General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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I keep looking for better ways of protecting my hearing when shooting, and it looks like wearing both plugs and muffs is recommended for indoor shooting (centerfire gunshots range from 160-170 deci...
Recently there was a story about some people in Texas who brought three bobcat kittens home and then called animal control after the bobcats bit them. It's also happened once in California where a...
If while hunting I come across a rabid animal and I kill it, both to end its suffering and to prevent it from spreading rabies, what should I do with the body? I wouldn't want another animal to ea...
For packaging dehydrated foods for backpacking, the two options that I can think of are mylar bags and vacuum-sealed bags. What are the pros and cons of each method?
If I cook a hot dinner on a canister stove and plan on cooking a hot breakfast in the morning, can I leave the stove on the canister overnight or would it be better to take it off and reattach in t...
There are a lot of mountaineering routes that go up the downwind side of a mountain. Like the CMC route on Mt. Moran in the Tetons or the Gooseneck Glacier route on Gannet Peak. The added danger o...
I found this dragonfly, here, at around 13,400 ft. The coordinates are 43°10'52.96"N, 109°39'17.74"W if anyone would like to check the location themselves. It didn't look like it was moving...
My ice ax came with a leash already on it and I have never had any problems with it, but almost all of the other ice axes that I have seen in use lacked one. One obvious pro is in case of droppin...
If I use a space tarp (basically a heavy-duty reusable space blanket) as a sunshade or as a ground tarp with the shiny side facing up, do I need to worry that someone might see it and think that I ...
By situational awareness I mean (but certainly don't limit it to): Looking behind to familiarize yourself with the return journey. Looking ahead to see what the best route will be. Knowing the a...
Sometimes when setting up rock climbs for people you will have climbers of various abilities and yet not have enough resources to set up enough climbs so that everyone has something that is hard en...
I got a comment here that said, Please omit the "Where have you been?" part of your social interaction. That is going to set me more on edge, not put me at ease. It sounds "stalker-ish", which ...
In some places in the US, it is legal to take roadkill home and eat it while in other places the meat is donated. If it was legal where you are, how would you tell if the meat is still good?
We are in the wild and need to know how cold/hot it is. How can we measure the temperature if we don't have any thermometers? Can we build something similar, etc.? It doesn't have to be necessaril...
I have leather gloves and mittens and I want to waterproof them. I usually use mink oil on my leather boots to condition and seal them, Can I do the same for gloves and mittens or should I use som...
I know that the antifreeze used in fresh water RV tanks is non-toxic and can protect to -50F. Thinking Sugar might be a good choice I posted the question How to calculate how much sugar to use as ...
I have heard about people using electricity to catch worms, mostly around catching worms for fishing. How does this work? Is it safe?
If one needed to hike out and then come back to a certain spot, how could one temporarily mark their trail so that it is easy to follow back to that exact spot when the route back is not obvious? ...
The ducklings are getting much bigger very quickly, to the point that it's almost hard to tell the mother duck from the ducklings, (mother duck in back of procession) How much bigger are these d...
My vehicle has broken down in the middle of a desert, I have some tools but I am out of water. I have the ability to make a fire. I know that drinking antifreeze is fatal, but I am wondering i...
There is a spectrum of sole stiffness in boots, from full shank on mountaineering boots to the easily bendable ones on really cheap boots. The way to test is to push in on the shoe lengthwise and s...
On the river I have been fishing, there is a section where the road was rerouted, and another where a dam was torn out. In both cases, those sections of river have fewer bushes and trees and the gr...
As far as I know, boars are pretty aggressive when they have piglets. In the appropriate season, one might happen to hike into the path of an overprotective mother and get attacked. How do I reac...
Stand Up Paddleboards (SUP) come in both inflatable and rigid. What should I consider when choosing between the two styles?
If one were to get started fly fishing what gear would one need just to start with? Of course, there is all sorts of gear and better gear, but what would the minimum gear to start with be?
Female mountain lions will scream to attract a mate, and males will do it as well. This YouTube video and this one both have audio of what it sounds like. Given how loud it sounds, would there be...
I want to travel by canoe from Ohiopyle State Park to Pittsburgh Pa on the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers What are the navigation considerations? Also I will have a bike and trailer for the...
I am thinking about getting a Kayak, I am very comfortable paddling my canoe with a single paddle. My motivation is that I can canoe silently with a single canoe paddle that does not need to bre...
It is possible to use a dry fly as a strike indicator for your wet fly while also catching the fish that would go for a surface bug at the same time. Is the casting technique any different as it s...
We all know these scary stories where people had to eat their fellow sufferers after a plane crash or something. I don't know if there is even one of them true. I feel like it might result into mor...
Most fly fishing with wet flies is done with just single wet fly and a strike indicator but it's also possible to do it with a dry fly instead of a strike indicator (this lets you do both at the sa...
Smaller streams are easy to tell where to cast when fly fishing given fish's tendency to hang out in pools or hole or undercut banks. It easy to decide where you need to cast and approximately wher...
We're planning a 4 day hike in a few months. I would like to take my bow with me to do a little roving. How can I attach my bow to my backpack (back)? We are talking about an unstrung one-piece...
In addition to choosing a correctly sized paddle board, one also needs a correctly sized paddle. How does one determine the correct size of paddle for stand up paddle boarding?
Spotting scopes are used for all sorts of things in the outdoors, from watching climbers on big walls to observing wildlife. Usually, the reason for using one instead of a pair of binoculars is the...
Calorie debt is when you are using more calories than you are eating and making up the difference from stored reserves of body fat. Sometimes people will do this to save on the amount of weight ca...
I am considering getting a used wet suit for sailing and canoeing in the early spring and next fall. What should I look for? Based on the related Q&A below, it looks like I will want 6-7mm (1...
We have a question about the cost of through-hiking the AT and another about the cost of through hiking the CDT but not one about the PCT which is the other big trail in the United States. What is...
I have heard the argument that red light is better because it helps preserve your night vision, however it is less bright than white light. Are there other pros and cons that I am missing or circu...
Today I was out in the canoe on Monongahela River I started out paddling up river, and there was a head wind. I noticed that when I got with in about 100 feet of a bridge the wind picked up. The ...
I am planning a canoe trip, and will be bringing a kerosene lamp for light. As a backup fire lighting option I am planning on bringing flint & steel and possible a magnifying glass. Can eith...
I have noticed a few people are using blue light bulbs for the front porch and/or walk way. The light is not very bright and does not cast what I would call sufficient lighting. On some streets ha...
I run often at night in the mountain. For that I use a headlamp that works very well, allowing me to keep my path illuminated and my arms free. However, when it is cold my breath creates some stea...
We are in the great outdoors and a massive thunderstorm will be over us soon. What steps should we take to be safe from a lightning strike? This question is not "am I safe in my tent" etc. You ar...
There are several different manufacturers producing so called "lumen nocks". They provide a small light at the end of the arrow. But why? Why would I need a tiny light on my nock?
Twice now I have been summitting peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park while getting really early starts to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms. However in both cases I could still see lighting in t...
We have a couple of questions showing that in dry times a flare can start forest fires. Is there a safer way to use a flare in a wooded area? What is the risk of starting a forest or wildland fir...
We have a question about desalinating water while stranded at sea, and another that asks if you can get desalinated water from eating fish. However, even if you could get desalinated water from fi...
Disclaimer first: The brake-hand principle (always hold the braking strand of the rope) always applies to assisted braking belay devices, including the Grigri. This question is in no way targeted a...
One of my flashlights that has a black anodized aluminum housing has a couple of scratches on it, all of the way through the anodized coating. How can I cover up the scratches so that its complet...
