When it comes to preparedness in my home, I work diligently to make sure that it flows with the normalcy of our routine as much as possible. Rather than viewing preparedness as a staunch concept that runs perpendicular to who we are, it is a parallel ...
How to Avoid Getting Lost in The Woods
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 ...
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 ...
These Brits Debunk the Deadly M1 Garand ‘Ping’ Myth
The beloved M1 Garand Rifle carried the deadly end of American foreign policy from U.S. shores into Europe and the Pacific in World War II and into the forests of Korea the following decade. But the iconic rifle is typically discussed ...
How Cherokee Actor Wes Studi Taps Vietnam Experience for Performances
Magua simultaneously draws his tomahawk and dagger with the ease of movements practiced a thousand times. Unlike most depictions of Native Americans, the Huron warrior isn’t adorned in a feather headdress or riding a painted stallion across the Great ...
This Is What a Silencer for Howitzers Looks Like
For those moments when you absolutely, positively have to train your artillery but you don’t want to wake the local population, accept no substitutes. Yes, artillery silencers are a thing. These photos were taken at an artillery range in ...
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 ...
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, ...
Virtual Reality YouTube Series Puts Viewers in Civil War Trenches
A 2015 survey from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that half of all Americans are unaware of when the Civil War took place. In an innovative effort to educate Americans and promote deeper understanding of that ...
These New Year’s Resolutions Will Make You A Better Hunter
We asked friends of FRA if they had any New Year’s resolutions for hunting — it came as no surprise, a lot of them did. Whether stalking elk in the mountains, waiting out whitetail in a tree, or calling at cupped mallards in a beaver swamp, so much ...
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 ...
$2.5K Knives and Cougar Sausages: Meet Master Bladesmith Josh Smith
Josh Smith held a long blade in his hand. Maybe 18 inches long, it was still black and ragged from the forge, but he had a point he wanted to make. He held it up, so that the group of close to 20 in his shop could get a good look. All were ...
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 ...
Peters Paper Shotshells are Back! Remington Reintroduces the Legend
The legend returns! Remington has re-introduced the Peters Paper line of shotshells. As part of Remington’s revitalization under Vista Outdoors, the legendary line of shotgun shells is making its return. What Makes these Shells ...
How the American Civil War Changed Santa Claus
Ask any kindergartener what Santa looks like, and they’ll probably tell you he has a red suit, a big, round belly and a long, white beard. The classic Christmas song “Must Be Santa,” written in 1960 by Mitch Miller, describes him in even greater ...
How a Depleted Utah Silver Mine Almost Started a War With England
Local rumor has it that the Emma Silver Mine in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon almost started a war with England in the 1870s. Located near the Alta Ski Area (of 2002 Winter Olympics fame), the Emma Mine consists of a large tunnel bored ...
The Sharks Took the Rest: WWII Marine Tells True Horror Story from ‘Jaws’
“Eleven-hundred men went into the water; 316 men came out. The sharks took the rest.” Robert Shaw utters that line toward the end of his haunting monologue — one of the best movie moments of the last 50 years — in Steven Spielberg’s ...
Dead Silent: How To Hunt Quiet Elk
Whenever we think of elk hunting during the rut, we think of monstrous, screaming bulls, bugling and chuckling as they canter after cows and chase off all challengers to their reign as kings of the mountain. We fantasize about calling them in, ...
Hunt for Bighorn Sheep Triggers Steep Federal Fine
A New Mexico guide who could’ve paid a $530 citation for leading a hunt for bighorn sheep in the Carson National Forest took his case to court and ended up with a $7,600 fine and 18 months of federal probation. A federal judge in Albuquerque ...
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, ...
Here Kitty Kitty: The Delicious Ins and Outs of Mountain Lion Hunting
“Do you want a pulled pork sandwich?” I was sitting in a kitchen waiting for a girl to get ready to go to dinner with me and had mentioned that I was starving, so her roommate asked me the question. I looked at the guy with the questioning look I’d ...
Mount Up: The American Range Wars Of The Wild West
The Wild West of lore ended a little after the turn of the 19th century, but it didn’t go down without a fight. As civilization made its final push into the West, farmers and ranchers had a war over whether the region would be open range or ...
Cold Sharp Steel – A Guide To Putting A Razor Edge On Your Knife
The cliché exists because it is true. A dull knife is a dangerous knife. When our trusty blade doesn’t have the edge, it once did, we tend to force the cut a bit more. Or we simply reduce ourselves to sawing whatever it is we are trying to ...
International Ass Kicking: Combat Sports By Country
There are a few things all cultures have in common: language, some type of bread, religion and fighting. Weapons made unarmed combat obsolete as a means of defending or expanding civilization long ago, but hand-to-hand fighting remains a celebrated ...
Too Efficient at Killing? Here Are the Top 5 Combat Shotguns
Americans began fielding shotguns on the battlefield during the final stretch of World War I and with great effect. German soldiers, who had regularly utilized chlorine gas on their enemies, found the wounds left by the weapons to be egregious and ...
Why Germany Wanted to Ban America’s Trench Shotgun During WWI
By the end of World War I, the Winchester model 1897 pump-action shotgun had gained a nasty reputation across no man’s land on the Western Front. Despite the emergence of numerous novel weapons technologies, including mechanized armor, ...
Who Is the Best James Bond? All Six 007 Actors Ranked
In 1953, British intelligence officer and author Ian Fleming created one of the most recognizable characters of all time: James Bond. The fictional secret agent has been fighting for queen and country since first appearing in Fleming’s ...
The Real Spooky Stories Behind 3 Iconic Stephen King Novels
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy through these links. Master of horror Stephen King has collected interesting anecdotes and real-life characters since before he was a teenage gravedigger, saving them to weave ...
