What's in your pack?

[Jegs.mich]

Batteries+ to in bags

[Gdpolk]

Food/water
Toilet paper
Kill kit appropriate for whatever species I'm hunting
Flashlight
Spare bowstring and shooting glove
License/hunters ed card/permit if needed

Anything else will be dependent on season, topography, and weather.  If I'm a 15 minute walk from the truck which is 30 minutes out of town, there's no precipitation, temps and winds are stable, and I'm chasing a little ole whitetail or squirrels then I'm not lugging around ANYTHING else extra.  If I'm backpacking in 2-3 days from the trailhead into a wilderness location that's several hours from the nearest hospital by car in ideal conditions...well I'm likely to have some communication, fire making, spare clothing, first aid kit, shelter, etc.

[Roger Norris]

One thing we all need in our packs....and handy so that you can grab it quick...is a stop the bleed kit.

CAT-T's, Israeli Banadages, Quick Clot....all of it.  And know how to use it. I refresh on a stop the bleed class about every 18 months. Most of the tactical competitions I do have a stage centered around applying a tourniquet quickly and continuing the fight with one arm, etc.

Think about it: We spend our time in the woods, usually alone, usually AT LEAST a brisk walk from our truck. We climb trees, use razor sharp axes, knives, not to mention broadheads. Bleeding to death 500 yards from your truck is a really dumb way to die.

[Wild Bill MCP 808]

If your in a wilderness area or the back country consider a pre-programed amatuer radio they work where cell phones fail.

[WhistlingBadger]

If your in a wilderness area or the back country consider a pre-programed amatuer radio they work where cell phones fail.

Not a bad idea.  I have a SPOTx with a little keyboard that can send text messages via satellite.  I mostly use it to send a daily, pre-programmed message assuring Mrs. Badger that I am, in fact, still alive.     But it has an SOS button that sends out coordinates to the nearest S&A and/or sheriff's department, and you can supplement that with specific messages.  That would come in pretty handy in an emergency.  It can also receive messages from home, so if there's an emergency there I can know about it. 

Of course, the potential downfall of a device like that is it can take away one of the main reasons most of us go to the back country in the first place.  I don't want Mrs. Badger contacting me to let me know that the Badgerling scraped her knee.  So we're pretty careful to use it for emergencies only.  But in an emergency?  It would be awfully nice.