Heyduke
04-15-2014, 12:58 AM
I was travelling/camping last week. This is the first night I'll sleep indoors in many days. Ironically, tonight is the night of the blood moon, so I'll have to stay up and get a peek at that. I'm up at almost 1,000 feet of elevation here, so I should get a good look. I'll be hitting the road again tomorrow. I got a backpacking hammock that smashes down to the size of a super-burrito.
There are two schools of prepping, you know, for the zombie apocalypse or whatever. The first school of thought is to build the compound. You build a defensible compound and stock it with ammunition, food and fuel. If that's your school of thought, and you've built the mightiest of compounds, you'd be sort of stupid to admit to it on the internet. You'd want to keep that sort of thing close to the vest.
The second school of prepping is the stealth nomad strategy. That's where I fit in. I don't own a gun. Ammo is heavy. I have a wrist rocket, and I practice with it, and a well placed rock could probably stop a zombie. It worked for David, right? You can pick up ammo here and there as you walk.
I practice walking through the woods at night without a flashlight. That's a skill. It's not a lucrative skill in today's world, but it would come in handy if I ever were confronted with some sort of post-apocalyptic situation.
Training your stomach... I've always pushed the envelope when it comes to eating food that's past its expiration date, just to test my gut limits. I leave cooked meat unrefrigerated and eat it days later. Hey, the pioneers could pack bacon for a 6 month journey in the back of a covered wagon. They had well-trained stomachs. I really think that my 6 years of wrestling under Spartan coaches and cutting weight trained me somewhat to excercise without eating. I've noticed that most of my friends really have a difficult time functioning after missing a couple meals.
Local knowledge. I recently caught a fat trout with a found stick and some scavenged line and a home-made hook. I know where the quail are, and how to make a box trap with a mousetrap trigger. I know where the deer are. I know a few places that are over-run with wild pigs. I know how to ID wild plants and shrooms. These are things I've always studied. Most importantly, I know where to find clean water.
Running is a good skill. I hate running (I much prefer a mountain bike), but I make myself do it. Anyway, running is just for escape. Endurance walking is the usual mode of the wilderness prepper.
Finally, what about boredom? That's huge. People underestimate the tremendous shock of what it would be like to be cut off from modern conveniences. What about psychology? What about nervous breakdowns? I'll tell you, I don't relish the idea of being holed up in a compound with a few other panicky folks with itchy trigger fingers.
There are two schools of prepping, you know, for the zombie apocalypse or whatever. The first school of thought is to build the compound. You build a defensible compound and stock it with ammunition, food and fuel. If that's your school of thought, and you've built the mightiest of compounds, you'd be sort of stupid to admit to it on the internet. You'd want to keep that sort of thing close to the vest.
The second school of prepping is the stealth nomad strategy. That's where I fit in. I don't own a gun. Ammo is heavy. I have a wrist rocket, and I practice with it, and a well placed rock could probably stop a zombie. It worked for David, right? You can pick up ammo here and there as you walk.
I practice walking through the woods at night without a flashlight. That's a skill. It's not a lucrative skill in today's world, but it would come in handy if I ever were confronted with some sort of post-apocalyptic situation.
Training your stomach... I've always pushed the envelope when it comes to eating food that's past its expiration date, just to test my gut limits. I leave cooked meat unrefrigerated and eat it days later. Hey, the pioneers could pack bacon for a 6 month journey in the back of a covered wagon. They had well-trained stomachs. I really think that my 6 years of wrestling under Spartan coaches and cutting weight trained me somewhat to excercise without eating. I've noticed that most of my friends really have a difficult time functioning after missing a couple meals.
Local knowledge. I recently caught a fat trout with a found stick and some scavenged line and a home-made hook. I know where the quail are, and how to make a box trap with a mousetrap trigger. I know where the deer are. I know a few places that are over-run with wild pigs. I know how to ID wild plants and shrooms. These are things I've always studied. Most importantly, I know where to find clean water.
Running is a good skill. I hate running (I much prefer a mountain bike), but I make myself do it. Anyway, running is just for escape. Endurance walking is the usual mode of the wilderness prepper.
Finally, what about boredom? That's huge. People underestimate the tremendous shock of what it would be like to be cut off from modern conveniences. What about psychology? What about nervous breakdowns? I'll tell you, I don't relish the idea of being holed up in a compound with a few other panicky folks with itchy trigger fingers.