Canned bacon

[segsarge]

Anyone try it? Used to be a retailer in Canada (forgot their name) that sold cans of bacon. It was packed in paper and grease, kinda messy but it cooked up great and was really good. Haven't seen it for sale in several years. Wondering if it's possible to make it at home, either in jars or vacuum sealer.

[Walleye Joe]

Here ya go Sarge!  <-----<<<   Click the link! 





Buyer’s Guide and How to Make Your Own Canned Bacon

If you have the room or your survival camp is a bunker or otherwise stationary, there's no reason not to keep comfort food like bacon on hand. Electricity isn't guaranteed, and generators eat up precious fuel reserves, so canning your food is the best option for reliable stores. Let's look at the easiest method to can bacon at home and skip the middleman.



making your own bacon

Prepping and Canning the Bacon

Cut two strips of parchment paper into pieces that are about two feet long and a foot tall. Some methods recommend using wax paper or butcher paper, but parchment works better than waxed papers for storing meat in jars. Temperature fluctuations cause the butcher and wax papers to break down or release their coating into the mix. However, butcher or wax paper will work in a pinch.



Place the paper flat on a clean surface and line it with bacon. Keep the bacon pieces close to each other, but don’t pack them on very tight. It’s ok if the edges touch slightly. If the bacon is too thick or lumping together, it won’t cook well, and you run the risk of spoiling the entire jar. Leave an inch on each end of the paper along the long ends. It’s ok if the bacon is about an eighth of an inch taller than the paper.



Once the paper is lined with bacon, place the second piece of parchment paper over the bacon. Carefully fold the bacon and paper in half from top to bottom. Be careful and avoid letting the bacon slide or fold over the bacon next to it while you're folding it up.



If you have a yardstick or straight edge handy, place it across the center of the paper before you try to fold it. It will help hold the bacon in place and ensure you fold the paper correctly.



Remove the yardstick or straight edge, if you used one, and roll the paper and bacon from right to left. Roll the bacon and paper tightly, so it fits into your container. Your goal is getting about a pound of uncooked bacon in each canning jar. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it rolled up and packed into the jar correctly. It won't hurt the bacon to unroll and reroll it a few times.



Clean the rims of the jars and put the lids and bands on them. Pay close attention to the edge of each jar. They must be free of any grease or other contaminants. We mentioned using new jars to can your bacon but inspect the rims for cracks or chips anyway. Don’t add anything to the jars like water or oil before sealing them. The bacon fat will take care of the bacon.



Place the sealed jars in your canner and let it vent for about ten minutes while it heats up. Once the venting is done, your canner is ready to be sealed and left to do its job. Let it all process in the sealed canner for an hour and a half at about 10 PSI. When your ninety minutes are up, carefully vent the canner and remove the lid.



Leave your newly canned bacon on a counter or table to cool. Let them cool and settle for at least twelve hours before you handle them anymore. After the jars cool off, check them for damage and ensure they sealed adequately during processing. If you find any problems, you can change the jar, lids, or bands and reprocess any canned bacon you are worried about or think might be poorly sealed.



You can expect about a year on the shelf for your canned bacon. It will probably last longer, but we recommend rotating canned bacon jars once a year.



Fatty meat doesn't preserve well. If you find yourself eating canned bacon that's more than a year old, you'll get the protein from the bacon, but it's going to taste like bacon flavored lard. Rotating the jars is just a better option in the long run. You get to can more bacon and eat the old bacon, that's a win in our book.



Label each jar with a permanent marker. You’ll know when the bacon was canned, and you won’t accidentally rotate the wrong jars out a year from canning time. When you get ready to eat the bacon, just remove it from the jar and heat it up or fry it.



Like any canned product, pay attention to the seal and the contents of each jar when you open them. Don’t eat it if you have any doubts about the seal or the contents. Suffering through food poisoning is going to complicate any survival situation.

[krank]

My Dad used to buy us a can whenever all us kids went camping. It was made in Poland and looked as good as any bacon. I buy that canned ham at the dollar store for $1.25. Open the can and it is more like bacon crumbles. The can is the size of a tuna can. I fry a dutch oven full of taters and onions and mix in the can of "ham" and crack a few eggs in it when it is almost done. I make that on Sunday morning for the Scouts. Do you know most of them kids don't like onions? I tell them too bad and man up. Maybe the Senior Patrol Leader will punch a hole in their tough $hit card.

[krank]

I don't see myself canning any bacon. Dad bought that canned bacon because it was hot out and he wanted to keep us out of Mom's groceries.
That stuff they sell in the store is immortal in it's package. Last summer Farmland bacon was $1.50 on special so I bought like 40 of them. By deer season I was out and had to go back and buy the same stuff for $5.
If I was suppling a cabin in Alaska then I sure would stock up on canned bacon. I wonder what a freeze would do to it?

[segsarge]

That was kind of my reason for reason for asking. Been looking again into going to Alaska. Not looking real good at this point, wife says "Hell no." But there's still property to be had up there. Always wanted to trap Alaska. A lot of the weather depends on where you are. Was surprised to learn that finding a place to run a line can be tough. Not uncommon for someone to have a 50-60 mile trapline. They might only use it every three years or so, running other lines, then coming back to it. Disputes happen quite a bit.
Being able to preserve food is a must. Having food that's eatable is even more so.

[krank]

Read books about Northern trappers my whole life. Sad to say I am too old to have a medical crisis 300 miles from town.
Get on Trapperman to see what it is like up there these days.
A precious food up there is fat. They say you can starve to death on rabbit or reindeer as they have no fat.
Always wanted to go visit Yote up in Maine. The whole western region of the state is owned by lumber companies. You can wander that land as long as you report what you are doing.
You are required to moniter a CB radio station and if you dont come back as scheduled then a search and rescue team tracks you down. Old Yote used to catch 200 fox a year as well as a couple hundred beaver and boocoo muskrat. Puts Alaska and Missouri to shame.

[segsarge]

Been communicating with some guys on the Alaskan trapper forum. Asked how to get started and got some input from a few people. One guy offered to set me up on a line with a place to live. Didn't get into location or anything. I just can't do it right this moment with my dad still in the hospital. I'm sure there's some compensation that has to go back to the guy, a percentage or something. Nothing is free in this world. Still, it would be a place to start. Different world up there.

[krank]

I know everything is expensive up there. When I was living on the hippy commune in Oregon there were people coming back from there saying they made a lot of money but spent it all on eating and staying warm.

[bigjohn]

A fella that I knew from Alaska told me most folks living there were hiding from someone or something.

[krank]

After I left the commune in Oregon, I wound up in Rock Springs, WY. It was like the Wild West. Everybody was open carry and you didnt ask people any nosey questions. The guy I was working for told me most of his employees are dodging alimony or outstanding warrants. At the time, you could work in Wyoming with nothing but a name(Alias). SS# was not required.

[segsarge]

Don't matter much to me. Just looking for someplace that I can walk out the door and hunt/trap, not driving an hour only to be surrounded by cidiots. Gun laws up there are pretty easy. Trapping/hunting regulations vary by where you're at. Weather can be brutal. Staying warm thru the winters is essential and you have to eat. The megamart isn't a 10 minute drive. Remote is sounding better all the time. Being physically able to handle it is a question for me though.

[krank]

I posted an article years ago about a 18 year old kid inheriting his Grandpas trapping cabin in Alaska. It was a constant battle doing chores and little sleep.

Sarge just get rid of your POS neighbors and you can trap right out your door and everybody will leave you alone. I stay busy hunting and trapping and fishing within walking distance of the house but town is 15 miles away.

[krank]

An excellent read if I must say so myself......

Letter Re: Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper

Posted By James Wesley Rawles On September 22, 2009 @ 7:58 pm


James,
Going through some old gear last month, I found my food supply lists and notes from 1976-79. I thought the old list might be of interest and the lessons I learned during the first three years in the remote Alaska bush may be helpful to a few of your readers. I do not recommend Alaska for a TEOTWAWKI [1] retreat but the lessons I learned the hard way may be helpful to any one in a cold climate.

I grew up in California listing to stories from my grandfather about Alaska and the Yukon. When I graduated from high school my grandfather gave me his remote trapping cabin in Alaska. At 18 I had a lot to learn and discovered many things the hard way. I was lucky to survive the first year.

When I got to Alaska I met my Grandfather’s old trapping partner. He told me that the cabin was fully stocked with everything including food. Enough food and supplies for at least one winter. When I started asking him questions on how to trap he told me “sonny I have not got the time to teach you and since you don’t have to build the cabin you will have time to figure it out. He added half under his breath” providing you do not fall through the ice or freeze to death. He also said something to the effect that if he had not owed my grandfather a favor he would never give his ½ of the cabin to a long haired hippy kid from California. I had to promise the old Sourdough that I would have all of his traps flown back to town at the end of the trapping season or buy the traps from him.

My first winter was a disaster.

Before this the longest I had been in the wilderness was a 23 day Outward Bound survival class that I attended the year before and I had never spent a winter in a cold environment.

To get to the trapping cabin it was at least a two week walk from the end of closest dirt road or a 1:20 hour flight in a bush plane. The cheapest way to fly to the cabin was in a Piper PA-18 Super Cub on tundra tires. The pilot told me he could carry 1 passenger and 200 lbs of supplies or a total of 400 pounds of supplies and no passenger.

When the pilot dropped me off he told me “If I am in the area I will check on you” He did not have any charters that way so he did not check on me that winter.

I got out of the plane with a full back pack of gear, a duffel bag of supplies and a 30-06 rifle. I had to walk a few miles to the cabin. I left the duffel bag in a tree to retrieve later. With a full back pack and my rifle I walked as fast as I could to the cabin. I was excited to see “My cabin” at last. What a shock I had when I saw the cabin! The old Trapper had lived many winters in the cabin and told me it was built strong. What I found was a small log shack with a dirt floor and sod roof. In the cabin a wood stove, a hand built bed frame and table. A old bed mattress suspended by wire from the rafters. There were traps, snow shoes, ax, bow saw, one man cross cut saw, files, a lantern and the other basics that are needed to survive the Alaska winter as a trapper. The trapper had not been to the cabin for four years. At least 60% of the food supply that I was counting on had been eaten by rodents or had spoiled.

First lesson learned! If you count on food to be there when you need it, You better have had your food stored in a very secure way or you may go hungry. Theft is also something to be considered in today’s society and in TEOTWAWKI losing your food cache would be disastrous

Most people think it must have been boring spending 4 ½ months alone in a cabin. The reality is I was too busy just trying to cut enough wood to stay warm and skin the marten, fox or wolf that I trapped or shot. I was cold, hungry and exhausted most of the time. I never had the time to get board. Being a green horn at trapping I only averaged 1 animal a week and it was usually shot instead of trapped.

The first winter at the cabin.

As soon as I walked into the cabin I I knew I was in trouble. I did not have the 4-to-5 month supply of food I needed. I had a topo map of the trapping area only but did not have the maps to get me back to the road or town, Second lesson! Make your Egress plans ahead of time and have at least 2 good contingency plans.

Thankfully in the cabin there were two steel drums with snap ring lids that were full of dry goods and on the shelves were some cans of dried goods that were also still good. The following list is what was still edible in the cabin as best as I can remember
•50 lbs Bisquick
•50 lbs Beans
•25 lbs Rice
•10 Lbs Lentils
•20 lbs Oatmeal
•10 lbs Coffee
•2 lbs black pepper
•10 lbs Crisco
•4 lbs Honey
•25 lbs salt

The supplies along with a young moose I shot did keep me alive but it was no fun. I had youth and enthusiasm on my side and knew the situation was temporary. I decided to just make it a challenge and kind of live some of my grandfather’s stories first hand for myself. I had in my pack 1 roll of toilet paper but there was none at the cabin

Third Lesson! Birch bark, snow or small pine cones work but make a very poor substitute for toilet paper. I also learned later that winter that at -40 your butt will freeze to a wood toilet seat in the outhouse. Make a toilet seat for the outhouse out of hard blue Styrofoam for winter will make using the outhouse less of a pain in the butt.

As fall quickly turned to winter the lake next to the cabin froze and the temp continued to drop. The high quality mountaineering boots I had used in the high Sierra mountains of California and Nevada were not anywhere near warm enough and did not have removable liners so the boots were hard to dry.

Forth lesson Pac boots with 2 sets of liners or bunny boots are must have items for cold environments.

Many times during the winter I could have shot Grouse or Ptarmigan If I had a 22 pistol. That would have added much wanted variety to the menu. The other problem I learned is if you get a wolf or wolverine in one of your traps a 30-06 blows too big a hole in the hide and destroys most of the value of the fur.

Fifth Lesson! a .22 rifle or pistol is a must have item.

After 2 months my clothes were in bad shape. Most Light weight high tech clothing used for backpacking or mountaineering is not designed for day to day hard use and does not hold up to rigors outdoor work for the long haul. High quality wool clothing does a lot better over the long haul and is not susceptible to melting next to a fire like nylon is. Yes wool is heavy and takes longer to dry but in my opinion for working in the woods wool is the way to go.

Sixth lesson ! clothing made for loggers, Surveyors and commercial fisherman may be heavy but it last a lot better than sporting gear. Filson is the best.

My diet was boring and I was always hungry after two months. I started getting sick and my teeth seemed to be getting loose. It finally dawned on me that I had no intake of Vitamin C. I may have had Scurvy. Remembering something I learned from my grandfather I started eating rose hips that were dried and still hanging on a few bushes near the cabin. Thankfully we did not have deep snows that year so I could find a few rose hips. I was lucky! Seventh Lesson! make sure you have a source of Vitamin C.

Every time I took my rifle inside the warm cabin it would condensate and the rifle would get wet.

Eighth Lesson If you bring a rifle into a warm cabin from a below freezing environment it will condensate, this promotes corrosion in addition the moisture in the bolt may be frozen the next time you are outside in the cold. If you do bring a weapon in from the cold strip it down, dry it and clean it. I left my rifle outside next to the door for most of the winter and only brought it in to clean. This would not work in a TEOTWAWKI so other tactics will have to be developed.

One morning there was a small earth quake that got me to thinking of my family and the outside world. Started felling very alone. Starting thinking what if the Russians had dropped “the bomb” I would not know it.

Lesson #9! Being able to at least hear what is going on in the outside world helps your mental attitude a lot. A radio to listen to the news was smoothing I longed for.

Snow shoes are easy to use and most anyone will figure them out quickly. When you are working on snow shoes you will fall now and then. Lesson # 10 tape the muzzle of your rifle to keep snow out of the barrel when you take the invariable header into the snow. I use electrical tape or put a condom over the muzzle of all my rifles in the field to keep everything out of the barrel. It will not affect accuracy unless you are shooting over 300 yards.

The winter was full of hardship and big education. I did enjoy it but given a choice I would not want to repeat that Winter. In the spring I sold my furs in Anchorage. The fur buyer could tell I had never trapped before as the way I had prepared the pelts was poor at best. I got .20 cents on the dollar for my pelts and I think that was generous on the part of the fur buyer. 4-½ months of hard work and after paying the bush pilot along with the money I still owed the trapper I would have less than $100. The trapper met me at the fur buyer after paying him for his traps he was now very friendly and asked me many questions. He encouraged me to go back for at least one more winter. He told me to go get a bath and haircut and meet him at the White Spot cafe down the street in downtown Anchorage and he would buy me a good meal. While eating he handed me a the following list
•90 lbs bisquick
•50 lbs Beans
•50 lbs Rice
•25 lbs Salt
•25 lbs Lentils
•20 lbs oatmeal
•10 lbs Sugar
•10 lbs lard
•10 lbs powdered milk
•10 lbs split peas
•10 lbs Tang [freeze-dried orange juice powder]
•10 lbs coffee
•10 lbs noodles
•1 case tomato paste
•5 lbs strawberry Jam
•4 lbs honey
•2 lbs pepper
•5 gal White gasoline
•4 large boxes wood matches
•24 large Plumber’s Candles
•8 rolls toilet paper
•6 lantern mantels
•7 Lbs Trapping wire
•Gun oil
•Trapping lures and scents

This was the list of supplies that the trapper had the pilot bring to the cabin each spring when the plane came to pick him up. This filled what would have otherwise been an empty plane. In early April the lake next to the cabin was still frozen so the plane would land on skis and taxi next to the cabin. The pilot and trapper would put the supplies into the cabin then the pilot flew the trapper back to town.

The Trapper then informed me that he had purchased the supplies for me and was having them flown to the cabin along with 2 more steel drums to safely store the supplies in.

The “Rifle and a Backpack” Myth

I often get a chuckle from people that think they can fill a back pack and head into the woods and survive long term with what is in a back pack. Until recently I spent most of my life guiding in Alaska and in Africa. I spent an average 110 days a year living out of a back pack under a tarp or in a pup tent, and another 180 days each year living in a remote cabins without electricity or running water.

In an uninhabited game rich environment with a rifle and only a back pack of gear I could survive for a period of time. How long could I survive? I do not know as there are too many variables.

What I do know is in the case of TEOTWAWKI where many people would be fleeing the cities and overcrowding the wild places looking for food I could not survive trying to live off the land with only a back pack full of gear. There will simply not be the recourses available. If a skilled person had no ethics they could take to stealing, looting, probably murder/cannibalism they might make it long term starting with only a back pack full of gear. For me and my family I believe in preparing now and stocking up while food and supplies are available and reasonably priced.

In the early 1980s I bought a lot of my supplies from a sporting goods/gun store in Anchorage. The store maintained an excellent inventory for hunters, trappers or survivalists. The store manager could talk the talk on both survival and hunting. One fall he hired me to take him on a 14-day bow hunting trip into the Alaska bush and film the adventure. He also hired a young guy that had just moved to Alaska from Georgia to help carry camera gear. I was concerned regarding the greenhorn from Georgia and even more concerned when I saw his marginal gear. The Georgia greenhorn however did fine and was a huge help on the trip. The trip however was a complete failure. The store manager had every neat gadget I had ever seen and many that I had never heard of. His pack was too full to carry any of the food or camera gear. He was out of shape and his pack was also too heavy for him to comfortably carry. After the float plane dropped us off on a high mountain lake we planned to walk for a week to my cabin hunting Dall Sheep on the way. Then at the Cabin we planned to hunt Moose and Grizzly. During the first 2 days the store manager left a lot of gadgets and some much needed gear on the trail to lighten his pack. I was stunned as I thought this guy knew his stuff but he was totally bewildered on how to apply his knowledge or gear in the field. One of the things I still clearly remember is he actually dumped all of his extra socks and his rain gear at the first nights camp. Leaving that gear behind cost him dearly. The Greenhorn from Georgia was a farm kid and was able to adapt to the Alaska bush even with his marginal gear and lack of knowledge of the Alaska bush. The store manager never made a single stalk on any animal as it became a challenge to just get the store manager to the cabin. By the time we got him to the cabin his feet were so badly blistered he could hardly walk and could not even carry his own pack or bow. This rambling story actually has a point. I had heard the store manager tell many people before our trip that with his properly equipped backpack he could easily survive in the bush indefinitely. My grandfather use to say: “Ignorance is bliss but it will not put food on the table.”

My Second Winter

I still had a lot to learn but this winter was a lot better. First thing when I arrived at the cabin was to see that the supplies were all there and in fine shape. I also had topo maps and now knew 3 different routes to get back to civilization. It was at least a 2 week walk but I at least knew the routes to get there.

In a TEOTWAWKI situation if you are at your retreat in the winter you will probably also get into a routine. That could be both good and bad. Think security and mix the times up so ambush is harder for the goons to set up.

Winter set in, an in my second winter in the cabin, it did not take long to get into my routine. Every day starts the same. At approximately 6:00 A.M. The alarm clock goes off. What I mean the stove has only a few coals left and the cabin is freezing so I have to get up and stoke the fire. Then step outside into the extreme cold. Cut a log into rounds and this is done in the dark. Then go down to the lake still in the dark (batteries for the flashlight are too precious to waste and so is gas for the lantern) carefully chip the ice around each of five fishing lines with a hatchet. Pull up the hook hoping for a burbut (fresh water ling cod) reset the bait, haul water back to the cabin. If I had not caught a fish for breakfast then on the meat pole next to the cabin I used the saw and cut off a frozen chunk of caribou. Still dark and I am cold, step into the cabin warm up my frozen hands, dry my gloves and cook breakfast on the wood stove. Then put the dutch oven with beans, lentils or rice on the wood stove to rehydrate while I am gone for the day. Pack my lunch: two pancakes with a slab of cooked caribou meat in the middle, also put one tablespoon of tang into my insulated water bottle then fill it with hot water from the pot on the stove. Warm tang makes a nice mid morning warm up on the trail and is a source of Vitamin C.

As it is just starting to get light strap on the snow shoes and head out pulling the sled. If it has not snowed I can walk on top of the packed trail with the snow shoes on the sled.

The day is spent dragging the sled checking and resetting traps while constantly looking for a wolf, fox or wolverine to shoot. During each day I must also find a dry standing dead spruce tree to cut down and limb with the ax then using the sled haul it back to the cabin. Must always be on my main trail with everything tied onto the sled before it is completely dark. Days are short: the mid-winter sun is only up for 4 ½ hrs. I used my flashlight is only for emergencies.

Following a packed trail is easy in the dark just remember to get behind the sled on any downhill or the sled will hit you in the back of your legs and could break a snowshoe or your leg. Usually get back to the cabin long after dark.

Lesson # 11 Cross country skis are no substitute for snow shoes.

The snow shoes at the cabin were old and on the last legs of useful life. Instead of bringing a new set of snow shoes I had purchased a new set of back country cross country skis to the cabin. I thought I would use the snow shoes as a backup. Learned that skis are not as good to work on as snow shoes for doing chores or trapping. Skis have a place and can save time but are not a replacement for snow shoes. In snow country snow shoes are essential and skis are a nice luxury.

Each night when I finally arrive at the cabin I am tired and hungry. First thing is to start the fire then fix dinner. After dinner if I was lucky that day I can light the lantern and skin whatever I had trapped or shot after it has thawed. 9:15 PM is the highlight of the day! I get to listen to the AM radio for 45 minutes.

Lesson #8 and had brought a radio this time. Always hoping Caribou Clatters has a message for me from my family. Allow myself 45 minutes to read by lantern or candle light. 11:00 PM re-stoke the fire and collapse on the bed. The radio, dinner and sleep are the reward of a day’s hard work. Around 2:30 AM the fire has burned to just a few coals and I get cold, get up put more wood on and go back to sleep. The next thing I know it is 6:00 AM the fire has burned to just a few coals and it is freezing in the cabin and the day starts all over again.

Lesson #12 In a cold winter climate Use no oil in the bolt or trigger assembly of your rifle as it may freeze. I tried to shoot at a wolf (a wolf hide was then worth $450) when I pulled the trigger on my rifle it only went click. The firing pin would not strike the primer with enough force to set off the primer. After the second try and another click the wolf ran off and out of range. That was only an expensive lesson. In a TEOTWAWKI it could have been some one shooting at me and I would have had a useless rifle.

On my daily trips to check the fishing lines and get water I knew the ice was 28” thick and still getting thicker each week. A December day the temp was -27 F and I was crossing the outlet end of a small lake to check out some tracks. Not worrying as I thought the ice was 28” thick everywhere I fell through the ice and found myself waist deep in water. This was two miles from my cabin It was all I could do to make it to the cabin.

Lesson #13 any out let or inlet of a frozen lake may have thin ice also a warm spring or other things can cause thin ice. The fire was out in my stove and no coals were left. I had a very hard time getting a fire started and as a last resort used white gas and almost burned down the cabin.

Lesson #14 have the kindling and all the fixings of a fire ready any time you leave your cabin. You never know when someone may be at the end of their strength and need to get a fire going.

One evening in early January I returned to the cabin to find a note and care package on the table from the bush pilot. The pilot had brought me a bag of oranges, a fruit cake and a newspaper. He also left three letters from my family. It was if I had won the lottery

As the snow got deeper during the winter I started finding that many animals liked to use my packed trail. I learned never underestimate the danger of a moose particularly in the winter if they are on a packed trail they may charge you instead of going into deep snow. I had a cow moose chase me up a tree then stomp my on sled and break one of my snow shoes.

Lesson #15 Moose are dangerous, especially late winter

In early February I came across Grizzly tracks in the snow. I was shocked as I thought that bears would be in the den all winter. I followed the tracks and found the bear had made a moose kill.

Lesson # 16 Grizzly bears and black bears do not truly hibernate and may be out of the den during any month of the year. Over the years I learned if a bear is away from his den in the winter it will be hungry and grumpy.

As a kid I loved watching western movies. It seemed to me cowboys wore their handgun in a low slung fast draw holster and I thought that was cool. The western style fast draw holsters I tried in the bush were useless. I now see that some law enforcement and military teams are using a thigh mounted holster. I am not disputing the tactical points of that method but if you are working in the woods you will occasionally fall into snow or mud. That is when you want your hand gun in a full flap holster or in a normal holster worn under the last layer of clothing. Getting your hand gun into your hand fast is of no use if it will not fire when you need it.

Lesson #18 Select holsters that will allow you to comfortably carry your hand gun with you at all times and will protect the weapon from the elements. I have tried over 40 different holsters and method of carrying my handgun. I strongly suggest you experiment now on how to carry your own handgun. Find something that works for you. I presently use three different holsters:
•A holster that I use to carry concealed when I am in a city environment.
•A holster when I am working in the bush.
•A holster when I am flying float planes.

In March, the bush pilot landed on the frozen lake with 400 lbs of supplies. He helped me put the food into the steel drums for the next trapping season then flew me back to town.

I had spent 160 days alone in the bush trapping. I sold my furs to the fur buyer in Anchorage. After paying the bush pilot for the supplies and flights to the cabin and back I had cleared $2,700.

I learned a lot that winter and over the years refined the old trappers list to keep me well fed and a lot happier.

A More Complete Supply List

After my experiences the first two winters, I composed the following list. This is for one man for five to six months. It was refined for my personal taste and needs in the Alaska bush. The old trapper that I got my first list from made do with a lot less than what I took. This list is tried and true and not a just theory that someone made up. I had around 200 traps and ran the line on snowshoes, foot and skis. Cut my firewood by hand (no chain saw) and hauled my water from the lake in buckets. It was hard work 12-15 hours a day 7 days a week and I burned a lot of calories. Using the following list I ate well and always had plenty of supplies left in the spring:
•50 lbs Flour
•50 lbs Bisquick
•25 lbs Pancake mix
•35 lbs Sugar
•50 lbs Pinto Beans
•25 lbs Rice
•40 lbs Salt pork
•25 lbs Salt
•10 lbs Dried prunes
•10 lbs Raisons
•10 lbs Dried apricots
•10 lbs Dried apples
•10 lbs Dried peaches
•25 lbs Oatmeal
•10 lbs Honey
•2 cases Tomato paste
•25 lbs powdered milk
•15 lbs [canned] Butter
•25 lbs Corn meal
•25 lbs [canned] Cheese
•20 lbs Spaghetti Noodles
•10 lbs Crisco
•15 lbs Hot cocoa mix
•10 lbs Dried eggs
•5 lbs Strawberry Jam
•3 lbs Apricot Jam
•2 boxes Pilot bread
•1 gal Maple Syrup
•180 Multi vitamins
•180 Vitamin C
•1 lb [powdered dry] Yeast
•180 Tea bags
•1 lbs Pepper
•1 lbs
•Baking soda
•8 lbs
•Dried onions
•1 lb Baking powder
•1 lb. Corn starch
•24 oz Garlic powder
•12 oz Vanilla
•2 rolls aluminum foil
•1/2 gal Dish soap
•5 bars non-scented soap
•36 Canning lids (to can meat if we had a winter thaw or for leftover in the spring)
•8 oz Hydrogen peroxide
•2 oz Iodine
•12 rolls Toilet paper
•2 Small sponges
•2 Scrub pads
•1 roll Duct Tape
•4 boxes of wooden Matches
•24 Plumber’s candles
•500 rounds .22 long rifle hollow point ammo
•100 .308 ammo 125 grain hollow point varmint ammo
•20 rounds .308 ammo 180 grain (for Moose or Caribou )
•Trapping license and regulations
•Hunting license, moose tags and caribou tags
•New snowshoe bindings
•1 truck inner tube
•3 New hacksaw blades
•2 New Ax handles
•8 Bow saw blades
•36 oz Lanolin
•6 Disposable lighters
•12 gal White gas [aka Coleman Fuel]
•12 Lantern mantels
•6 oz. Gun oil
•Trapping Lures, urine and musk
•10 lbs Trap wax
•2 rolls Survey ["flagging"] tape
•1 pair Heavy Neoprene trapping gloves
•7 lbs Trapping wire( 50% 12 ga and 50% 14 ga)
•50 ft Trap Chain #2 and #3
•24 Links
•24 Swivels
•AM Radio with 8 extra 9 volt batteries
•8’ New stove pipe for cabin stove
•4 Leather awl needles and 50’ waxed thread
•Extra shoulder straps for pack frame
•Extra hip belt for pack
•New lid for fry pan 14”
•100’ – 3/8 nylon rope
•12×18” glass to replace cracked window
•Personal items
•1 Wool Jacket
•2 Wool pants
•2 Work pants
•1 Pair insulated Carhartt coveralls
•4 Pair work gloves
•2 Pair heavy winter over mittens.
•Winter trappers hat
•1 pair
•Pack boots with 2 sets liners
•1 pair Bunny Boots
•1 Wool sweater
•4 pair long sleeved wool shirts
•3 pair Wool long john pants
•3 pair Wool long john shirts
•8 pair Wool socks
•8 pair Cotton socks
•6 pair Underpants
•1 Bible
•2 flying ground school books
•6 Short sleeve Cotton shirts
•Tooth brush
•Tooth powder
•2 rolls dental floss
•Carried or in an external frame pack:
•1 .308 rifle
•1 22 pistol (Colt Woodsman)
•Rain coat
•Rain pants
•Insolite sleeping pad
•Sleeping bag
•10×12’ and 4×8’ light nylon tarps
•Flashlight
•Flashlight batteries
•Binoculars, 10×40
•Green River skinning knife, caping knife, boning knife.
•Small stone, small file and small diamond steel
•Compass
•Topo maps 1:250,000 scale
•2 Candles
•Matches in waterproof container
•Lighter
•Small cook pot with lid
•Water bottle
•100’ Parachute cord
•Small First aid kit with Large suture needles and suture, in sealed pack
•Mini channel locks (Snap-on) used for sutures and other things
•Pack repair kit
•¾-length Hand ax. (Estwing)
•Small shovel
•Bow saw with extra blade
•1 pair wool socks
•Wire snares
•Fish hooks and line
•25’ .042” stainless wire
•1 lb Dried soup mix

[krank]

TEOTWAWKI=The end of the world as we know it

Common term among survivalists and preppers. Also known as SHTF.

[segsarge]

That's an excellent read. I read it way back when you first posted it and came back to it several weeks ago to review. Short of going to prison for life, I don't see me being able to get rid of the scatbum neighbors I have though. It's one of those situations where they feel free to stomp around my little patch of brush, but threaten to shoot you if they think you're even looking their way. Found a deer carcass with the backstraps and hindquarters cut out on the west boundary of my fence line yesterday. Tracks in the snow lead to the neighbors place. Same ones that threw a fit because I had a tree stand within seeing distance (on my side) of the same fence a couple of years ago. Neighbor on the north side is even worse.
Going up there would require working for the Alaska Dept of Corrections for a year. Starting pay is $100k a year. Even with the higher cost of living I could buy a piece of remote property and build. Although, as of now, my dad is in poor health and the wife has her heels dug in here.

[krank]

Sam Hildebrandt lived in your neighborhood and his neighbors sucked too.

My brother in law is 61 and just resigned from his duties at Denali National Park. He relocated in New Mexico. He said he could not stand another winter in Alaska.

I never went up there because of my folks and my ties here.

[segsarge]

Sam and I would have got along great. He's buried just a couple of miles from my place.

[krank]

Add a shotgun to the list for waterfowl and bear protection. Also fishing gear. I would also throw in a couple of quarts of Everclear 190% for medicinal purposes. Not concerned about tobacco as a guy would have to quit up there.

[segsarge]

Cigarettes in AK run about twice the cost as here. Not sure about pipe tobacco. Shotgun and fishing gear are both good ideas. Might need a few gallons of Everclear for snake bites. I'm told there are no snakes up there, but why run the risk?

[krank]

I read where an old timer smoked a pipe. He said the cheapest most compact way to haul tobacco was cigars. He cut them into chunks and stuck them in his pipe. I love to smoke but I think the 50 below air would curtail that. The Natives are not held to Federal laws on waterfowl so they harvest ducks and geese heavily. Thats another thing. Until you are a resident, you have to hunt with a guide.