Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Learn How To Raid Nature’s Pantry

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If SHTF and all supermarkets and stores ran out of food? What would you do if your stocked food ran out? Learn to raid nature’s pantry, which is full of easily harvested, highly nutritious meals

Mother nature can provide all of your food needs, this can actually be very healthy and a nutritious way of eating. The only nasty thing would be to butcher your own meats but with time that would even become second nature.

The link below will take you to a great article on what foods – Greens, starches, fruits and proteins you can safely eat. This knowledge could save your life.

Learn How To Raid Nature’s Pantry

Photo Credit: backpacker

DIY Bike Wheel Bow

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We all know there are lots of DIY bows available to make, but non quite this bad-ass. It has a Rigid frame, good power output, no knock required on arrows and best of all it has a Longer draw than a standard bow.

In an emergency situation this could be made pretty easily, imagine how many bikes will be out there and rubber would be everywhere too, or just make one to have because to buy a bow that has this power would set you back a few hundred dollars.

Photo Credit: darrenhall

DIY Bike Wheel Bow

New Prep On The Block – ArrowCards

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This is a handy prep to have in your bug out bag or “Altoid Tin” everyday carry. This card has  4 arrow heads, a scraper, saw blade, and knife blade cut into a credit card sized piece of steel. There are other designs available too.

These will be great to just snap of an arrow head,  lasso it to a stick to get an instant spear / instant food killing machine. Alternately,  strap it to a small piece of bamboo or stick for an improvised arrow for a bow.  These can be bought in singles and placed in a dog tag also. To order yours you need to email the maker – [email protected] To see more pictures and a great review click the link below

Picture Credit: equinoxcoronado.com

New Prep On The Block – ArrowCards

Make A Survival Slingshot With Some Condoms (Powerful enough for hunting & protection)



So you have a gun and that makes you feel safe and prepared for a SHTF scenario?  I have a questions, what will you do if your gun malfunctions or the bullets run out?

Personally, from a prepper and survivalist point of view, I think it is important to consider over weapons you can use for self-defence and hunting and most importantly, weapons you can easily make and replace yourself with minimum tools.  I have done posts before about how to make bows: How To Make A 60 lb PVC Bow For Less Than $10 and How To Make A $3 Bamboo Longbow (No tools required!) but this is the first post about making a survival slingshot.

In my opinion, slingshots are often overlooked as a weapon for hunting or for self-defence and I believe this is a mistake.  They are easy to make, they can easily be powerful enough to kill birds and small game AND you’ll never run out of ammunition.

The slingshot in this video is made from a broomstick, some duct-tape, a bit of leather and some condoms (quite a few!).  The end result is a very powerful slingshot that could be used for hunting or protection. If you could find a strong Y branch from a tree, you could cut down on the need for the broomstick and the duct-tape.

Check out the Slingshot Channel on YouTube for more great slingshot videos

Improvised Fish Trap (Using just a 2L plastic bottle)


This is a very simple fish trap, in fact it couldn’t be much simpler.  All that is required is a 2 liter plastic bottle (a 1.5 liter bottle will also work).  This is good news in a survival situation, as once you find a river, you will soon start to find trash and plastic bottles.  It is a great shame that it seems you can’t go anywhere these days without finding someone else’s trash, but I guess at least, their trash can help save your life…

Check out the video as this is another one of those – it’s such an obvious idea, you’d never think of it.  They might only catch small fish, but protein is protein and it is in short supply when you are surviving outdoors.

How To Make A Primitive Survival Trap: The T-Bar Snare



When you are surviving in the wilderness, traps and snares are essential for providing much needed protein. What makes traps and snares so important is that they are a passive hunting technique. That means you set them up (the more the better) and they work in your absence, so you can be busy doing other essential tasks whilst the traps and snares are working for you.

Active hunting and fishing is also vital, with potentially greater rewards, but a much greater drain to your time. You should aim to use a combination of both active and passive hunting techniques to increase your chances of success.

If you hope to survive for a time in the wilderness, you should learn how to create and set several different traps and snares.  This video shows how to build, set and trigger a t-bar snare.  There is also advice on where to place the snare for maximum effectiveness.

Make A DIY Survival Fishing Kit & Then Use It To Catch Fish!



This is a super idea. So simple, compact, but effective!

Just get some 1 inch PVC pipe and a few PVC pipe accessories from your local DIY store and you’re good to go (I’m assuming you already have some fishing line, hooks and weights)…

When it is finished you’ll have a small 6 inch capped tube with your length of fishing line attached and wrapped around it.  For fishing purposes, this then functions like a standard hobo fishing/hand-line rig, see video below

Inside the capped PVC tube you can store a small pocket knife, some hooks and other small fishing accessories.

This is a great compact bit of kit to have in your bug-out-bag, or as part of your survival kit in your camping/hiking pack.

Check out the video below for how to actually catch fish with a hobo fishing/hand fishing rig.

How To Catch Crayfish 101 (by Trap, Hand, Net & Pole)



When asked about how they will obtain food in the wild, most people say the three obvious things – hunt/trap game, fishing (for fish!) and forage for wild edibles.

This is basically sound thinking, but depending on location, you can diversify and make things much easier.

For example we have already covered eating wild bird eggs , but today we are talking crayfish. Crayfish are often overlooked as a survival food (or day-to-day food for that matter), but in many places our rivers are teaming with them and they are actually very easy to catch, prepare and cook. It is also great fun to do with the kids.

Check out the video for a quick 101 on how to catch crayfish.

Animal Tracks Identification Sheets (Save & Print!)

These forest and streamside animal track identification sheets from Hiking Michigan (reproduced here with permission) are excellent!

If you are interested in animals or learning to track animals, I recommend saving these two sheets. You can print them out and add them to your field/hiking notebook etc so you can refer to them when out and about in the wild.
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The original sheets can be found here: Hiking Michigan

5 Things Needed For Catching Big Salmon

How to catch big salmon

Salmon are one of the most famous sports fish that are widely distributed. The fish tastes outstanding, but their great fighting spirit might offer a robust challenge to you. There are many subspecies of salmon which would be a treat but catching king Salmon could make your day.

Hence, to help you in catching easily, we have brought up a list of five things needed for catching big Salmon.

Fishing Rod

Fishing rods

Selecting the ideal rod for salmon fishing would be advantageous. The perfect and the best salmon rod would lead you more towards success and fun in catching king salmon.

  • There are various kinds of salmon fishing rods such as spinning rods, baitcasting rods, trolling rods, and fly fishing rods.
  • Generally, for getting hold of a king size salmon, a fishing rod of about 8-10 foot range would be better.
  • Keeping this in mind, the salmon fly fishing rods could be the right choice for you as these rods would be about 9 to 10 foot in range.

Moreover, the butt portion would also be important to consider for these powerful fighters.

The tail section generally would range between 6 to 12 inches. Usually, the blanks of a salmon fishing rod are made up of graphite or fiberglass or a merger of both to provide flexibility and strength.

However, these rods are designed mainly with extreme strength along with the power and a tough hook to set right into the bony jaws to control these strong fighters for which they are popularly known.

Fishing Reel

Fishing reel

The reel would include the most vital equipment while targeting king salmon. Particularly, the drag system would have to operate correctly on the reel when the big fish is pulling firmly. The drag system would have to be durable so that it doesn’t freeze up for great pressure and smooth so that it offers equal pressure even if the king salmon is pulling hard.

  • However, there are two important types of reels; one is the spinning reels while the other is conventional or baitcasting reels.
  • Spinning reels could work perfectly for beginners as it can be used easily but might not prove the best for catching King Salmon.

This is because these reels are not as hefty or strong as the baitcasting reels and also the drag system could not be good.

However, you could get some good brands of spinning reels that might work great. The conventional reel comes with a reliable drag system and is easy to crack under pressure. This is the reason that these reels could perform better in catching the king salmon.

In addition to it, the level wind reels could be an excellent choice for big salmon, which comes with the line strength of about 12 pounds.

Fishing Lines

The fishing line that you will employ for catching big salmon would determine whether your day will be successful or frustrating.

Although the monofilament lines are as always the most common choice for maximum anglers as they are cheap, it might not result in something effective in catching big salmon.

Specialty lines and super lines are constructed with several elements and amalgamation of items than the standard lines that make them ideal for catching big fishes.

Super lines, constructed through thermal fusion or braiding the strands of elements and designed with strength make it the most efficient line to land king Salmon. These lines lack stretch and have excellent knot strength. The diameter is just a fraction of the monofilament lines, and it permits deep, fast descent while trolling.

However, super lines might not make a good leader material always as these are not constructed of any smooth or clear material.  Specialty lines are even often used salmon fly fishing from both in freshwater and saltwater situations. These lines would always be attached to a spool at the rod’s end and look nearly same in appearance and texture to super lines.

Monofilament Lines are also used in catching Speckled Trout, and if you are planning to catch speckled trout then monofilament line with fine diameter is pretty useful.

Fishing Lures

Fishing lures

Spoons, spinners, and plugs could be considered to be the most effectual lures for salmon, especially for King salmon. Spoon lures comprise of concave, elongated oval fastened to a hook. Usually, the oblong spoon is made of a painted metal and designed to make it look like a small fish mimicking the fluttering, random movements.

Spoons would be useful especially for downrigger and troll fishing. The other potential lure of salmon fishing is the spinner, which is also popularly known as spinnerbait. There are many distinctive designs in this category, but the standard feature in all is the reflective blades of metal. These blades spin freely around while it is reeled in and create potential vibration in water that attracts the salmons.

The wobbling variety of Plug would also work perfectly for catching big salmon.  These are hard, reliable lures that feature many hooks typically and are designed with reflective paint to look like a fish. There are two separated parts in wobbling plugs that are joined by a hinge, and it allows fluttering back and forwards while reeled in.

Such a movement, as usual, creates vibration and attracts the attention of the salmon. A cut-plug lure is another type of plug that is used for salmon fishing exclusively in Great Lakes as well as Pacific Coast waters. Moreover, the color would be the primary consideration for any lures.

Live Baits

Live bait

There is no doubt that artificial flies and lures would let you catch salmon in significant numbers. But, there are some live baits that could even provide you the extra edge. In the famous saltwater fishing technique, the lure is tipped, that is, adding extra pieces of herring or worm to the lure.

However, you would have to be cautious about this that tipping much larger amount could affect the lure action negatively. Anglers use fish eggs fastened to a float while drift fishing salmon in shallow freshwaters.

Conclusion

Well, we hope that our mentioned list of five things needed for catching big salmon would render you a good idea about the essential requirements. You could experience a great catch if you use the correct materials. However, if you have any suggestion regarding it, please let us know.

Biography

Hi there, I’m Ted Thomas from GrayWolfLife, an ardent adventure writer. I write for readers with a genuine interest in enjoying the great outdoors. By sharing my experiences camping, hunting and fishing, I hope to inspire others to fully explore the depths of their passion.