apocalypse, things would be looking pretty dim for humanity, with only 300 people left alive. This data doesn’t seem to take into account, however, the preparedness of a large group of the population in regards to weaponry. Survival weapons are a necessity, especially when it comes to prepping for an apocalyptic disaster that could force you to alter the way you protect and defend what’s yours. Depending on the situation you find yourself in, you will likely want to have a variety of weapons on hand to defend yourself and your family as well as hunting and gathering food and other necessities.

End of days. How to survive post SHTF.

Machetes & Knives Provide Practicality

If you are properly trained to use a knife, it can be a great way to not only protect yourself but to cut through thick, dense forests and also hunt animals that you can use for food. You will likely need a reliable knife that’s easy to handle, strong, and razor sharp. As you will use it for various purposes, such as self-defense and hunting, it can be a good idea to invest in a multi-tool that has a knife feature included on it instead of one single knife. That is, however, unless you plan on going for a machete. This weapon is best-suited for areas where you will need to clear brush as well as for survival skills such as cutting wood and even defending yourself against smaller predators like wolves and mountain lions.

Pepper Spray Guns for Safety & Tracking

Pepper spray is powerful enough to be used against most bears, meaning that it certainly is powerful enough to take down anybody in your immediate vicinity who is trying to do you harm. Pepper guns are great as they take on the shape of a gun, making these devices easy to carry around. Instead of shooting ammo, however, it uses pepper spray to disarm your enemy or attacker, either human or animal. The Mace Brand Pepper Spray Gun is a great option in this case it is works two-fold by allowing you to deliver a powerful kick of pepper to your assailant while also allowing you to track the perpetrator. The 10% OC Pepper Formula features a UV Dye that will trail behind whoever you shot it with to ensure you can either track it to hunt it and use as food or avoid if it is someone you don’t want around you or your family.

Using Guns for Tough Situations

They’re loud and sometimes heavy to carry around, generally making them less-than-ideal for survival situations. However, guns can be a great asset in an apocalypse that requires you to defend yourself from predators or other dangers, as they provide you with the power you might need to fend off unwanted visitors that other weapons don’t provide. To defend yourself from animals, it is best to have some sort of animal repellent such as a bear spray on hand for your first line of defense. Your next best bet will be a holster pistol that you can carry around on your waist. And, if the situation calls for it, you can upgrade to a rifle or shotgun that allows you to scope out dangers from a distance.

Ensuring the Safety of Your Family

The best way to ensure the safety of your family during an apocalyptic event is to prepare them beforehand. Educate them on the risks involved and teach them how to defend and care for themselves. Have a solid communication plan in place and ensure you are equipped with all of the necessary gear you need to survive whatever might happen, even if it means stocking up on a few defense weapons.

Airbed vs Sleeping Bag – Which is Better for Outdoor Survival?

Preppers who are just starting to learn about survival in the outdoors tend to compare the experience with camping, but besides the fact that you’ll have to live and sleep under the clear sky, the resemblance ends here.

Unlike camping, where you eat the food you brought from home, in a survival scenario you’ll be forced to hunt your own dinner. This is why, when you prepare the BOB, you must consider the type of hunting equipment to include.

You’ll also have to rationalize food supplies, learn how to use the environment in your favor, and last but not least, manage to be comfortable enough to catch some Zzz’s. When I describe the process this way, most new preppers get a bit anxious. And, while they’re quite OK with most of the processes, I get a lot of questions about sleeping outdoors and the equipment one should pack.

How to Sleep Outdoors and Be Comfortable

When you don’t have a car to serve as a temporary home, or even a tent to keep you warm during the night, how do you get by?

Well, first I want everyone to know that sleep is crucial in an SHTF scenario. If you’re sleep deprived, your mind will get fuzzy affect fast decision making, your hands may tremble while you’re trying to hunt, and you may lose focus during a life and death situation.

Now that everyone is up to speed, I must highlight the fact that the quality of sleep is just as important. This is why you should always try to improvise a bed that provides some cushioning and protects your body from humidity and low temperatures.

For this, the best equipment to have in your BOB is a sleeping bag and an insulating layer. For the insulating layer, you can use either an air bed or a self-inflating sleeping pad, but in my opinion, air beds are a bit more advantageous – learn more about it here.

But, if you’re forced to choose between the two, which one is more important?

Air Bed vs. Sleeping Bag

When you decide which elements go in your BOB, it’s important to understand their use on the long-term. So, I am not just going to tell you that the sleeping bag is more necessary; I am going to show it to you by comparing the two.

The sleeping bag is designed to cover your entire body and fit around you like a protective cover. I recommend getting a mummy type, so you’ll have protection around the head as well. Sleeping bags come with various levels of insulation but for an SHTF scenario, I recommend one that can be adjusted for all seasons. This type of bag has some inner lining that can be removed when it’s too hot outside, so you won’t sweat.

The main purpose of a sleeping bag is to keep you warm, but it won’t provide insulation from the ground or cushion the feel of a hard surface.

On the other hand, an air bed will do just that: provide insulation from the cold ground and cradle your body while supporting the spine. However, it doesn’t wrap around you, so it won’t provide protection from the cold night air or the humidity.

As you can see, if you have the possibility, it’s ideal to combine the two. But, when you can only take one, the sleeping bag wins. It’s lighter, more compact, and can be used in all sorts of situations. After all, you can always create a bed of leaves or tree branches – it won’t be as comfortable as an air bed, but it will provide insulation.

Sounds Fishy: An Often Overlooked Bug-Out Bag Item

I’m always intrigued by what people argue about when trying to decide what to put in their bug out bag or survival kit. You know…. fire starters, water filters, food rations, I need not say more. We all picture survival scenarios that we try to be prepared for. Maybe one of those is being stranded in the woods or lost near a stream or lake.

So here is a question…..Do you have any actual fishing lures and line in your kit? I’m not talking about a bit of string, a few hooks and a sinker. I’m talking about maybe a small 150 yd spool of super high tech fishing line. Maybe you have paracord in your kit but think you have nothing but time to strip one of the 8 strands out of it and use it for lashing or fishing line. Why waste your time and precious resources? The latest technology can give you the diameter of old 4 lb test with the strength of 40 lb test using super braids made out of exotic fabric like trademarked “Spectra” lines. Snares, bed and shelter lashing, trip lines, temporary sutures, and yes fishing, the possibilities are endless and ready to use.

So you have some compact line, what kind of lures could you carry for let’s say a salt, fresh or fly fishing situation? Opinions are close but vary on the top 10 lures in the world for these types of fishing. Most would agree on our sample of a short list of some of the best lures ever invented because all and many more are time tested and proven fish catchers. Do your own research if you wish but consider the possibility of including one or two lures from each category to your well thought out survival kit.

Here’s a list of just a few lures to save you some time…..

Fresh water:

Heddon Torpedo, Red Devil or Daredevil Spoon, Rapala Floating Minnow, Panther Martin, Hula Popper, Mepps Aglia Spinner, and of course the famous versions of the rubber worm!

Salt Water:

Diamond Jig, Gold spoon, artificial shrimp or DOA shrimp, Mirrolure twitch baits, Bucktail jigs and Johnsons Silver Minnow

Fly fishing manufactured lures:

Hares Ear Nymph, Adams Dry Fly- which some consider the most effective, Woolly Bugger, and one of the new modern favorites…The green “mop fly” (That’s’ right, a fantastic lure made from the tiny microfiber fingers in a floor mop. Talk about survival…make your own! It resembles the parachute inch worm which fall from trees and the trout and other fish go nuts.)

We hope this article gets you thinking of the few extra inches of space you could add to your survival kit and of course many arguments can be made of all the amazing lures we haven’t even begun to mention. That is the real point of the article…just to get you thinking and preparing!

3 Reasons Why You Need a GPS in Your Bug-out Bag

Intro

Usually, it would be instinctive to stay away from electronic gadgets when you are choosing gears to bug-out or to simply travel in the wilderness. However, handheld GPS receivers can be considered as one such exception. The amount of benefits that you can derive from this wonderful modern gadget would outweigh the cons of holding such a device. The other must-have item would be a boot knife to keep yourself safe.

Handheld GPS receivers can be considered to be rather complex, where there is a huge variety for you to choose from. Some important aspects that you can consider include the display quality in weather conditions, user-friendly interface and the amount of storage it has. Before going too far with the considerations for a good GPS, here are three reasons why you need a GPS in your bug-out bag.

Reason 1: Ensuring your safety outside cellphone coverage

By just having a GPS, you are already significantly increasing your chances of survival outdoors. A GPS with its basic function can provide you information about where you are, by letting you know your position, orientation and which intended direction you should take. Losing one of these positioning factors would be detrimental because it would potentially cause one of the other factors to tumble.

Equipping your handheld GPS receiver with navigational aids would be necessary if you want to send your coordinates to rescuers when you are in a place outside cell-phone coverage. Your GPS would only be radio signal receivers that contains a logic chip which is good for telling your location, but would be incapable of transmitting signals.

Therefore, you may want to get a GPS which contains an attachment to a cell phone or use it together with other transmission methods. The transmitters that you may want to look into are personal locator beacons and satellite messengers.

Note that personal locator beacons are used only when one is in really bad emergency situations. Personal locator beacons utilize the Distress Alerting Satellite System (DASS) which are monitored by NASA to track distress signals.

Usually, we would just use satellite messengers which is also a navigational aid which helps tell our rescuers the location we are at, even when there is no cellphone coverage. When you are bugging out and when SHTF, having these functions at your fingertips can do you wonders.

Reason 2: Understand your surroundings

Also, to facilitate the process of understanding your surroundings, you may want to employ ‘scouting’. This can be said to be like your ‘homework’ before you travel outdoors or go to the location you want. First, you would start by scouting with your computer, where you can go through topographical or 3D maps so that you have a rough overview of the terrain. After that, mark those places that particularly interest you or the route which you intend to travel.

The next step would be transferring those marked waypoints into your GPS, where these waypoints are really helpful when you scout on foot. This can act as an alternative navigation method where you can just follow the waypoints which you saved which simplifies how you navigate.

Planning your outdoor trips is really important if you want to cover more ground in less time. The act of scouting and saving waypoints could save you a ton of time if you do it right. Remember, you would want to look for a GPS that can insert an external SD card as well so that you do not need to worry about memory.

Reason 3: Navigate with ease

By having topographical maps saved in your GPS, you do not need to weigh yourself down with loads of maps when you are outdoors. With a GPS with sufficient storage capacity, you can save many maps and waypoints that are necessary for your outdoor adventure. This would be important when you bug-out because you would not know how long more you would need to travel!

Handheld GPS receivers are also equipped with different navigation methods, and I would encourage you to experiment with them to determine the most convenient way to navigate. For example, you can choose to navigate by touching on the place of the screen or simply following waypoints.

Usually, I would prefer to navigate by touching on the screen only to find out new places. While I am on foot, travelling would be much easier when I just follow waypoints. An external antenna would be a useful feature to look out for so that you can be sure that you have good signal even when you are in canyons or thick foliage.

Conclusion

Ideally, your bug out bag should have predetermined emergency essentials, so you can be ready for any eventualities at any time. One important aspect is that the gears you carry must be light enough especially when your bug-out location is far from your current location. Another thing to note is the durability of the items you are holding. If you foresee yourself going through rough terrains, you may want to choose a waterproof GPS.

Other options would be considering a GPS that you can primarily navigate through the software using external buttons rather than using touch screen. This is because touch screen GPS would usually be more prone to spoil. If you have any other tips to share, please comment below!

Author Bio:

I am John Lewis, a blogger, survivalist and outdoor enthusiast. You can follow me over at Epic Wilderness. Please click here!

The Most Essential Hunting Equipment for You

If you are a beginner in the hunting hobby, you could be quite intimidated by the number of accessories that are available on the shelf. You may wonder whether you have to buy all that stuff to start your hunting. You need not worry. As a beginner, you don’t have to spend money on all those accessories. There are a few essentials on which you may spend money. These make your hunting a more pleasant experience.

Boots

It is not a big thing to say you need quality boots for your hunting trip. Everyone knows that. The important thing is to get a pair of good quality boots. They are expensive, but they are worth the money. A blistered foot can put your hunt to an end suddenly. It is better to get a good pair of costly boots which won’t give up on you too soon. You will be surprised at how fast sharp stones can tear up a cheap pair of boots. Such hunting equipments are not luxury, but a necessity in hunting.

Rain Gear

This is another important accessory for a hunter. You don’t know when it will start raining and it could be really cold if you are wet. A rubberized one is very good in heavy rains. There are many breathable raincoats, which really work nicely if you can find time to dry it. These are not rains coats but only cover you in short rains with time to dry them up in-between. For heavy non-stop rains these raincoats are not enough as they get saturated with water.

Pack

The pack is another important hunting equipments like your shoes. These packs should be able to carry all your necessities. It should be able to pack your stuff for at least a fortnight. You should be able to carry your food and other things you need. The one with good rigidity is the best for you. It will provide some support too. it should also be light for you to carry around during the hunt.

Hunting Optics

You will need an extra pair of good eyes when you go hunting. You should use good binoculars to sight your game easily. If you have good glasses, you will be able to say from far whether a game is worth following or not. Good glasses are expensive. But if you planning to take your hunting seriously they are worth spending on.

There are other hunting equipments which you will need for your survival for a couple of weeks which also you need to carry with you.

About author

I am Frank, a professional writer and blogger for outdoor, fashion, technologies, pets, foods, beauty, toys and much more. From early on I started studying life and writing about it. I have a passion to write for my blog and online business. It feels good when I have written an article or blog post that helps people discover and learn more. For more information, please visit my website Atbuz.com or follow me on the blog page.

Bow Accessories Every Hunter Should Have

Bow hunting is a very personal sport. Every hunter has his own purposes for hunting. Just like the variety in the reasons each of them has their own choice of accessories which is why there are so many accessories available for a hunter. There are many accessories which only add look to your bow and many which enhance your shooting skills.

Let us see some of the important bow accessories every hunter must have.

Sights

These are a necessity for hunters to improve their accuracy when hitting a target. These are probably the first accessory most people purchase. You should look for bright fiber optic pins, a bubble level, and a circular pin guard. Today, most of the sights have these features.

The fiber optic pins will help you in dim conditions. A pin guard will act as a reference point when using a peep sight. A bubble level is necessary to ensure that you have the bow in the correct level. This will increase your chances of a hit. The sights are very important bow accessories.

Peep Sights

These help to increase your performance as a hunter. These are tied to your bow strings. They are available in many diameters. For hunting purpose, the bigger the diameter, the better it is as they will allow for more light in poor light conditions. The peep sights give you a consistent anchor point to improve your accuracy.

Target shooters, however, prefer peep sights of smaller diameters. These tend to be more accurate. The peep sights are necessary bow accessories for all types of shooters.

Arrow Rests

These are essential for every hunter for accuracy. When it comes to a compound bow these are probably the most important of all. Arrow rests come in three main types. They are the shoot through rests, drop away rests and the full containment rests.

The shoot-through rests are the most popular bow accessories among the target shooters. But the hunters don’t find much use with this arrow rest. They can create fletching issues if not configured properly.

The drop away arrow rests have become very popular. They are tied to your buss cable with a short rope. When you pull the bow, the rest moves up and as you shoot the rest drops away allowing the arrow to move freely without fletching contact.

The full containment rest is a fool-proof arrow rest and the favorite bow accessories of the hunters. It will give full support to the arrow. But target shooters are not in favor of this as they fear that the bristles will present more possibilities of fletching contact.

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Know the Types of Archery Bows

There are basically four types of archery bows. Bows have been in existence for a lot of centuries, but they have undergone a lot of transformations from what they started as. They are now made with fiberglass and carbon fiber. There are those with highly advanced mechanisms. Let us see the four main types of bows.

The Recurve Bow

Named after their peculiar shape these are the basic bows. This peculiar shape makes it easy to use it. Lesser strength is required to shoot an arrow because of this shape. The recurve bows were used historically by horsemen.

Beginners in archery normally begin these archery bows which is just a bare bow. It has a string, an arrow rest, the bow limbs and a riser to balance the bow. As the archer becomes more skilled, more components are added.

The Compound Bows

These are the most technically advanced archery bows. These bows have a complex pulley system that will allow improving their strength without increasing the draw weight. Another difference with the compound bows is that they can be kept strung. As long as the recurve bows, or longbows are concerned they need to be unstrung so as not to spoil the bow. Wooden arrows cannot be used with the compound bows.

The Longbows

They are one of the oldest bows to be used and is recorded being in use as early as 1298. They were the most popular archery bows till the 16^th century. The longbows are characterized by their simplicity. They are a long piece of wood, as long as the height of the archer, which is bent in the center towards the archer. They have none of the modern additions like arrow rests or sights. They are more difficult to shoot because they have a low velocity when compared to the others. Their use requires a lot of practice.

The Crossbows

These are frequently used for target archery. They have similar mechanisms like a rifle. The short arrow is attached to the muzzle horizontally. The string is attached to a trigger mechanism. When the trigger is pulled the short arrow is shot. The arrows for the crossbow are referred to as bolts. They are much shorter than the normal arrows. Many people prefer the crossbows to start because they are easy to master than the other archery bows.