Table of contents for April/May 2018 in RECOIL OFFGRID

Network Manager & Acting Editor // OFFGRID We hear it all the time and felt it was about time to answer a question we get a lot, “What does off-grid mean?” Glad you asked. While many might think it’s a politically charged term, the truth is disaster can strike regardless of which ballot boxes you check off. Take a look at any number of calamities going on in the world right now, and it’s clear your life can completely change in 24 hours … for the worse. Although many bemoan the government for not being there when they need it, we survivalists have embraced the fact that you have two choices in life — complain about your problems or do something about them. In the end, you only have yourself…

Your fingers are numb. Your face stings from the bitter icy wind. Everything around you is wet. Shelter from the excruciatingly frigid environment is nowhere in sight. You need to start a fire — now! Can you do this with limited tools? The answer is yes; read on a little further to see how. Whether it’s for warmth, cooking, signaling, or most likely, all of the above, having the knowledge and skill to generate fire can mean the difference between life and death. Television shows often feature a lone protagonist twisting a stick onto a larger piece of wood until smoke appears, establishing a life-saving fire. But have you ever tried to start a friction fire? It’s not as easy as the TV shows and books may lead you to…

When you’ve got the right tool for the job, tasks become much easier. Hunting deer with a derringer would be a wee bit more challenging than with a scoped .308 rifle, and nobody in their right mind would rather chop firewood with a Swiss Army knife than a sturdy ax. Footwear is no different, yet it’s not uncommon to see casual hikers headed down a trail in a pair of sneakers … or even flip-flops. If you want to avoid bruised, battered, blistered, and aching feet on outdoor excursions, a supportive pair of boots is a must. But as a quick Google search or trip to any local retailer will tell you, there’s a seemingly endless array to choose from. On one end of the range, so-called “lifestyle” boots are…

Like air conditioning and a lack of back hair, refrigeration is one of those things separating man from beast. Cold storage slows food spoilage — without it, we’d be in a constant state or foraging or hunting to maintain food stocks. With it, though, we can stockpile days of fresh rations, and that lets us concentrate on other survival priorities. Ice chests were, and are, a great cooling option if the means to make and store ice are available. But, sourcing or making ice from scratch isn’t anywhere as convenient as running a highly efficient refrigerator/freezer from a solar-fed battery. Before hitting the end of days, we decided to get familiar with a portable fridge/freezer made by Dometic. Dometic is a global company that traces its roots back to a…

1 MAKE & MODEL GSI Outdoors Santoku Knife Set DIMENSIONS 12.2 by 6.9 by 1.6 inches MSRP $30 URL www.gsioutdoors.com NOTES You wouldn’t want to bring your entire drawer of kitchen cutlery on a weekend camping trip. That’s why the Santoku Knife Set is a godsend. It has everything you might need to cook outdoors — packaged in a slim and lightweight nylon case. The set includes a paring knife with a 4-inch blade, a serrated knife with a 6-inch blade, and a santoku-style knife with a 6-inch sheepsfoot blade, each with their own safety covers. Originating in Japan, santoku means “three virtues,” referring to its versatility in slicing, dicing, and mincing. So with this set’s trio of stainless steel blades, you’ve at least five functions covered. The set also…

In today’s world of 24-hour news cycles, constant connectivity, and digital addiction, the idea of getting lost in nature can seem comforting. But, for anybody who’s ever experienced it, the reality can be downright terrifying. None of us enjoy the feeling of being vulnerable, alone, or in physical danger. But these risks are inherent with any activity that takes us into the wilderness. If we can figure out how and why people get lost, we can plan to be ahead of the curve and simply enjoy the outdoors. To this end, we’ve assembled a guest panel of search-and-rescue (SAR) experts. All are seasoned professionals with decades of experience, and each hails from a different corner of the country with unique concerns about weather, terrain, and availability of resources. They were…

Why build it when you can buy it? It seems that we’ve become a nation of consumption, more likely to spend our money than our time or effort. We solve our problems by buying things — and when they break, we just purchase new ones instead of repairing what we have. Due to this trend of disposable products, the ability to fix, build, or create seems to be becoming a lost art. Since this publication is all about self-sufficiency and using what you have around you, we wanted to provide you with a couple of ways to think outside the box. Knowing how to MacGyver things in a pinch can go a long way in a desperate situation. If all you have at your disposal is a long saw blade,…

For all our opposable thumbs, ability to reason, and interstellar ambition, we humans have a pretty narrow environmental survival zone. We do fine in warm, dry conditions — say, inside a temperature band that ranges from 50 degrees F to about 95 degrees F. But outside that environment, our bodies have trouble maintaining a core temperature. The human body is a thermal engine that produces heat as it converts calories to energy. The by-product of the conversion keeps us warm when it’s cold out, but as we use more energy, the body dumps excess heat in a bid to maintain its perfect internal temperature. The body’s primary method of shedding excess heat relies on the principal of evaporative cooling; specifically, the body produces sweat on the skin’s surface to speed…

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” This excerpt was written by English poet John Donne in 1624, and it coined two iconic phrases that can teach us essential lessons about the survivalist mindset. First, “no man is an island,” meaning that each one of us is part of an interconnected community — for better or for worse. History has shown that humans thrive when we work together toward a common goal, and as we’ve said many times in this magazine, the hard-core lone-wolf survival strategy is often an…

Since 2001, the world has undergone a dramatic increase in travel risk, due to the ever-increasing surge of terrorism and international drug cartels. As one might expect, personal protection training has become increasingly popular for Westerners who work or vacation abroad. As a combat instructor, I've traveled around the world providing that kind of training to people already working in hostile regions as well as preparing clients here in the U.S., with counter-abduction courses, escape-and-evasion seminars, and Krav Maga classes to help people stay above ground and out of gulags. This article outlines a handy-dandy list of things you’ll need in sketchy countries — but before we get to that, just where the heck are you going? These days, nobody wants to hurt anyone’s feelings, so there’s a lot of…

Surviving an apocalyptic event will be a serious challenge for healthy people. As both a doctor and a Type 1 diabetic, I can say that the challenge is more formidable for those of us with this chronic condition. Preparation is necessary to survive for any amount of time, especially for a diabetic. Diabetes is a disease of the balance between calories consumed and insulin produced (or injected). Normally, a diabetic should aim for a blood sugar of 110 to 130; however, in a survival situation I would recommend a blood sugar near 180 to 200. Your body is much more tolerant of high blood sugars (hyperglycemia) in short-term survival situations; low blood sugars (hypoglycemia) can quickly be deadly below 20. Taking the time to prepare and acquire the diabetic supplies…

Part One of our 3MR recap covered water purification techniques, tinder materials and fire-starting, and various ways to signal for help in an emergency: http://www.offgridweb.com/?p=11105 Part Two of the 3MR recap can help you recognize wild edibles in the desert, kill and process small game, and treat injuries with wilderness medicine and trauma care techniques: http://www.offgridweb.com/?p=11176…