Ron Foster - The Rural Ranger: A Suburban and Urban Survival Manual & Field Guide of Traps and Snares for Food and Survival

A SUBURBAN AND URBAN SURVIVAL MANUAL& FIELD GUIDE OF TRAPS AND SNARES FOR FOOD ANDSURVIVAL

Copyright 2003 by Ron H. Foster

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved by the author. No part ofthis publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permissionof the publishers and/or authors.

While every precaution has been taken in thepreparation of this book, Lulu Enterprises assumes noresponsibilities for errors or omissions, or for damages resultingfrom the use of information contained herein. The appearance andcontents of this book are the sole responsibility of theauthor.

The author has been told many times why dontyou write a book . This happens after telling a story or twoabout his broad range of life experiences that are often humorous,and filled with bits of obscure knowledge the author uses in reallife encounters with situations he solves by bits of backwoods ormilitary lore. I decided to sit down and try to drain my brain forposterity and share some of these tid bits of survival lore.Because being a self-described wealth of useless information andan entrepreneur at that, of applying such sometimes usefulknowledge, this seemed like a more than worthy endeavor toundertake.

I must admit though, any knowledge to me isuseless if not disseminated to interested parties or remembered bythose who need it when applicable. I hope maybe, some of it isremembered in the back of your mind somewhere if fate deals you abad hand and suddenly you have a use for it.

I have tried for years to pass on to whomeverthat would listen, bits of what I consider to be fun or just goodto know country lore. But most people today have no interest ordesire to even hear about what they consider possibly some kind ofHollywood hillbilly ignorant notion or attitude, that someoneactually can or occasionally wants to and does trap their owndinner. Well this knowledge is definitely handy item to know and nomore so then, than now, what with the current state of affairs inthe world. You dont know what might possibly hurt you or force youinto a survival situation. If you ignore this kind of knowledge,then you may not be able to provide for your loved ones when theydepend on you the most. You probably will never need to use it, butyou might just be the type of person like me that likes to rememberthe odd bits of outdoors lore just in case you ever did need it!Its a good feeling to know that if you had to survive, youcould.

You never know in this Old World when itmight be a very useful and handy edge to have. It might just betoo, that you have learned something from history, such as what didpeople do during the great depression to get by. Possibly you havepondered on or wondered about what you would do if you weresuddenly thrust into that type of survival situation.

If you stop too think about it, this is not atoo far-fetched notion and it can happen to any of us for anynumber of reasons.

They say that the majority of the people inthe US are just one paycheck away from being homeless. If you hadto camp out for a while before you get back on your feet could youdo it? How about if your next job didnt give you your firstpaycheck for a couple weeks, could you supplement your foodsomewhere or somehow?

Dont just depend on living off the land forfood, plan ahead and buy a bit of extra storage food a little at atime and chip away at adding to your survival essential equipmentnow and then, while you have an income stream.

You need to be prepared early on to handlelifes emergencies and natures disasters. With a little bit ofcommon sense and a bit of knowledge gained from this book its easyto take stock of what you have at hand and what you need to cheaplysupplement your equipment with. Take a run through all the stuff inyour house and build you a basic survival kit. You most likely haveall the items you need scattered around in the shop or a junkdrawer. Therefore one thing to remember now that you acquired thisbook is to stick it in a ziplock bag and keep it with your Good ToGo Gear so that your information to survive will be there when youneed it in a complete format. I will tell you what to do with thebaggy you stick in later as these can be more important than youknow and can be used as a basic essential survival tool.

The authors intent and purpose of this bookis to give the reader a more modern perspective on the practicalart of survival in troubled times, and give them the understandingand the edge they need to do more than just survive a crisis. Tryto thrive not just survive will be our motto from now on.

The title of this book was chosen afterconsidering just how bad off your average Joe or Jane would be ifthey were stuck in an apartment, with nothing more than, oh say,the US Army survival manual. This book if it was all they had toadvise them, and rely on for how to obtain sustenance during totalwater and power blackouts in this environment would be found to begreatly lacking in practical information for suburb survival. Thecity is shut down and I doubt they are thinking how to build a firedrill or chip flint into a spearhead. No, they are surrounded withall their comfortable and costly worldly possessions; and mostlikely will be thinking should I stay or go, and what to bring withthem, depending on the current situation or state of affairs asthey interpret the crisis at hand. That particular book would tellthem nothing about how to cook their dinner in an apartment or atleast warn them of the hazards of building a fire on their concretebalcony. The person stuck in a rural situation may have to try andlive off the land for an extended time should the conveniences andsupplies of the city be unexceptionally cut off.

The possessions around either the cityperson, or the rural person, will be viewed in a new light should adisaster strike. Simple items that they always have surroundingthem, can with a little bit of clever know how, make it possiblefor them to have a much better degree of comfort if they just stayput in most cases and avoid the shelters or any thoughts ofbugging out. But if they need to travel light and do the BugOut routine for a perceived better place, they will know whichitems are the most important to everyday survival and bring thesewith them no matter how obscure or normally forgotten.

They will have learned to look at everythingin a new light of usefulness in a situation that requires you Getit and Go, including their favorite Aunt Bessie`s family reunionpicture. Not bringing it with them on an emergency move will nolonger be a soul searching hand wringing affair that they mightnever see it again. Not unless it is in a frame that can be used asa magnifier, fire starter and bug repellent all in one will it evenbe a consideration to being packed.

By standing in front of the so-called kitchenjunk drawer in the kitchen, an average person can grab 99% of whatis needed to survive for weeks even months. Prefabricated 72-hourkits be damned, as they are generally a waste of money, for mosthouseholds. Buy some more snares or just an emergency food barinstead. If you dont have enough chow to last hours around thehouse now in your pantry you dont have enough money to buy thisbook. 72-hour kits are good things to have in your car though ifthats all the gear you store there. I think there has been toomuch focus on these things lately and not enough common sense.

Their are enough useful items available inthe average household to grab what you need and be gone with in amanner of minutes if the need or necessity arises. These items arefound in the average modern day home with ease and have all thenecessary components needed or required for improvising survivaltools from. You can use these tools to improve the most desperatesituations and sustain your life with a bit of fortitude on yourpart and a bit of knowledge and skill learned from this book.