Listen, Smell, Look! Use your senses they work. This is the greatest truest pun and the most prevalent and basic. This is true for yourself as well as the deer. What does this mean. First you need to understand that you are the intruder. You are the one going into the woods, field, etc… and aren’t normally there. Any animal that is worth it’s weight in survival will know when an intruder is near. Especially an intruder that is clumsy, smelly and awkward as most hunters and people are in the woods. It’s just a reality…. We do not spend nearly enough time in the woods in our modern society to blend into the woods perfectly. But we are smart and we can compensate for it. So… what to do?

First assume that anything you can hear, see or smell, a deer can 10 times better. It’s true! Maybe even more than tens times better especially when it comes to scent. So failing to calculate things like the direction of the wind, walking or moving around in plain site and making lots of noise is the first mistake most hunters will make. A sure way to scare an animal like a deer that is instinctively scared of humans and deer are. We have hunted them since the beginning of time just as wolves have it doesn’t matter how long or how old you think the earth is this is universally true. They are scared of humans as much as wolves, a lion, anything. If they are not scared it’s because they have been interfered with and associate us with food or have been forced to live in close proximity which is indeed and interference with the natural disposition.

1) Don’t make noise. Don’t wear clothing that is noisy. Jackets or pants that swish when walking, make more noise. Even if your holding still eventually you’ll have to move to aim your firearm or bow or whatever you’re using for hunting. If you clothes are making noise your prey may become aware. For Example: Ever notice how most hunting gear has a tendency to be made of soft fabric, great, but it doesn’t end there. You may also need to silence some of your clothing. I have a pare of boots that I use for hunting… they have zippers on them and a flap with snap buttons on them to cover the zipper. The zipper grip flaps against the side of the boot while walking. Walk through some soft grass and just listen to them. I walked and I heard a zipper clicking on both feet as i was walking, so what did I do? I took a pair of wire cutters and cut the grip and threaded the zipper with para chord. The para chord doesn’t make any noise and lets me use my zippers. Low and behold I had zippers on all my clothing and what did I do. Replaced all of the handles with parachord. Sound crazy….. Just walk down a carpeted hallway once with all of your hunting equipment on and just listen. I bet you’re making noise. Figure out what it is and figure out how to get rid of it. Zippers and buttons unsnapped can be like little tiny bells on your clothing.

Also what might even count more than silent clothing is walking/hunting a path that is quite. A lot of times it is tempting to cut through areas of brush, grass or woods. A lot of times it’s a bad idea. Not only is it difficult to travel it’s difficult to be quiet while your doing it. Just try and walk through a corn field without making any noise. It’s not easy and probably won’t work even though the plants are evenly spaced and you have an isle to walk down. So what to do? Take the long route even if you have to walk up a road or two. Figure out how to get to your spot by being quite and whatever you do don’t walk across that field. That field even if it’s mostly grass and quite is open plain site. A deer, the deer will see you. If anything go along the edges or something just don’t walk or drive through the middle of it cause that is dumb.

2) Don’t be seen: I was never a big believer in camouflage until I realized how well it worked. And obviously some work better than others. Don’t get caught up in it just make sure that you are dressed appropriately and practically enough. 3D camouflage is the best. Why? cause even if it’s the wrong colors it breaks up your outline. The shadows and edges that it creates does an excellent job in breaking of the edges of your body. This is the goal to make your image appear more like NOT you. The more you can see how it no longer looks like you the more it works on the deer. Some people don’t believe in how well it works. I think they need to try it and find out. I’ve used it quite well. If you can hold still enough just after a deer sees you and you have the camouflage on they may even keep on doing what they are doing as if you’re not there. Believe me it works. You can even make your own camouflage. Bear in mind you may need to be wearing blaze orange for certain hunting seasons.

3) Don’t stink: Smell is a tough one. With smell sometimes it’s just too difficult to not be exposed to random smelly crap. Think about it… your car probably smells after all it’s emitting burnt gases from the rear. I take the minimalize the issue approach. I realize that I’m not going to bath in apples and role around in the dirt before I go hunting so I try to make the best effort I can to eliminate any strong smells. First things first wash up in the morning and don’t use scented soaps. Plain soap should be fine. Same with the clothes. You can buy scent free detergent but keep in mind if you stick it in your wash machine that you normally use with other detergents, guess what. There will be some left in there scenting even if you put in a scent free load. One year i actually washed all my clothes in a plastic bucket then placed it in a bag with apples and leaves for a month outside untill the day before opening day (to make sure it wasn’t wet). I wore that for opening day. It smealt like stinky apples and earth but certainly did not smell like me. Not sure if it helped but and after all no smell might actually be better than an earth smell. One thing for sure I would say though is… don’t smoke a cigarette. I don’t smoke and I can smell cigarette stink a mile away. And if I can smell it… so can a deer only ten times better. Also, try to keep off other stinks. If I bring food with me I bring things that a deer might eat like peanut butter and honey or fruits/vegetables. NO I don’t bring a frozen burrito or a chunk of meat. It smell too much like something else.

I would say what might even be more important than being sent free is being aware of what direction the wind is moving. Perhaps you should have a plan for what you’re going to do depending on which direction the wind is blowing. It wouldn’t hurt. If I had a dollar for every time a deer ran away because it smelt and saw me. Not just one or the other but both. A deer is like a person. Like for example… lets say you hear something in the back yard and go look to see what it is. You see nothing. Depending on what you heard you may just go back to watching TV. Deer logic is similar. If they hear a twig crack they will look and try to smell. If they do not smell anything and hear no more they may not run away. So like anything your stealth is dependent on the combination of silence, low odor and concealment to become effect. Not just one or the other. But in order for them all to work you have to be effective in each.

OK so, I did a lot of thinking about a supposed best survivalist weapon. I figured for this post I would do more of a pros & cons/talking type list to make sure I get all the info without the boring.

The first weapon I would like to propose is the Glock 17L (L is for longs lide). This might sound ridiculous but hear me out on this one. First and foremost it’s a 9mm semi automatic pistol that holds 17 rounds. I’ll go right into the things that appeal most to me about this gun then the downsides and maybe a little hypothetical at the end.

PROS
1. Weight and size. All together it weighs in at like 24oz (670g). That’s light and it’s mostly do to the fact that a lot of the gun is made of high strength polymer i.e. plastic and yes the “I don’t trust plastic guns people” are slowly fading away. Weight is important. The fact that you can put the gun fully loaded on your belt and walk around all day with it is a superb bonus not to mention it’s not in the way. The fact that it’s small enough to hide easily in a back pack or under a loose jacket/vest or even a shirt or pant is even better. It’s not super concealable like some small guns but it’s probably the smallest gun I one could still consider adequate self defense. This may be more or less important depending on the situation. For example, if your trying to appear non-threatening or trying to not let on you have a weapon i.e. You can’t do that with a giant assault rifle on your back.

2. Reliability It’s a Glock, people have laid claims to shooting over 100,000 rounds through them without replacing major parts. The thing was designed well. No it’s not like an AK-47 but yes it will work through the extremes if well attended. Anyone who claims you can pour dirt into the barrel and so and so forth is half full of it anyways. Even if you could why would you not clean/clear you gun before firing? Even if a gun did fire with dirt in the chamber or barrel it would still eventually wear it or ruin it over time if not right away.

3. Efficiency This is probably the last strong point and I think grossly overlooked by many in terms of quality for value. I think the word efficiency get’s a bad rap especially when it comes to guns. To start with 9×19 or 9mm rounds are very cheap not to mention you can find them almost anywhere on the planet where bullets can be found. They were meant to be fired out a semi auto gun as well as have been around for quite some time (over 100years). No it’s not renown as the “crazed native stopper” but yes… it is deemed effective by our military. So it doesn’t have the knock down power of a .45 but usually it holds around twice the capacity, this is called a trade off. And yes smaller rounds have their advantages such as lower recoil which means quicker shots, less noise and generally a more manageable weapon for smaller folks. Anyone who does not take into consideration shooting a .45 can be cumbersome to the shooter is either a pro shooter or full of man ego.

Also the gun is fairly priced. Around $600.00 new which is about the same as many other military/law enforcement type guns in this category. The beauty of the long slide is it’s almost the same as it’s shorter counter part. Just go to an online auction site if your local dealer gives you the “you can’t find it anywhere schpeel” and no you don’t really need an add-on. Personally, I dislike laser sites but highly recommend a tactical light. Don’t cheap out on the light either. A good light will make your pistol a universally effective weapon. This can all be done with a comparable budget to most things. Even a good sword or crossbow is going to run you $300+ only that Glock is probably 100 times more deadly if properly used. Also the ammo is cheap too. You can pick up 1000 rounds of ammo online for less then $100.00. And going back to the knock down power issue. Accuracy is the first factor then size/power. Who is going to be more deadly accurate the person who shot a 1000 rounds through their weapon cause it’s cheap or the person who shoots 100 and then saves the rest of their ammo cause it’s expensive? Price out .44 magnum costs. They’re not cheap. Try and find a 10mm round, good luck!

4. Capacity It holds 17 rounds or 19 if you ad the extension and yes you can buy a 30 round magazine for it too. This is superb. It also speaks to the plausibility of a survival concept. If you have to fire more than 17 rounds you probably should have been long gone by then. Not to say that this is always an option so if it isn’t you should still find a 30 round magazine or an extra 17 round magazine adequate as an extra magazine can be.

5. Accuracy This is where the strengths can also be considered weaknesses in other words a conundrum. Also why I suggest a long slide instead of regular Glock 17. For a out of the box handgun it’s superbly accurate. But compared to thousands of other guns it’s lacking. Usually the effective range for a hand gun is around 45yds tops in the military or 15yds if your talking practical self defense. I think with practice you can put a Glock 17L out further than 60yds. How much further would depend on the target. But really it’s not at all a long range weapon. So yes it’s accurate for what it is but no it’s not ideal for longer ranges. That being said it will be quite effective at closer ranges and for very close ranges I would say ideal.

6. Overall plausibility The over all plausibility could also depend on a whole slew of factors whether it be availability or the application in which the weapon would need to be used. I know that you could kill a deer with it if you had to even a bear (yes a bear) but really by no means is it practical for that. So really it depends and yes you would have to consider what type of options you really would have in a survival type situation as the circumstances would vary. I think the fact that it could be so easily carried is probably the first and foremost logic behind having one.

I have considered using it for hunting as the 6″ barrel and center fire round makes it legal in Wisconsin to hunt deer with it. However, I think that I would be restricted to more of a bow and arrow range and definitely wouldn’t have make sure the shot would be in a vital area. Also, not sure how other hunters would feel about it as some might consider using a 9mm inhuman if you didn’t quickly kill the game. Although if I had a dollar every time someone shot a deer with a high power rifle and it ran away, I’d still be poor, but at least it’d pay for the ammo. Perhaps the gun would also be a better compliment to a larger weapon system in survival circumstances. As in the glock is the gun you always have with you and you can rely on something else for bigger problems.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
1) Another good option for a survival weapon would be the bigger brother to the Glock 17L is the Glock 24 the first thing better than a Glock 9mm is a Glock 40 cal. pistol. And yes follow the link it has been used to kill a Kodiak brown bear. This is a just like the regular glock 40 caliber but like the 17L it has an extra long barrel for more accuracy. Also, 40 caliber rounds are still in the cheaper price range. They are consider more effective at penetration than 45 and 9mm calibers. More powerful than a 9mm less cumbersome than a 45 to shoot. The bullet still has significant knock down power and a high velocity and a readily available supply of ammunition at least in the us.

2) Another suggestion for the pistol would be to make either a temporary shoulder stock and/or lanyard to more accurately aim your shots. I would confidently say that these two items can/will easily put either a Glock 17L or Glock 24 out to 100 yard effective ranges. Simply being able to hold the gun steady is sometimes the hardest part about long range shooting. A 9mm will most definitely go that far with a loss of power I wouldn’t go shooting large or dangerous game with it but it won’t drop nearly as much as a .45 which is a much slower moving bullet. The 9mm relies on it’s higher velocity to make the smaller bullet effective and means it’s trajectory is flatter i.e. it drops less over the same distance/time. Also, I say a temporary stock because adding a stock to your pistol could make it illegal (class 3 without a license) and harder to carry. So something that could be used to hold the pistol steady and against your should allowing you to precisely aim with the sites that could easily be taken off would be ideal. I am working on making a stock that slides in the back space of the gun handle and wedges secure with a chunk of rubber. That way it’s more of a shooting stick against your should as apposed to an actual stock.