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Category: Wilderness Survival

The Great Human Race, authentic survival television

The Great Human Race, authentic survival television

TweetNational Geographic Channel’s The Great Human Race is a late entry in the sprint for wilderness survival programming audience. It’s a powerful entry and much more than wilderness survival. GHR reaches for anthropological authenticity. The scope and breadth of GHR exceeds competitors geographically and intellectually. Viewers follow the tribulations of our archetypal founding pair of survivors along the path of early humans from African origins, onward. Four episodes have aired to date, six remain. This is the venerable  National Geographic…

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Wilderness Survival Television goes Naked and Afraid 40 days

Wilderness Survival Television goes Naked and Afraid 40 days

TweetHard core survival television on tap for summer 2015.  “…it is impossible to disentangle completely a persons behavior from their physiology. The physical traumas, privations, and deficiencies which can undermine the body’s  strength and efficiency all have psychological consequences.” John Leach, Survival Psychology* Discovery Channel, the folks who bring us the most elemental and challenging wilderness survival series in production, Naked and Afraid, is one-upping itself. The July 12, 2015 Premier of Naked and Afraid XL will feature a group…

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Wilderness survival television testing new limits

Wilderness survival television testing new limits

TweetSurviving abrupt isolation, on tap for summer 2015. “… isolation can suck at the soul. It can bring a man to his knees in a surprisingly short time, quicker indeed than many physical or physiological factors.” John Leach, Survival Psychology*. History Channel premiered their new wilderness survival series, Alone, June 18, 2015. Alone features ten men (already down to eight in just a few days), all would-be survivors, dropped off alone in separate remote inlets along the west coast of…

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Legendary heavy metal, the Becker BK-2 Campanion knife

Legendary heavy metal, the Becker BK-2 Campanion knife

TweetTesting utility and durability of the Becker BK-2. Is the BK-2 a good choice for a wilderness survival knife? The Becker BK-2 Campanion knife manufactured by KA-BAR® is one of blade designer Ethan Becker’s earliest big successes in more ways than one. The BK-2 is a big horse of a knife and it has long been a big seller. In the hands of a skilled outdoorsman, it’s a heavy weight performer for woodcraft–like a big draft horse in the reins…

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Weathering pits, backcountry water holes, tiny ecosystems

Weathering pits, backcountry water holes, tiny ecosystems

TweetFinding backcountry water is essential. Recognizing potential wild sources, terrains of opportunity, can be an exercise in counter-intuitive searching. Common advice suggests searching the local low spots, ravines, arroyo’s, washes, and so on for low seeps, springs, and shallow groundwater exposed in hand dug wells in stream meander sand bars. These are usually higher probability locales than local high spots nearby. Weathering pits are one important exception. Weathering pit water holes have saved lives! Weathering pits are unique terrain features…

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Tea-fire on snow

Tea-fire on snow

TweetA one-match fire on snow, no knife or axe needed (OK, I used one match, twice). The tea-fire tradition crossed the Atlantic with early settlers when America was fresh and wild. A mid-day tea break was felt essential and restorative on even the most difficult trails. Tea drinking caught on everywhere. Tea trade reached the furthest remote indigenous populations, even Inuit nomads wandering traditional hunting grounds from Arctic tundra to ice flows in the Arctic archipelago. The immaculate white Arctic…

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Paraffin-dipped wood matches

Paraffin-dipped wood matches

TweetMaking paraffin-dipped wood matches, their utility. This is an old standard. I first made wax-dipped matches while a young boy scout long ago. Wax-dipped wood matches and wax-dipped egg carton section fire-starters were standard equipment for scouts, then. Today, I used a “household paraffin wax for canning, candlemaking and many other uses” to prepare kitchen matches for outdoor use. I purchased the one-pound box inexpensively at my local grocery store, just $4.29. The matches I used, “large kitchen matches”, “extra…

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Quinzee fun, basic snow shelter

Quinzee fun, basic snow shelter

TweetBuilding a quinzee… Wilderness survival manuals illustrate several types of snow shelters suggested for emergency use. Oddly, the simplest shelter with the broadest application is rarely suggested, it’s a snow-mound shelter called a quinzee. Building a quinzee requires little more than snow, a shovel or two and a few hours work. Quinzee’s are simple to construct compared with other wilderness shelters. A quinzee is a great choice for your first snow shelter construction and a great choice for an emergency…

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