The first episode of this once-in-a-lifetime cast 'n’ blast adventure sees Free Range American editor Mike Shea travel to Hawaii with his bow in search of goats, sheep, and pigs — all non-native invasive species that have overrun the Big ...
How to Survive a Snakebite: These Tips Have Teeth
Ophidiophobia or more commonly the fear of snakes is one of the most panic-inducing phobias there is. Even the mention of a snake to some can cause a visceral reaction. Whether you love them or hate them, they slither through our daily lives. To ...
From Factory To Fire: The Journey of Valley Forge Flags
Every step of this story is true. It was an early morning in Smoaks, South Carolina, and humidity hung in the air. A truck pulled into the Valley Forge Flag driveway, a facility whose sole purpose is flag production. Valley Forge has ...
How to Pack for Wet Weather and Stay as Dry as Possible
“Water is the universal solvent. Give it enough time and it will cut through anything.” Remember your high school science teacher telling you this? It’s true, water will cut through everything if you give it long enough. It also doesn't take long ...
Don’t Screw Up Father’s Day: Get Dad Cool Stuff He’ll Actually Use
Shopping for Father’s Day is hard. It’s tempting to just get dad a gimmicky barbecue tool that will be used once before getting hung in the garage for the next decade. Or maybe a new pair of Crocs. But, this year, you don’t have to be that lame. ...
How to Identify Wild Medicinal, Useful, and Edible Plants
In my opinion, one of the most impressive survival skills one can possess is knowledge of wild edible plants. I know I know, a picture of a leaf or bark on Instagram isn’t going to garner as many likes as a shiny new knife, a “one, reload, one” ...
Davy Crockett: The Man Who Showed Us The Way
I think almost every kid on the planet had a coonskin cap growing up. It may have been for a Halloween costume, a brief phase or, at least for me, a precursor to a life as an outdoorsman. The coonskin cap has become an iconic symbol of the ...
The Origins of Memorial Day, from Decoration Day to ‘Flags In’
In front of a grave marked with spring flowers and a small American flag, Gilbert Freer held his bugle at his side. He had just finished playing taps at Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston on May 30, 1868. Freer had stubbly facial hair, but his ...
Take The 72-Hour Power Outage Challenge, Home Edition
One of my favorite books is “One Second After” by William Forstchen. The short novel tells the tale of a small-town family dealing with the effects of the power grid going down, most likely from an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) blast over the ...
Army Chinooks, USAF PJs, Park Rangers Rescue Hikers on Mount Rainier
He was trapped in an ice crevasse knifed into the side of Mount Rainier, his arm and leg busted, his buddy nearly eight stories above him getting whipped by winds blasting the snowy ridge at 50 knots. But he had excellent cell phone service. And ...
The Molotov Cocktail: How They’re Made and Defending Against Them
Throwing a Molotov cocktail against a buttoned-up tank means that somebody might eventually repaint the tank. Throwing one against an unarmored civilian vehicle — if you don’t break a window — means the owner is going to be incredibly annoyed and the ...
The 5 Most Original and Futuristic Weapons Ever Created for Combat
China and Russia are designing new, futuristic weapons that can supposedly take down an entire aircraft carrier anywhere in the world or zoom past American radar and detection defenses. These innovations are just the latest in the long human history ...
The Fallacy of the ‘If You Had Only One Survival Tool’ Debate
I’ve been a professional survival instructor since 2007. Before that, I worked as a canoeing and kayaking outfitter from 1998 to 2006. I’ve seen the booming interest in survival television shows, the popularity of survival gear surge in retail ...
‘Revision of a Man’: Army Vet Tackles Modern Manliness With Poetry
Editor's Note: Here at FRA, we are a small but aggressive team. We're like a race car that we’re building while it zips around the track. Extending that analogy, Matt Smythe is the wheels: He is the primary point of contact between our edit team and ...
Where Does the $9K Trijicon REAP IR 60mm Rank Among Rifle Optics?
The world of rifle optics is deep and wide. There is a piece of glass for pretty much anything that goes boom. Some high-end and some bargain-basement options with everything else in between. It can be difficult sometimes though to pick just which ...
Sleep or Die: Survival Shows Don’t Stress the Importance of Getting Rest
In 2012, I asked a friend to help me assemble a demo reel to show executives in Hollywood after being signed by WME in the reality unscripted genre. I was instructed to show as much movement as possible to attract the interest of these production ...
Prison for Man Who Illegally Trapped Thousands of Turtles for Pet Trade
A man who helmed a crew that illegally trapped thousands of turtles in Georgia and South Carolina to sell to Chinese pet collectors is going to prison. In Atlanta, US District Judge William M. Ray II sentenced Nathan Horton on Tuesday, May 10, to ...
How Army Special Forces Pulled a Fast One to Get Glock Pistols
Glock pistols have become the standard that modern handguns are measured against. The polymer-framed, striker-fired design has served as the inspiration for the most popular handguns on the civilian, law enforcement, and military markets. Even the ...
Camping on the Fly: How to Choose the Best Emergency Bivy
When I was 15 years old, I met up with one of my high-school buddies, Jim, to do an overnight hiking and camping trip just on the outskirts of my hometown. I didn't have a driver's license, meaning mom dropped me off. Like a lot of teenage boys, we ...
‘Jesus, There It Is’ — Inside a Daring High Country Rescue
“Jesus, there it is.” It was 4:46 p.m. on Aug. 28, and Brent Kallem — a flight paramedic on board St. Luke’s Health System’s Bell 429 GlobalRanger high country rescue helicopter — gazed along the east side of a granite peak in ...
5 Rare Survival Rifles Designed for Air Force Crews
On Dec. 21, 1943, Lt. Leon Crane was conducting a flyover of the Alaska interior when one of the engines of his B-24 Liberator malfunctioned and caused the aircraft to spiral out of control. Crane grabbed a parachute and dove from the open bomb ...
Competitive Shooting: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
Competitive shooting is one of the best ways to practice and increase your firearm-handling skills. It is rewarding when you prevail and a nonstop challenge of your abilities. And it can become quite addicting once you catch the competition bug. I ...
Hunter, Frogman, Sniper, Spy: Retired SEAL Terry Houin is Just Getting Started
Standing on the ramp of a C-130 in the dead of night, at 5,000 feet, in thick clouds over the Indian Ocean 12 miles east of the Horn of Africa, Terry Houin and his five teammates, all part of a secretive intelligence unit within the US Navy SEALs, ...
The Gun That Killed Billy the Kid Sold for $6 Million at Auction
I think we all know the story of Billy the Kid, or at least some version of it. Billy the Kid is one of our country’s most notorious outlaws, creating a legend that has been told countless times. Even though every version of the story is different, ...
Raise Them Right: Emergency Preparedness for Kids
The word pedagogy is used in the realm of education to distinguish various teaching styles and theories of learning. As the primary educator of my children in our chosen realm of home education, I make it a practice to continually study the ways in ...
SIG Sauer Will Make the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon
Ending years of anticipation, the Army announced Tuesday, April 19, that SIG Sauer will build two of the primary weapons that infantry squads will carry in the coming decades. The new Next Generation Squad Weapon variants will replace the current M4 ...
5 of the Deadliest Insects You’ll Find in the Field
Once accepted, trained and later deployed as a military service member, you should be ready to operate in the world’s most remote areas. It is common to have the military deployed in the driest parts of the world or tropical rainforests. In such ...
Traveling Prepared: Building a Proper Vehicle Emergency Kit
Since a significant percentage of the average American family’s waking hours are spent behind the wheel, it’s paramount that we take the necessary steps to ensure that we are trained and traveling with a vehicle emergency kit to address the most ...
Florida Man Pulls in .50-Cal Rifles While Fishing With Grandson
Fishing can find you inner peace, creative ideas, engaging conversation, or in the case of one grandfather and his grandson, a Barrett .50-cal rifle. More specifically, two of them. Duane Smith and his grandson, Allen Cadwalader decided to try out ...
Disaster Prep: The Importance of Everyday Readiness
Unless you’ve been half asleep, you probably have noticed that 2020 was remarkable. COVID-19, double — correction — quintuplet hurricanes, murder hornets, threats to public health, and civil unrest. We couldn’t get a break. The fabric of our ...
