Mossberg's 500, Maverick 88 and Shockwave series of pump shotguns are beloved by millions of Americans for home defense, hunting, camping, off-the-gridding, farming and ranching. But there's one problem with them -- they shoot really high from the factory.  The problem is so pervasive that it has long been the practice of firearms instructors and police trainers to advise students with Mossbergs to "aim for the belt" just to hit center mass.  The reason for this is that Mossberg's 18.5" and 20" self defense barrels have a front brass bead that sits lower in the sight plane c ..read more

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  Winchester recently sent me some test samples of their new Defender Elite 10mm 180gr Bonded Jacketed Hollow Point to try out in my Glock 29 Gen 4 10mm Semi-Auto Sub-Compact 10-Round Pistol.  The Glock 29 is what I carry for dangerous game defense when I'm out in the wilderness. In that role, I keep the gun loaded with full power bear protection loads such as the Underwood Xtreme Penetrator and/or Underwood 200gr Hardcast rounds.  But when I'm not in the wilderness, I also carry my Glock 29 as a CCW pistol.  In a CCW role, bear defense rounds grossly over-penetrate fo ..read more

  Hey friends, if you're in the market for a book to help you survive the apocalypse, check out Suzanne Sherman's The Lost Frontier Handbook.  The Lost Frontier Handbook is part of the popular "Lost Ways" book series.  It is filled with practical food preservation techniques for when refridgeration is not possible. It also has lots of interesting historical examples of how food was preserved hundreds of years ago as well as tips on the types of tools and firearms you should keep on your homestead to make it through hard times.  Suzanne has years of preparedness experienc ..read more

Photo credits: Jason Schwartz/Rocky Mountain Bushcraft ©2023 All Rights Reserved Is your fixed blade knife too loose in its sheath? Here's a trick I've been using for many years. Get some quality 1/8" shock cord or 3/16" shock cord (depending on the size of your knife and the amount of retention you want), cut it to length, and then use a simple overhand knot to fasten it onto the belt clip or belt loop of the sheath.  You will have to experiment with how small and tight to make it to have the retention you want.  Using this trick made my Benchmade Puuko shown above, as ..read more

Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Bushcraft ©2022 This is a class I assisted my friend Lex Rule with (shown holding the knife and river stone) at Rabbitstick in Idaho last year.  The goal was simple -- have students bring their dull knives to the river which runs next to Rabbitstick and show them how to sharpen them using only natural stones found in the river. We were able to bring most of the knives to shaving sharpness using just the stones and afterwards, stropping them on the bark of the Willow and Alder trees that ran along the bank. Cheers! Jason ..read more

This is the book my bushcrafting guru friends in Utah swear by for identifying edible and medicinal plants.  Highly recommended!  Cheers, Jason Buy this book from Barnes and Noble and stop supporting the censorship practices of Amazon! Link- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/botany-in-a-day-thomas-j-elpel/1006280199 ..read more

Hey friends, if you're looking for a 100% wool blanket but don't have a lot of cash, look for USGI Military Northwest Woolen Mills Blankets on eBay and in thrift stores. I have owned a TON of US Army wool blankets, and the Northwest Woolen Mills are the BEST. They tend to be the largest, heaviest, softest and highest quality of all the army wool blankets out there. I'm talking on the level of the famed Italian Army Wool Blankets, only a little lighter. Northwest Woolen blankets run about 4lbs to 4.7lbs vs 5lbs to 5.5lbs for the Italian Blankets. In my experience, they are just as warm as th ..read more

  50 Yards free standing (no rest) with a cheap Walmart red dot. Really digging this concept for a compact wilderness survival kit. Cheers! Jason ..read more

  Caught this large dust devil on my way home last summer ..read more