The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 3

Baby, it's cold outside....

Jan 17, 2024

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I bid you greetings from what feels like Antarctica. We ended up with about 14 inches of snow by the time all was said and done over the weekend. For the last several days, our high temps have been well below zero, with wind chills down to -35°F. I managed to trash my back fairly well with all of the snow removal, so that’s been a lot of fun. We have a snowblower, but it’s 40+ years old and using it is like trying to muscle a Sherman tank around. Might be time to retire it and pick up something a little more modern.

In any event, I hope wherever you are, you’re doing okay with the winter weather. Given the down time many are experiencing, this might be a great opportunity to check out some educational videos online. Here are a few channels I follow.

Nature Reliance

The Prepared Wanderer

Survival Resources

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Prepper Tip – Here’s one more reason why it’s a good idea to always carry some amount of cash with you. Locally, at least one of our gas stations went to cash only during this cold snap due to their antenna system freezing up. This resulted in their ATM and credit card services going down. I don’t know if they were accepting checks or not, but it seems to me that few people carry checkbooks these days. Try to keep at least enough cash with you to fill your tank, just in case.

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It is getting to be ridiculously cold in some areas, and that cold is headed to other parts of the country as well. Should you lose power or otherwise be unable to heat your home, here are some tips.

One of the easiest things you can do is create a confined area within the home where everyone gathers. The smaller the room, the better, but you probably don’t want to do this in a bathroom, just for the sake of comfort. Choose the smallest bedroom instead. Hang blankets over the door and windows to reduce drafts. Depending on the size of the room and the number of family members, body heat alone should warm the room a fair bit.

Get everyone under blankets and cuddled up with one another. Bonus points if you have dogs or cats that are willing to share their body heat as well.

You can go a step further and set up a small tent in the room and herd everyone in there. Make a game of it with young children and pretend you’re camping. Again, you’re relying on body heat to warm up the space inside the tent. You can drape a blanket over the tent to help keep more heat in.

Along those same lines, if you don’t have a tent try making an old-fashioned blanket fort like you did as a child. It might not be perfect, but anything you can do to trap body heat will help.

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Cover reveal! This is Prepper Survival Guide 21. It will begin showing up in subscriber mailboxes and on store shelves around 1/26. Here are just a few of the topics discussed in this issue:

Developing a survivor mindset
Prepping with pets
Solo hiking
Trapping 101
Using canes for protection
Choosing a survival knife
Gear guide for small packs and pouches

The new issue of Backwoods will be out in a few weeks as well.

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Supplier Spotlight – PNWBUSHCRAFT

[Each week, I’m highlighting a company I wholeheartedly endorse.]

A couple of years ago, I and a few other journalist types were invited to tour Buck Knives and get a peek at the new models they were going to debut in the coming year. One of the bonuses of that trip was getting to know Henry Clay Aalders, Digital Editor for Knife Magazine. Great guy and a great publication.

During our travels, I saw him carrying this small waxed canvas pouch of sorts and asked him about it. He showed me that it was a travel tray that could be reconfigured for pocket carry. Basically, it starts out as a two-sided pouch that can keep your folding knife, flashlight, pen, or whatever secured. Then, when you reach your destination for the night, it unfolds and snaps into being a travel tray, perfect for all your pocket stuff. He said it was made by PNWBUSHCRAFT.

Photo courtesy PNWBUSHCRAFT.

When I got back to my hotel that night, I placed an order for one for myself. I have been using it ever since.

Here are some of the things I love about PNWBUSHCRAFT:

1) Everything is made right here in the US.

2) All of their gear is built to last, with no shortcuts taken along the way.

3) Much of it is very vintage looking, but built using modern methods and materials.

4) They’re just damn good people.

They started out just like many similar businesses did – making gear that they were unable to find to buy themselves. They wanted heirloom quality gear that would stand up to the rigors of the Pacific Northwest. They began sharing some of their handmade items online and people started asking, “How much?” Over time, they posted a few items for sale and, well, it was off to the races.

You just can’t go wrong with any of their products. Check them out here.

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Our hike this week was a very short walk through a local park. This was the day after we’d been dumped on with snow and much of the trail was covered in drifts about 14-16 inches deep.

Survival Tip – Camouflaging Your Home Post-Disaster

There’s a school of thought out there that says that in the wake of a major collapse or similar situation, you should do what you can to make your home look uninhabited. I’ve seen suggestions like using spray paint to create “burn marks” on walls or tossing some furniture or junk of some sort on the front lawn. The intention is to make the home look looted and/or damaged so that people don’t bother coming inside.

Personally, I’m not totally on board with this idea. If the home looks abandoned, then that may make it more inviting to people who might be seeking shelter. I’d much rather people see that my home is occupied and thus move on to an easier target. I understand that there are risks involved with this approach, but I feel that the danger is less than someone deciding my home looks like just the place to crash for a few days, since it appears abandoned.

Along these same lines are suggestions to mark your home as having been searched. FEMA, CERT, and similar agencies have used an X symbol to mark buildings with the date, unit doing the search, and what they found inside (hazards, survivors, bodies). What I see posted on Facebook and other sites is to mark your own home with this symbol, so that search agencies, and other survivors, will theoretically pass it by. This idea doesn’t pass the sniff test, for several reasons.

1) Many agencies are moving to digital records, so they’ll know instantly that the house wasn’t actually searched.

2) If your home is the only one in the area with this marking, it’ll stand out rather than blend in.

Something else to keep in mind is that if you live in an area with reasonably close neighbors, odds are they’ll know you’re there, regardless of how you try to disguise your home. If possible, it would be wise to team up with your neighbors and watch out for one another, rather than try to sequester yourself away from them.

Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide

For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now.