Sixteen hours into a search inside Big Bend National Park’s remote backcountry for a lost hiker, US Border Patrol agents on horseback heard what they called “faint screaming.” About 20 miles north of the Rio Grande River on Tuesday afternoon, ...
Is Your Bug-Out Vehicle Go-Ready for When Shit Hits the Fan?
I spent most of my years in the military operating in the Recon genre of Special Operations — a job that had me go-ready, living out of a rucksack for days, if not weeks, at a time. I learned very quickly in combat what optimization and efficiency ...
Desert Nomad: Overlanding Lessons From Afghanistan
Wilfred Thesiger, a British Military Officer, writer, and explorer, once said, “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry the imprint of the desert, the nomad, and he will have a yearning to return for this cruel land can cast a ...
The Guns of the Ukrainian Army
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages, a firearms enthusiast might be excused for wondering what small arms make up the guns of the Ukrainian Army. Let’s take a look at the weapons now on the front lines. Guns of the Ukrainian Army: ...
Why a Trauma Kit Should Be Part of Your Everyday Mobility
I’ve spent the majority of my adult life Overlanding. I started with my Jeep Wrangler Sahara, which to this day is the only vehicle I’ve never sold and will never part with. I frequented Uwharrie National Forest every weekend and spent my free time ...
The 8 Best Dog Breeds for Veterans with PTS
When heroes come home, sometimes they need a hero of their own. In canine form, that is. Service dogs are invaluable to veterans and civilians alike. These loving, four-legged friends provide emotional support, understanding, and protection, and they ...
A Green Beret’s ‘No-Fail Event’ — Summiting Everest Without Oxygen
Music drowned out the sound of Jason Howell’s fingertip exploding. It was the Saturday after he’d started the Special Forces Qualification Course — informally known as the Q Course — and he was alternating between dumbbell chest presses and flyes ...
WTF is FRA? The Origin Story of Free Range American
The best ideas are born in the mountains around a campfire, over coffee, before or after a hunt, a fishing trip, or a range day with friends. Free Range American is no different. It’s a community of like-minded adventurers, born — it turns out — from ...
Off-road Tire Pressure: How to Get the Best Ride From Your Rig
If you want to kick ass off the beaten path, your rig needs to have the correct off-road tire pressure for optimal traction, handling, and wear. Determining the proper tire pressure depends on the terrain you’re driving on and the weight of your rig. ...
How To Survive on Wild Edible Plants and Not Get Dead
Terence McKenna, famous American philosopher, ethnobotanist (one who studies a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of local culture and people), and author once stated, "Nature loves courage. You make the ...
Stay Fit in Preparation to Survive
If you grew up in the 1980s or the early part of the 1990s, you probably thought a chiseled, oiled, and likely chemically enhanced physique is what you needed to stay fit to survive. You can probably picture it now — a muscle-bound, larger than life, ...
Bushcraft 101 with Kevin Estela
“Bushcraft” is a term used interchangeably with “survival,” but they are not true synonyms. Bushcraft is the art of doing more with less and using nature’s resources whenever called upon. Survival is the art of getting by at any cost and is generally ...
5 Ways to Ensure Medical Preparedness
As a woman, I always take my role as protector of my children and any children in my company very seriously. As a registered nurse by education, the tendencies to gravitate toward being a healer come naturally to me, but as medical ...
Top 5 Westerns With Great Performances From Military Veterans
From Clint Eastwood to Steve McQueen and other Hollywood icons, veterans have played many roles on-screen across the spectrum of cinema history. Westerns seem to fit naturally for a military veteran whether it be from their service or maybe part of ...
Recognizing and Preventing Altitude Sickness
I remember the first western hunt I went on. I was black bear hunting at about 7,000 ft. in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. Not exactly a high-altitude hunt. But I’m a flatlander from Minnesota who hadn’t been to the mountains in years. Having ...
Rikki’s 72 Hour Survival Challenge
Fieldcraft Survival Director of Training, Kevin Estela, recently got challenged by the company’s CEO, Mike Glover to complete a 72-hour bug out in the high desert of Utah with nothing but the clothes on his back and whatever he could fit in a ...
Introduction to Food Storage
When it comes to preparedness in my home, I work diligently to make sure that it flows with the normalcy of our routine as much as possible. Rather than viewing preparedness as a staunch concept that runs perpendicular to who we are, it is a parallel ...
How to Avoid Getting Lost in The Woods
Keeping yourself from getting lost, or sometimes called, “Lost Proofing” is the art of knowing where you are (generally) at any given moment. Here are some actions you can take to make sure you know how to avoid getting lost in the woods. Know ...
Safety and Security While on the Road
I’ve always enjoyed a good road trip. Ever since I received my driver’s license, I’ve enjoyed packing up my vehicle with provisions, looking at a map, and going from point A to point B. It has been said, “it is not the destination but the journey ...
These Brits Debunk the Deadly M1 Garand ‘Ping’ Myth
The beloved M1 Garand Rifle carried the deadly end of American foreign policy from U.S. shores into Europe and the Pacific in World War II and into the forests of Korea the following decade. But the iconic rifle is typically discussed ...
How Cherokee Actor Wes Studi Taps Vietnam Experience for Performances
Magua simultaneously draws his tomahawk and dagger with the ease of movements practiced a thousand times. Unlike most depictions of Native Americans, the Huron warrior isn’t adorned in a feather headdress or riding a painted stallion across the Great ...
This Is What a Silencer for Howitzers Looks Like
For those moments when you absolutely, positively have to train your artillery but you don’t want to wake the local population, accept no substitutes. Yes, artillery silencers are a thing. These photos were taken at an artillery range in ...
Vehicle Situational Awareness – Staying Safe on the Road
Windows down, radio up on the highway with the soothing hum of the vehicle with some beefy AT tires on the asphalt on the way to a weekend adventure. We can not always get there overnight, or to some wooded quiet campground as much as we like. On ...
Backup Power as Part of Your Survival Plan
In today’s world, most of our creature comforts, survival equipment, and communication tools require electricity. When disaster strikes, grid power is one of the first utilities to fail and one of the last to be restored. Systematic preparation and ...
Going Solo: Preparing to Face the Backcountry on Your Own
Perhaps the greatest part of going hunting is sharing the outdoor world with your friends. The backcountry is a place to be shared and attacked as a unit. The weeks before the season opener where you and your compadres gather around maps and decide ...
Winterizing Your Survival Kit
Growing up in New England, I learned to appreciate the frequency of the seasons changing. When the seasons changed, so did the way we had to live with the corresponding weather and environmental conditions. Spring teaches you to deal with rain, ...
Virtual Reality YouTube Series Puts Viewers in Civil War Trenches
A 2015 survey from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that half of all Americans are unaware of when the Civil War took place. In an innovative effort to educate Americans and promote deeper understanding of that ...
These New Year’s Resolutions Will Make You A Better Hunter
We asked friends of FRA if they had any New Year’s resolutions for hunting — it came as no surprise, a lot of them did. Whether stalking elk in the mountains, waiting out whitetail in a tree, or calling at cupped mallards in a beaver swamp, so much ...
Rocky Mountain National Park Shootout: Ranger Hit, Suspect Wounded
A man who shot a federal ranger inside Rocky Mountain National Park is in custody and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, according to the FBI. Daron Marquel Ellis, 29, was arrested at a hospital in Loveland, Colorado, by FBI Special Agent ...
$2.5K Knives and Cougar Sausages: Meet Master Bladesmith Josh Smith
Josh Smith held a long blade in his hand. Maybe 18 inches long, it was still black and ragged from the forge, but he had a point he wanted to make. He held it up, so that the group of close to 20 in his shop could get a good look. All were ...
