Sticks and Stones

What is the most controversial topic in preparedness? What subject can you deliver an opinion on that will almost certainly start a passionate discussion? It can be nothing other than the subject of weapons.

No one denies that weapons have their place. Whether for defense or for hunting, weapons should be part of everyone’s preparations. The difference in this discussion is that the focus will be on everything but firearms. Gunpowder weapons have their place, but for several reasons, non-gunpowder weapons are an important long-term choice in your preparations.

Why not just guns?
For a start, they depend on availability, which can be an issue in Canada. Permits are required for the purchase of firearms and ammunition.

Secondly, they require an ongoing supply of ammunition, which means you need an assured source. Even if reloading, you need a supply of components. Either way, the supply is finite. A large, expensive stockpile of ammunition with thousands of rounds, while possible, is far beyond the reach of most preppers.

Third, you can’t make a gun or its parts, as that sort of manufacturing tends to be very complex. Most of the options we’ll discuss can be made with limited tools or no tools at all in some cases.

Fourth, they are noisy. A gunshot can be heard a long, long way off. I can envision quite a few survival situations where I’d rather not advertise my presence to animals or people.

Fifth and finally, firearms are often a remarkably inefficient way to use manpower. Yes, that’s right, I did say that. As a method of obtaining food, trapping and fishing are the best bang for the buck, if you’ll pardon the pun. You can set multiple snares, traps, lines or nets, effectively magnifying your efforts many times. You just can’t do that with a rifle.

Still, whether for hunting or defense, weapons are necessary, so let’s look at the non-firearm options. These weapons break down into two general classes: Those that derive their effect solely from human muscles and those with some sort of stored mechanical advantage. The first group consists of stones, throwing sticks, knives, spears, slings and so on. The second group is mostly populated with bows of various types and slingshots.

I personally feel most of the first group are unlikely to be effective as a defense if facing an opponent armed with any sort of firearm. Either the lethality or range is not sufficient for that task. That said, let’s look at how they shape up as hunting weapons.

The first thing to note is that all of these weapons require practice. Whether you’re trying to throw a knife ten feet, or sling a stone 100 feet, you’re going to need practice to hit what you aim at. But for the rest of the article, I’ll assume you’re willing to spend 15 minutes a day practicing. It’s a tiny commitment of time that pays big dividends in skill. Now on to the primitive weapons:

Stones: Seems silly, but I have seen a well thrown stone knock down squirrels, rabbits and birds. I hasten to add that the skill was not mine, but a skill certainly achievable by most people. While not the best choice (after all, humans invented better weapons!), the humble rock is almost always available, takes no construction, and requires no more practice than anything else.

Throwing sticks: a weapon used successfully as a hunting tool for millennia. Probably the best-known example is the boomerang, once used to hunt animals as large as kangaroos. I’ve personally knocked down turkey with a throwing stick, and it’s surprisingly effective. It can be as simple as a hardwood stick or as elaborate as an Apache throwing star.

Knives: Whether a stainless steel Bowie knife designed to turn 1 and 1/2 revolutions in 22 feet, or a chipped flint knife, I think knives are the trickiest of the thrown weapons to use. Due to the necessity of hitting the target point first, unlike a stone or stick they require far more practice. As they generally are ineffective beyond ten to thirty feet (depending on knife type and style of throw), I’d rather throw a rock or stick, which have just as good an effective range. Also, the thought of scrabbling around in the brush looking for what might be my only knife after throwing it at a bunny and missing is a daunting thought.

Spears: While watching Brad Pitt as Achilles spit some unfortunate at a distance seems to indicate that the spear is a throwing weapon, it has been used far oftener through its history for stabbing. As a throwing weapon, it is not that long ranged (the world javelin record is under 100 meters, and javelin throwers are going for distance, not accuracy), but somewhat superior to the knife in that it is generally more stable in the ballistic sense. The pointy end almost always gets there first.

Atlatl: A longer ranged, (and with practice) more accurate version of the spear. Basically a carved stick giving you more leverage to launch what are essentially oversized arrows or miniature spears. It is something of an exeption among 'primitive' weapons in that takes a fair bit of time and lots of patience to get good with this.

Finally, we have the sling. Arguably the simplest to make, and can be made from a huge variety of materials. It is essentially just a pouch for holding a rock and has a string on each end. While requiring some skill to use, it is potentially the longest ranged, most accurate and most lethal of this class of primitive weapons.

It comes in two varieties, the ordinary hand type and the larger staff sling. Again, it requires some time and patience to get good with this, but can be a valuable addition to your hunting arsenal.

With a little practice every day, any one of the weapons mentioned can become a valuable addition to your ability to survive. You may not be equipped with the latest and greatest firearm, but if you’ve a proper survival attitude, and just a little time to practice, you need never be unarmed.

Originally posted May 23, 2010 @ MPN

Dollar Store Survival

Prepping can be expensive. Very, very few people can even begin to approach the preparedness levels advocated by some of the more celebrated survival writers. Multi-year food stores, stacks of guns and ammunition, a large hoard of medical supplies and so on are well beyond the reach of the great majority of people and will remain so. Even modest prepping can be beyond the reach of many families in the present economy, yet some level of preparedness is more necessary now than ever.

So what to do? How to prep when funds are very limited? Is there a way to lay in preps when (almost) every dollar is spent? I believe there is, and to do so all you need is the local dollar store and a keen eye.

I know, it seems unlikely that you can make yourself disaster ready by shopping at the local dollar store, but it’s not as outlandish as you might think. Think about the basics: Shelter, Warmth, Water, Food and so on. Some equipment or supplies can be found in every category at your local dollar store. Let me give you some examples from today’s casual stroll through my local establishment.

Shelter: I found Space blankets and utility tarps were on offer, as well as rope, string, and duct tape.

Warmth/Cooking: There were collapsable stoves with 12 fuel tablets, and matches.

Water: Collapsible water jugs (2 liter capacity) were for sale

Food: lots of noodles, canned goods, spices, condiments and so on, many of them name brands. Oh, and salt! Laying up my food supplies from this source is not the most enticing prospect, and I have reservations about things shipped from China, but better than nothing. Not to mention Ziplocs for food storage.

There were other things I saw that would be useful and serviceable for the cash strapped prepper. Flashlights, first aid supplies, mosquito head nets, compasses were all to be found. Hand tools were also available, many of them as good as ones from Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart for which you’ll pay far more, and hardware of every description as well.

I could go on, but you get the idea. You won’t find everything you need, of course, but I believe you’ll be surprised at how much you do find.

There is the issue of quality, and it is an important one. Dollar stores are not known for the high quality and longevity of their products. I’ve had good luck purchasing items from dollar stores, but I’m careful about checking things over before I buy(This is were the keen eye is required.). Though all in all, if it were a choice between a cheap compass and none at all, I would go with the cheap compass.

It’s not ideal, but how many of us are achieving a Rawlesian über-prep? Some preps are better than none at all, and a bug-out bag stocked from the dollar store is far better than no bag at all.
Anyway, that’s my dollar’s worth.

Originally posted May 19, 2010 @MPN

Power to Go

I’d like you to consider a purchase. That purchase would be a mobile booster pack. These are essentially a 12-volt battery sealed in a case, with integral booster cables provided. I got one of these last winter after my car battery decided to play dead. I found it did the job very well, and I believe it is a very valuable thing to have as part of your automotive preparations.

But as they say in the infommercials: WAIT! There’s More!

Mobile power packs come in various configurations with different combinations of features. Some models, such as the one pictured above, come with an integral air compressor. I’ll describe the one that I know, but be aware that there are a lot of options out there


The model I bought has a nifty little 6 LED rechargeable flashlight that can be turned on as it sits on the charger or detached and carried with you. Given the power draw of LEDs, and that it is sitting on a fully charged battery, you’re likely to get a lot of hours of illumination.

The unit also provides a USB receptacle for charging electronic devices. It is not meant as a direct power source for running electronics, and the manufacturer warns against it in the manual.

More useful for me is the provision of two 12-volt lighter style power sockets. This gives you the capability of powering some very handy things in case of a power outage. At the moment, I have only some DC lights and a cooler that I can plug into it, but I’m researching other devices.

These include but are not limited to lights, coffee makers, fans, heaters, sandwich makers, heated blankets, portable stoves, food processor, portable oven, crock pots and popcorn poppers. Likely I’ll stay away from the high power options such as the stove and ovens. I’m seriously considering a coffee maker and a heated blanket, though.


As to recharging, you can use the wall mounted adapter or (surprise!) it can be charged from a vehicle with it’s own cigarette lighter adapter.

Is this the best option for backup power? Absolutely not. It is however, away of having at least lights in a power failure, and perhaps providing a little warmth or a warm beverage. I see it as one more tool in the prepper’s toolkit.

And of course, you can always use it for its intended purpose of boosting a car!

Originally posted May 13, 2010 @MPN

Preparedness Week for cCreatures Great and Small

A lot gets written about preparedness for humans but very little for animals. I remember watching the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and what affected me most was the death of so many pets. Perhaps my viewpoint is somewhat warped, but I felt worse about the animals than the people.

I’ve always felt that when you take an animal in as part of your family, you have in essence created a contract binding on you regarding the welfare of the animal. A human supposedly has the ability to reason, foresee the future, and act to avoid harm. Animals cannot do this, and I believe that it is your duty to do this for them.

At my house there is a cat and a dog, and I have done my best to ensure that they come through a crisis with us and not become casualties or refugees. It takes only a little forethought to make their chances look a lot better. Here are a few simple things to do to prepare your critters.

First of all, food and water storage. For our dog, it consists of extra bags of dog food gotten pretty much for free. For example, there is currently a coupon offer available for a 3-kilogram bag of dog food for FREE. The coupon is good until December 31st, and I have several of them, each valued at $13.99! These sort of offers come up all of the time, and the sharp eyed dog owner can not only lay up enough dog food to see Rover through a crisis, he can substantially reduce the costs of daily feeding! The same is true of cat food. It may not be the best quality food, but it’s far better than watching your pet starve to death.

Water is just as easy. Two liter pop bottles of water changed every month or so will make your pet’s life far more pleasant. A few pennies of water now saves you from having to make hard choices later.

Second, make sure your animal’s vaccinations are up to date. Likely incidents of animal specific diseases will increase following a crisis, and keeping the basic vaccinations up to date is simple. Consider whether other vaccinations might be worthwhile (For example, my dog is vaccinated against Lyme disease, only sensible in tic infested Manitoba).

Further, you may want to consider laying in a stock of medications that might be specific for a pre-existing condition, or as a prophylactic for things like heartworm.

Third, take a pet first aid course. I know that these are available through organizations like St. Johns Ambulance. Seems silly, I know, but it is worthwhile. I don’t think you can ever get too much training, especially in first aid. And lay in a few supplies like self-adhering gauze ('cause tape don't stick to fur!).

And last, make sure your pet is prepared to bug out with you. This might range from having a carrying cage for your cat to making sure your dog has his own pack for food and water. Most dogs can carry 25% of their body weight without difficulty. That’s about eighteen pounds for the dog pictured at the top of the article.

How elaborate you want to get with pet preparedness is up to you. As I said earlier, I believe I have a moral obligation to ensure that the animals I have are cared for, not killed, and not forced to become feral and thus pose a hazard to others. I also believe that this can be done with a minimum of cost and just a little thought.

It’s about preparedness, dawg!

Originally posted May 7, 2010 @ MPN

A Preparedness Week Test

As I sat with my morning coffee, watching the news, my tv and a lights disappeared. A power outage it was, a rarish thing here in Manitoba where the provincial utility is among the most reliable in North America. But it being Preparedness Week, I thought it was a nice opportunity to try out a few things.

First off, I got a fire going in the wood stove before the house cooled off. With cheerful flames casting a warming glow, I decided that the next step was to get a pot of coffee on the boil, as my caffeine levels were not yet up to snuff. Heading to the basement for my percolator, I realized that the basement was a black pit. I retreated upstairs to where my LED flashlight sat on its charger. Grabbed that and ventured back downstairs, grabbed perc and got that going.

I realized that a bit more light was called for, so away I went in search of my new fangled, high-tech, lightweight, rechargeable/and or hand cranked lantern. Flicked the switch and watched in dismay as it came away in my hand. Restraining curses, I made yet another trip downstairs to get lantern number two, my old, heavy, bulky camping lantern that runs on 4 'D' cells. As always, it came through.

As I settled in to read a book by lantern light and sip a hot cup of coffee in front of the wood stove to await the return of power, I was left to reflect on this:

Technology is great. I own many pieces of equipment that incorporate the cutting edge of modern science. I love new fangled toys. That said, as I have always known, the more complex a device is and the more pieces that it contains, the greater the number of possible failure points that device also contains. Backups are neccessary, not just redundancy in the form of more of the same item.

If I'd had two of the same lantern, that might have been ok. But the identical fault may exist in identical equipment. Far better to have a backup that is variant to the primary technology, IMO. And a backup to that, if at all affordable. Had my second (and other) lanterns failed, I had two more options for light, each increasingly simple (oil lamps and candles). I'm pretty sure those would have worked no matter what.

So the lesson for me? Keep it simple. Stick with proven technology. And leave the perc upstairs!

First Posted May 3, 2010 @ MPN

Review: One Second After

I’ve just finished reading William R. Forstchen’s One Second After. It’s one of the newer entries in the post-apocalypse genre, and one whose basic premise is very much in fashion among the survivalistas.

As a work of literature and of science fiction of the post-apocalypse genre, it gets a pass if only a grudging one. The characterization is very spotty in places, some characters mere sketches without much to make you care what happens to them. The plotting and pace are utterly unsurprising, without much to keep you on the edge of your seat. The predictable human dramas unfold in a somewhat plodding manner, and of course the de rigueur cannibal horde makes its appearance toward the end of the book complete with climactic battle (For my money, that was done far better in Lucifer’s Hammer)

The book also suffers from interminable inner monologues wherein the main character reminisces about how much better everything used to be before the disaster, when he’s not reminiscing about how wonderful America was before it got all soft and complacent. Heart clutching patriotic moments are interspersed liberally throughout the book, and one begins to suspect that the author secretly longs for his disaster so that Americans can ‘rediscover’ themselves and their pioneer spirit. Pretty standard right-ish writing, but what did you expect from someone that authors books with Newt Gingrich?

All in all, if you’re looking for a great work of literature, this definitely isn’t it. But it’s readable for a bit of entertainment on a rainy afternoon, if nothing else. It does have other value that should put it on most prepper’s reading list, though.

The apocalyptic event envisioned by the author is an EMP attack on the continental USA. Very rightly, he feels the consequences of such an attack (or for those that don’t see terrorists under the bed, a coronal mass ejection the size of the Carrington Event) would be utterly devastating. Absolutely everything would grind to a halt, and the human suffering as portrayed in the book is likely on the mark, or very close to it.

To Forstchen’s credit, he has not written a cozy catastrophe of the Alas, Babylon type. There is no deus ex machina that pops up and solves the problems of the main character and his town. Characters you might have come to like, regardless of how badly written, are mown down nearly indiscriminately throughout the book, and (spoiler!) even the main character’s pet dogs are not spared.

In fact, the book’s tone is relentlessly downbeat. For most of the book, things go from bad to worse, people surviving one event only to be crushed by the next. It is only at the end of the book that there is an upbeat moment of sorts, if only a very qualified one.

Are things ever going to be as bad as this book portrays? I hope not, but it still makes sense to read this book, just to get us to think about the worst case scenarios we might face. After all, a big chunk of preparedness is mental preparation, and this book should help us understand that should we get a catastrophe even remotely the scale of the one described, there will be nothing cozy about it.

Originally posted April 30, 2010 @ MPN

Mr. Blogger's Neighbourhood

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood
For transportation of dangerous goods…”

Eh, I can’t think of any more lyrics, and it was a dopey song anyway. So onwards to today’s topic. And that is: Just what is in your neighbourhood?

Here in Manitoba, we tend to think we live in an almost rural fashion, despite the fact that most of our population is concentrated in a few large centers and a plethora of smaller ones. Our towns tend to cluster around major highways and are dotted along rail lines for the most part. Along those rail lines and roads run trains and trucks filled with deadly goodies like acid, anhydrous ammonia, and propane. Often, these cargos pass through heavily populated areas, often right through the middle of town. Derailments and accidents are not common, but do happen.

Then there is the question of industry. Even the smaller towns have some sort of large business providing employment and keeping the town alive. In most cases, these are pretty much innocuous, but there are exceptions. The bulk fuel dealer, the fertilizer depot with an anhydrous ammonia storage tank or large amounts of nitrate fertilizer on site, perhaps an industry where the product is not inherently dangerous, but the components are (There are an infinite variety of things that give off toxic fumes when burned or even better, go boom).

Then too there are the infrastructure items that pose a hazard, such as natural gas pipelines. One blew up in the western part of Manitoba a number of years ago. Luckily, it was some distance from the nearest town, but I’m told that the explosion and subsequent fire were heard and seen at a distance of many miles and it was sheer luck no one was killed.

Everyday, we walk, drive by, or live close to potentially dangerous goods. Our tendency is to dismiss these, because most of the time they are not a danger to us, although there are a variety of situations that can change them from potential to actual hazard.

The immediate concern in day-to-day life is an accident, of course. Trucks crash, trains derail, and fires or other events happen despite everyone’s best effort to minimize the risks. The root cause in these sorts of incidents can range from human neglect or equipment failure, to the occasional act of god in the form of tornados or earthquakes.

Additionally, one should look at the longer term. In an economic or larger societal collapse, simple abandonment or deliberate vandalism can transform a usually safe resource into a deadly hazard. The serious prepper should take this into consideration, and as always, knowing what you might face is the first step.

The thing to do is find out what exactly is located in or moving through your area that can affect you. There may be none, one or multiple things to worry about in your immediate vicinity. A quick drive around town, a look through the phone book, and an open eye on what goes through town by road and rail are a good start. Your local emergency measures organization may be a source for this information, and most fire departments have a good grip on hazardous materials in their area of response, so ask around.

Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can take steps to minimize the risk. You might need to devise an evacuation plan, purchase a respirator, take steps to safeguard your water supply from leaked chemicals, or a dozen other things. Your exact plan will depend on the particular risks in your area, if any.

Remember, this is nothing more than situational awareness written large, and doesn't need to be hard to do or complicated. The important thing is to find out what the threats are in your neighbourhood now, so you can prepare and plan for if or when.

Originally posted April 28, 2010 @MPN