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iPhone Survival: Not Just for the Urban Jungle Anymore

When I think survival, I think "Rule of 3's", 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.  Next, I might think about specific items to have with me so I can get out of the situation.  Cordage and tools are two items hard to duplicate in the wild.  Not impossible, but hard.  Just having a good knife and some 550 cord might make the difference.  The knife will help you make shelter and the cordage will help hold it together (unless your building a debris shelter).  Most good survival items are multipurpose too.  The knife can be used to cut things, be an axe of sorts with the help of batoning, be the striker for a fire steel, be a signal mirror (if polished), a weapon, self defense item, etc. The cordage can help hold your shelter together, be part of a bow drill, a snare, an arm sling, etc.  Lots of uses there to say the least, and I didn't mention using the inner strands yet.  So, what if you could have the following list in a 4 5/8" X 2 5/8" X 3/4" water resistant package?

Read more: iPhone Survival Guide

Feature Articles - General

Not too long ago, I got an inquiry to see if I would be interested in reviewing a new book by Tony Nester.  This is book is called "The Modern Hunter-Gather:  A Practical Guide To Living Off The Land."  I responded that I'd be happy to take a look at it, and it arrived on the doorstep in just a few days.  I'm always looking for more information whether it's in books or on the net, and I was curious to see if I could glean anything from the book that I didn't already know.  Before I delve into that issue too much, I think it's important to set the stage for the context of the book.  Right up front, the book says that it is intended for beginners.  I think that's important, because I've come across books that have been billed as the last word in outdoors skills and have have been disappointed with their lack of real in-depth material.  Also, context is important because a book like this should be graded based upon the audience for which it was written.  For instance, some of us here at Woods Monkey have had a few discussions about how to handle knife reviews.  Some guys don't like serrated blades, so they might be tempted to say, "This knife is awful because it has a serrated blade."  We have to remind ourselves that some folks like serrated blades and there are important uses for such blades.  So we ask them, "Based on that information and its intended purpose, how did the knife perform?"  The same thing is true here as well.

Read more: The Modern Hunter-Gatherer Book Review

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I just got back from the local gun show and found a great little bag from Voodoo Tactical.  I have heard the name and saw their logo, a cool skull with cross hairs on the side, but didn't look at their web site until today.  I'm always on the hunt for a new gear bag and this caught my eye.  Woodland camo in color, the BIG zippers and paracord zipper pulls are what I saw first.  I hate a bag with those wimpy little zippers and this one has none of that.  All full size, easy moving zippers and just waiting for some cool Scott's Knot's zipper pulls!  Not sure if they're YKK but they look it.  I see from this guys table that it comes in OD, black, ACU Digital Camo, Multicam, and Coyote Tan too.

Feature Articles - General

Since I got my hydration bladder system a couple of months ago, I have grown to appreciate a soft-sided water carrier.  However, I just don't always need three liters of water, and carrying around an entire three-liter bladder, even half empty, can be annoying.  Over the last several weeks, I began carrying typical one-liter bottles like a Nalgene, a USGI canteen, and disposable water bottles for shorter trips.  Toting the empty containers was annoying, though, because they took up the same space in my bag regardless of their ability to hydrate.  So, when I came across the Platypus “Platy Bottle”, a soft-sided 1 liter bottle, I decided to give it a shot.

Read more: Platypus Bottles Review

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I have long been plagued with poor backpacks which have made many hikes and campouts uncomfortable and inconvenient.  My large capacity backpack was a woman’s pack from my youth that just barely fit an overnight trip’s load.  The shoulder straps pinched my upper back together and the minimal waist belt fell at my navel, making it useless for load bearing.  I also used a cheap school-style backpack from a popular clothing store that was fine for light loads, but had poor load-distributing abilities and moved around too much unless it was cinched tight enough to hurt.  After collecting a good supply of gear to cover all of my other needs, I came to the conclusion I needed something to carry it all in comfortably.  I'm a pack minimalist, so an overnight or two-night load doesn’t really take up too much space.  I started my search with large daypacks.  I wanted a way to secure loads to the outside of the pack, and I wanted a good suspension system to carry the load comfortably and without a lot of movement.  Over the course of several hikes, the wish for a hydration bladder became more cemented in my mind, so that became another search criteria.  Naturally, the name CamelBak came to mind since they’re heavily associated with water bladders, so I started browsing their website.

Read more: CamelBak Rim Runner Review

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Gerber has long been known for quality, reasonably priced products.  Their line of Gator folding knives  has been extended with a fixed blade model which includes a partially serrated version and a gut hook fine edge version.  They all utilize the same handle material as the folders. This is from the Gerber website.

The inner core of the handle is glass-filled nylon. Then we chemically bonded it to the outer surface, which is molded Santoprene® rubber...creating a soft, tactile grip over a very strong structure. All these years later, and no ones topped it.

Read more: Gerber Gator Fixed Blade Review