9 Mistakes Typically Made by Preppers

reply to post by glassspider


Saw that episode. It was hilarious. BTW didn't he actually shoot his thumb off? Then he drops to the ground like a dead fish. Man what a tough guy...

Unless you fish, go learn. Unless you've ever bow hunted a deer, go learn. Unless you have been out on the land with someone who knows how to survive a week without anything but a knife, DON'T, you won't make it, go find someone and learn. Learning on the go is a good way to die.

One thing prepping does that people have not seen the advantage of...you won't be one of the people going door to door stealing food from defenseless people

Its funny how 50 years ago you could go into a small town basement and see at least a month of food that was stocked up on when on sale. That was the norm. Only an idiot had an empty basement. No more. People actually trust there to be food there all the time and mock anyone who buys more than a twelve box of macaroni dinner.

Scary.

Originally posted by Quickfix
A "prepper" should need two-three things for real survival.

A Knife, Old lighter (for fire), and well third item, could be something random perhaps a book on local plants.

Humans have been surviving for centuries with just a good ol' knife.

Whatever else a "prepper" stores up on is just gravy, so to speak...

I have to disagree with ya. Remember the rule of 3.......3 minutes without air.......3 hours without shelter......3 days without water......3 weeks without food.




Exposure is what kills you. Layering is the key and wool is the best even when wet.

No 1 is more of a personal organization thing, not really a "mistake" not to inventory everything. I mean if you have a ton of food I don't see why you would need to take an inventory of it. But if that is your preference, more power to you

No 2 is not a mistake either and is really more of what your views are. There is really only so much you can prep for and you do that being able to go a long period of time without utilities and without a place to buy necessities.

No 3 I 1/2 agree with. I have on ATS and other places where people have a nice property and the first thing they want to do when SHTF is run around playing Fallout road warrior with their bug out bag and weapon of choice. When SHTF you should plan on staying in one place for 2 weeks no matter what. Because all these road warriors are going to be killing each other en masse and by the end of 2 weeks these people will have all killed each other or they would have starved to death. While bugging in is the smarter thing to do some people can't. If you are renting a room or live in an apartment in a city it may not be practical to bug in, so just plan to bug out until you can find a place where you can set up shop.

No 4 is not really a "mistake" its really just common sense...

No 5 he is just admitting that he can't use a compass. As far as the high tech gadgets go, you will have plenty of time on your hands if you are stalked up, knowing how to program your favorite stations into your hand or solar powered radio is not really a life or death thing. You are going to have time to read the manuals.

No 6 I think the exact opposite is true, sure the road wariors are going to be self defending each other to death but most people are sane and will not be killing you. I think you are more likely to get killed if you go around pointing a gun at everyone.

No 7 is coming from a guy that can't use a compass...

No 8 is solid

No 9 im on the fence. Right now im not telling everyone I got everything I need to live for a year alone. But if SHTF I would help others as much as a could but I would not advertise everything I know and have. Think about it this way, if some strange virus came and all the women of the world dropped dead, are you going to tell everyone "hey, my daughter is alive and fine"?

I'm a bug in type of guy, and I tell people, just where am I'm suppose to bug out to? I think if I lived in a big city I would want to bug out, but I'm basically on the outskirts of one and so I'm kind of already bugged out.

I plan on 6 months of survival with my family in a bug in mode, anything more than that and the # really hit the fan....hard and I really don't see that scenario anytime soon.

This is written so poorly, it just bugs me. Some decent info, but come on...
It is supposed to be 9 mistakes, yet about half of the list is worded improperly. The author has listed his solution as the mistake. And goes back and forth.
Mistake 1
1. Failing to inventory stored food supplies.

"Mistake" 2
2. Identifying the most likely risks and prepping for those first.
This was the suggestion to avoid preparing for everything(which was the mistake.) This is done throughout the list.

Originally posted by cartesia
...
Honestly people planning to stay in their home anywhere in the suburbs/cities are nuts.

I don't get this way of thinking. I would much rather stand with my neighbors and defend my turf rather than run away somewhere that is not as familiar territory. I don't really know what I am suppose to be running away from either.

No prepping done whatsoever. Not even ready for a hurricane.

Didn't quite latch on to what he was getting at, it came over more like he was just berating himself for silly mistakes, rather than info.
As far as i see it there are no hard and fast rules to Prepping for SHTF, but it is a personal endeavour, well, what i mean is that it depends on the individual, and their perception of disaster, so first of all you should honestly take stock of your mental capabilities, (and only you will know the truth of that) as this will have a major bearing on how you should go about Prepping, weather you are mentally strong enough to go it alone, or do you join with like minded people and pool your resources, there are benefits to both approaches.
Take care of the important stuff first, Learn and practice the basic skills, heres my 5 basics that should be addressed first

1 Water! were and how to find it, distill it, treat it, store it. Tap birch trees for Sap mmmm yummy!!
2 Fire! learn and become proficient in as many techniques to make it as you can, such as friction, chemical reaction, solar, electrical, compression.
3 Shelter! sleeping under the stars is lovely! but when the temperature drops you WILL DIE learn to recognise the symptoms of hypothermia and how to combat/prevent it, learn and practice techniques for shelter building using whatever is around, from debris shelters to micro houses, including Camouflage techniques, stay hidden stay safe.
4 Food! its all very well stashing food in the basement, but it WILL eventually run out, learn to identify, and prepare, the edible plants indigenous to your area
learn to hunt and prepare meats Boiling will usually render even diseased meats safe enough to eat, learn new techniques like accustoming your body to smaller meals, eating little but often, can sustain you better than going hungry between large meals, and also learn what to avoid, certain things like Dogs Liver should be avoided, as it contains massive amounts of Vitamin A, more dosage than the human body can tolerate
5 Equipment you don’t need to buy ALL the latest survival orientated gizmos, although they are nice to have, you should be looking to make use of the stuff you already own, the best tool in your arsenal is YOU! and as long as you have a Knife you will be fed clothed warm and dry.


As far as bugging in or Bugging out, plan for both, in Sit-X you may well not be afforded the option of bugging out, until things have calmed down somewhat, and you then have a window of escape, you may well be caught in the open when SHTF in which case you should also Plan For What i like to call "Ratting" ever notice how these little Beasties never make a full on dash for home, but will dash to the nearest hidden cover, stop, look, sniff, re-evaluate any surrounding threats, then dash for the next cover, and so on, and so on, till they reach the safety of the nest.
So learn your surroundings, usable bolt holes so to speak, plan for covert ingress and egress to your home, remember, out of sight is out of mind, you cannot help your family if you fall victim to Panic induced Violence.

Originally posted by SubTruth

I have to disagree with ya. Remember the rule of 3.......3 minutes without air.......3 hours without shelter......3 days without water......3 weeks without food.


Exposure is what kills you. Layering is the key and wool is the best even when wet.

A knife helps with making traps to kill animals for hides and food. There is your layers and your food.

Fire is taken care of since you have a lighter. (and even if it runs out, there's flint in there.)

That is why a knife is so useful, and a key to survival. ANYTHING you could need you could get from the knife.

If you like you could even dig with one, but i wouldn't, that's what your hands are for. (digging = water)

If you use your brain and the minor resources that i named, any person worth his salt, should be able to survive.

A book of plants could help with medicine's, which is why i put that as my third option.

True survival is reliant upon the brain.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
If some one lacks commonsense it don't really matter how much they prep they wouldn't make it a month . Stocking up on guns and ammo will only get one so far how many of them even own a bow and arrows for when the gun ammo runs out . Stocking up on food is pointless unless you intended to camp out at home (urban areas) . people should really be focusing on seeds to grow food . Traps are important . Fishing gear even though I hate fish can't stand it is better than starving . If people are mostly heading in one direction for evacuations I will go the other way .

when the seeds are planted, what do you live on for the three months it takes for the seeds to grow ready for harvesting? yep, you will need three months worth of dried,tinned, frozen food to live on while you wait for the plants to grow.

One thing is to learn how others have survived in the past. I think every prepper should have a few pounds of Pinole (corn meal/flour) in their stores. It is simple, lightweight, stores well, doesn't need cooking and a small amount can sustain one in dire times. Many different indian tribesmen used this on their travels. Just Google "Pinole" and read the information out there on this super food.

Pinole: The blue sweetish kind is the grain which they prefer for that purpose. They parch it in clean hot ashes, until it bursts, it is then sifted and cleaned, and pounded in a mortar into a kind of flour, and when they wish to make it very good, they mix some sugar(optional) [i.e., maple sugar] with it. When wanted for use, they take about a tablespoonful of this flour in their mouths, then stooping to the river or brook, drink water to it. If, however, they have a cup or other small vessel at hand, they put the flour in it and mix it with water, in the proportion of one tablespoonful to a pint. At their camps they will put a small quantity in a kettle with water and let it boil down, and they will have a thick pottage.

www.tacticalintelligence.net...

How to Make Pinole

What You’ll Need
•frying pan (cast iron or non-stick preferred).
•dried corn on the cob [organic if possible]: For this you just hang some corn in a dry place in your home until the kernals are dry throughout and come off the cob without much effort. For a less auhentic but still workable solution, you can also dehydrate frozen or canned corn in your dehydrator..
•blender, coffee grinder, or food processor: (or mortar and pestle if you want to really do it the authentic way)

(snip)

I’d like to add that you can also make Pinole by taking cornmeal and cooking it over a pan in the same manner as above (don’t expect it to swell however).

(a posters note from the site) One point to consider is that older heirloom varieties have greater protein than the newer hybrids and gmo altered varieties which have been bred for massive cabohydrate capacity to be used for making Corn Syrup and its dirivites.
so if you can’t grow your own, check out your fall decoration stores or local Farmers markets for the multicolored varieties.

edit on 8-1-2013 by Gridrebel because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by Gridrebel
One thing is to learn how others have survived in the past. I think every prepper should have a few pounds of Pinole (corn meal/flour) in their stores. It is simple, lightweight, stores well, doesn't need cooking and a small amount can sustain one in dire times. Many different indian tribesmen used this on their travels. Just Google "Pinole" and read the information out there on this super food.

Another good food source is Pemmican, Tastes pretty good too

Make Your Own
In this pemmican recipe, we are basically disassembling and reassembling the meat. Fresh meat rots quickly; once the flesh and fat are separated and processed, each in the way that works best for it, they can be reassembled and will remain preserved for an extended period. This pemmican recipe is quite easy to make and a variety of ingredients can be used. Following is my step-by-step preferred method; feel free to substitute meats and fat sources. In doing so the most important guidelines to keep in mind are to be sure your meat is lean and completely dry, and to use rendered fat that will not melt (such as the fat of ungulates) while the pemmican is being stored and used. Dry the meat.Choose a warm, dry, sunny period and start early in the day to take full advantage of available drying time. I prefer large chunks (like thigh and shoulder) of meat that are already quite lean, like summer venison. If such is not available, clean all visible fat and connective tissue from the meat, then slice as thinly as possible, preferably across the grain (dries faster that way) and place on a drying rack in full sunlight. If yours is a warm dry climate, you may be able to keep your slices 1/4 inch thick and get them dry in a day. If your area is humid, slice as thinly as possible. It’s best to get the meat dry in one day, to lessen the chance of spoilage. Test for dryness by bending each piece, particularly where thick. Those needing more drying time will be rubbery; those dry enough will be brittle and crack. Take them indoors so they do not reabsorb moisture overnight. They are best kept refrigerated. If conditions are not ideal for drying, use a supplemental fire. What you are creating here is jerky, which can be stored and consumed as-is, but it is not a complete food because it does not contain fat. Do not try to live on it! Natives will either use jerky as an ingredient in a complete meal, or will use it in their next pemmican recipe. Grind the meat. Use a commercial grinder, or pulverize, as Natives would. Render the fat. then Combine meat and fat, in a ratio of about two parts meat to one part fat. Pack in airtight containers Cleaned intestine, bark, glass or plastic containers can be used. Store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Here's a Vid of Dave Cantebury from wildernesoutfitters making Pemmican

reply to post by CaptainBeno


disasters and/or the devolution of society will not require your belief...

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