Deer hunting in Blackwater State Forest.

 Deer hunting in Blackwater State Forest near Milton, FL.  It was a cold and windy day.  Check out the Youtube video here:  Don't forget to "thumbs up" for me and if you like my videos, please Subscribe and hit the notification bell.   Thanks!

Deer Hunting - Youtube

When the sun comes up on public hunting land.

 

Why Everyone Should Learn “Prepping” Skills

 

These days, the term “prepping” is tossed around without really an understanding behind the meaning.  I, personally, rarely use the word preferring terms like “self-reliance” or “homesteading.” Often a “prepper” conjures up images of some whacko holed up in the mountains with a cache of guns and ammo who rejects society and will kill anyone who comes within miles of his compound.  Come to think of it, maybe I am a prepper.  But really, to be a prepper means to be prepared.  “Prepared for what?” you might ask.  And the answer is anything.  It is not very farfetched that some type of incident or incidents could occur where individuals would find themselves in the position of having to be more self-reliant in some manner and to varying extremes. 

As a matter of fact!  - we’ve already experienced it this year.  Remember our initial reaction to COVID-19?  I don’t know about your neighborhood, but the grocery stores here in my town were wiped out.  Not just of toilet paper, but all paper products, canned goods, dried foods, meats, you name it.  And it lasted for weeks. 

So, it wasn’t a super extreme version of a SHTF scenario (for you non-preppers, that means a Shit-Hit-The-Fan scenario, a large incident that causes all of society to crash), but it certainly brought to the forefront how easily we could find ourselves in one.  No, my friends, it is not just for the whacko’s to contemplate what might happen in the event of a societal crash or even partial crash.

Epidemic?  War?  Alien Invasion?  Asteroid Crash?  Government Takeover?

Yeah, a lot of possibilities.  And don’t forget the very real possibility of a Zombie Apocalypse!  So, do you know some basic survival skills?  What if there were no grocery stores?  What if there was no electricity?  What if other people were trying to take what you have by force?  To understand where we need to go, we have to understand where we came from.  My personal belief is that it is a very pitiful situation that people have become so disconnected from the land and from their food.  And I don’t just mean meat, but yes that’s a big one.  Plants too.  So many people don’t have any idea how to grow a garden.  It is so important that everyone learns how to grow a small garden.  You can raise your favorite crops!  And it’s more than just popping a seed in some dirt and watering it.  Much more!  Do you know what crops grow in your location?  Do you know your agricultural zone?  Do you know what kind of dirt to use?  How to fertilize and with what type of fertilizer and when?  How much to water?  How much sun?  Every plant is different.  You can pretty much pop any seed in any dirt, add some water, and it will start to grow.  But the real test is, will grow to adulthood and flower and produce fruit?  What conditions do you need for the flower to produce fruit?  Do you need two of the same plant to cross-pollinate? 

And then there was meat!  …and don’t even get me started on meat.  Sorry, this is a pet-peeve of mine (pardon the pun).  Society has become so disconnected from where they get their meat.  We go to McDonald’s and order or a burger.  Sometimes, for those that can actually cook, they buy a piece of steak from the grocery store.  But that meat came from a living animal.  A lot of people view hunters with hatred, but that hunter loves animals just as much as anyone else.  That hunter also has the conviction to pull the trigger and kill that animal, gut it and clean it, and chop It up for his family to have food.  While you may detest hunting, it is a much more noble means of providing meat on your table.  I’d also like to add that a large percentage of funds from hunting licenses goes towards environmental stabilization. 

So, you can grow your veggies and you can kill and clean a rabbit.  Now what??  Well, you’ve eaten meat for a day, but what about the next day?  So, you kill and clean a deer.  Now what??  What do you do with the extra meat and veggies that you don’t eat today?

Canning and Preserving.

That’s right.  One of the main skills to learn in prepping is how to can and preserve food.  It’s the only way to make it through the year.  You can’t grow plants year-round, at least not most and not with a lot of fruit production.  You probably (maybe?) can’t hunt year-round.  Or at least you wouldn’t be able to kill large animals on a regular basis.  So, you have to learn how to preserve the excess food that you have.  And trust me, this is a science all to itself.  It takes a lot of knowledge and math to know how to properly do these things.  Unless you don’t care about killing yourself and your family with some bacteria. 

Then there’s all the other things:  building a fire, cooking, building shelter if you need to, living without electricity, making and repairing clothes, raising animals (chickens are the best to start with), and on an on. 

You can start now!  That’s right!  No matter where you live, you can start learning with a small backyard or patio garden and some backyard chickens.  Chickens are great because it teaches you how to raise animals (there’s a lot of science for that too) and you get the benefit of daily fresh eggs.  Just think, if you raised 2 chickens who lay one egg a day each and had a few bell pepper and tomato plants, you could, if nothing else, survive off a southwest style omelet every day.  You wouldn’t be eating a lot, but you could survive!

So, I think I’ve made my point.  These are important skills to learn.  The good news is you can learn them.  There are many resources out there to help you with gaining the knowledge you need to survive if things get bad.  Don’t think that it can’t happen.  It can and likely will.  Only you can take the steps necessary to ensure that your family will be able to face the undesirable consequences. 

The blog you are reading right now was designed to help you take those first steps:  Read More.  Click on the “Follow” button to make sure you get notified of future posts.

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Thanks, and I hope this was useful information for you!

#outdoorlife #direcklyonthecoals