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 ...
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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 ...
Zara Rutherford, 19, Breaks Record for Solo Flight Around The World
After 115 days spent flying her tiny Shark UL plane around the world, 19-year-old Zara Rutherford finally landed in Belgium on Jan. 20 and claimed the distinction of being the youngest woman to complete a solo flight around the world. Her ...
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 ...
Screaming Barfies: Necessary Intel for Your First Ice Climbing Adventure
“Screaming barfies” was the first term I learned on my inaugural ice climbing adventure. Amid all the dangers accompanying this venture, that highly un-technical term got my attention. Imagine feeling your hands go completely numb and then for ...
8-Year-Old’s Bear Dogs Saved After 100-Foot Fall Into WV Cave on Hunt
Bear dogs are known for being tenacious and tough — as you’d expect from any dog that’s willing to risk life and limb running down an animal three or four times its size. Sometimes, that drive can get a dog in trouble. On Thursday, Dec. 30, ...
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, ...
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 ...
Reader’s Choice: The 10 Biggest Free Range American Stories of 2021
This was a good year for Free Range American. We grew by hundreds of percentage points in every conceivable metric and covered a wide range of topics (and controversies) other outdoor media sites were afraid to touch. We broke the news on an ...
Tennessee Tornado Kills 2 Hunters, 3rd Missing, Others Aid Rescue Efforts
Winter waterfowl hunters are no strangers to lousy weather. Unfortunately, the weather turned deadly this past weekend in many places throughout the South and Midwest, including in Tiptonville, Tennessee, a premier duck hunting destination, as ...
Anne LaBastille Was A Badass Woman of the Woods
As far as writers go, you don't find many routinely perched in a canoe floating in the middle of a lake with a typewriter balanced on their knees and a German Shepherd perched at the other end of the boat, but that's how you were likely to find Anne ...
Utah Elk Hunting: Intense Backcountry Rescue Saves Hunter’s Leg
Utah hunter Coy Kummer hoped to end his elk season hauling out a big bull. Instead, it ended with a broken leg, a wild rescue, and several major surgeries. On Oct. 10, 22-year-old Coy and his father, Brian Kummer, were hunting the northern ...
Son’s Quick Thinking, CPR Training Saves Father’s Life on Michigan Hunt
If you were hunting with a buddy or family member and they had a bad fall or lost consciousness and stopped breathing, would you know how to render first aid? Do you have CPR training, and if so, could you stay calm and stabilize a hunting partner in ...
Burnover: Shocking Video Reveals Daring Hellscape Drive
For at least 109 seconds, the night turned orange as a towering blaze closed over the firefighters. Captured in a video shot Sept. 10 from inside the cab of a truck, at least two men can be heard screaming obscenities, shouting directions, ...
7 Backcountry Hacks That Will Help You Survive Deep Off the Grid
I’ve been fortunate in my career to be surrounded by an eclectic group of professionals, from Green Berets and Army Rangers to some of the best backcountry hunters alive today. All these friends and peers have taught me a thing or two about living ...
Coast Guard Rescue: Alaska Hunters Stranded for 8 Days Safely Extracted
Seven hunters were safely returned home after a Coast Guard rescue helicopter extracted them from a fishing camp near Emmonak, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 5. The group, all from Pilot Station, were socked in by bad weather on their way home ...
Sheepshead Mushrooms: Hunting Guide and How to Cook Them
Mushroom hunters are badass. Foraging for wild edible mushrooms is a challenge that's all about the thrill of the hunt that ends, hopefully, with a freezer full of nutritious and medicinal mushrooms, all for free. It's for the stout-hearted who are ...
Wilderness First Aid: The Backcountry Medkit Every Hunter Should Carry
Backcountry hunters obsess over dialing in their gear. There’s ultralight gore-tex this and treated down that. But there’s one piece of gear to which many hunters don’t pay enough attention: wilderness first aid and the medkit they carry. Jimmy ...
Broken Arrow: How a Marine Pilot Found New Life After a Crash Took His Legs
The hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was cold, dark, and quiet as Maj. Eric Burkett lay in his bed. He stared at his legs — what was left of them, anyway — pinned together like an Erector Set and suspended from the ...
Fall Mushrooms: 7 Easy-to-ID Autumn Fungi That Are Great Eating
It can be intimidating for beginners to get into mushroom foraging, but with a little bit of knowledge and attention to detail, you’ll be coming home with a good haul of mushrooms to add to all your favorite wild-game dishes before you know ...
Russian Bear Attack: Boxer Shoots, Stabs Brown Bear to Death in Siberia
A Russian bear attack that killed one man has left champion boxer Ilya Medvedev in a coma after a fishing trip gone wrong. The wild story sounds like something out of a mountain man's repertoire of tall tales. The 23-year-old champion ...
Peace in the Clouds: How This Deadly Warrior Found His Zen
The sun has barely crested the snowcapped peaks of “his canyon” when Dan Schilling pulls into the back lot of Snowbird ski resort. He grabs his ruck — packed with snowshoes and hiking poles — from the back seat and shuts the truck door. His white ...
Water Bath Canning: Preserve Your Garden Harvest in 12 Easy Steps
“Pressure cooker explosion kills family pet, nearly takes off granny’s head!” Horror stories similar to this have led to “canning scares” across the nation for years, even though pressure cookers, especially electric-powered models, have gotten a lot ...
Don’t Risk Hunting Falls: How To Not Die In Your Treestand Safety Harness
Since states began mandating hunter safety courses, the number of hunting accidents, especially those involving firearms, has decreased dramatically. But every year, we read about a few tragic cases in which deer hunters die after falling out of a ...
‘The Alpinist’ Should Be the Next Climbing Documentary You Watch
The Alpinist (2021) is a new and riveting documentary about the extraordinary life of Canadian climber Marc-André Leclerc. This climbing documentary chronicles Lelerc’s remarkable transition from living in a stairwell with girlfriend Brette ...
Gary Paulsen, Renowned Wilderness Author, Dead at 82
Gary Paulsen, the critically acclaimed author of Hatchet, died unexpectedly on Wednesday, Oct. 13, at age 82. According to NPR, his publisher confirmed his passing but did not give a cause – only calling it “sudden,” according to NPR. Inspiring ...
Watch: Crazy Ultramarathon Blizzard Rescue Captured on Video
Hundreds of trail runners struck out to tackle the DC Peaks 50 Ultramarathon in Utah. The off-road faithful knew they had 12,000 feet of climbing ahead of them, but none of them expected to be pulled from the trail during a crushing blizzard just ...
Naked And Afraid: What I’ve Learned From Survival Shows
We have all been guilty of being backseat adventurers when watching programs such as Naked and Afraid, Man vs. Wild or Alone, just to name a few. We kick back, crack open a cold one and proceed to judge the ever-loving shit out of ...
