After a harsh winter, summer is finally here. Bright sun, longer days, no school, road trips, ice cream, barbeques, libations, and warmth—okay downright hot… mosquitoes, ticks, sunburn. With all the positives that summer offers, there are nearly as many negatives about our hottest months of the year. Without the proper precautions, the outdoors poses potential threats—bug bites and stings, heat-related illness, accidents and sunburn. As is the Shooter’s Log tradition to prepare you for anything that could happen, we present to you everything you need to know to survive the summer.
Outdoors
Six Tips That Will Save Your Life
Having basic survival skills is a necessity if you plan to spend any amount of time outdoors. These five tips, plus a how-to on what to pack in a lightweight, basic survival kit will help if you are ever stuck, lost, stranded or injured in the field.
Being Prepared for a Day at the Lake
Lakes are one of the top vacation destinations for Americans. With many more people on the water this summer, read these 15 lake safety tips to avoid accidents.
Bees like warm, dry weather and this summer you might just find yourself in the middle of a swarm when a colony decides to relocate. Keep your place bee-free with these easy-to-follow steps.
Besides being really gross, ticks carry a variety of bad diseases. Avoid bites from ticks that carry Lyme disease by following these precautions when you will be in an area prone to ticks. If you do get a tick, this article also has a video demonstrating the proper way to remove it.
In 2012, the United States experienced its largest West Nile virus outbreak. Since 1999, there have been 2,122 cases of it reported to the CDC. Mosquitoes carry it after feeding on a bird with West Nile. The mosquito then passes it to humans. There is no cure or treatment for West Nile but have no fear, West Nile is preventable. Read how to protect yourself in this article.
Spider bites can be nasty and it is not uncommon for people to be scared of spiders. However, how venomous, how often people are bit, and how many poisonous spiders there are in the United States is a bit of an old wives’ tale. Get the facts in this article.
First Aid
Basic First Aid: Typical Camping Accidents
You should never venture outside without a first aid kit close at hand. While exploring the outdoors, all types of accidents can occur—from cuts, scrapes, and burns to broken limbs and severe allergic reactions. You will be prepared to tackle these common camping injuries after reading this article.
Bouts of extreme heat in the United States have killed thousands of people. Over heating is a serious medical issue—one that is preventable. When planning to be outdoors this summer, know how to beat the heat and stay safe with this guide.
Pesky Mosquitoes, Scorpions, Bees and Other Critters that Bite and Sting
Spring and summer brings out the bugs. This article details how to treat and prevent bites and stings from the most common insects you’ll likely encounter this summer—fire ants, mosquitoes, bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, chiggers, scorpions and ticks.
Heat-Related Illnesses: Prevention and Treatment
Heat-related illnesses range from mild to potentially fatal. Learn the common heat-related illnesses you may encounter in this post detailing symptoms, treatment and prevention.
Fireworks, barbeques and campfires—in the summer we are frequently around fire, which increases our chance of getting burned. A first-degree burn is most likely home treatable, while a third-degree burn requires immediate medical attention. Learn how to spot the differences between minor and severe burns in this post.
Shooting/Firearms Safety
Five Tips for Carrying a Gun in the Summer
Ahhhh…summer. Time to put up the bulky sweaters and heavy coats and break out the looser, thinner clothing that keeps us cool. As the temperature rises so do our hemlines. It is just harder to conceal under such little clothing. These tips for both men and women help you to figure out the best way to carry a concealed gun during the summer.
Summertime at the Gun Range Safety Tips
Do you shoot at a primitive outdoor range? Don’t let the glaring sun and hot summer days prevent you from training and practice. These five tips and suggestions will help you be more comfortable when shooting outside.
Don’t let mud, wet and soggy conditions deter you from practice. In fact, the author of “Shooting in Foul Weather” is encouraging it. Shooting in adverse conditions helps you to practice more than just the fundamentals. Plus, it’s a great gear check to see if your self-defense gun will operate smoothly and reliably when conditions are less than favorable.
Yes, it may be stifling, but you still need to wear the proper attire at the gun range. Hot brass hurts. Read this article to learn what to wear to the range, how to treat minor burns and ready funny stories from others who have hot brass fly into compromising places.
Weather
If you live in severe weather territory or your area is prone to tornadoes, here is the ultimate guide to building and stocking a safe room in your home.
Three Steps to Take to Prepare for Unpredictable Severe Spring Weather
According to the Storm Prediction Center, the United States has already experienced over 120 confirmed tornadoes in 2015. We are just now hitting the peak of severe storm and tornado season. Get yourself and family prepared with this article highlighting all the best of the Shooter’s Log spring and summer severe weather prepping tips.
How to Survive a Summer Power Outage
What’s worse—a power outage in summer or winter? I don’t really know. They are both miserable, but what I do know is that both can be equally dangerous. Keep cool when the lights go out after reading this what-to-do guide when you lose power over the summer.
The Quintessential Preparedness Guide for Severe Thunderstorms
We’ve discussed hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning and every other possible spring and summer weather even in the past. This article provides a landing page for the all-you-need-to-know articles about bad weather.
How do you get through the summer? Share your summertime survival tips in the comment section.
[suzanne]
I have had the ill fortune of being attacked by animals twice while in a tent.
There are some basic common sense rules that one learns from friends and family as well as from a number of articles from books to internet.
Most of these concentrate on the handling of food, from storage to cooking and disposal of scraps and the clothes one wears after the scrubbing and cleaning is done.
Having employed all the rules so as to avoid initiating, or tempting, contact with a hungry creature we all got on our cots (with sleeping bags) to get some well deserved sleep.
About 2am I was awakened by a tearing sound and there at my feet was the grandfather of all raccoons ripping the netting that separated the front storage from the sleeping area. Being the only one awake of the 5 of us, and me without a firearm, the only thing I could think of was to bark like a dog as loud as I could.
That raccoon jumped off the ground and tore his way out of the tent in the flash of an eye. My compatriots woke up laughing at me thinking I was dreaming, until I told them what I was faced with only seconds ago, and then they laughed until they cried. Most of the day I was the only silent dog in the middle of a dog pack.
I’ll reserve the story of the second time I was attacked (and this time I was really attacked) while in a tent if enough of you so wish it. It was the last time I will ever sleep in a tent in the wild.
@Judge Roy Bean:
Please tell the 2nd story. I’m someone with almost zero camping experience who wants to get into it if I can find the time. I’d like to know what you experienced.
On a lighter note, my only experience with raccoons was living in Huntington Beach, CA, OF ALL PLACES!! I never would have dreamed that. Right in the heart of Orange County, we had possums and raccoons in our back yard from time to time, skunks in our neighborhood, and even a possum in our garage one time.
Water, fire, shelter in that order. Have some sort of protection – firearm – and know how to use it. Everything else will take care of itself.
I think I made a wise decision (rare for me) in the heat last weekend. I live in Phoenix, and it was around 110-112 degrees at 1:00PM, and I had some time to kill while waiting for an appointment, so I decided to hike one of the local mountains which I had done many times in the past. But this time I was ill prepared for water, only having a small Dasani bottle. Half way up the mountain I ran out of water. I had never turned back on a local mountain before, but this time I just turned back immediately. It was a good call. I seriously needed water (I could feel it in my legs) when I got to the bottom, and I filled the bottle up with a faucet in the park facilities.