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  • Charles Ek
    Moderator
      Post count: 585
      in reply to: Emergency Gear #62329

      Two things drive the choice of items on my list above – a lifetime of spending days and nights alone in the woods in climates where Ma Nature does her best to do you in during the months with an “r” in them, and a somewhat shorter period looking for folks in those same places who were overdue for some reason.

      Having someone waiting for your return does influence your thinking about this. I wouldn’t give the notion of a PLB a second thought but for that.

      Charles Ek
      Moderator
        Post count: 585

        Geez, Dave. I thought you were capable of expressing yourself more clearly. What did you actually mean to say? 😉

        Bravo!

        Charles Ek
        Moderator
          Post count: 585
          in reply to: Flying Geese Tips #50577

          I have fifteen Bear Razorheads in rough to good condition and two blunted but possibly fixable M–A3-L broadheads that I’ve stripped off old arrows I bought for the shafts. Some or all are free for the asking. Send me a PM here.

          UPDATE: They’re packed for the trip north – and I mean NORTH 🙂 – in front of the geese.

          Charles Ek
          Moderator
            Post count: 585

            First, check the actual weight on your Judos. Last batch here of the nominally 135 grain glue-ons ranged from 140 to 148. At 148 that’s nearly a ten percent variance.

            I’ve experimented with melting lead shot into the glue-on Judos, but it oozes out sometimes. When it works you can get to around 160 fairly easily, but much beyond that would be tough I think – you run out of room for the shaft.

            I’ve just mounted some of the 175 grain glue-on Hammers, which I’ve only shot at a Rinehart 18-1 target backed by a horse stall mat. (They bounce off the target sometimes and they stick slightly sometimes.) I’m waiting for the right circumstance to do some stumping with them, which by the looks of things around here will be sometime in July or August …

            Charles Ek
            Moderator
              Post count: 585
              in reply to: Emergency Gear #40539

              Wose wrote: … I’ve become a “more I know the more I want to carry kind of guy,” when I consider the fact that one of the things that is liable to put me out in the woods longer than I intended is a lower extremity injury, which makes things like debris shelters much more difficult to build.

              This is the scenario that first got me involved in SAR, when I contemplated lying on the ground in the winter in MInnesota. I trained my Newfoundland dog to find me and lie down alongside me. Started thinking about how to put that to use and started a SAR dog unit.

              I’d carry a PLB if we were back in the Pacific Northwest or AK. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’m alone in the woods. (There’s a search underway right now here in NH for a woman who activated a PLB yesterday in the White Mountains. Windchill in the mountains has been running well below -50 ºF for the last couple of days …)

              Charles Ek
              Moderator
                Post count: 585
                in reply to: Emergency Gear #39664

                grumpy wrote: Does anybody EVER remember the TP, and a spare diaper.

                The TP is in the unenumerated first aid stuff. Don’t know nuthin’ ’bout no diapers …

                Charles Ek
                Moderator
                  Post count: 585
                  in reply to: Emergency Gear #39323

                  Since it’s winter, I’ll list the cold weather kit items, which are packed in a red nylon stuff sack to remind me to bring it:

                  ‘”

                    n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
                    ‘, ”, ‘

                    Esbit tablet stove and four tablets (like the ‘Hammer’s Emberlit, but not nearly as thin and efficient)

                    (Allegedly wind proof) matches

                    Bic lighter

                    Two PowerBars

                    Two packets of cider mix

                    Titanium spork (not for survival, but just in case I bring some food that needs it)

                    MSR Titanium pot, 1 liter

                    First aid stuff not worth enumerating here, except to highlight the Combat Application Tourniquet (which actually goes in a pack waistbelt pocket) – http://tinyurl.com/mg6qof9

                    Something I consider vastly superior to every alternative in the event I’m on the ground waiting for a while, the Blizzard Survival Bag

                    An extremely loud Storm Whistle – http://www.stormwhistles.com

                    Backup LED flashlight

                    Backup compass

                    Backup cellphone battery

                    ‘).'”).”n

                  “‘

                  Charles Ek
                  Moderator
                    Post count: 585
                    in reply to: Howdy #30476

                    Wose wrote:

                    HA!

                    My SAR experience was a little wetter (Coast Guard) but I found myself crawling through puckerbrush looking for people more than I would have expected.

                    GSD or Belgian? I’ve never been a professional dog handler, but do love a good GSD. We had to put one down (lymphoma) a year ago almost exactly. We’re gonna get a puppy next year when the baby is a little older.

                    You couldn’t get me out of the Northwest with dynamite. We really love it here. We’re out past Yacolt, if you know where that is.

                    Am I gonna find Youtube video of you rolling an MLB as you cross the Bar?

                    At age 19, I was thirty minutes from signing my enlistment papers for the Coast Guard when my parents talked me out of it. About thirty years later, my wife (not knowing the history) looks at me and says, “You know what, you would have been good in the Coast Guard.”

                    I worked two GSDs as SAR dogs and started a Malinois as my third, but he’d been abused before I adopted him and he ended up being my companion dog. My wife prefers the Malinuts and now has a five month-old puppy. There is nothing like a GSD for temperament (and nothing like that statement to get the debate roiling here …)

                    “out past Yacolt” = “we really dislike crowds”, for those who don’t know. You’d need a SAR team just to find that town. +1

                    Charles Ek
                    Moderator
                      Post count: 585
                      in reply to: Howdy #28812

                      Wose wrote: I have a Search and Rescue background, but you are a little out of my bailiwick.

                      Well, this is going to have to stop right now, or I’ll have to start worrying that I’ve been cloned:

                      I work from home.

                      I have a practice range a short walk from my garage door and can shoot several times a week, sometimes twice a day. (But something less than 1000 arrows are being launched biweekly here right now, what with the 2.5 feet of snow and temps near zero.)

                      We lived in western Washington for six years, and we’re planning on moving back and residing in Poulsbo or thereabouts within the next couple of years.

                      I was a SAR dog handler for many years, including three in WA.

                      So, welcome, but fuhgeddaboud hijacking the Enterprise! 😀

                      Charles Ek
                      Moderator
                        Post count: 585

                        For the absolute best advice on picking a backpacking stove, turn to Zen Stoves – How to Choose a Backpacking Stove. Among other things, the Zen Stoves site has the facts, not fiction, about Cold Weather Operation of canister stoves.

                        Charles Ek
                        Moderator
                          Post count: 585

                          john dilts wrote: Always been a big Fan of Coleman Naptha (whitegas) stoves myself.

                          Yeah, what he said. Here in the States, it’s known simply as Coleman fuel. (White gas hasn’t been available for years.)

                          I’ve had a SVEA 123 stove and nesting SIGG Tourist cook kit since Tricky was still in office. (John, that’s a Nixon reference.) It has never failed to start, at temperatures running down to -30 ºF. It has never been maintained, much less serviced, in any way. (All that cannot be said for any MSR Whisperlite or later iteration of the same design, I don’t care what you claim.)

                          My method for starting is simple and reliable: Open the valve. Hold a couple of matches under the tank (in winter, use a candle for additional heat.) Wait for some fuel to come bubbling up, while keeping the flame away from the fuel. Close the valve. Light the fuel. When it has nearly burned out, open the valve.

                          The obligatory Youtube video link:

                          Cooking with the Svea 123 and SIGG Tourist cookset

                          And yes, you can find both stove and cook kit on eBay, often at ludicrously low prices for this classic, reliable equipment.

                          Charles Ek
                          Moderator
                            Post count: 585

                            Hare tracks in our yard. Sun is shining and it’s +17 F here. Hey, what am I doing inside …

                            Charles Ek
                            Moderator
                              Post count: 585

                              After some Internet research, my conclusions are these:

                              1. Iron Bull’s family might be on to something. The “cold shortening” process that toughens meat may likely occur when game is field dressed and then cut up at subzero temperatures.

                              2. Leaving the meat in quarters (possibly even just leaving it unboned) until it can be handled at the “right” temperature might avoid this, by restraining the muscles and thus preventing shortening.

                              3. I think killing an animal at subzero temps does nothing to affect the meat. It’s the processing that makes the difference.

                              I rely chiefly on my understanding of this article for my conclusions:

                              Rapid tenderisation of lamb M. longissimus with very fast chilling depends on rapidly achieving sub-zero temperatures

                              I sure wish we had someone involved in meat science who could clear this up for us!

                              Charles Ek
                              Moderator
                                Post count: 585

                                Cabela’s will easily overwhelm you with the range of choices. I suggest that you spend some time first on their website looking at items that interest you. Most products will have plenty of comments on them from people who know what they’re talking about.

                                Charles Ek
                                Moderator
                                  Post count: 585
                                  in reply to: Bow restoring #49695

                                  You will search a long time before you find free resources that exceed Restoration 101 and How to Refinish a Vintage Bow.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 211 through 225 (of 533 total)