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FEATURED POSTS

Review: Silverlight® Hiking Socks – comfort in a dry, odor-free sock

600 375 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Tired of stinky, sweaty socks at the end of a long hike or day on the job? Want some socks that help keep your feet warm or cool? These Silverlight Hiking Socks might work for you.

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Cutlery Reviews

Best outdoor/kitchen knife? We review the Bark River Petty Z

485 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

My knife testing generally starts in the kitchen, since that is where most people use knives. In some instances, you can tell right off the bat that the blade is not going to work for food preparation. In others, the knife might work so well that it never gets out of the kitchen. This Bark River Petty Z is at home in both outdoors and inside environments.

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Hunt|Fish|Camp

Video: My favorite deer hunting place

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Some places become very special places by virtue of long association. I’ve hunted this southern swamp for some 43 years.

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Making Fire

Video: Dryer lint as wilderness survival firestarter? No way!

600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

You stake your life on your firemaking kit components. My recommendation is to substitute cotton balls in any application you might be using dryer lint.

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Emergency Shelter

Urban camouflage: Why you should blend in to walk home after a disaster

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You’re driving home from work, something “big” just happened and you’re completely stuck in gridlock on the highway. But, you’re prepared for this scenario. You abandon your car, grab your Get-Your-Ass-Home backpack out of your trunk and start walking. How do you blend in with all the unprepared people, so you don’t become a target for muggers? Here are some ‘fashion’ tips to get you home safe.

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Survival Gear

Jim Green boots help preserve your feet and endangered African animals

600 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

This South African boot was designed by wildlife Rangers for combat with poachers of endangered African animals. The boots might work well for you.

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Survival Skills

My great-great-grandfather, James Hallowell was a Civil War veteran. He homesteaded in Iowa in the late 1860s.

Civil War survival lessons from a 92nd Illinois Infantryman

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Basic survival skills don’t change. Here are some lessons from a Civil War infantryman on how to provide food, shelter and improvise lighting during hard campaigning.

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VIDEOS | TIPS & HOW TO's

Survival in whitewater depends on proper training and good equipment.
Reader’s comments: Controlling panic when canoe capsizes in whitewater
300 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

After my immediate shock of being in the water, gasping for air between waves, I recalled something one of your newsletters or blog posts mentioned about survival. I thought you might be interested that in the face of a stressful situation, your words of advice came to me and helped me.

bison in Yellowstone, bison, bison down
Review: Are Buffalo Wool trekking socks the best choice for cold, wet weather?
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These new socks combine modern technology with old time materials. The result is a warm durable sock made of bison down, merino wool, nylon and spandex. I put a pair to the test under extreme conditions, and here is what I found. 

The L.T. Wright Next Gen (top) and Rouge River are great user knives.
How to: Baton firewood with a butter knife
600 366 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Most survival knife reviews at some point show the blade being pounded – or batoned -through a block of firewood. But batoning is not a big deal if you use the right technique. This method is so simple you can baton firewood with a butter knife.

Leon Pantenburg writes a survival skills blog with tips and techniques to help typical folks survive an unexpected urban or wilderness emergency, using their common sense and emergency preparedness training. Topics include survival knives, survival clothing and camp cooking, making a fire, emergency shelter, hunting and fishing, competent survival skills and survival gear reviews.