SURVIVAL
& SAFETY
Stay Prepared when Going Off-Grid
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
– Alan Lakein, author of bestseller,
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life
J
im knelt soundlessly in the brush of the forest floor. His
rifle – cocked and loaded – vibrated slightly under the
weight of his adrenalized grip; if it were a dog it would have
been whining with anxiety. Jim shifted to his good knee, now
being punctured by a pine cone he hadn’t seen, but he didn’t
dare move again. The trees hovered over him, like skyscrapers
filled with crowds of people, watching, waiting for Jim to take
down the bull. It was a sight he’d paid almost eight thousand
dollars to see, and it took him two years to plan this trip. He was
going to get that moose.
It was a prize adult bull, with antlers longer than Jim’s gun.
Munching casually on vegetation in a clearing, the animal had
no knowledge of its predator’s presence. Jim shook the fallen pine needles from the bill of his cap and stood to his feet.
His breath was white against the frozen air, and coming out in
large, billowing clouds of tension. The snowshoes he wore were
top quality, his coat and gloves were warm enough to make him
sweat, even now, but he’d worn the wrong pants. Jim’s legs felt
like jelly under him, but he continued to follow the row of trees
leading to the clearing, fueled only by pure adrenaline.
Jim thought about the work he’d put in as a hunter. He remembered all the whitetails he’d taken with ease, the three
elk, a coyote, several hundred waterfowl, and two wild hogs
last summer. He was a good shot, an excellent hunter – in his
mind, there was no question about it: he could get a moose, no
problem. Only, he didn’t account for the fact that the bull in the
clearing wasn’t alone. He had a family. And, as the sound of a
Adventure Outdoors Summer 2015 69