Category Archives: Miscellaneous

And here is the “catch all” category for stuff that doesn’t have its own.

SHTF School Blog Entry

by Woodsbum

Although I spend a lot of time reading about woodsman related subjects, I do include a lot of the SHTF and prepper sources. Some of these sources actually touch upon more than just the “survival” aspect of woodsmanship. Many really push old school skills and natural remedies. The amount of knowledge that these corporate “survivalists” push out there is truly amazing and can be adapted to many different situations.

This article that I ran across really struck me as more than just a doomsday rant. It showed the parallels between the USA and what took place in the Balkans. For those of you who do not do much research beyond new restaurants and what new shows are coming on the TV, this might be a surprise. The Balkans had a very nasty war take place back in the 1990’s. I actually know a few people that lived through this horror and 1 that was lucky enough to get out right before it got bad. This guy Selco, from SHTF School, actually lived through the nastiness and became a “survival expert” due to his experiences. The blog/site is worth a read just to let you know how bad things can get when the infrastructure breaks.

In this article, Selco talks about how the polarization of once unified people really was one of the many indicators of the upcoming violence. He draws some pretty interesting lines between what took place there and what is taking place here in the States. No matter what political leanings you have, this article is really worth a look.

Selco also talks about how the removal of what are commonly considered a right that cannot be taken away, can and will be removed from the general population. Here in the USA we believe that the rights in the Bill of Rights are set in stone. Selco says that the same type rights that they thought were set in stone were taken away by the government in a single day. Since the US has been living a certain lifestyle for so long, he believes that any fall in the US will be very devastating. His perspective is quite the departure from what the US media is pushing down our throats.

It doesn’t matter if you are a prepper, conspiracty theorist, lifelong liberal Democrat or anarchist. Your “label” doesn’t really matter. It would behove you to take the time to read this article just so you can see how an entire nation’s world changed almost overnight and their media sources were covering it up.

Sound familiar?

Calibre Fanboys – a Rant

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by Woodsbum

If any of you have even so much as looked around a little on my site, you know that I love guns. I love big guns, small guns, your guns, my guns, and even those that I want to become mine. Guns are a definite passion of mine, probably because I grew up around them and started hunting the fall before my 5th birthday. There is just a breathtaking beauty in watching a truly experienced shooter squeeze off a 1000 yard shot, the pure speed and accuracy in a champion cowboy action shooter or even the fluid motion of a group of Special Operator types navigate through a kill house. It is almost a magical dance for the spectator. Couple that with the ability to pull off some of those shots yourself? We are talking about all your worries and stress just melting away…….

Then come the self elected experts that tell you that the only hunting calibre rifle you will ever need is a .270……

Very few things can drive me over the edge as quickly as oppression, embracing ignorance as fact, or hypocrisy. Why do these .270, .300 WSM, and 7mm mag fanboys not understand that there really isn’t a “best gun to hunt everything” out there?

Let’s break it down a little bit. A .270 is a great round for smaller big game. It shoots quite flat up to 900 yards, normally shoots between a 130 – 150 gr bullet, and doesn’t have the recoil of the larger rifles. I get it. It is nice “everything gun” for kids, women and men who can’t handle bigger rifles. The problem is that the energy at longer ranges is on the low end of what is ethically needed for elk, moose, bear, etc. The same people that say “ethical shots and bullet placement is everything” are the same ones that say “you don’t need a larger calibre rifle because you can shoot grizzly with a 30-30” or whatever spews from their face. They are hypocrites. If you are truly an ethical hunter you would use the rifle calibre BEST suited for the game and not one on the lower end of capable.

Now for the WSM and 7mm crowd: Get a FUCKING LIFE! They are nice calibres, but so are the 30-06, 45-70, .300 Wby, .50 BMG and fucking .22 lr. Who cares if you own one and “only shoot this calibre?” It really doesn’t matter. I like them for what they are, but don’t tell me that the 7mm is better than a .338 Win Mag because it has less recoil. It also has a smaller weight bullet and less muzzle energy. Match your gun to your needs, people. Be happy for someone who buys a gun, likes it, and shoots it often. Just because you want everyone to become a card carrying member of your douche posse doesn’t mean that they are any less capable than someone else.

Wow…… That built up quickly, didn’t it? What should we rant about next? 10 mm fanboys? .40 douche nozzles? Hmmmm…. Seems like the list could be endless.

Poison Ivy Treatment

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by Woodsbum

I ran across this video about a natural, and effective, poison ivy treatment. There really isn’t much else to say. Just watch this:

Zippo Lighters

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by Woodsbum

Well, here it is…. I did it again. I bought something with my logo on it.

Zippo

I have carried Zippo lighters for years. Although I don’t smoke cigarettes, I do like cigars and tobacco pipes a lot. Cigars are a bit expensive so I do tend to just grab pipe tobacco and go at it that way. Carrying a lighter really isn’t about using it to light tobacco (or other stuff if you live in WA, OR or CO). These things are VERY handy in a variety of situations such as ridding your clothes of those pesky threads, melting the ends of paracord, starting campfires, lighting incense (or sage in my case), etc. Let’s face it, the savior of any birthday party is the one that has a way to light the candles. Even Dr. Henry Jones carried his lucky charm that allowed him to escape the Nazis (movie reference for those that didn’t catch it).

The way that I discovered that Zippo did custom orders was through sending them my older lighters for repair and swapping out standard inserts for pipe ones. The pipe ones have a big hole in them that allows the lighter to be turned sideways without extinguishing the flame.

Pipe insert

If you have a Zippo, you can actually contact them at this page, send in your lighter and they will replace your normal insert with one designed for a pipe. They have two other lighters of mine right now getting swapped out. Interestingly enough, it is quite difficult to find Zippos with the pipe insert that don’t have a stupid pipe emblem on the bottom. Good luck finding one that is camo or has a Harley emblem either. They just don’t send them out that way. Personally, I think you should be able to buy them from Zippo directly with the option for the type of insert.

Ignoring the fact that I just complained about Zippo in the previous paragraph I really love their lighters and carry one most of the time. They are windproof/resistant, light even when it gets REALLY cold, are tough as hell, and are a piece of gear that you can really depend on as long as you keep it filled with fluid (don’t overfill and put it in your pocket if you don’t want funny rashes on your leg). For those that don’t have a Zippo, I recommend getting and carrying one. It worked for those in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam so if they NEEDED them for survival I guess I should carry one, too, just in case. I know that I am not in a war or having to fight my way from hilltop to hilltop, but if the reality is that a lightweight piece of gear was so important that everyone carried one at one time I have no problems tossing one into my pocket. It just makes sense to learn from my elders when it comes to that sort of stuff.

Now for the important part of this whole post: My Zippo is AWESOME. They really did a great job on it. All I had to do was import my image on the website, center it and pay with a credit card. You can do any number of different types of images from family pictures, personal logos, kid art, whatever. Giving a Zippo with a family picture to your pops for Father’s Day is a great gift idea. The cost is only $15 over the cost of the lighter plus shipping.

Go get yourself a lighter with your personal touch, people!!!

Fry Bread or Bannock

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by Woodsbum

I love Indian Fry Bread. I really love it. What I have found is that there are several different options when making it. The more traditional way is to make it with bannock dough as opposed to a yeast based bread dough. This way makes it have a better flavor and less greasy.

For those of you who do not know what fry bread is, here is a picture of some I made a few days ago.

Fry Bread

The real difference between making bannock dough or bread dough is in the use of yeast. Bread dough uses yeast where bannock uses baking powder. The bread dough also tends to “puff” up or leave really big air pockets when frying. Although this is really nice when slathering your fry bread with honey or jam, it makes it really hard to use in other applications. For instance, I like to either turn them into tacos or make them into little pizzas. If you have a big ball of fried bread dough instead of something flat, your toppings will end up more on your plate than on your fry bread.

Although I have published bannock recipes here before, I would like to put this one out here. Most of my bannock dough is made by the eyeball method for cooking over open flame so this will give you some very specific measurements for once.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups warm water
½ teaspoon salt

Mix everything until it becomes like a bread dough and not like biscuit dough where it is all sticky. Sometimes you have to kneed it/mix it for a while to get to that point. After you mix it all together just put a wet towel, plastic wrap, etc., over the bowl and refrigerate it for about an hour. When the hour is up just divide it into 8 equal portions, roll it out flat, and then fry it in oil (around 350 degrees until golden brown). This amount of dough will make about 8 round pieces of flat bread that end up around the size of a saucer or a little bigger.

Again, the nice thing about using this recipe is that you don’t end up with a big, fried bread ball that holds a lot of the oil.

If you do tacos or pizzas, the size above is about right. If you just want to do honey or jam, I usually divide this recipe into 16 portions just so you don’t have stuff dripping off one side while you gnaw on the other.

One variation to the recipe includes cinnamon and sugar in the dough to be eaten as a dessert. Basically, you can get as creative as you want with this.