Hi!

I've always been really interested in doing Survival Island type things, and was wondering if there were any good resources to potentially go out and do one of those 'spend a week on an island' type dealios.

Anyone know of any good portable cell signal boosters I can take with me out into the woods? When I’m out there I can often get one tiny bar of LTE which from my understanding is all you need for a booster to work. I’m not looking for a satellite connection or anything as I’ve already got an Inreach. I’m just talking about boosting cell signal.

Is there really a difference between brands of cast iron?

I was just at Walmart and saw Ozark Trail cast iron skillets for much less than Lodge, Backcountry and others. Isn't all cast iron the same? If not, what are the differences? I want some good quality cast iron and don't mind paying more if it's really worth it. But at this point I'm not convinced. Please educate me! And if there really is a difference, which brand is the best? Thanks!

100% Wool blankets, tarp camping, and also tent camping assuming you have a winter tent, and assuming wind is not blowing in your face and you're dry.

I'm having a discussion with a co worker, and we have two very different understandings of what mylar blankets are good for.

He is under the impression that if you were out in the cold, you could lay your mylar blanket on the ground and lay on it, and it would protect you from loosing all your heat into the ground.

It is my understanding that the direct contact from you, to the mylar, to the ground will cause you to loose a ton of heat, the mylar providing very little insulation at all.

Can anyone with any real knowledge settle out debate? Thanks

For those who have never heard of alpha gal syndrome, it's a syndrome transmitted by certain tick bites. It causes mammal products to cause severe allergic reactions. Red meat is generally the worst. For some, even milk and cheese can trigger anaphylaxis.

I've had this for a few years. I'm fortunate enough that pork, and dairy doesn't trigger it unless I go wild on it. However, red meat, especially deer has hospitalized me. I have an epi pen in case I accidentally overdo it.

If you've never had an anaphylactic reaction, you'll know how terrifying it is. Not only does my throat close up, my face and hands swell like balloons, but not being able to breathe while at the same time vomiting and crapping my guts out, the blood pressure drop comes with a Doom feeling that's hard to describe if you've never felt it.

The fact is, without modern medicine, I would absolutely have died a few times now from accidentally eating too much mammal meat.

My question is basically how would one go about surviving if they contracted this?

Fish is the best source of nutrients I can think of that won't trigger it, but what if you find yourself in a place where your water source isn't a fish inhabited source?

Is rabbit starvation as serious as I've heard? Rabbits, squirrel, opossum, don't trigger it, but can I survive on that?

Anyone know?

I normally use my swiss army knife scissors but what whould happen if I didn't have those and needed to some how get my nails cut?

Looking for a walky talky with long range capabilities.

Hi everyone, I'd love some advice from anyone with some experience in water purification methods.

Back in high school, I did a program called Outward Bound which many of you may be familiar with. Roughed it in the mountains and waterways of Maine, lots of miles on the AT, etc. I was a student in a group though, so all the supplies were provided by the overarching organization.

On the trip, we pulled our water right from lakes and streams, and purified it with a little plastic bottle of iodine which looked like this and floated in the top of our nalgenes. If I'm remembering correctly, we did 4 drops per 32 oz bottle, and let it purify for half an hour before consuming. We each carried two nalgenes, so the little plastic bottle would be floating in whichever one we weren't actively drinking from. It was much better than my prior experience with using iodine tablets. They didn't dissolve all the way sometimes, had a much more pungent taste, and snagging a tablet out of the bottle in the canoe with wet hands was tricky.

Now I'm trying to replicate that method for my short-term wilderness survival. I decided if a team of experts with massive liability for a bunch of teenagers in the woods decided it was the easiest and safest way for us to purify water, then it's the method for me. Simple, easy, safe, and effective. No measuring, no two-step nonsense, and good for cuts and abrasions too.

However, when I tried to do some research today to buy my own iodine online to put in one of those little bottles, I ran into a snag. Nothing is really marketed as "safe to ingest" except the droppers of "organic iodine" for "health and lifestyle." Everything else seems to be just for injury or lab use, and I don't want to buy the wrong one and either: 1) poison myself or 2) have it not work and drink contaminated water.

Any other iodine water purification fans out there? What do you use? Where do you buy it? What's the most cost-effective way to get it?

TLDR: I would like to use iodine to purify my water based on a past positive experience. Need recommendations on what and where to buy iodine for this purpose.

Help please

I don't really have room for both.

So for a knife I'm thinking a Cold Steel SRK or Gerber Strongarm as an all round survival knife.

But I'll need something larger for kindling.

Would you take a small hatchet or a machete? Why? And which brand/model?

Edit: I've also got an etool. For the toilet. But also cuz it looks cool as a defensive weapon.

So it's actually which would you take out of all three for solo hiking/bug out? Two outta 3? Which ones?

Hatchet/Machete/E-Tool?

Edit 2: For dry Australian bush, rainforest, and potentially Alpine regions as well.

First time making my own charcloth. How did I do? Used a old pair of denim britches that I blew the butt out of.

Something tough like the lester river bushcraft wool jacket but for less money. And a tough leather jacket with a hood I can wax. Also any options for similiar feeling wool pants?

Hi all,

Background: Currently employed within the UKAF as a survival instructor, I'm looking to expand my depth of knowledge to impart onto students who are at risk of being isolated.

I'm currently looking at means of creating fire with everyday items, I've looked at potentially using E-cigerettes to create fire in a survival situation. I'm aware there's thousands of different kinds of vapes so I've gone for the disposable kind.

Most of the disposable vapes don't activate until the user inhales but once stripped there's limited ways to generate heat.

Does anyone have any experience this (without blowing off your fingers)? Any hints/tips I would be grateful!

I'll be trying out one of these shelters for some winter camping and I'm wondering how necessary the mylar sheet and parachute material are in the Kochanski super shelter/Harlton hacienda. Have you tried it with just the plastic? I was thinking that if the plastic is what is creating the greenhouse effect, and it's warming up to 20+ deg. C. in there, maybe the mylar sheet is overkill? For breathability, could I open the shelter slightly to allow moisture to escape rather than use breathable nylon?

I’m in the military but plan on putting myself on a deserted island in about 6-12 months after I get out and I want to be there for a year … I see a lot online about what you shouldn’t do in that situation. But no straight answer on what you should do. Of course there’s videos on YouTube and stuff but most of those people only stay out there for a month at most. . Things I know:

• find or create shelter away from the sun

-Collect as much wood for a fire as possible -coconuts can be a good source of water, protein and even boiling pots but you need ALOT of them (especially to last you a year) -avoid green, yellow, and white berries -look for what animals eat because if they don’t die from it, you probably won’t either -the poison test (rub on skin, put on tongue, or chew but don’t swallow for 15-20 minutes and if you feel discomfort, you probably shouldn’t eat it) -if it has 3 leaves, let it be

My gear list that I plan on taking would be -mainly camera equipment, -a hand line for fishing, -2 packs of hooks -a machete -a clam knife -and a single water bottle (Basically I’ll have a backpack with all my camera stuff, a small waist pack for fishing line and hooks, and then strap the machete and clam knife to my leg using only a small piece of rope) I know it’s cheating to bring stuff out there but I’m going out there to survive, not die, and simulating that I was on a boat and it washed up but I lost most of everything on board

Want to know everything else I need to know… important information, safe things to eat, ways to be sustainable, etc.

Any help is much appreciated.

Hello people, I live in Miami FL and me and my friend want to test our survival skills by going out into the woods with minimal items and fish and possibly hunt small game for food, problem is we have no idea where we could do it. I was thinking possibly the Everglades but any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Is there any Floridians out there that would be willing to help us out?

Hi all, me and the guys want to have an authentic camping in the wild experience and I wanted to know if there is a plant root or brunch that can be used in place of a toothbrush...Do you all know of any? Secondly, What was your experience after using it?

What would your ultimate snow shelter look like and why?

Figure I should use it for tea or coffee so it doesn't go to waste. But, wouldn't all sorts of nasty plastic or chemicals leach off the bag when you heat up your boil in a bag meal?

Edit: I mean when you boil water in a pot and then stick a precooked camping food ration into it for a few minutes to heat it up, e.g. a beef stew (non dehydrated).

Don't get me wrong it would be completely ridiculous if you lost your sleep system of all things, but since we are on the topic of Survival as in Survival situations, let's say you were in alaska in winter and lose your -40 degree quilt or down jacket, now what are you going to do? You can't just huddle by a fire 24/7 because you need to do other things, and you're going to need a shit ton of dry leaves and stuff to stay warm, there's absolutely nothing out there you could do to recreate a quilt or loft that warm.

What would you guys do?

Want to purchase an older Coleman stove from before they lost their good reputation, before the company was bought by another company and made in China. I've done research into the new ones they've made since the purchase and the buyers now have a lot of issues. These people say the Coleman name doesn't come with the reputation anymore.

How can you know when the cutoff to purchase an old Coleman stove would be?

So what model or date numbers should I look for?

Sorry. Meant drinking water.

Life straw? Purification tablets? Stove and fuel to boil water? What else is there?

Just need something to heat up my boil in a bag meals or dehydrated meal packs with.

Say you get small fish and plan to catch more. Instead of finding more nightcrawlers as bait, can't you just use the fish guts as said bait? I've never done survival fishing, or fishing in general and this place was the next best to ask around for future reference.

Is there anything out there that is at all similar? I just recently found out they are no longer being made. I didn't buy one when I had the chance, am I out of luck? I know you can purchase iodine crystals, but the polar pure bottle is what I'm after.

I read in an old book from one of the earliest gold prospectors in Alaska that he would make butter by cutting caribou antlers into about 2" pieces and boiling them for two days then skimming the stuff off the top and adding salt. He said it was the same as butter. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? I can't find anything on Google. I would love to try it but I don't have any fresh horns, but it seems they didn't use the right away either.