Nomadic Prepper Strategy

In ancient times when this fortress was built in Wales, you could survive a hostile attack for years with ample food and a good supply of arrows. But being out in the open, on the move could quickly prove fatal.


Today, a few artillery rounds or an Apache attack helicopter could easily destroy even a fine castle like this.  Being stationary can be fatal in modern times.

So our fall back Prepper strategy to address this concern takes us back to our roots of being hunter/gathers.  Wandering around bodies of water and rivers while fishing or hunting the animals that depended on it was our way of life.  Planting some wheat seeds for a primitive garden or having a herd of goats began about 9,000 BC, allowing larger groups to survive in an area longer before exhausting the food supply and having to move on.

So envision having a small herd of goats, each with a backpack carrying supplies, and a good herding dog to help protect them and provide security for you. In the Prepper Handbook ($4.99 on Amazon), we talk about how many goats, and other food sources, are needed to be a sustainable food supply.  Here is an excerpt from the Prepper Handbook.

Seventy percent of the red meat consumed in the world is goat and they can provide wholesome milk for a family. Goats can forage for food better than any other livestock and can reproduce every 6 to 12 months. For this reason, they are highly recommended as the best sustainable food supply source. They are also very mobile and can browse on the move if you are traveling, bugging out on foot, or living a nomadic lifestyle.

It takes about 3 – 8 months after birth for the kid (baby goat) to be ready for butchering. The gestation period is 150 days or 5 months. Under ideal conditions, healthy young does produce one, occasionally 2 kids per year. Older does produce 2 – 3 kids per year. A doe will continue to produce until about 10 – 12 years old. So if you want to eat one young goat per month, then you need no more than 12 does in theory, possibly as few as 6, but have a few extras to be safe.

A goat will dress out at about 50% of their live weight. For example, a 100lb live goat will yield about 50 pounds of meat. With three does and a buck to breed them, you can raise about 3.3 pounds of meat per week against the 3.9-pound target below.

This is one of many Prepper Handbook tables to prepare a sustainable meal plan

An alternative plan below is to raise Nigerian Dwarf goats. Instead of having 12 large 120 pound Boer goats, have 32 small ones (70 lbs). This will provide a stable monthly supply of meat and require minimum canning, drying, or freezing when compared to the other alternative above. If you loose one of your does to “predators,” you will still have 31 or 96.8% of your herd. In the prior case, losing one would be 8% of your herd. Nigerian Dwarf goats make good “pets” (smile) if you live in the city. Note some cities prohibit livestock, but allow “pets” that are named.

Most meat breeds like Boers (most common US goat), Spanish, Fainting, and Pygmies and occasionally Nubians (most popular dairy goat) will breed all year around. In this case, you can breed one doe each month to have a regular supply of kids to eat. They can be bred at 6-8 months of age when they reach a typical adult weight. Boer, Nubian & Nigerian Dwarfs are known to have multiple births, i.e. 2 kids at a time. Spanish goats and a New Zealand breed called Kiko are the hardiest, lowest maintenance & best foragers. These Kiko goats are what I would want if I could only have one type animal and were on the move (nomadic).

Pygmy goats are small and good to eat. Nigerian Dwarf goats are small and good milk producers. After a few laying hens, this is what I would get if I lived in the city.

Goats consume about 4.5 pounds of grass or hay per day per 100 pounds of body weight. For example, a 100 lb goat would eat 4.5 lbs of hay or grass, and a 50 lb goat would eat 2.25 lbs (4.5÷2) per day. In addition to hay, goats also need to eat some brush and feeding a little grain is good. Ideally, you should feed one pound of grain per day per goat. Keeping six goats on three acres of land should be sustainable, but they should be rotated to different one (of 3) acre pasture every 30 days. 

If your only buck is lost, you are in serious trouble, so having extras is a good idea. Half of your kids born should be bucks, so save a few of them and then eat the rest.  Since one buck can breed about 25 does, you should keep more does than bucks. Bred does are a highly valuable asset for barter, but better yet, loan a few to a friend to raise some kids as this helps secure your herd having some in a different location.

Horses for travel are also a huge asset in a nomadic life style.  They allow you to travel quickly, to carry heavier loads and they can live on grass as goats do. Having a mountain bike with a cart might be a good modern alternative. 

Adapting your cart to be a pen for chickens would add a food source of eggs and meat. In addition, having a supply of seeds to plant along your route could provide future food when you return this way. Migrating south for the winter, like the birds, would likely be part of a nomadic life-style.

You also need a strategic method of travel, using a V or diamond formation, with a scout on point ahead of the herd and others on the sides.  Each member of the group should have a survival pack and any scouts moving ahead of the herd should have a scout pack with more defensive contents.  After this, it is critical that you have a survival plan.  But that is a topic that would be unique for a nomadic lifestyle, which would only be feasible if the populations were lower even than when the Native American Indians ruled the US which was estimated to be only a few million.

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How to Catch Your Own Live Bait

With a little effort, you can fish all day without spending a dime.   Dan Marsiglio

If you have a shovel and a lawn, you’ve got all the worms you need. But that’s not the only productive bait around. The creek you fish can supply its own—for free. (Just be sure to check bait-collection regulations in your area before heading out.)

Although ugly-looking, these guys are sure to nail a fish.

Courtesy Bob Henricks/Flickr

1. Hellgrammites

Rare is the fish that won’t devour one of these nasty aquatic larvae. Pick them off the bottom of submerged rocks by hand, or stretch a seine across a fast-water section of the creek and flip rocks upstream. The current will flush the bugs into the net.

Tried-and-true, minnows have caught countless numbers of fish.

Courtesy S. Rae/Flickr

2. Minnows

Minnows are easier to catch off the main current. Approach from midstream with a seine and corral the school against the bank as the net closes. If the bait is thick and the water fairly shallow, a quick swipe with a long-handled dip net will also produce.

Good for fishing, and a Cajun-style boil.

Courtesy coniferconifer/Flickr

3. Crayfish

Choose a stretch of slow to moderate current, then flip rocks and scoop them up with a dip net. You can also stretch a seine across the creek and walk toward it from upstream while splashing and kicking rocks to spook crayfish down into the mesh

Looks like candy for big bass.

Courtesy Jannis/Flickr

4. Salamanders

Often overlooked, this bait is like candy to bass and big trout. Look for them under larger rocks near the water’s edge. Productive rocks are often dry on top but cool and moist underneath. Moss-covered rocks farther up the bank are prime spots, too.

You can find an ample supply of grubs 
just about anywhere away from sunlight.

Courtesy Greg Schechter/Flickr

5. Grubs

Find some rotten logs or wood near a creek bed. Peel away the bark to expose the soft, dead wood, or poke around in the dirt underneath, and you’ll probably find some fat white grubs. Find a trout or crappie that won’t eat them and you’ve done the impossible.

Grab a net, and round up a bumper crop of 
grasshoppers in no time.

Courtesy Leonardo Re Jorge/Flickr

6. Grasshoppers

The best way to catch hoppers is to walk through the tall grass that often flanks a stream with a cheap butterfly net. Just skim the net across the tips of the blades; you’ll have a dozen or more hoppers in a flash.

 
Click HERE to read the Original story from Field & Stream, a classic magazine.


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Prepping Is More Important Than Ever

I don’t believe it is as pervasive as certain people may think, but there is a notion among some in the liberty movement that with Donald Trump in the White House the need for crisis preparedness has subsided. Because preppers and survivalists tend to lean towards the conservative side of things, the urgency for prepping almost always explodes when the Democratic party is “in power.” As they say, for example, Barack Obama was perhaps the greatest gun salesman in history with the gun industry growing over 158% during his two terms.


Now with Republican dominance in Congress, Senate and White House, there is a possible temptation for conservatives to become complacent and comfortable once again. In 2017 so far, ATF background checks have dropped by at least half a million since this time last year, and gun company stocks are turning negative. There are also rumors floating around that survival food companies are suffering from a severe crunch in sales. Though I have not yet found this to be substantiated, I can verify that many preppers I deal with on a daily basis seem to have relaxed their guard.

I would point out that this is not necessarily all due to Trump. The gun market is likely saturated after eight years of Obama, and one must also consider that as the U.S. economy continues to decline, surplus cash used for prep gear is going to dry up. That said, I do think it is important to examine any assumptions liberty activists might have in terms of a Trump driven “recovery.”

When I began publishing my post-election analysis on what I felt was a predictable Trump win, I did find anger among some activists who decided I was being “too pessimistic,” and that I should join the movement in celebration. Being that I called a Trump presidency half a year in advance based on the premise that the globalists needed a conservative scapegoat for the next phase of the ongoing financial crisis, it was hardly a moment of celebration for me.

There is a common delusion among those that invest themselves in politics that all that is needed to reverse the course of any nation or situation is a “strong leader” with ample cheerleading from the populace. In reality, social and geopolitical disasters are usually far beyond the means of any one politician to change. Economic disasters are even more irreversible. I wish I could pretend to be optimistic, but I am rather well studied in the history of these kinds of events.

Conservatives are especially vulnerable to the idea of a “protector on a white horse” coming to their rescue; a God-fearing hero and statesman, a general and leader of men. But, such people do not exist. There are no supermen. There are no worldly saviors. There are only common men, with common failings, destined to face extraordinary obstacles. The great men of history are not born before hand — they are forged in the crucible of crisis. Great men are not great men until proven otherwise. To assume any political leader is a great man beforehand is foolish, to say the least.

This is why blind faith in a post-Trump renaissance is misplaced. It is something that has yet to be proven, and in the meantime, there are numerous and highly visible dangers on the horizon that demand continued vigilance and preparedness. I will examine one of these primary dangers now…

The Growing Threat Of Civil Unrest




The first signs of this are surfacing as May Day is becoming a rally date for social justice mobs bent on disrupting any agenda the Trump administration might have for enforcing immigration laws. The largest of these protests is to be held in Los Angeles, but similar protests are planned nationwide as well.


From what we have seen from previous rallies, it would not be unfair to expect rioting in May. I say this because a tone shift in the left is taking place and extreme reactions are more frequent. The following video illustrates this clearly, I think…

Warning - Explicit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aECqkALa8rI

 In case you missed it, this guy just pulled an AR-15 on someone simply because they had a MAGA flag on their truck. Not only that, but he FILMED HIMSELF doing it and and apparently posted it on social media. That is how brazen and insane these people are becoming.

Think of it this way — could you have even imagined something like this happening during the 2012 election? It is important not to become conditioned to such behavior as being “normal.”

To be sure, this sort of thing will not be happening in certain parts of the country. In my state of Montana, the assailant would have been shot two dozen times over by our highly armed population regardless of his politics just on the self defense principle. And frankly, I am fine with that. Citizens providing security for citizens is the American way.

What I do have a problem with, though, is the increasing potential for an extreme response from conservatives in the face of leftist lunacy. Meaning, I worry about martial law with conservative support, which in my view is more and more likely over the next two years.

Contrary to popular belief among tough-government champions, martial law often instigates more violence than it solves. The harsher the crackdown, the more vicious the push-back; the more vicious the push-back the more totalitarianism is rationalized by authorities. It’s a terrible cycle.

Preparedness in terms of self defense should be self-explanatory here. During widespread mob action the rule of law is usually the first casualty, even when martial law is instituted. You also never know when some nutcase might declare you a “Trump supporter” (whether you are one or not) as he reaches for a weapon.

It is fascinating to me the level of cognitive dissonance with some liberty activists who seem to think Trump’s first term will be anything other than pure chaos. George Soros, an elitist who often funds the very groups organizing mobs to protest Trump, said it plainly:

“I think Trump will fail.”

“What’s more Soros predicted that the market’s Trump high will soon turn into a hangover. He called Trump unpredictable and unprepared, and said that combination will end up bad for the market.”

Soros and his globalist colleagues do not need to field guesses; they ENGINEER the outcomes that they “predict.” Social unrest at this fragile time would result in the exact market instability Soros mentioned, among other problems.

Look, you may believe Trump is being threatened on all sides by the so-called “deep state,” or you may believe that he has willingly surrounded himself with global elitists because he is a Trojan horse. Either way, the diagnosis for the future is not rosy. It would be naive to think that the globalists would not do everything in their power to foment calamity in the near term. It would be equally naive to believe that such an agenda could be repelled through political means.

The answer, as always, is a prepared citizenry. This can act as a deterrent as much as a measure of comfort. The more prepared the public is for any eventuality, the less affected we will be by disaster. The less affected we are by disaster, the less fearful we will be when it strikes and the less likely we will be to make stupid decisions such as throwing our support behind martial law and the wholesale erasure of the constitution. The more prepared we are, the fewer options available to the establishment when attempting to lure us into poor collective decisions.

Prepping means freedom in the face of uncertainty, and times have never been more uncertain. To summarize: A Trump White House calls for more caution, not less.

 
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JR Note:  Gun and Ammo prices are much lower, so NOW it the time to stock up, not when another Obama or Hillary type gun banner gets in office again and price soar.

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Civil War 

How to Make Your Own Clay Pots

BY TIM MACWELCH - Outdoor Life

 

The knowledge of how to transform mud into pottery signifies a major leap forward for prehistoric cultures, and until the development of metal cooking pots, ceramic pottery was the pinnacle of cooking technology. Clay pots are lighter than soapstone and easier to transport. They also heat up faster than stone vessels and can be made in much larger sizes than stone vessels (e.g. big enough to feed a village from one pot). To make your own clay pot, likely smaller than the village sized pot, the first part of the project involves finding the clay.

 

Make Your Pot

You can harvest clay from creek and river banks, or by digging down in the ground to a clay layer in areas that have clay rich soil. Clay comes in many colors, from white to red to dark grey. It can also have different textures, if sand and small bits of stone are blended in that layer. But all good pottery clay should be able to get tied in a knot. Roll the wet clay into a “rope” shape and tied a knot in it (like a pretzel). If the clay ties into a knot without breaking, it should be a good candidate for pottery. Clay can be harvested fresh and wet, right out of the ground. It can also be collected dry, in more arid climates. Grind your dry clay into powder and add a little water to rehydrate it. Before making your pot, you’ll want to add some sand or stone dust to “temper” the clay. Add one part sand or crushed quartz to two parts clay (temper should be 1/3 the volume). Once blended, the temper and clay mix is ready to form pottery. Your first project can be a bowl or very small pot. Simply shape a concave vessel from your clay mix, smoothing it and compressing it as you go. Allow it to dry briefly, until it is only a little malleable (leather dry). Place a large smooth stone in the concavity and paddle the outside of the vessel with a flat piece of wood. This compresses the walls of the pottery and helps eliminate air bubbles. Set the pottery aside to dry for several weeks, or longer, and then fire it. You can learn more complex pottery production techniques, like coil pottery, after learning the basics with these “pinch pots”.

Get Fired Up

If making a clay pot is the first hurdle to jump in this primitive technology – then firing the pot is the second hurdle. Firing sounds simple enough. You just have to get the dried clay object over 1112 degrees F to drive off the chemically bonded water. This is called the “ceramic change” and it’s irreversible. Once dried “mud” has heated enough to become ceramic, it can never “melt” like mud in the presence of water again. But of course, it’s not as simple as that. Follow these steps to have a good shot at a finished ceramic item, and minimize the chance of making a handful of broken pottery shards.
STEP 1 Let it dry. Your proposed pottery needs to dry for weeks, to eliminate all but the bonded water from its delicate walls. If there is more water than that, it will likely turn to steam and that expansion will cause cracks, breaks or violent explosions. Ironically, you need water to make pottery, but water will also break it.

STEP 2 Pre-heat gently. Dry pottery can still explode, if you quickly expose it to thermal shock. Gradually warm it and turn the item near a fire to preheat it. Don’t just a light a pile of sticks over a cold pot. Don’t fire on a breezy day, either. A cool gust of wind can send a cooling shock wave through the vulnerable pottery and break it. The use of a deep firing pit can help to control the temperature and minimize shocks.

STEP 3 Fire thoroughly. Once preheated near a fire, encircle the object or pile of objects with a ring of burning sticks and then push them closer to the pot SLOWLY, over the span of an hour. Once the pottery is very hot, then gently place sticks over it and bury it in fire.

STEP 4 Finish easy. Let the pottery cool down completely before moving it from the ashes of the fire. Inspect it for cracks. If none are visible, flick it with your fingernail. If it rings like a bell – you did a good job. If it doesn’t – you can still use it, but it may not last as long.
Have you ever made your own clay pot with raw clay from the wild? Tell us how you did it by leaving a comment.

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Quickly Craft Sharp Stone Tools

BY TIM MACWELCH - Outdoor Life

We all love our survival knives. And besides a mobile phone to call for help, knives are one of the most versatile emergency tools we can carry. But what happens if you get caught without your knife? Or you need to do some butchering work, and want to keep your only knife clean? The idea of making some stone blades may seem primitive and even backward. But sharp stone blades can fill in for your favorite knife, and the best part is that they are easier to make than you might think - and they’re disposable.

Razor edged rocks are as close as the local creek, if you happen to have the right rocks and know how to break them open. Not all rocks break with a good cutting edge, but a quick test will tell you everything you need to know. Most parts of the globe have abundant rocks that will work. You don’t even need to be a geologist to sort it all out. Flint, chert, jasper, chalcedony, quartz and obsidian can all break to make sharp cutting tools. Just try the different types of local rock to see what works for you. The easiest way to get sharp flakes of rock is a method that is commonly called bipolar percussion. In this method, you are using a hard hammer rock to break a small stone sitting on a much larger stone.

The large rock acts like an anvil, to provide unyielding resistance behind the rock you want to break. You’ll also stand up the rock you want broken on its tallest axis. Make it stand tall, as if you were trying to make an egg stand on its tallest end. Making the rock stand tall is an important part of the process, allowing the shock waves from the hammer stone strike to move through the rock on the most efficient path. Use a large, flat hammer stone to crack down hard on the rock you are breaking. The hammer rock should be 4 to 5 times larger than the rock you are trying to break. If you are lucky, you’ll fracture off some nice, thin, wickedly sharp stone blades within a few strikes. With a little practice, you should be cracking rocks into sharp blades in no time, you’ll be able to predict the outcome of the shape, and also be able to reproduce similar results from different rocks.

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