Extopian

Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, recreationalist, hunter or just a full/part resident of the outdoors one essential piece of gear that is often overlook are a good set of binoculars. Choosing a set for general use can be a bit tricky as many people can only differentiate gross magnification and price as a gauge of quality. This can lead to some powerful, but ultimately, inadequate, gear choices as well as wasting a great deal of money. Here’s what you need to know and consider when purchasing binoculars.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few nights ago I was watching a documentary about an expedition into the Caldera de Luba, an isolated and steep-sided valley on Equatorial Guinea. With some descents as steep as 70 to 80 degrees, sections of the journey were more like mountaineering than hiking. To assist in one particularly challenging segment, the crew built a rope ladder. Although, the technique was not explained in detail and was a bit hard to follow, it could be gathered that it was essentially a series of looped knots that secured stout lengths of wooden saplings into a highly serviceable rope ladder. I decided to research the technique (along with another, more minimalistic one) and share the process with you.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret that we’re fans of freshwater and saltwater fishing here at Extopian, both as a source of nourishment and as (one of many) motivators for responsible stewardship of our planet’s aquatic environments. One HUGE issue facing our waters is the accumulation of refuse from the fishing practice. Anyone who has fished at popular lakes and streams is no stranger to stray and broken lines in the brush and waters. From the lure and bobbers in our area, I’d estimate that some of them are easily a decade old and that’s just the ones ABOVE the water.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fishing can be fun and a good way to help provide additional fresh sources of food for the family. From coast to coast, everyone lives near bodies of water, from the ocean, to landlocked bays, to ponds, rivers, lakes, streams etc. Contrary to fishing shows and sporting good stores, you can get a lot of mileage out of some very basic, versatile and inexpensive fishing gear. In this article, we will try to show the basic of tackle that are actually necessary to successfully catch most any type of fish.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know about you but I adore all the places LED flashlights have made their way into. With their durability and frugal energy use, I’m always grateful to have one within easy reach in the car, at home or when outdoors. In a real emergency or survival, situation they can go well beyond a convenience and comfort though. Along with fire starting supplies, light is one of those consideration every survival and disaster preparedness plan should have multiple back-ups of. Two particularly nicely integrated concepts have recently made their way into my heart and my gear.

Read the rest of this entry »

The human urge to acquire “stuff” is a common one we can all identify with. When that urge is channeled through the magnifying glass of the government, however, it can manifest in some truly colossal collections of “stuff”. Eventually though, newer, different or better stuff eventually supersedes the current “stuff” and, well, all that old stuff has to go somewhere. We’ve all seen military surplus retails; any town of sufficient size probably has one… bins of camoflague gear, paramilitary hiking/camping equipment and mountains of clothing and uniforms. All of it ready to be frugally adopted to the cause of personal preparedness. But what if you’re looking for an opportunity a bit further up the “chain of command” from the retail outlet. That’s where the government auction comes in. That’s where private organizations like Government Liquidation, LLC come into the picture. Just take a look at some of the great (and possibly amusing) goodies a quick tour of their stock came up with.
Read the rest of this entry »