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what to put in hunting daypack, best hunting daypack, make survival kit

Video: What to carry in your big game hunting daypack

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A hunter’s daypack houses a very personal collection of gear designed to keep you safe, dry and warm. It also must contain meat cutting tools and equipment. Here’s what I carry in mine.

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Cutlery Reviews

big d knives, donovan phillips

Knife review and video: Donavon Phillips Drop Point Kephart

 600 305 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Ever wonder where some knife designs come from? At Big D Custom Knives, the maker is also a user. And his competition credentials are very impressive.

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Hunt|Fish|Camp

10 tips for hooking kids on fishing

 448 299 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

Want to wean those kids away from the video games and TV binge watching? Teach them how to fish. Here are some tips for getting beginner kids started.

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Making Fire

Video: Make a Scandinavian log candle for emergency lighting

 448 325 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

What if there isn’t much wood available, you want to stay warm and also be able to see in the dark? One possibility might be to make a log candle.

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Emergency Shelter

Camp inside to survive power outages during winter storms

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Use your camping gear and skills to survive inside your house during winter storms.

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Survival Gear

10 Christmas gifts for the well-prepared (and hard to buy for) person on your list

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So what do you buy for that survivalist/prepper/outdoorsperson on your Christmas list who (apparently) has everything and (allegedly) doesn’t need anything. Here are some suggestions, from items I have field tested n the past year.

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Survival Skills

Meek's cutoff grave, Oregon badlands

Video: Survival lessons from the 1845 Meek’s Cutoff Wagon Trail through the Oregon desert

 480 334 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

One of the most desperate survival tales associated with the westward expansion was about a lost wagon train in 1845 in the Oregon desert. Here’s what I found when I went searching.

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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.

A much younger Leon at a silver mine in the Beartooth Mountains in Montana.
My 1976 John Muir Trail Journal
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…even the lousy weather can’t change the beauty of this mountain range. It’s all worth it, when I come over a ridge and can look at all the trees and mountains. The mountains are so beautiful in the mornings, I usually get up early just to watch the sunrise. The air is usually pine-scented. Walking through the forest is like walking through a cathedral. Underfoot, there is a thick carpet of pine needles, which muffles my foot steps. I have walked right up on several herds of deer, just because I was so quiet. I’m really glad to be out here.

Happy Birthday Survival Common Sense: Why I started a survival blog that has lasted 14 years
 597 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

In the wilderness survival industry the average lifespan of a website is about 18 months. Survival Common Sense has been around for 14 years in October. Here is the “why” of that continued success. 

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.