All Text, Graphics, Animations, Video, and Commentary on this website was created by, and is the intellectual property of m4040@m4040.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is punishable by up to a $500,000 fine or 5 years imprisonment for a first offense, and up to a $1,000,000 fine or up to 10 years imprisonment for subsequent offenses under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Requests for use of this material should be forwarded to m4040@m4040.com. Why did I add this disclaimer? SEE WHY.

GENERAL CAMPING, HIKING, HUNTING TIPS


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      The best wilderness survival gear on the market!

Backyard campers and Rambo wannabe's... go buy a Bear Grylls kit. When you get serious about your wilderness activities... come see my gear. Hikers, mountain bikers, cross country skiers, ATV'ers, off-roaders, and others whose activities carry them far and wide... discriminating outdoorsmen opt for quality gear.


Here we discuss the outdoors tips and tricks that I have gleaned over the years along with some that have been sent in from you the readers. We review, (my favorite part) all the cool bits of gear that may not otherwise get the recognition they so richly deserve!

GENERAL TIPS & TRICKS - Things to make life on the trail easier!

GEAR YOU GOTTA GET...

 

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GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS

This is just a small collection of Camping and Hiking tips that may save you time, money, and aggravation.

 - Do you have tents, tarps, ponchos or other fabrics that need to be waterproofed? Are you sick of spending big bucks on those silicone sprays that just wear off and need retreatment every year or two? Try using Thompson's Water Seal (yup, the same stuff you use to waterproof the deck!). You can paint it on, spray it on, or dip items in it, and it is a hell of a lot cheaper! Test a small area first, and if you are okay with it, go ahead and dip or coat the item.

 - Where you put your campsite or shelter is very important. Just as in the real estate business... Location, location, location!  When building a shelter or site in cold weather, many have recommended that it not be located in a valley or on a hilltop. This is because the cold settles down into the valleys, making the valleys several degrees colder. This CAN be valid advice, but it is trumped by wind chill. Hilltops are more susceptible to wind which can chill you by 30 degrees or more. In any case, try to locate your shelter out of the wind, and if possible, on the south side of a hill. The ground will get a lot of sun throughout the day and will be warmer both during the day, and at night as the accumulated heat is radiated from the ground. Most important of all is that it be out of the wind - SEE THIS PAGE FOR MORE INFO.

 - NOTE: The reverse of this may apply in hot temperatures, ie: build shelters in valleys, and on North side of hills.

 - NOTE: Water is important, so be careful to locate your shelter or site near enough that your water source easy to get at!

 - Do you do a lot of family or group camping? Ever have a rainy weekend turned your campout into a mudfest? There's a solution. Spend about $30 on a military surplus parachute. Suspend the chute over your site like a huge umbrella. The chutes are not waterproof, but if they are hung with sufficient pitch, they will shed water (just like a tent, do not touch the inside, or you will start a drip. These can also be coated with Thompson's Water Seal as mentioned above. They are typically 30-40 feet in diameter, and will therefore cover an entire campsite, tents and all. This can also be done with a large tarp.


SNUGPAK


WATER FILTERS


MULTI-TOOLS


TYVEK AS OUTDOOR GEAR?


A GREAT LITTLE CAMP STOVE

I recently tested a great little piece of gear. It's a cook stove that works as well as the best $100+ hiking stoves out there, yet weighs next to nothing, costs about $5, and runs on alcohol (IPA, denatured, rubbing and other alcohols available at hardware and drug stores).

As a side note, I should have written this sooner, as I promised to test this a while back, but work has kept me from any real camping until recently. I purchased a small lot of these stoves, and brought them along on a campout. I gave them to everyone there, and everyone fell in love instantly.

These stoves are made from aluminum soda cans, and weigh about an ounce. I had read about these little gems here and there, and had planned on making one, but all the instructions out there seemed to involve taping the seams and other rather flimsy approaches. I don't like flimsy gear that could fail me at the wrong times!

UPDATE - I now carry these stoves in my store - http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Store/Store_Other.htm

To use the stove, you just put in a small amount of alcohol (a few ounces, or enough to cover the base). I use a small mil-spec plastic flask to carry the alcohol. Light the alcohol, which will burn with a nice blue flame. As the stove walls heat up, they begin to vaporize the alcohol internally, and within about one minute, each of the 30 or so holes at the top is sporting a nice blue flame jet. The effect is like cooking on a gas stove at home. A good size canteen cup of water will boil in minutes.

As you may have noticed, I am fond of compact, lightweight gear (SnugPak bags, bivy style tents, mult-tools etc). This piece of gear is about the nicest and cheapest piece of kit I have seen in quite some time.
 


FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL

I will add to this page as often as I have time, but if you want the original be-all and end-all source of survival information, it is the FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL. I have crunched it all into an MS Word Document. I abridged it only by removing the Appendixes from the end. It is 233 full size pages in all, and the overall file size is about 2.5Mb, so it is relatively easy to download. Whereas your tax dollars paid for it already, please feel free to distribute it as you see fit. Simply RIGHT CLICK HERE and select "Save As" to Download.

Don't have MS Word? They give away the viewer for free HERE


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FORUM 'RULE OF THREES'
Short Version - (1) Be Topical. (2) Be Original. (3) Be Nice.

Long version:
(1) Stay on topic - If the discussion wanders off topic or into nonsensical rambling, I will remove your comments. Repeated abuse will result in you being banned from posting here. If you post blatant spam here, I will ban you from this forum AND... I will submit you for removal from ALL Disqus forums.

(2) Be original in your postings. I will not tolerate lengthy cut and pastes, especially if you are not the author of said material. There is such a thing as copyright law, and I will quickly ban those who attempt to pass off the writings of others as their own.

(3) Please be nice... we all know what this means. I will not let those with "internet balls" turn my forums into gripe sessions, heated arguments or slanderous turd-hurling contests. There are no stupid questions... (okay maybe there are, but please remember that not everyone is a "survival expert"). Therefore, all questions should be considered valid as long as they meet the criteria of rules 1 and 2.


FORUM - M40 Discussion Forum - CAMPING TIPS -  NOTE - For discussion on a different subject, please navigate to that subject's page and use that forum! 

 

 

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All Text, Graphics, Animations, Video, and Commentary on this website was created by, and is the intellectual property of m4040@m4040.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is punishable by up to a $500,000 fine or 5 years imprisonment for a first offense, and up to a $1,000,000 fine or up to 10 years imprisonment for subsequent offenses under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Requests for use of this material should be forwarded to m4040@m4040.com. Why did I add this disclaimer? SEE WHY.