Survival Gear Reviews and Deals!

What Is The Best Survival Take-down Bow?

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 18:25:30 +0000

Choosing the right survival weapon can be a difficult choice. Do I take the 25lb M60 with 5lbs of ammo, or the much quieter and easier to pack, 2 lb survival takedown bow? I know some of you will still end up carrying the heavy weaponry but for this short review we will be comparing two of the most popular survival takedown bows.

The SAS Tactical Survival Bow vs the Primal Gear Compact Folding Survival Bow.

These are both excellent bows but there are some key differences. In this short video, Craig reviews both of these products and offers an awesome giveaway!

Check out his video and go here for the full review and giveaway rules.

550 Paracord Giveaway

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 20:02:30 +0000

It’s time for a giveaway! This week we are giving away 100 feet of USA made 550 paracord. If you are not sure what to do with paracord, then check out this quick video by Craig Caudill.

Dan’s Depot 2.0 – Some New Changes Coming in 2015

Matthew Longley — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:32:35 +0000

We get a lot of folks asking what we have been up to for the last 6 months. So here is a quick update with some exciting news.

Online Retail Opening Soon!

It’s been over a year since we have had our online store open for business. So we are excited to get things going again. We love selling survival gear. We just weren’t happy with the quality of the products available through our distributors. Over the past year we have found better distributors and partners to work with. So you can expect high quality gear at affordable prices.

Faster Shipping

Dan’s Depot is a small, family run business. We love to keep our customers happy, but sometimes we would get swamped with orders. We have streamlined our shipping process, and now we ship faster then ever. Even if things get crazy, we are able to scale the process to match the order volume.

Gear Reviews and Giveaways

Our readers let us know how much they love our gear reviews and giveaways. We want to continue doing those and do them more often.

Survival Training

Survival training has been key to our business since we started, and we don’t plan to stop anytime soon. Craig Caudill from Nature Reliance School plans to continue his long relationship with us. You can expect Craig to pop in from time to time with great content and offer expert gear reviews.

Family Focus

It seems like every week there is some new TV show about self-reliance that promotes a lone wolf mentality. That all you need is a bug-out-bag and a Bear Grylls knife, and you can survive almost anything. That’s not what we promote at Dan’s Depot. We believe that the best way to prepare for any disaster is to build a tribe. A tribe could be family, friends, or any group of people who decide to work together for their survival. Our goal is to help you know how to build your tribe and how that tribe can thrive in any survival situation. On our website we will refer to this new section as the Dan’s Family.

Thanks for being part of the Dan’s Depot community. We look forward to these exciting new changes in the upcoming weeks.

Frog gigging for sustenance, survival, or simply good eatin’

Craig Caudill — Mon, 18 May 2015 13:03:44 +0000

One of the nice ones from last night

My son and I spent a few hours picking up our legal limit in frogs last night. I did quick search to see if I had ever covered the subject in one of our blog pieces here and lo and behold…nope!

That is a mistake, because frogs are incredibly tasty and easy to get (with some practice). I tried to take some photos and even video last night and they turned out to be of such poor quality, to be unusable. So we will have to rely on some discussion of the subject.

First things first, you do not need a gig to get frogs. If you can find a creek that you can wade into easily, grabbing frogs is fairly easy to do. A gig simply allows you the the ability to be farther away from the frog when you make contact with it. The key to catching or gigging frogs is to think like its predators and do not alarm it. Here are some simple tips:

Come from the front of the frog if it all possible when grabbing or gigging, this limits its ability to move away from you. If it moves, it moves toward you.
Take a good flashlight and shine it directly into the eyes of the frog. This will temporarily blind the frog so you can get close to it.
If you are gigging or grabbing do so between the two sets of legs. These little guys are pretty slippery and you want to get hold of as much as you can without damaging the edible portions. Once you get good at it, then start gigging them directly in the head.

Please note you will need a good gig, and from my experience that simply does not exist. I have bought so many gig heads I cannot count and they have all failed me at some point.( So if you run a gig head making business and are reading this, send me one to review so you can prove me wrong. ). The reason for this is if you gig a frog in the middle of the water they will more often than not get off the gig. So make sure when you gig them, you gig them in such a way that you can then pin them to the bottom of the creek, pond etc. By so doing you will then be able to get to the frog and get it off the gig.

I think I have made it clear that I am not a fan of making animals suffer when hunting, fishing, etc. So when frog gigging if possible, I will immediately cut the legs off of them and discard the upper torso. If in a survival situation I would then save it. For regular eating there is so little meat on the upper torso it is cooks up to literally nothing. However, in a survival situation I would remove the entrails and the skin and eat the rest of the animal since the bony structure has a fair amount of nutrition in it.

Here are a few thoughts on processing and cleaning frogs. Please note that if you have never done this, it is not easy.

I grab the frog by the hind legs and sever the spine on just beyond the pelvic girdle. If you have never done this there will be a small bump just beyond the back legs on the head side of spine. I always use an extremely sharp knife so that this part of the process is as quick and efficient as it possibly can be. When you do this you will have two legs that are still connected.
Once that is done I place the legs in some sort of container. (On survival treks this has sometimes been a cargo pocket on my pants). I will then remove the skin when I have completed the trip.
I grab between the legs with my non-dominant hand and grab the skin with a pair of pliers with my dominant hand. I then pull the skin off with the pliers down to the foot. I then cut the foot off with my knife and discard the skin and feet. (If time allows, I will utilize this portion as turtle bait.)

For eating:

For survival, cook over a fire any way you can get it cooked. Roasted, boiled, on a rock on a stick, etc. Much like fish, make sure it is cooked through and through.
For sustenance and good eating at home: Bread with your favorite breading fry in a skillet, or you can grill them on the grill…they cook up fairly fast.

Craig also has advanced rank in both Judo and Aikido and continues to teach and train after 20+ years of training in each and is also an avid student of all things gun. Forever a student, Craig always attempts to find ways to help others to develop their mindset and critical thinking skills so they can think on their own and for themselves.

Chainsaw safety, Tourniquets, Chaps and Other Important Measures Before Use

Craig Caudill — Tue, 12 May 2015 12:00:20 +0000

I teach survival so I touch upon most of my subject matter from that perspective. However I am also a realist in that I like to teach a number of skills that will KEEP you out of survival situations. I would rather that my students never need the “survival” skills that I teach them but rather just pull out the nature awareness and fun skills and use them daily.

Today is one of those days where we consider some basic pre-emptive “skills” and gear that can keep you out of trouble. I spend a great deal of time in the woods making videos, hunting, nature/wildlife observation and study and also wildlife habitat improvement. I enjoy doing what I can to help others learn more about their surroundings. In that regard I spend a fair amount of time clearing remote trails with a chainsaw. Since I am not part of a particular volunteer group or organization, I often do this alone. Probably not the greatest of things to do, but it is simply the way it must be for certain work to get done.

There are certain things that I do, and certain things I take with me (on a hot day particularly) that help me from getting in trouble from both the chainsaw, or heat related illness (HRI).

Here are the things I do:

Tell my spouse where I am going and when I expect to return. If I do not return, she then knows to send someone for me.
Check for cell service along the way. In this manner, I know whether I can call for my own help.
Know directions (including my cardinal directions) of my location.
I use a chainsaw wisely and do not take undue risks (cutting over my head, allowing logs to roll or fall on me)
Before I even start I have plenty of water in my belly (a SF SERE instructor told me once that the best place to store water before an operation was in your belly, I apply that to my work as well)
I leave sign along the trails that I am walking so SAR trackers have easier time finding me.

Here are the things I take with me:

Chainsaw chaps. If you are not familiar with these, they stop chainsaws blades upon contact so they do not cut through your legs
Sturdy boots with good tread.
A SHARP chainsaw. Chainsaws are like knives..the most dangerous ones are the dull ones, because they make you use them improperly.
Water..I carry water with me throughout the day, so I can continue to hydrate.
Inividual First Aid Kit (IFAK), I carry a few things in mine. In this video I discuss the things I carry that pertain to use of a chainsaw.
Safety glasses
Survival Kit (you never know)…which brings up a good point. How cool would it be to find yourself lost and have a chainsaw with you?…LOL.

Check out this video where I discuss these ideas and a few more before heading back out to clear some trails at a local Girl Scout Camp. As always..come on, join in, let’s learn together!

$300+ Survival Gear and Education Giveaway, Knife, Paracord, Sawyer Filter and A Lot More

Craig Caudill — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:12:42 +0000

Who wouldn’t want to win a nice little package of survival gear, a hand made blade, and some solid education to use it all? We teamed up with the several of the guys on the forums at Dan’s Depot to put together a nice little survival package..however there is a twist to get in on the giveaway. First off, here is the list of gear in the giveaway:

Handmade knife by a military veteran
Condor EMT Pouch
SOL Bivvy Blanket (2 person)
Mylar emergency blanket
Sawyer Mini Filter kit
Jet Scream Whistle
UST Starflash signal mirror
UST Marine EGear Splash Flash strobe light
firesteel and striker
10 feet jute twine
100 feet paracord
10 LifeBoat Matches
Disposable Scalpel
2 chem light sticks
couple pieces of bicycle inner tube
ResQme Device
One Year membership to Nature Reliance School Online

Now here is the twist to get in on this giveaway..We have a contest running to see who wins it and all the details for it can be found on the forums at this link: http://www.dansdepot.com/forum/threads/independence-day-rescue-me-give-away.4277/

I also made a video on some of the detail which can be found here, which also contains some more info about this new bright red shirt I am wearing, which you will be seeing more of.

So many in the survival community, particularly the keyboard commandos, are about simply getting your “like”, “share”, “subscription” and similar. We sincerely want to help equip you with both good gear and with good education. Our giveaways try to combine both whenever we can. As always come on, join in, let’s learn together!

Independence Day “Rescue Me” Give Away

regulator5 — Mon, 04 May 2015 00:14:43 +0000

We are pleased to nnounce the opening of the give away contest for a “Rescue Me” module on Dan’s Depot Forums.

Follow the link for entry criteria. We look forward to everyone’s entry and wish all good luck and Godspeed.

http://www.dansdepot.com/forum/threads/independence-day-rescue-me-give-away.4277/

Edible and Medicinal Plants for beginners – How to get started

Craig Caudill — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 12:31:45 +0000

Wouldn’t you like to be able to find nutritious, tasty, and healthy food for free most anywhere? I thought so

In this video I get to take a walk with my most favorite person in the whole world, my wonderful and beautiful wife Jennifer. In the last few months she has started going out with me to help make our videos. She is like most people in that she does not enjoy being on the front side of the camera, but I talked here into it on this particular day because she is the “eatin’ weeds” expert around our house. Spring time is the best time for edible plants as they are simply more abundant in our neck of the woods compared to the rest of the year.

In this video Jennifer is going to tell us what references she uses for getting started in studying edible plants (you can find links below the video as well) , as well as she sits down and finds 4-5 and shows them to us. We hope this encourages you to get out on your own, or with your family and find some weeds to eat!

Come on, join in, let’s learn together!

Here are the books she recommended:

Steve Brill’s Book:
http://amzn.to/1DEIO4r
Peterson Guide:
http://amzn.to/1JMlgOI
Elpel’s Book:
http://amzn.to/1P02O6Q

5 Tips To Avoid Ticks

Craig Caudill — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:43:11 +0000

It is certainly that time of year again. Nature Reliance School instructor Tracy Trimble was the first of our bunch to get ticks on him this year, over two weeks ago. I got my first one on me this past Friday. If you are spending more time outside with the warmer weather, you need to start taking precautions to avoid them.

I wanted to dwindle some of my experience down into some easy to digest pieces of advice. Everyone in my family contracted Lyme disease several years ago during a day hike into an area that was evidently infested with them. Each of us ended up with well over one hundred tiny, embedded ticks that needed to be removed. Nevertheless, I have studied and learned a lot from that experience.

#1 – This is the most important. Avoid areas that are highly likely to contain ticks, this particularly means areas with thick vegetation. Ticks hang out on vegetation, particular that which is above the ankle waiting on someone or something to come by where they then hitch a ride. If you can avoid these areas then please do.

#2 – Where light colored clothing if at all possible when visiting the outdoors. Colors do not necessarily attract or repel ticks, but they do make it much easier to see and then get them off of you.

#3 – Wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Here is the deal, your first thought is “I will be too hot”. Nonsense, soak your shirt with water and let it assist in cooling you. Longer shirts and pants help to keep the ticks off of your skin and entry points that make it easier for you to see them.

#4 – Wear a hat that. It is too easy for these little guys to get in your hair and hide. Check yourself regularly for these guys…this includes stopping during hikes to look for them. They like to hide around your waistline, in your hair, and around your armpits.

#5 – Spray your clothes and shoes before you go out in permethrin. DO NOT USE IT ON YOUR SKIN. If you want to double up on it all then use some spray made for human use such as DEET. Both of these chemicals are dangerous if not used according to the instructions.

I certainly hope that helps. In this videos, I go into some discussion I had with an entomologist about ticks as well as discuss permethrin use. We have A LOT of experience in the woods and have made some mistakes and learned from them…I hope it serves to help you not make the same mistakes!

You can order the same exact stuff we use with great success right here: Sawyer Permethrin,

Come on join in, let’s learn together!

ResQMe Device Review and Giveaway

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 11:17:44 +0000

We did a blog piece earlier in the week in which we reviewed a simple device that will help extricate yourself from a vehicle. The thought is you may have been in a wreck and found yourself unable to open the door, whether it be because the door is jammed or maybe even in water. Water pressure on the side of a car door makes it near impossible to open in such a situation.

Our other thought is for use during active shooter situations. If you are in a building this small device might be the way in which you leave the situation. One simple click with this device on a window and you then have an exit strategy from a window you may not have had without it.

With all that said we had such a positive response from the blog that I thought we would just order one and give it away this week.

Here again is the video, here is all you need to do to get in the running to win it: Share this video on social media and tag Nature Reliance School. If you do not have social media, then simply comment below what your favorite video is on the Dan’s Depot Youtube channel is.

If you do not want to wait you can order your own right here: http://amzn.to/1Di1Or

You will also find the video from earlier in the week below.

Come on, join in, let’s learn together!

Craig Caudill is the Founder and Chief Instructor of Nature Reliance School. He specializes in wilderness and urban survival, land navigation, scout/tracking and defensive tactics training for private, public and government agencies. Craig is a frequent survival and preparedness contributor to TV outlets, blog sites, magazines and is a popular online outdoor educator on YouTube via Nature Reliance and Dan’s Depot channels. He also has a worldwide network of students and followers who are part of Nature Reliance School Online suite of courses covering all facets of self-reliance.
Craig also has advanced rank in both Judo and Aikido and continues to teach and train after 20+ years of training in each and is also an avid student of all things gun. Forever a student, Craig always attempts to find ways to help others to develop their mindset and critical thinking skills so they can think on their own and for themselves.