Hunting a new area -- Survival Tips

[Bowwild]

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.

[YORNOC]

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!


 

[Matt Fowler]

Never thought to use a space blanket as a reflector, excellent idea. Gonna have to try that.

[Hummer3T]

This is a rhino grip
 

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).

[Jeff Strubberg]

The trash bag is a great idea.  

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.

 

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...

[Pete Darby]

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.

[hills of texas]

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.

[Flinttim]

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.

[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 easy to carry every time.   Survival comes first everything else is a distant second.

[YORNOC]

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.

[PaddyMac]

Bowwild, a Kershaw Onion is a little one-hand clip knife... redundancy.

[Plumber]

a gps has to be a good Idea how ever I cant comitt to using one I cant put that much trust in the unit..I hunt the swamp of the eastern shore of md.it will gobble you up it is flat an very labor intense to get throw the muck an water.my mind set when hunting in areas that can be of danger.is to be calm you are hunting relax an think about your mission when setting up remember what do I have to do to be safe double check everything never 2nd guess your self or assume anything.I hope this helped I hunt alot by my self an you gotta know everything is alright.in the wrong area an the wrong set of circumstances YOU WILL DIE.

[Bobby Urban]

More important than all the survival tools, kits and gadgets is KEEP YOUR HEAD!!  When faced with the certainty that you are lost, alone, and staying at least the night not panicking is exponentially more important than what you have with you.  

We are all suceptible to panick so practicing the skills in a controlled enviroment will help provide confidence in yourself.

In survival school we were told a story about a Canadian bush pilot that was military trained in survival who went down in the bush.  His radio would not receive so he has no idea help was on the way to his exact location.  Upon arival the rescue team found a man with a complete survival kit, a relatively sound plain for a shelter a rifle, pistol and ammunition.  They arrived within 24hrs.  The evidence in the snow showed he had walked around the plane twice before he stuck the pistol in his mouth and you know the rest.  

Anyone can panick - test yourself in progressively tougher "controlled" enviroments.  Most will be located within 48hrs of being lost.  

Be safe

[Ragnarok Forge]

If you are in a life and death type of hunting a SPOT is great insurance.   Push the button and help is on the way.   I carry them in certain hunting environments.

[Roadkill]

I teach survival to scouts and provide them an altoid tin. Birthday candle, matches, fish hook, singlengle razor blade safety pin, screws, string, dental floss, needle, 2 by2 mirror glued to the top, foil.  Tape it shut for water proofness with a list taped on the lid.  Wrap it with paracord.

I tell them never open except in an emergency.  Last year a young man stopped me to say he still had his unopened kit from 5 years ago

[lpcjon2]

Just join the Marines its free!! Best survival training I ever had,desert,jungle, mountain and cold weather. The basics are the same for all environments. The key is to use your head.

[beendare]

Took myself off of the space blanket fan club many years ago after an overnight out. I carry a chunk of silnylon now. And I no longer use a mini mag [reason for the nights out!]I prefer the LED headlamps

Carry my knife, lighter,compass [and in the afternoon a headlamp] in my pocket now after a bit of a scavenger hunt looking for my boots and pack after dark on an Arizona elk hunt.

[Roadkill]

Agree with USMC.  Jungle survival school in the Philippines was great.  Mountain Warfare Training Center teaches the basics with severity.  It is tough

[Sam McMichael]

Don't forget that along with the first aid kit, you need the KNOWLEDGE to use it effectively. My large camp kit also has a first aid manual in it.

I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. So I'm not the only clown whose camp has gotten misplaced?