Customer Reviews

THE RURAL RANGER A SUBURBAN AND URBAN SURVIVAL MANUAL & FIELD GUIDE OF TRAPS AND SNARES FOR FOOD AND SURVIVAL

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Rural Ranger: A Suburban and Urban Survival Manual & Field Guide of Traps and Snares for Food and Survival

Hi,

I don't want to over do my review but feel very strongly about it. Therefore:

This, I believe is the most practical book on modern survival. I have many that focus on wilderness survival/primitive living. The author covers these nicely but not exclusively to the stone age needs/methods. It is for the average man that does not have the time to start a fire with primitive methods, kill food with homemade weapons, etc. It does cover these techniques well enough for those lucky enough to be able to find/get to game rich wilderness, but most people in need of survival will be located in the megalopolis areas. Can you even imagine the gridlock and desperate violence?

Rather, this book is meant for the untold millions (billions?) that will be effected by natural or manmade disasters than loom ominously about us.

The people caught in the huge population centers really need this book because it provides urban methods with the primitive. Most will not be able to find wilderness because of the mass exoduses of people all at once in the chaos. This book combines surviving right where you are and having to "bug out" to some wilderness situation.

This is the only book going into my survival pack (and I have lots of them). It's the only practical guide that will help the average man/woman.

For instance, the person questioning the spellcheck is missing the point and is more worried about a few grammatical errors rather than usable content. It just shows that Mr. Foster is not a pro writer (with a team of proof-readers.) I bought my copy from him as an ebook but wish I had the hard-copy to take up less room in my pack.

I can also say that the few times I contacted Mr. Foster about survival issues, he was quick to explain himself clearly with factual information. He really knows his stuff. As I don't want to reveal anything without his permission, I will say that he is a first responder and teaching at the Masters level to people in the government emergency preparedness agencies (and/or those trying to get a degree in those kinds of fields).

So, have a hoot, pay big bucks on how to learn about survival 200-300 years ago or BUY THIS BOOK and keep it with your emergency supplies (you know the one's you will be forced to choose from when you are evacuated due to catastophy possibly, any day now!).

I'd bet my life on this book and think the civil service should distribute it to everyone concerned.

BTW, I'm a country boy and know how to live off the land (if there is land/game to be had). This book covers urban survival until the dust settles, and basic primitive methods, because only a small percentage will make it to the wilderness which is able to support via hinting, fishing, etc. The rest of us will have to do right where we are at whether urban or rural.

Remember the Boy Scout motto/mantra of "Be Prepared" This is a book of usable preparedness with no special skills.

Sincerely,

David Highum

I am glad someone finally decided to write a survival book and include both modern and Primitive traps. I found the finding game and choosing locations for traps quite informative. I never realized a city or suburb dweller could actually trap more game than someone living in the country! Knowing I can actually feed myself and my loved ones if I had too gives me a secure feeling.

This book fills the void between so called primitive survival and suburban survival skills books that are currently so popular today. The book uses a modern hands on approach of utilizing common household items to enable the average person to actually take a box, a cooking bag and a piece of cordage and be able to feed themselves and purify water. How many of the other "Survival" books on the market cover this or tell you how to heat a room with just a garbage bag?

The book has great, useful, and practical insights as to surviving disaster situations, especially if you don't have access to anyone who could teach you first hand.

That being said, the book looks like a "Copy and Paste" bonanza. Fonts are all over the place (big then small without reason), every "E" in the book is missing (seriously), sentences, even whole paragraphs are repeated, figures aren't always useful/near where they were referenced, lacks basic proofreading (reads like a dictation, with backtracking and changing of advice mid-sentence).

If TEOTWAWKI comes, this book will have been well worth it, but seems pricey for information that can be found cleanly expressed elsewhere. Information could easily have been condensed into a much smaller and cheaper book.

there was some good info in this book. The author also made me think in ways I had not considered before. He shared personal experiences in disasters that were also eye opening. On the other hand, I don't think anyone proofread anything. There were repeating sentences, misspelled words, half printed sentences, etc. everywhere. This would have been an awesome book if someone had taken the time to check it.

An insightful AAA food procurement guide and an advantage for depleted food stores. I have often wondered what I would do if my economically challenged attempts at storing food became depleted. The economics globally and preparations for survival by buying, storing, being dependent upon a limited budget have given me worries. My concern is the inflationary food costs and my affordable attempts at survival purchases of storable food may not be enough to sustain family and myself. I'm grateful for a piece of wire, a box, and the Rural Ranger's intellect that has given me and mine a better chance of surviving the coming economic, natural and/or man-made crisis's. The apparent lack of editing does in no way detract from the knowledge and message here to think about how to use what is at hand to solve a problem in a drastic situation. I believe that Foster wants us to look at the message, think for ourselves and understand that the answers we'll need won't be spelled out nicely and boldly...we must search within ourselves and gather any seeds of wisdom we may to need to, if necessary, SNARE or TRAP. Animals will hide when hunted, but a trapper understands this philosophy, Ron states, "trapping does not use as much energy as hunting" therefore "Trap the evac" (evasion of the animals from the hunter running into snares). What I think he meant by this, is that when the woods are filled with amateurs with guns, game will seek shelter and be snared or trapped by those with patience and the knowledge gleaned from Rural Ranger while avoiding being mistaken for game by those same amateurs

The book was very informative. It was mostly simple and clear to understand. The author displayed a genuine desire to help those who need it in a time of crisis.I whould recommend it to anyone as a means to add to your survial knowledge. I would ignore review criticisms that nic pic the writing as overly critical because it doesn't affect the message.

To quote page 127 of the book, "First off don't be disappointed if you are not having immediate success, nothing in this life is designed that way and you know it. It takes patience and perseverance to learn all the "What ifs," that can happen on the trap line and gain the experience to increase your yields."

I also feverishly looked for a quote in the book where the author stated he isn't the best writer (It's in the book but I couldn't find it). No, he's just a guy with a heck of a lot of knowledge that could/can save your life in an urban or wilderness setting. Those that nit pick the grammer in this book are of course entitled to their opinion. Therefore, if scholarly grammer, punctuation, and font are your biggest concerns please don't buy this book. However, if your looking for life saving information and are not as concerned with perfect punctuation look no further.

Mr. Foster has a tremendous amount of knowledge packed into such a small book. Here are some examples:

Did you know you could use the ashes from your fire to clean your dishes?

Did you know coffee repels ants?

Turkeys are so stupid you can lure them into a trap and they can't find their way out (you will have to buy the book to learn how to make the trap).

You can make great fire starter with cotton balls and petrolleum jelly.

Also there is good information on how to make water drinkable using the sun.

Learn how to make a solar cooker with aluminum foil, a reynolds oven cooking bag and a card board box (no joke).

One of the parts I especially enjoyed was a little article by Bruce "Buckshot" Hemming on the danger wild dogs (you know formerly tame dogs) pose in a crisis. He details how they can pack, that people will set their dogs loose, and that they will eat dead bodies thus learning to put humans on the menu. Don't think that's a joke! I've had old farmers on my parents farm tell me about former domesticated dogs that got together and almost killed a guy. That loving dog you set loose might become a ruthless killer. Don't trust stray dogs in a crisis. SHOOT THEM ON SIGHT...

Finally, I would like to say that there is SO MUCH information in here you will have to read this book at least twice (and not because it's hard to read). Put this and another survival book in your "bug out" gear.

Also recommended:

SAS guide by John Lofty Wiseman

When All Hell Breaks Loose By Cody Lundin

This work was written and self-published (respect!) by a guy who is known for being the genuine article; an experienced and respected back-woodsman. It is true that the text is a bit 'here-and-there', but what the book has to say is essentially common-sense (with a few surprises), calm and agenda-free. It's not cynical, not hysterical, not over-technical or focussed on the 'gear-freak' and I feel, thanks probably to the spelling-mistakes and idiocyncratic sentence-structure etc, that Ron was sat next to me chilled-out and telling a yarn. Spookily, I am also reading Cody Lundin's 'When All Hell Breaks Loose' and the two books, in terms of writing-style, ethos and content, compliment each other wonderfully. I reckon I have read most of Ron's book within the last 24 hours and I did so in a non-linear way, flicking back and forth; probably much like how it was written. You get diagrams, photos, narratives and lists which all, despite the declared flaws, add up to a basic introduction to how to kit-up and behave in certain survival situations. One aspect that is mentioned elsewhere by another positive reviewer is that Ron is accessible and responsive if you have any questions. This is the personal touch which the book exudes and I have no problem recommending you purchase a copy, as long as you can park your language-snobbery and are not expecting foaming-at-the-mouth, apocalyse-prepper kit-lists and spoon-fed instructions on 'tactical' field-work. Peace.

This is one of the most useful survival books in my collection.

This book not only covers the practical techniques and skills required for survival, but also helps establish the right mindset needed in a prolonged emergency. The sections include the basics of obtaining the necessities of water, shelter, fire, and food. It also contains a substantial number of very useful "Tips & Tricks" that would go a long way to make surviving easier and improve quality of life.

The section on traps and snares is fairly detailed and covers a good number of traps for most conceivable needs. The text is excellent and often includes illustrations, some more useful than others. It is important to plan ahead it you want to use snares since having wire and other hardware is often needed.

The book actually hasn't been vacuum bagged\sealed and placed into my emergency kit with my other books since I reread it fairly often.

Highly Recommended!

CFH