always tell someone exactly where your planning to go (this should get them in the ball park). space blanket, fire starter (striker), garbage bag, rhino grip, rope, paper and pencil, some fishing line, knife, 1 small hook and split shot. (this all takes up no room and weighs nothing and some you use for nornal bow hunting activities.
-------------------- Life is about learning from your mistakes!
posted
Consider orange or other bright handles for knives and other important gear so if it drops or you lay it down, you can find it. You don't need a camo knife that is hidden in a sheath or your pack anyway.
If you lay your pack down, consider tying some long orange ribbon above so you can actually find it again. As above, develope a bare minimum kit of a few things, compass, knife, fire starter, some cord that stays on your person, even if you drop your pack.
Lastly, learn to admit you have a possible problem, sit and think about it. Accept you might just be spending the night. Tomorrow will be better.
Where I hunt in Colorado, MOST times, if I were able to curl up into a ball and roll down hill,. from almost anywhere, I would end up in the main creek, which runs past both the camp and the truck. ChuckC
Posts: 3690 | From: Deforest, Wisconsin | Registered: Oct 2003
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The one thing i would add is....pretend you are in that situation and try your survival plan out in your back yard.......first in good weather and then when it is raining and or cold.
-------------------- St. Huberts Rangers Mudd's Merry Men Posts: 1753 | From: Moore, Oklahoma | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Kind of makes me wonder how those Mountain men survived with only a knife, possibly a hatchet, and that old smoke pole...
No GPS, good maps or satellite to depend on,,and their only match was a flint and blanket was a hide of some sort..
Boy have we become technology dependent I guess I really do need that Badlands 2400 pack stuffed if I want to get more than a mile from the truck. BTW, whats a Rhino Grip? Guess I should not leave home without one of those too ...
I'm surprised "Charmin" has not been mentioned. I do believe the bears now depend on it...
Seriously, I take a lighter and compass.. If going in a mile or so, a space blanket and along with that a small "back pocket size" first aid kit.
In the event I do grab my day pack? It may have some hard candy and trail mix, may find its way into the day pack. Not to mention that "Charmin" I mentioned above.
I have for years, always had a small signal mirror and a few feet of cord in there with [ more recently]one of Clay Walkers very light wt "Hawks" strapped to the outside of the Diablo Day Pack along with a bit of water in the hydro pack. Total weight not over 5-6 lbs.
Gene
-------------------- 67 1/2 Super Kodiak 64 Kodiak 69 Super Kodiak Big River replica 54 dual shelf static tipped Grizzly 54 dual shelf Compass Kodiak
PBS Associate Member Traditional Bowhunters of WA. Posts: 2493 | From: La Center, Wash. | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
I also always have a role of orange flagging tape. To mark things. I learned on a forestry job back in 1977 in Colorado if tying flagging to tie it high. Elk will bite off the flagging at the knot sometimes.
-------------------- If the mind wanders, so too will the arrow.
Member of various archery organizations. Posts: 3841 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Okay, it looks like todays "survival kit" more resembles a kit to make it through the night or some essential gear till you find your way. Other than all the mandatory items listed here...I'll add one for duration survival. Bring some snare wire, know how to use it before going into the wilderness. Use snares to get food. No energy expended unless going to the snare and back. No endless roaming around hopefully making a shot. If you are stuck for over a week and eating rabbit/squirrel and NOTHING else....you have to munch down a couple of bones. The meat is too lean, and you can get protein poisoning if you dont get some fat/marrow in your system. Get a good book on survival and READ it. Try techniques as some said here in your yard. My buddy and I stayed in a spike camp in northern Alberta in tents in early spring. We were on the opposite side of the Peace river than the few people and our guide living in the area. No situation happened, but we were ready. We made soup out of cattail roots and dandelion leaves, made deadfall traps for fox size game, luckily did it all for fun and experience rather than HAVING too. But learned a lot!
Here is one of the smaller deadfalls on a game trail. Didn't get any game, a bear destroyed it!
-------------------- David M. Conroy Posts: 2745 | From: Bellingham, Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2009
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posted
Never thought to use a space blanket as a reflector, excellent idea. Gonna have to try that.
Posts: 232 | From: PA | Registered: May 2005
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I use it for grasping the hide when cleaning an animal, hanging a tarp or piece of plastic, as a tree hanger for my gear, etc, etc, etc.
I like to go minimal, but it only takes you once to get caught out when and were you don't want to be and you start carrying stuff that would make thing easier and safer. I carry more, the further I go afield (2-10 miles from the truck or camp).
-------------------- Life is about learning from your mistakes!
For me, the key is not getting lost! Maps, gps, multiple compasses, whatever it takes. I usually carry a gps of some type, an orienteering compass and a pin on spirit compass on my lapel for quick reference.
Also, folks seems to want to haul food along if they are afraid of getting caught out in the wild. Folks, food is about 1/10th as important as water. A camelback is a whole lot more important to your survival than a candy bar.
quote:Kind of makes me wonder how those Mountain men survived with only a knife, possibly a hatchet, and that old smoke pole...
No GPS, good maps or satellite to depend on,,and their only match was a flint and blanket was a hide of some sort..
Boy have we become technology dependent.
That mountain man was content if he reached his destination in a month. Heck, most of em didn't realy have a destination in mind, for that matter.
The tended to die young, too. Not one of my personal goals...
-------------------- "Teach him horsemanship and archery, and teach him to despise all lies" -Herodotus Posts: 3468 | From: Linn, MO | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
An interesting aside that mirrors some of the thoughts on this thread. The Hudson Bay Company which has been sending people into the wilderness for around four hundred years had a survival kit which looked like a tobacco tin. When opened the first thing you found was a tea bag with the instructions to make hot tea. If you followed the instructions you would now: 1. have a fire in a protected spot (seldom do we make fires easily on top of a windswept treeles shelf of rock. 2. Have water and drinking it. 3. Have time to determine what you should be doing. 4. Probably now anchored for a bit so searchers can find you.
-------------------- Pete Darby Posts: 512 | From: Manasses VA | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
To me survival is a state of mind. A good base of knowledge and field experience is a good place to start. My pack includes a knife, cordage, fire kit( matches and dryer lent), plastic sheeting, a waterproof cigar tube holds fishing tackle and has a half roll of electical tape wrapped around it for misc. use. I've got a couple of sharp glue on broadheads in leather sheaths, light wire for snares or any other job that comes about, a small flash light, salt pepper and sugar packets, as well as some beef and chicken cubes. It all fits in a wide mouth plastic jug and takes up very little space in my pack. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Posts: 36 | From: Llano, Texas | Registered: Nov 2011
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posted
GPS units are nice but don't rely solely on one. Take a good compass and know how to use it. John Nail and I were hunting the Big South Fork area and the canyons (Hoosiers would say hollers) were so steep that the GPS could not acquisition the necessary 3 satelites . Were it not for having an old Ranger school graduate (Nail) and a good compass and topo map, we'd had to backtrack our trail and would have got in long after dark, NOT GOOD.And fire. Make your firemaking redundant. Back up the backup.Bic lighter or two, matches, dry tinder. If you have fire you'll make it. Even in warm weather a fire will boost your morale immeasurebly..Carry one of those little drinking tube water treatment devices. Lite weight and will get you thru.
-------------------- Genesis 27:3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; Posts: 1389 | From: Indiana | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I hunt alone a lot. I have spent several nights sleeping next to a kill or just away from camp due to hunting till last light. Mt men were tough guys for sure. I prefer smart to tough. I may not be totally comfortable but I sure won't be miserable either. I used to carry an M-60 machine gun, ammo, etc... and an explosives pack on my back for a living. I am endlessly amused by the threads about light weight clothing and wool being to bulky and heavy. Having survived 3 days stuck on a glacier and some of the most hostile environments in the world I will take weight, a bit of discomfort and survival over light weight and easy to carry every time. Survival comes first everything else is a distant second.
-------------------- Clay Walker Skill is not born into anyone. It is earned thru hard work and perseverance. Posts: 3246 | From: Vancouver, WA. | Registered: May 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Ragnarok Forge: I hunt alone a lot. I have spent several nights sleeping next to a kill or just away from camp due to hunting till last light. Mt men were tough guys for sure. I prefer smart to tough. I may not be totally comfortable but I sure won't be miserable either. I used to carry an M-60 machine gun, ammo, etc... and an explosives pack on my back for a living. I am endlessly amused by the threads about light weight clothing and wool being to bulky and heavy. Having survived 3 days stuck on a glacier and some of the most hostile environments in the world I will take weight, a bit of discomfort and survival over light weight and comfortable every time. Survival first everything else is a distant second.
YES! It is a relative term for sure.
-------------------- David M. Conroy Posts: 2745 | From: Bellingham, Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2009
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BTW, whats a Rhino Grip? Guess I should not leave home without one of those too ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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