The Doomsday Blog

REMINDER: Do not set traps unless you have a trapping permit. Check your local laws or talk to your local Wildlife Officer, Park Ranger or Fish and Game Warden.

OK, first make the snare wire itself. Not a black art, if you use guitar strings there is a feral on one side already, feed the free end through there and make a loop in the free end to attach to some strong line or secure it to a stake or a line.

If you’re using wire you find, you can make it as follows: Twist an eye in one end, run the wire through the eye and place another eye in the end to secure the snare.

I learned this one in survival school.

Instead of a springy branch it uses a heavy rock/deadfall to lift the animal up. Make sure when you lift the animal it is far enough away from your line so it can’t chew through it and far enough from the tree so it can’t climb up the tree. Basically dig a hole 12 inches deep. Pound in two stakes with branches, you need two pieces of branch long enough to span the distance of the stakes and strong enough to hold your weighted object.

Then add the trigger you can carve it so it takes only a few lbs to set it off. You will need to play with it, don’t get fustrated. The trigger is a stick that is strong enough to hold the amount of weight you are using to spring the trap. You do not have to carve it at all it seems to make it easier to set and more reliable when used.  If you handle the components of the trap, expose them to the smoke from a fire to cover up the human scent.

Tie the end of the line to the trigger securely. The snare itself is attached about 1 to 1 ½ inch above the trigger. The trigger goes under the bar with the line wrapping under the bar.  The other bar stops the trigger from flipping out and letting the weight fall. If you are going to bait the trap, do it now. You can use fish or animal guts.  Once baited, lay the sticks on the lower bar carefully. Cover the hole, then camouflage it to suit the environment. Place the snare loosely above the bar and the hole on top of the camouflage. You can prop it up on forked sticks.

When the animal comes investigating that delicious aroma, it places its weight on the sticks. That pushes the bottom bar down then releases the trigger, lifting the snare up and lassoing the leg or legs of the critter. Make sure you check your traps often and always bring a club with you to dispatch the critters you’ve caught.

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* Attributed to Elmer Fudd, Looney Tunes.

Round Turn and Two HalfHitches

This useful knot is used in making shelters, rope bridges and many more uses where you want to attach a rope to an object either a tree or a back pack frame.

First, wrap the rope completely around the tree/object for two turns. Bring the working (short) end under the standing (long) end and place the working end through the loop that is made.  Next, bring the working end around and under again. Then pass the working end through the loop again and cinch this knot down tight. This method of attaching a rope can withstand tremendous strain, as will be seen later in making a rope bridge.

The clove hitch: this is essentially two half hitches.

You start with ½ a round turn around your object, wrap the working end to the outside then over the standing end around the object to the outside then up under the locking bar. Sounds easy enough, sometimes this is called a John Wane knot because this is what he used in the movies to secure his horse.

The Bowline; this creates a fixed loop in the end of a rope.

You start by making a loop over the working end, run the working end up and through the loop, bring that around the back of the standing end and go back down through the loop. Tighten the knot securely.

To further secure this knot you can add a half hitch or overhand knot to the working end.

Practice these with a few different pieces of rope and check back later for even more knots.

Tying knots is an essential tool to survival. There is a saying if you can’t tie a knot tie a lot. Meaning if you can’t tie a special knot put a bunch of hitches in there so it holds.  The following series of articles cover some of the more basic and useful knots.  Most of them are taught in Ranger School; some are taught to boy scouts.  Some of them were probably picked up in other places as well.

Reef or Square Knot

This is a constant tension knot.  Meaning, you don’t tie it and leave it loose. This knot ties ropes of the same diameter together.  To tie it you cross right over left, pass it under and then left over right, cross it under. Tighten by pulling both sides equally.

An alternate method is to create a bight (slack part or loop in the rope) with the free running  end on top. Take the second rope and thread it through the bight bend it down and around the back and over the top. Then thread it back through the bight  and tighten.

Sheet Bend

This knot is used to connect two ropes of different sizes and is another constant tension knot. [We used this knot to add new rope to our rope fence in our camp at the Ren Faire. ~Becky]  Make a bight in the thicker of the two ropes, bring the thinner up line through the middle loop around the back of both lines of the bight then back under the thin line. It almost looks like a reef/square knot.

Double Sheet Bend

This knot starts out like the sheet bend, however, the thinner line goes around the thicker line twice.

The Overhand Knot

The overhand knot

This is probably the knot everyone knows as it is the common beginning to tying your shoes.

Always remember that knots and bends reduce the strength of the rope…as much as by half in some cases. So that means don’t tie knots in your rope/line just to tie them.

Shelters come in all shapes and sizes.  So far, we have discussed some ways to use a military poncho. What happens if you don’t even have that? How about some heavy cloth? Most closely woven fabrics (cotton duck, nylon) will keep rain out as long as it is taunt and at a steep angle. If you double it up with an airspace between it will make it less likely to leak and will have an insulating effect.  Again don’t build a huge shelter if you can avoid it. The smaller the shelter, the cozier it will be.

Let’s discuss some options (problems and solutions) if you only have a piece of cloth/plastic.

My length of canvas doesn’t have grommets!

No grommets no problem, don’t just cut a hole; it is likely to spread and ruin your shelter. Just place a small pebble in the corner. Fold the corner over the stone and wrap your line around it; that will stop the cloth from tearing.  With that knowledge you should be able to make many of the same shelters as you would with the poncho. Since another article already covers those shelters, we will not duplicate them here.

However, two shelters we have not yet discussed are illustrated below. For both shelters your tarp or cloth is held secure against the ground by heavy stones.  The pitch of the shelter is created by a rope tied between two trees forming the apex of the shelter (the first figure). In the second figure the slanted pitch is created by using a long pole, stick or branch to create the same type of apex. Don’t forget to secure your branch to the tree!

I don’t even have a tarp! I am up the creek without a paddle.

Not not really. There are plenty of things you can use. When I was a private my 1SG [first sergeant] wouldn’t let us wear any snivel gear (warm clothing) during “Stand To” or “Stand down.” Stand To and Stand Down are the times when the sun is coming up or down.  Any graduate of ranger school can recite the creed and pull out some of Major Robert Rogers 28 “Rules of Ranging.” For those of that did not attend Ranger school, (Honey, this is for you.) this is where you can find the standing orders. One of them is (#15): “At the first dawn of day, awake your whole detachment; that being the time when the savages choose to fall upon their enemies, you should by all means be in readiness to receive them.” The revised version is simpler: “The entire detachment should be awake before dawn each morning as this is the usual time of enemy attack.”  And the fictional version (according to Kenneth Roberts) is: “Don’t sleep beyond dawn. Dawn’s when the French and Indians attack.”  Anyway, in the middle of winter we were in our uniform–full battle rattle–and no cold gear, lying on the ground. Sometimes it was bitterly cold. I found that if I piled up the pine needles under me and above me it kept my teeth from rattling out of my mouth. That was discipline back then.

A fallen over pine tree can provide a suitable shelter.  You can bend the branches out to burrow into and create a cozy home. A large log, if it fell in the correct direction, can block the wind if you were on the leeward side (that is the opposite side the wind is coming from). You can dig out a small pit on the leeward side and place a lattice work of sticks above that and begin to place leaves and twigs on top.  Keep piling that on until it is about as thick as the length of your arm. You do need to have a steep angle with this. If you have a shovel, use pieces of turf (explanation of turf) above the lattice work.  You would lay the turfs shingle like above the lattice work to make a decent roof over your head. While this is not a permanent structure, you will spend a significant amount of time building it.

Leeward side of the log

Small pit with lattice work added

Shingles of turf for a roof

Finally, (for today anyway) there is the debris hut described by Tom Brown in his wilderness survival guide.  For Tom’s complete description, check out his book available through our shop.  Basically, to build it you need a ridge pole about as thick as your arm. A stump or bipod to attach the ridge pole to and some branches to form a lattice work and the main walls of the shelter.

Then you pile on all kinds of dry leaves, needles, bark, anything to create at least 2 ft of walls over the lattice work. Don’t use wet moss though, anything dry. A good rule of thumb is if you burrow your hand in, you should be at your arm pit when you feel the lattice. If not, start piling some more on. Place sticks and flat bark slabs over your wall to stop the wind from taking away your insulation. Tom says you should be able to pour 5 gallons of water on top of it and stay dry and cozy inside.

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* Rolling Stones. “Gimme Shelter.” Let It Bleed. Decca Records, 1969.
Brown, Tom. Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival. New York: Berkley Trade, 1987.

Even a second-year WEBELOS knows the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Knowing that north is a 90 degree turn (left or right depending on if you are facing east or west) from either of those directions (south is the other way in case you were wondering), you should be able to find north if you know any of the other cardinal directions. See the image at the left (<– that way) if you need more assistance. I do hope you know what hemisphere you are in before a disaster happens.

A north by any other name… A map has three norths: true north, grid north and magnetic north. The angular distance between these is the declination. On military maps there is a declination diagram on the bottom of the map in the marginal information. It tells you what the declination is and if you add or subtract the angle to go from magnetic to grid or vice versa. I have seen a 20 degree difference between magnetic and grid north before. That is a significant difference.

True North – Points to the tippy top of the Earth at the polar ice cap.

Grid North – The ‘north’ established by the grid system placed over the map.

Magnetic North – This is the north used by compasses…the compass points at a huge iron ore deposit in the north located a bit below the arctic circle. There are other iron ore deposits in the world and they do have an effect. In the mahinga swamp in the republic of Panama I’ve seen compasses lock up, slowly continue to spin around and around or work just fine. So knowing where you are going (and what you should expect to find there) is key.

I don’t have a compass which way is north?

There are a number of ways to find north without a compass: you can use a wrist watch, a stick in the ground, use a magnetized needle and the reading the stars (more on this coming soon!).  These techniques are not universally effective throughout the world so definitely try these out and see which will work in your area.

Using a watch:

First, make sure your watch is set properly, (you must ignore daylight saving time for this to work) and set to the true hours of the day (that would be the ‘winter’ hours). In the Northern Hemisphere, hold the watch flat (like you would a compass) pointing the hour hand at the sun. North is the midpoint between the 12 and the hour hand. In the Southern Hemisphere point the 12 at the sun and north is midway between the hour hand and the 12. The closer you are to the equator the less accurate this method is, so try it out and see if it is something you can rely on.

Don’t have hands on your digital watch?  Simply estimate where the hour hand would be on an analog watch and aim accordingly.  Remember, this is an estimate only; verify conclusions if at all possible.

Shadow tip method:

Place a straight stick about 3 ft long into the ground; it doesn’t need to be extremely thick. Place a stone or mark where the shadow tip is on the ground. Wait at a minimum 15 minutes and mark the tip of the shadow again. Draw a line between the two marks, this is East and west. Your first mark will be to the west, and everyone knows you have north to the front east to the right and west to the left and south is behind you, So to speak.

Making a magnetic needle point North:

There are a number of ways to magnetize a needle/piece of wire. Using a natural (rare earth) magnet is best. You swipe the needle repeatedly in the same direction–not sawing back and forth. The more you do this the more magnetized it will become. I have magnetized screw drivers by letting them sit on a magnet for a while, I had a magnet on the wall and the screw drivers attached to it. Make sure you use a light string to do this with thicker string restricts the needles attraction to north, also using a long 6 inch long string I found to work best.

Or you can suspend the needle on a piece of paper, grass, bark, floating on water remember to follow Archenemies Principle of Buoyancy. You must displace more than you weigh to float. Use another means to figure out which way is north and mark the appropriate side of the needle.

Another way to magnetize a needle is to use a battery. Using insulated wire around the needle loosely and then attach each end to a pole of the battery. After about 5 minutes it should be magnetized. If you don’t have insulated wire you can wrap paper around the needle to insulate it. Since you only need about 3 volts or less you can use an old battery to make your magnetized needle.  You will need to remagnetize your needle every once;  a while I would keep the needle attached to the magnet if I had one, but that is just me.

Shelter requirements vary depending where you are and how long you plan on staying there. Yes, a purpose made tent would be better than something you improvise.  However, it does take up more room, doesn’t do other jobs and if we had time to prepare or evacuate we probably wouldn’t be up the creek without the paddle would we?

As far as simple shelters go a poncho hooch is my first choice.  It is a piece of rubberized material designed to go over your body and pack protecting you from the rain and has a series of grommets along its perimeter. The poncho hooch is made from a military poncho or equivalent. I have seen what was called an “Australian” hooch.  It was slightly larger and didn’t have the hood, but it also had more grommets.  Apparently the guy had indeed worked with the Australians and traded for it. If I were the Australian I would have made the trade well worth it because it is a really cool piece of kit. If I ever get my hands on one of these I’ll be glad.

You then tie the hood closed and add bungee cords or a strong line to each grommet and the hood; you may want to attach two to the hood.  You could either remove a hook from an end of the bungee cord and tie the end in a knot after passing it through the grommet, or girth hitch it through the grommet. Add a drip line to the bungee cords. This will keep water (that always seems to travel down your bungee cords and into your shelter) out. A drip line is a short piece of line that hangs down. When the rain water hits it, the rain travels down and drips off the end instead of in your shelter. Water doesn’t flow up.

Knotting the cord or girthing the grommet

Adding a drip line.

Now you are ready to make a temporary shelter.

This is as simple or complicated as you make it and is limited only by your imagination; the key is making the shelter tight so water runs off the poncho and doesn’t have a chance to pool on the top. Do not make the shelter higher off the ground than necessary for you to fit under. The smaller it is the more heat it will keep in and the warmer you will be. Simple isn’t it? If you just want some shelter from the son, put the shelter up higher to create more shade. Keep in mind what you were sheltering from…it makes a difference.

Here are some examples:

• If there are trees spaced far enough apart, you can attach each corner to a tree and attach the hood to a branch further up the tree. When I visited Argentina it seemed that they planted the trees just so this shelter could be erected. The wind did blow under this shelter keeping us cool during the hot night.

• If you only have two trees to use you can use this configuration.  The stakes can be something you carry with you or make as needed.  I did use this method to stay incredibly warm during some horrendous downpours at night.

• If you only have one tree and a back pack. Note that the back pack can be replaced with a forked stick.

Forked stick replacing the backpack...where is your backpack?!?

• The every popular simple lean to.

• You can also use a net hammock. I used this nightly when sleeping in the jungles of Panama and Central/ South America.

Now these are just some of the shelters you can build with a military poncho, your limitation is your imagination. Have other suggestions? Let us know.

Not required reading, but there is something to be found in each of these books that will prove valuable while surviving a disaster event. Conveniently, most of our reading list can be acquired through our Amazon store. While this is a good start, we are currently reviewing other books to add to the list.

Fiction

Tunnel in the Sky By Robert A. Heinlein – Excellent story regarding the rebuilding/establishment of a society during a survival crisis.

Non-Fiction

Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival By Tom Brown

Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children By Tom Brown

SAS Survival Handbook, Revised Edition: For Any Climate, in Any Situation By John Wiseman

Survival: Techniques from the Official Training Manuals of the Worlds Elite Military Corps By Len Cacutt

The US Armed Forces Survival Manual Edited by John Boswell

[Editor's note: These snippets are being written in between his other work, so bear with Joey as he elaborates.]

There are some dangers faced when hunting, but nothing brings home the bacon like, well, bringing home the bacon. Like said earlier don’t linger near a water source because it attracts herbivores and they attract carnivores. With the departure of the carnivores comes the scavenger. Bears, wolves and hyenas (not to mention vultures, ravens and crows) find carcasses and feed off them.  Bears if hungry may decide that your catch is theirs; don’t provoke them and don’t try to catch them. Bears have been known to kill humans in the past and some of those humans had powerful firearms.  Bears are also known for “visiting”  a camp or tent.  A simple club probably wont bring it down or convince him to leave either. Noise can drive these animals off.

Injured animals: YOU DID IT. You put an arrow, spear, bullet or whatever into that deer, but it ran off. Don’t immediately chase off after it; give it a couple minutes.  If you chase off after it directly it will keep trying to get away. They do that, they will run to a place where they feel safe lay down and lick their wounds and die. If you happen to corner it, it will fight ferociously to get away. Ideally, it goes a short distance and lies down. If you come up on it and it is still alive, it should be too weak to get back up.  Approach slowly and dispatch the beast with a kill shot. You do not want to cause any undue pain to the animal. Always do your best to drop it immediately, if you can’t, at least don’t make it suffer.

There are some animals that should be avoided if possible. Alligators are one of them. They are hard to kill with guns and you are carrying a club. All animals have defense mechanisms: teeth, horns, hooves. Watch out for them. If it is a hoofed animal don’t approach from the rear they kick that way. Teeth…do I need to elaborate why you want to stay away from them?

Trapping

There are 4 main types of traps according to the SAS survival guide by John Wiseman. Mangle, Strangle, Dangle, Tangle.

The Mangle = blunt force trauma you will drop something heavy or impale the animal on some sort of spear.

Strangle= choking the animal to death

Dangle = using a trap to lift and possibly suspend the animal off its legs to allow you to dispatch it.

Tangle= getting the animal caught up in a net or trap.

Snares.

As we said a good survival kit should include some snares or snare wire.

A simple snare = a running noose either secured to the ground or attached to a heavy object to slow down your quarry. Essentially a ball and chain that made it harder for convict work gangs to escape.

You can improve upon it with the addition of some forked sticks to help hold it up off the ground.

You would place this simple device along a game trail before or after it goes through a bush, fence, or such. Placing it hands with from the bush, fence, or such will help hide it. I won’t say if you just place it anywhere it won’t work. It will, just not as reliably. You want the animal to believe the snare is part of this thing it has to go through. Then it is caught. This probably won’t kill the animal, whenever you check your traps bring your club with you or the spear, to dispatch any animals you catch.

I learned this one in survival school..The squirrel pole.

Basically a stick with a whole bunch of running nooses attached to a stick and placed against a tree where you see squirrels playing. Eventually they will run down the stick. One will be caught by a leg and hang there when his squirrel friends come to laugh at him they will get caught. This seems deceptively easy but it works.

Sharper, wouldn’t be bad, either.

Well, you dropped 450.00 USD into that Randle Model 18 survival knife Leatherman multi tool and used them quite a bit practicing some or all of these skills. Now it is getting kind of dull, you have to push a bit harder to cut and saw a bit. I learned in boy scouts a sharp knife is a safe knife. The idea is if it is sharp you will cut easily and won’t have to muscle the blade through what your cutting leading to a slip and potential owie and other four letter words.

One method described on the Randle web site is an excellent way to keep your knife sharp and is well worth reading. See it here: http://www.randallknives.com/knifesharpening.php.

The SAS Survival Guide by John Wiesman says sandstone, quartz, and granite will sharpen tools. You can rub the two faces together to create a smooth surface to sharpen your tool.  Any double faced, smooth on one side coarse on the other side will work well. You do need to lubricate the stone so the fine metal bits that are removed don’t clog the metal you can use oil (best) or spit (not the best).  As John Wayne said, “Sometimes a man has got to do what a man has got to do.” When I went through survival training we were using a piece of porcelain insulator we found under a high-tension wire and that worked well enough to keep our knives working.

One thought I learned…not necessarily the hard way. I did the evasion portion of survival school twice. The first time it rained constantly and we crossed 5 streams and a river. I ended up getting immersion foot. On that trip I was carrying a Leatherman multi tool (http://www.leatherman.com) it worked ok for carving and such and the saw did come in handy. But, for chopping it was not a good choice as it did not split wood well. On my second trip through the evasion, I carried my trusty K-Bar. Now that did the trick. I did modify it a little. The first inch and a half I used a small file to serrate the edge. Also, when I sharpened it I varied the cutting edge with a finer edge near the creations for fine cutting and to a shallower edge bearer the point for chopping/splitting. This knife split wood well which was handy for keeping the fire going ,creating traps, making tools and shelter. I did learn a valuable lesson. If you can, carry both.

Now, The Choice: Swiss army or Leatherman. Victorinox  (http://www.swissarmy.com) has been making knives for 125 years, a little longer than even I can remember. I carried a Swiss Army knife rather than a cub scout/boy scout knife back in the day. They make one for the cub/boy scouts now, by the way. Leatherman was the first to break into that market.  When I was in the 82^nd Airborne the Buck Lite or Swiss Army was what you carried. Then Leatherman came out with these plier thingies you could actually use for hard work. Now, there are so many multi tool knock offs it is buyer beware. You can make the choice between what you need, what you can afford, and what works. I would suggest a sturdy belt knife with a 4 to 6 inch blade, and a multi tool style knife for fine cutting and the odds and ends (saw, file, ect). Here is a place where you do not want to go extremely cheap or extremely expensive…find that happy medium.

How do we get water from where there are no visible creeks (crik for those of us south of the mason Dixon line)?  There are a number of options.

If there is vegetation you can take clear plastic bags wrap them around the branches and tie it tight, ensure there is an area that water can collect in and let the sun (this only works during the day) shine on it. Condensation will form in the bag and drip to the collection area for recovery. Before you ask, it will taste like leaves a bit just a hint of pine or willow, you’ll live. This works with cut vegetation also. When attached to a live tree bush it acts as a pump would draw water up through the root system and through the branches/leaves creating steam, this rises and condensates on the plastic surface. Remember to try to keep as much of the vegetation from the plastic or it will divert the droplets from being caught in the receiving area.

No trees? Make a solar still. See image below.

• Dig a hole 3 feet across and 18 inches deep. Place a can, glass or something to collect the water in in the bottom and centered. You can roughen the plastic with a stone or sand to ensure the water runs down the plastic don’t tear the plastic though. Place the plastic down loosely and secure it with rocks, place a small stone peble in the center above the cup to direct the droplets to the cup.
• When the sun comes up the temperature of the air and ground rise and make vapor and–ta-da– it makes water. This may make 1 pint over 24 hours so you may need a few.
• If you can add a tube or straw to either of these you can collect the water while it is being made and not have to stop the process.
• Now for the icky part. If you have contaminated water or urine you can dump it around the solar still. I would dump it 18 inches away and try to circle it around the still. The heat will draw the water through the dirt and sand purifying it in the process. Told you was icky.