Back from a brief winter hiatus Sean and Kevin are back to review the results from the last episode, building an outdoor shelter. Discussing some of the mistakes Kevin made vs the successes on Sean's shelter and what they learned over all in the process. After getting hands on building the shelters the guys look at how they can improve on this outdoor skill and be more effective on future shelters. 

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No outdoor skill set would be complete without knowing how to build yourself a shelter. In today's episode Sean & Kevin look at learning more on this particular outdoor skill.  A skill that could come in handy in a variety of situation. Looking at quick emergency shelters; both putting a shelter together with supplies they have prepared ahead of time in their outdoor bag, as well as building a shelter with limited resources. Some other topics include short term vs long term shelters, shelter locations and weather conditions. As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCly7uOmUbLEMUQu3hJe0vsQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suburbanoutdoorsman/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suburban_outdoorsman/ Twiter: https://twitter.com/SbrbnOutdrsman

Following up from the last episode, Kevin & Sean review the making of their testing videos for this special outdoor skill.  Specifically looking at making a water filter from your empty water bottle and testing out a survival filtering straw.  Again looking at the importance of both filtering and purifying, making an emergency water filter from an old water bottle is an important step. While you can use boiling water or water purifying tablets to "clean" the water of bacteria or viruses, you are still going to want to clear out the debris and sentiments.  This is why making a filter can be so critical if you don't have one, so that once you can boil the water or use a water purification tablet you have clean drinking water.  After reviewing the filtration straw,  Sean and Kevin both agree this is along the same lines of having a lighter for fire starting,  this should be your primary go to option for getting clean drinking water. They can be small, light weight and easy to use to cover both water purification and filtration.  As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCly7uOmUbLEMUQu3hJe0vsQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suburbanoutdoorsman/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suburban_outdoorsman/ Twiter: https://twitter.com/SbrbnOutdrsman

When it comes to outdoor skills, water is a big one. We can go upwards of weeks without food but only days without water.  In this episode Kevin and Sean are looking at ways to improve their skills in many areas.  First where to get water from (lakes, streams, spring etc) and then how to clean the water when you find it. Also whats the difference between purifying and filtering, and which is more important.  Listen as Kevin & Sean discuss the topics and plan out what they will be testing and trying out as they look to become self sufficient water locators and cleaners.   As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below:  Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com   Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCly7uOmUbLEMUQu3hJe0vsQ   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suburbanoutdoorsman/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suburban_outdoorsman/   Twiter: https://twitter.com/SbrbnOutdrsman 

Sean and Kevin recap another one of their outdoor skill adventures, trying to build their own Dakota Fire-pits. They each build their own using different tools (Kevin is a bit more limited with just a knife and tomahawk, while Sean used a camp shovel for part of his) to simulate working under various conditions. As part of the recap they discuss some of the pros and cons of both of the pits they dug, and while Sean's came out a bit closer to what the pictures looked like it should have, their were still some pluses to Kevin's. However, the failures on Kevin's still helped with the development in the outdoor skill department in learning things not to do, but also why to not do them. Make sure you go and watch the YouTube video if you have not yet so that you can get the full view on what the guys tested.    As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below:  Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com   Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCly7uOmUbLEMUQu3hJe0vsQ   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suburbanoutdoorsman/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suburban_outdoorsman/   Twiter: https://twitter.com/SbrbnOutdrsman 

Its been a few months since we have started chronicling our our journey to improve our outdoor skills and knowledge an have covered a few different subjects in this time. Today we are looking at how things have changed or adapted for us since we started. 

As an example, looking at the benefits from having an Every Day Carry bag, and looking at the situations we have been able to use the items, or even times we could have and didn't and how that's been in retrospect.  

Also looking at how some of the things we have learned and discussed have affected our outlook overall, and seen an influence in our every day life, but also how it has turned into more things we want to learn and outdoor skills we want to improve on. 

As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: 

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Your Outdoor Skills wouldn't be complete if you didn't know how to cook your food! Today Sean & Kevin look at a couple of different methods of cooking  outdoors.  

First item of discussion; if you know you plan on being out in the woods and will want to be cooking some food up, what sort of items should you have planned ahead of time to be ready.  

Then as a follow up, what happens if you find yourself in more of a survival situation with out your pre-planned cooking items with you?  This is the part Sean is most excited about in today's episode as we spend a bit of a focus talking about the Dakota Fire Pit.  Listen in on the discussion about the theory behind how they work, and how to build them, then keep an eye out for the follow up YouTube video where these theory's are put to the test.  

 

As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: 

Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com  

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What better way to put the outdoor skills you have been learning to the test than a camping trip? 

So this camping trip we did was more of a hanging out at the park and just sleeping in a tent type camping vs the out in woods testing our outdoor skills type camping trip, but it was still a lot of fun, and was great to get the kids outdoors and away from the electronic leashes. 

We look at some of the things that went well, how we could better prepare a little next time and how the overall experience went. 

 

As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: 

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EDC - Every Day Carry.  We all have items we generally carry with us regularly, but are we prepared for many of the situations that could come up on a day to day basis?  Even if not things that happen every single day, things that you could encounter you should be prepared for.  Sean likened this to a diaper bag when you have babies, you carry diaper rash ointment in the diaper bag, not just cause the baby has it that day but because its something you could encounter while you are out and you want to be prepared.  We break down the things we carry on our person every day, in pockets etc. Both Sean and Kevin generally have their wallet, phone, watch and pocket knife/multi tool whenever they leave, but Kevin added in also carrying a lighter and a para-cord bracelet.  What about beyond whats on your person? This is where your EDC bag comes into play. We breakdown and compare what we each carry in our bags and potential uses on some of the items.  While this is not always just an outdoor skill per se, it is an important one to review regularly. The items your do carry with you combined with the other outdoor skills you have learned along the way will go hand in hand if you ever find your self in an emergency or survival situation.      As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below:  Webste: www.suburbanoutdoorsman.com   Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCly7uOmUbLEMUQu3hJe0vsQ   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suburbanoutdoorsman/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suburban_outdoorsman/   Twiter: https://twitter.com/SbrbnOutdrsman 

We are back to follow up on our last episode testing some of the items we discussed for trying to get a fire going. Starting off we make some char cloth, as this seems to be a great medium to use along with other tools to get a fire going.  We look at using some home made items to get a good flame going like cotton balls in vaseline,  dryer lint by itself as well as dryer lint soaked in wax, and steel wool and batteries (we didn't really make either of these at home of course, but they are not a store bought "fire starting" item).  For store bought items we use a magnifying glass, ferrous rod and magnesium as well as of course a standard bic lighter and some storm proof matches just to see how these compare to the non traditional items.  

The testing we did just goes to show how important it is to not only try and learn some of these outdoor skills, but also to put the application of them to the test. Its great to have the "book knowledge" of a variety of outdoor skills but without application or the experience to utilize them efficiently you may find yourself dead in the water.  

 

As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below: 

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Firecraft skills are extremely important for many different scenarios and by many rated at the top of the list of outdoor skills you should master.  We can use fire for heat, both personal warmth as well as heat for cooking, signal fire if stranded, light for around the camp or if traveling at night without a flashlight, safety (warding off unwanted animals from camp) and many other uses. 

Today's focus is primarily on starting the fires, initially on how to generate the spark or heat source needed, and then fuel sources to catch the heat/spark to get the fire going. 

For the initial source we discuss using primary a lighter or matches, which of course are great tools to keep in your bag at all times. (The matches mentioned in the episode I couldn't remember the name of were  Zippo Typhoon Matches). We also discuss flint and steel, magnification sources (lens, balloon, coke can and chocolate), an empty bic lighter, battery and wool and primitive forms like a bow and couple sticks. 

As for the initial fuel source to use to catch the spark we look at charcloth and how to make it, as well as some other home made items like dryer lint and cotton balls with Vaseline and similar type sources. 

In an attempt to apply the application of this important outdoor skill, we will be doing a follow up youtube video demonstrating how to use these techniques and resources for getting a fire started out in the woods or in a survival situation.  After the video we will come back again and discuss our results and over all experience testing these items out. 

As always please give us a rating and leave a comment/feedback as this helps us tremendously as we continue to move forward and look to improve. Also check out the links to our website and other social media outlets below:

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