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Winter camping requires a whole different set of survival skills. This snow cave makes a good emergency shelter.

Why you need a plastic sled for big game hunting

 501 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

The euphoria from the successful shot starts to fade as you stand over the fallen big game animal. Here is a good-sized carcass that needs to be transported. The ground is muddy, and the animal just doesn’t slide. Of course, it will start to rain. You need a game sled.

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knivesshipfree.com, best knife store, best knives

Survival Knives

Lon Humphrey knives, Tarpon

Lon Humphrey Tarpon | Check out this superb Every Day Carry knife

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Sometimes the most effective blade length for a job is under three inches. This Tarpon from Lon Humphrey Custom Knives, packs a lot of utility use in a small package.

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Hunting and Fishing

A shovel and toilet paper (in a waterproof container) are vital aspects of any backcountry privy construction. (Leon Pantenburg photos)

Make a portable privy or ‘How to do number two’ in the woods

 257 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Where’s the bathroom? Where will you do Number Two? If you’re camping, or setting up a campsite, one of the first and most important tasks is to set up the latrine.

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Make Fire

Zippo butane lighter, Zippo

Review | Butane Zippo may need to be part of your survival fire making kit

 542 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

It is hard to improve on a tried and proven piece of gear, especially when 500 million have already been sold. But this latest fire making tool from Zippo may be an improvement on that old classic lighter.

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Clothing

My footwear: flip-flops, running shoes, Merrill walking shoes, Danner day hikers, Cabellas Outfitters and Sorel snow boots. One of these pairs of shoes will take care of my needs.

How to pick the best pair of hunting/hiking boots

 600 197 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

You can’t compromise quality on hiking boots. Sore, wet, cold feet can ruin an outing and could become . In the worst case scenario, inadequate footwear could create a survival situation. Here is how to pick the right boots.

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Survival Skills

use concrete bricks to make rocket stove, concrete bricks, make brick rocket stove

Video: Make a brick rocket stove for emergency situations

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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If you can stack bricks, you can make an effective biomass rocket stove. The materials are cheap, and usually readily available during a disaster. Most importantly, it is a very simple survival skill to learn.

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Survival Gear

Aurora Hunter, bark river knives

Aurora Hunter: Bark River combines two great knives to make a better hunting knife

 600 321 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

What happens when two great knife designs – the Kalahari blade and Aurora handle – are combined? In this case, a really great hunting knife is the result!

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Camp Cooking | Storage Food

use concrete bricks to make rocket stove, concrete bricks, make brick rocket stove

Build a brick rocket stove: Is it safe to use concrete blocks?

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Will concrete blocks “explode” if you make a rocket stove out of them? Here’s feedback I got.

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Emergency Shelter

tarp grommets, tarps shelters, emergency shelters

Video: How to keep your tarp corner grommets from tearing out

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

A tarp camper can get in a situation where the wind blows hard enough to rip out the corner grommets. Here’s a rope trick to stop that from happening.

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VIDEOS | TIPS & HOW TO's

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.

The C.T. Fischer four-inch bushcraft knife is a wonderful all-around knife.
Knife Review and Video: C.T. Fischer Four-Inch Bushcraft knife
 450 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

There are knives you need and knives you want. My latest Four-Inch Bushcraft Knife from C.T. Fischer fits both categories! The Bushcraft just may be that elusive all-around, do-everything knife you’ve been looking for!

Harvey's Scouts, black confederates
Black Confederates honored at Mississippi Civil War monument
 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

War monuments are ubiquitous to the Deep South. But a monument in Canton, Mississippi may be one-of-a-kind. It honors African Americans who fought for the Confederacy.

RECENTLY FEATURED POSTS

For Wilderness and Urban Safety: Attach a whistle to your child
 600 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

You can only yell for help as long as your voice lasts. Here’s why you need to carry a whistle.

Crappie are a prolific panfish, widely distributed and fun to catch and eat! (ODFW photo)
Recipe: Crappie chowder, a tasty way to cook panfish with storage foods
 289 174 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

A great comfort food on a cold night, or in camp after a successful day of fishing is chowder. If you can use some of the catch to make dinner that night, that is an added bonus.

Leon Pantenburg writes a survival skills blog with tips and techniques to help average people 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.