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Arctic Adventure Gear: The Equipment That Got Jim Baird Across The Frozen North

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:21:44 -0400

This is the gear Jim Baird used to trek 555 miles by snowmobile over the frozen Arctic.

Jim Baird’s Arctic Adventure: How to Get Your Snow Machine Unstuck

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:50:47 -0400

Before we left the tree line, Ted and I experienced very deep-powder snow in the bush around Great Bear Lake. We were not used to riding snowmobiles in that type of powder and got stuck badly a few times—luckily we knew how to get ourselves free.

How It’s Done: Getting stuck in deep snow happens when you cannot keep the machine level while moving. It’s very important to center your weight and turn by shifting your weight from side to side. You also get stuck when you don’t go fast enough through the powder, which causes your skis to sink in deep and the front of the machine to bottom out. After that happens the snow doesn’t provide enough grip for your track to push your front end through the jam. Your track will just kick all the powder out from underneath it, and your machine just sinks deeper. Reversing is futile at this point as well.

Jim Baird’s Arctic Adventure: Why I Did The Trip

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:45:41 -0400

Why did I do this trip? That’s a question that I don’t actually have a solid answer for. There are several reasons, but I always find myself sputtering when asked. I know that sounds a little odd. I traveled 755 miles through the frozen Arctic by snowmobile while camping out in sub-zero temperatures with polar bears, dangerous ice conditions, and blizzards all constantly looming, and I can’t think of a solid reason why.

George Mallory said it beautifully when he was asked: “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” His reply: “Because it’s there.” Mallory died attempting to climb the mountain. I am not a mountain climber and I can’t relate to his fate. It does remind me to stay safe. I can relate to his answer, though, and I’m going to roll with it.

Speed Splitting: Can You Dismantle a Log this Fast?

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:04:01 -0400

--Dave Maccar

Do pride yourself on your timbercraft skills and your aptitude with an axe? Maybe you do...but can you split wood as fast as the guy in the video below?

It’s a heck of a technique and doesn’t require any more than a fairly short length of chain, a small, sturdy rubber belt, a fastener and a hefty-headed maul. Has anyone ever tried this or seen it done before? Thanks to Sports Illustrated, who turned us on to this clip.

After you check out the vid, click here and test the rest of you timbercraft knowledge with our “Could You Chop Down a Tree With An Axe?” quiz and see how you stack up against other F&S readers.

Jim Baird’s Arctic Adventure: Reflections From Back Home

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:09:47 -0400

Now that Jim Baird is back from his two-week-long Arctic adventure, we thought we’d catch up with him to talk about the highs and lows of his trip and hear about how it feels to be back home.

F&S: What’s been the toughest part as far as readjusting back to “normal” life?
Jim Baird: Seeing so many people around me. I felt a little claustrophobic at first. Also, it’s a different mindset when you only have to focus on regular daily activities—and not on your survival. This makes you feel complacent to things that may have seemed stressful before. That’s a good thing.

F&S: Ten years from now, what memory of the trip do you think will stand out as the best?
JB: When I was driving on the smooth ice of the Amundsen Gulf in awe of the scenery and I first got the feeling that we were going to make it. Sometimes it’s the scary memories that stick with us. This way we learn from them and are safer next time. It’s a survival instinct. In the future a dangerous moment from the trip may end up being the “best” memory because it could end up saving my life. It is also often an exhilarating feeling to have survived something dangerous. I learned from being chilled to the bone as the sun rose over Prince Albert Sound. I learned from realizing there was only an inch of ice under my feet at a pressure ridge on Great Bear Lake. I definitely learned from coming close to driving off a canyon wall as we traveled in the dark. I will remember these things as part of the adventure and cherish them—but at the same time remember not to let them happen again.

Jim Baird's Arctic Adventure Diary: Ulukhaktok or Bust!

Online Editors — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:40:43 -0400

The adventure has begun! Well, kind of…

My brother Ted and I are stuck in Deline.

First, we were waiting on the auger to arrive. When that got here, we thought we’d be ready to hit Great Bear Lake, but then we had a slight glitch with one of our snow machines during the first leg of the trip. Now we’re just waiting for the mechanic to make the repair and then, fingers crossed, we’ll be on our way.

This delayed start gives me a chance to show you the route Ted and I will be taking. We’ll travel across a few different landscapes: spruce forests, massive Great Bear Lake, mountainous northern shield country, treeless barren lands, and the frozen Beaufort Sea ice finishing the trip in the stark but beautiful landscape of the Arctic Islands.

Here’s a breakdown of our trip, stop by stop:

Make a Log from a Newspaper + 57 More Hunting, Fishing and Camping Tips from the Readers of Field & Stream

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:39:38 -0500

Here are the best Reader Tips from 2009 to the present.

Gerber's Bear Grylls Ultimate Knife: Starting a Fire In the Snow

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:00:52 -0500

by Chad Love

I've previously mentioned my eldest son's interest in television survival personalities so when Gerber announced the introduction of its Bear Grylls Ultimate Knife (David Maccar's excellent review is here) I figured it would be a slam-dunk of a birthday present.

It was. My son has been gleefully chopping, cutting, batoning, beating, slicing, hammering, spearing, whittling and carving with the thing for the past two months. And while I prefer a more traditional bushcraft blade, he loves it. When he goes outside it's almost always on his belt or in his pack. And yes, I let my 10-year-old son son run around the woods with a sheath knife.

Make a Tic Tac Box Bait Dispenser + 44 More Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Tips from the Readers of Field & Stream

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:19:38 -0500

Here are the best Reader Tips from 2009 to the present.

Survival: How To Make A Coal Bed

Online Editors — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:45:17 -0500

Our survival expert learns a valuable lesson by spending a night in the woods with a former survival school instructor

Build A Bad-Weather Fire

Online Editors — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:24:25 -0500

How to make a survival fire when you need it most

Montana Hunter Lost for Two Weeks Found Alive in Big Horn Mountains

Online Editors — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:23:04 -0500

From the Billings Gazette:
Lost in the Big Horn Mountains, presumed dead by family and friends and hallucinating because of too much wind and too little food, Travis McMahan, stumbling up a creek, found a dead fish.

“It looked all rotten,” he said. . . . “I cut its head off and skinned its back,” he said of the fish. “And there was good meat in there, so I ate it.”

Strike Anywhere: The Best Matches for Survival Situations

Online Editors — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:47:51 -0500

Keith McCafferty says strike anywhere matches are still the best for survival situations, despite the fact that they're not as good as they used to be.

Merwin: Avoid Hypothermia With a Mustang Survival Jacket

Online Editors — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:07:42 -0400

Staying alive. Personal safety is high on my fall fishing list. The water temperature this morning on one of the big lakes I often fish is 51 degrees. Normally dressed, if I fall out of the boat there’s a good chance of death by hypothermia.

Discussion Topic: Emergency Beacons and “Yuppie 911”

Online Editors — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:58:22 -0400

What would it take for you to summon Search and Rescue? Lost for a day? Mauled by a bear? Fell out of your treestand? How about, tasted some salty water?

Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Tips from the Readers of Field & Stream

colinkearns — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:47:49 -0400

Here they are: the 34 best Reader Tips from the past two years.

Build A Survival Fire With Condoms and Underwear

Joe_Cermele — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:58:22 -0400

The author tests readers’ fire-starting and tinder tips and picks the winners.

The Condom Survival Fire

Joe_Cermele — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:25:06 -0400

In the September 2009 issue of Field & Stream, Keith McCafferty tested reader-submitted fire-starting tips for the survival column "Hot Stuff." One of those submitted tricks was starting a fire with a condom filled with water, using it to create a lens and concentrate sunlight. Though McCafferty had trouble getting it to work, this video proves it's possible. Note: F&S did not produce this video, nor is the gentleman featured in it a survival expert.

Discussion Topic: On Hunting Pythons in Florida

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:33:20 -0400

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s request for a massive hunt of an estimated 100,000 pythons roaming the Everglades in Florida has been approved by Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist.

Crist has asked wildlife officials to start trapping pythons immediately. This comes a couple of weeks after a 2-year-old girl was strangled by a pet Burmese python in central Florida.

Gear Review: Coleman LED Quad Lantern

JayCassell — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:41:38 -0400

I probably own about half a dozen Coleman lanterns – a couple of propane and duel-fuel lights, but mostly those that run on Coleman fuel. My favorite is a lantern that my father used to have back in the 1950s. It’s in mint condition and it still works perfectly (though I had to replace the generator and O rings a couple of years ago).

Chad Love: Locked & Loaded in Parkland

Joe_Cermele — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:28:51 -0400

There's already been a boatload of bloviation expressed on the recent reversal of the ban on loaded firearms in our national parks, some of it sensible but most of it (predictably) bordering on hysterics.

This column from the Huffington Post is a perfect example:

"In fact, the new rule is likely to make national park visitors less safe around wildlife. Packing heat could give some people a false sense of security and make them more likely to approach bison, elk, moose, and grizzly bears, rather than keep a safe distance which is better for both people and animals."

But the most certain outcome of this congressional action is that it will promote poaching. The National Park Service warned in its fiscal 2006 budget submission each year for the past several years ... The data suggests that there is a significant domestic as well as international trade for illegally taken plant and animal parts." Poaching, the agency said, "is suspected to be a factor in the decline of at least 29 species of wildlife and could cause the extirpation of 19 species from the parks."

Discussion Topic: Field & Stream Wins ASME’s Highest Honor

Joe_Cermele — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:32:04 -0400

F&S is the best magazine of its size on the planet. Okay, I’m a little biased on that point--but it’s not just me who thinks so. Last night, the country’s top magazine editors representing the country’s top magazines met at New York City’s Lincoln Center for the 44th Annual National Magazine Awards. Known as Ellies, these are basically the Oscars of the magazine industry, and “General Excellence” is “Best Picture.”

Start a Survival Fire With a Bullet

colinkearns — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:33:01 -0400

When the ground is wet, use gunpowder to start a survival fire.

Be Careful When Building a Summer Campfire

Online Editors — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:40:12 -0500

August is fire season, and under these conditions, the safest campfire is none at all. If you do build a fire (check regulations first), choose your design with safety as a priority. Building a fire on rich, dark organic soils can be dangerous—underground roots can spark up hours later in dry weather. Be sure to wait until morning to fill the pit with the removed soil. This is a good setup for camp cooking. It's not an efficient warming fire, but in August that's probably not your concern.

How it's done

Fire On The Water

Online Editors — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:29:42 -0500

Three of us—my buddies Chuck Hyatt and Tom Greenup and myself—were fishing the Roaring Fork River last April. In the morning we saw smoke way off in the distance. It was blowing away from us, and we knew that ranchers performed controlled burns, so we kept fishing. The wind was howling, and at noon the smoke had grown to an acre-size cloud and changed directions. The more we watched it, the bigger and closer it got. We started to leave, but the sky quickly changed from blue to white as the smoke thickened and blew over us.