Every Man Should Be Able to Save His Own Life: Tradgang Edition

[J-dog]

Fire starting? teach my daughter these skills and always have a fire kit? it is small but has it all. Now when I want a fire bic lighter comes out!? you HAVE to practice those skills; I might do it for fun but when it comes down to brass tacks? it isnt as easy as it looks.

Rest of it you can do with some really simple basic gear???? you dont need alot. I do it for fun and to teach my daughter the fun of it.

I do carry a good solid knife to, fixed blade something with a 4" blade and for sharpening I usually have a small stone and a hunk of leather w/polish worked into it, Dad gave me that 30 yrs ago still carry it. evening if I am out I will strop the knife, it is amazing how much that alone will sharpen a knife.

Navigation? yeah Dad was a Marine and beat nav into my head from an early age. It can be as simple as using a compass to just keep you in a straight line if you dont know how to actually navigate though??? or dont have a paper map. I have gotten spoiled with UTM though. UTM map, protractor and a compass?? to me that is easiest. I am sued to featurless terrain too? cant see 20 yards in eastern NC jungles you get turned around quickly. Always imagine if you can see for miles or have actual terrain features to play off of would be super simple nav.

Always have a basic first aid kit, nothing special, not carrying a stitch kit or ET tubes, IVs, just a basic bandage, super glue, tylenol or aspirin. I think the older we et keeping some baby aspirin around is important! chest pains come those aspirin might buy you a little extra time. at 43 I am in really good shape but with my families history of heart issues, from what I have witnessed working in Fire/EMS?? be ready.

Good post.

[McDave]

The posts by Bowwild and Roadkill contain vital points for survival skills: get out there and do it!  Reading, posting, and thinking are not substitutes for doing.  If you are interested in survival skills, plan trips of increasing duration to practice them.  During these trips, your weaknesses will be identified and you will have a stronger foundation for the next trip, or an unexpected survival situation if one should occur.

My wife and I like to go on extended backpacking trips off trails in remote areas, like the Wind River mountains of Wyoming.  Our longest has been about 30 days away from the trailhead.  These are not survival trips; we commonly come back to the trailhead munching our last trail bar, worn out clothes, sometimes boots falling apart, fishing lures mostly lost or broken.  A survival trip would start the day after our planned last day away, if for some reason we couldn't make it back, and neither of us have any desire to experience what that would be like.

[YosemiteSam]

It's way easier to avoid problems than to get yourself out of them.  The best survival is knowing your limits and staying well below them when you're on your own.  Some risks I'll gladly take with a buddy I won't even consider when on my own.  I carry matches, 1 or 2 lighters and a ferro-rod but have dealt with enough sopping wet conditions to know that it's best to avoid having to rely on a fire in the first place.  So my solo trips aren't usually in freezing weather.  I can't use a GPS except for the one on my phone.  I know how to use a map/compass just fine but it's much easier to just always know where I am at all times.  Going off-trail is a slow-affair in unfamiliar territory and all the more so if I can't see landmarks.

I've been lost a few times.  I've been separated from my group overnight.  I've run low on supplies.  I've had members of my party injured with many miles back to the car.  None of it is fun.  Staying well below our limits ensures that even if things turn for the worse, we can probably get ourselves out of trouble without risking our lives.

I once joked with my wife that if my mind ever started slipping in my old age, she should just load me up with a week's-worth of supplies and drop me off somewhere deep in the mountains and let nature take its course.  Her response: "Nah.  I know you.  You'd manage to find your way back somehow."

I am desperately hoping that I can get stable enough to go on another Canada trip.  It is going have to be an easy one, but stuff happens fast sometimes.  Knowing what you can and cannot do is the first step, when there you only have yourself or selves.  With any wilderness situation or adventure, leave people home that think there is nothing to learn and prepare for in advance.

[Benoli]

I used to tell my Boy Scouts to never drink more than 1/2 of your water. When 1/2 is gone it's time to replenish. Don't wait until your empty.

[Alvey]

My wife and I like to go on extended backpacking trips off trails in remote areas, like the Wind River mountains of Wyoming.  Our longest has been about 30 days away from the trailhead.  These are not survival trips; we commonly come back to the trailhead munching our last trail bar, worn out clothes, sometimes boots falling apart, fishing lures mostly lost or broken.  A survival trip would start the day after our planned last day away, if for some reason we couldn't make it back, and neither of us have any desire to experience what that would be like. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Think I have a new Hero on Tradgang!!

[Walt Francis]

I like Kevin’s thought regarding skill and knowledge.  How calm one remains and handles himself in the woods makes the most difference in any survival situation.  Use your brain and practice your woodsmanship.  Practice being in survival situations, it will help.

I was 28 before starting to big game hunt, late compared to many.  For a weekend hunts I would take my bow, an MRE in each of my BDU’s cargo pockets, a knife, compass (which I never had to use until I hunted Texas twenty years later), matches (in the MRE) & a cigarette lighter, wool shirt, fleece jacket and lightweight poncho.  I would head into the Frank Church on Friday afternoon and come out after dark on Sunday evening.  Regardless of the weather conditions nothing else was needed.  A .44 was added due to the grizzly’s when I moved to Montana.  

Now days I take a whole lot of crap in the mountains, most of which is not needed, but I think it just might be needed, so I haul it around the mountains.  

Skill, knowledge, and a clear-calm mindset are the most important thing one takes into the field.

[mark Willoughby]

A boot shinning kit ! Can't have your boots looking but Crack nasty            

[ahab78]

Better shine them up like mirrors! Use them to reflect sunlight and start your fire!

[Learner]

Actually, wax boot polish may also make a good fire starter......

[Learner]

Actually, wax boot polish may also make a good fire starter......

[ahab78]

Sure thing. Also, helps to light it on fire and melt it to get that mirror finish on your cadillacs.

[mark Willoughby]

OORAH

[Archie]

Originally posted by YosemiteSam:
[QB] It's way easier to avoid problems than to get yourself out of them.  The best survival is knowing your limits and staying well below them when you're on your own.  

Say it again, Sam!  I agree completely.

[ahab78]

Let's keep it going if anyone else has anything else to offer. I'll compile all of this into a guide this weekend.

Maybe a little outside of this.  But, when we go on canoe trips to Quetico, every time we run into people suffering from dehydration.  Two things about Quetico water, 1. It is high in mineral content that helps with inflammation as well or better than any medical gunk available. I have arthritis, I am amazed every time. 2.  It is the most drinkable water in the world.  So here we have people suffering from dehydration floating around on the perfect cure, clean enough to drink straight from the lake and they are afraid too because of PC rules that do not apply there.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by pavan:
Maybe a little outside of this.  But, when we go on canoe trips to Quetico, every time we run into people suffering from dehydration.  Two things about Quetico water, 1. It is high in mineral content that helps with inflammation as well or better than any medical gunk available. I have arthritis, I am amazed every time. 2.  It is the most drinkable water in the world.  So here we have people suffering from dehydration floating around on the perfect cure, clean enough to drink straight from the lake and they are afraid too because of PC rules that do not apply there.

Pavan, that sounds very nice!  Here in CA, where I hunt, there are cattle mucking everything up throughout the summer and fall.  It may look clean sometimes, but it isn't.  

There are some places/times where I can still dunk my head in to drink like an animal.  But none of those are where I can hunt (National Parks).

Are folks just too scared and unprepared (no filter)?  Why are they getting dehydrated in the first place?

I think it may just be the stress at hand.  Many people go on canoe trips and think that there is nothing to learn.  Then they see that first big lake and feel the waves kicking them around and still do not realize that they do not know how to make a canoe do what they want and the struggle begins.  One time on Basswood , my wife and myself hit the wall at the brink of the main lake, Green Island and pulled to shore.  the white caps were ripping 15 to 20 feet wide and 6 to 8 foot high.  Warm southwest winds come over the big lake and descend and accelrate.  A group of three canoes came by.  One guy yelling in the wind, "If we all paddle three times on the right, then two times on the left, then four times on the right we will go straight."  He looked at us on shore and said, "We have system, we are way better than those old farts."  They headed straight into it and out of sight, two and half hours later, the bottom of a kevlar canoe appeared along Sunday Island about 400 yards away, then later the red canoe.  both were ruthlessly drug across the rocks to dry land. Then one of them went along shore with a big stick, snagging their packs.  Where was the white canoe?  Later I noticed one of their packs about a hundred yards up shore from us.  When it got to shore I went and got it.  When the wind died a bit, we put our canoe in and brought them their pack. They were in rough shape, they didn't have their food pack, they did not know where the other canoe ended up, but  saw them flip.  I had drank no water in eight hours. They didn't know the lake was cleaner than any tap water in the lower 48 and were afraid to drink it without a filter.  What did they have the nerve to ask us for?  They wanted to know if we had a spare bottle of whiskey.  I did have a collapsible non glass container filled with 18 year Glenmorangie, that I paid a lot of money for, they were not going to get a drop of it.  I offered them energy bars and gorp, they declined.  Canoe tripping in Quetico, anyone can do it, it's easy.  We in the path of the big blow down as well years before, how no one died is a mystery to me.  We were on the Canadian side. The blast had subsided, trees were down everywhere. we kept hearing three shots fired.  A signal for help. In the thunder storm, my son and myself headed out to help.  Guns are not allowed in Quetico, they claimed that they needed it for when bears attacked. You have a better chance of getting killed by a camp robbing Canadian Jay than a bear in Quetico.  We found the shooters,perfectly healthy and safe on a portage trail.  The head guy of four wanted us to go all the way back to the ranger office and have an outfitter come and get them with a power boat or helicopter.  We headed back to our camp, he yelled, "You can't just leave us here, it's the law."

[DannyBows]

You folks have pretty much nailed it, I can only emphasize one thing that was mentioned: Knowledge. The more you know, the less you need.

This is what I have at hand everyday, all the time, in the woods or on the job.

More water than I think I'll need and a Sawyer water filter rated for 100,000 gallons. I also carry plenty of purification tabs in case I have to stay on the move.
A stainless steel military canteen kit with the stove and a single wall stainless bottle, so I can use it for boiling.
Enough food for a couple days, usually Jerky and Oatmeal.
A survival bivy and a Mylar blanket.
A 44" by 44" shemagh, and a Bandanna.
Leather gloves.
A first aid kit.
A small hand fishing kit.
100 feet of Paracord.
A fire kit which contains several bic lighters, several Ferro Rods with strikers, some Vaseline soaked cotton balls and some Phatwood.
A compass and folding maps of the area.
A Tomahawk, a Becker Bk2 survival knife, Mora Bushcraft Black knife, and a little Sog Skinner that is what I use all the time. I also carry a Bahco Laplander folding saw and a multi tool.
A P51 can opener and my old Dog Tags.

That's the main gear I always have with me. I drive for a living so it's no big deal to toss it in the vehicle. I carry it in a USMC digital woodland assault pack. I estimate it weighs 12 pounds or so, not including water. I never know where I'll end up day to day. I'm often in New York, including the city. I remember 911, and living on a sailboat in a Hurricane zone, and in the rings of a Bullseye of one the prime targets for bad guys has turned me into something of a Prepper. You should see the gear and food stocks I have at home and in the area!

My woods kit always includes those items, and since I'm ground hunting these days and don't have to lug tree stand gear it's easy. My work kit will also include pens, paper and such I need for the job.

This year I'm going to have fun improving my weaker areas such as Edible and Medicinal plants and Primitive traps. I have Conibears and a few Duke traps in my gear here, plus Snares.

I've also picked up a Survival Medicine handbook to study, but as soon as I can I'd like to take some classes in First Aid.

[Roadkill]

There are at least three enduring truths so far:  being prepared for a number of eventualities is important.
As in most any situations your brain is  a key asset.
Water is so very important to your survival. Once you get dehydrated, you lose your ability to think clearly.
I make altoid e-kits for scouts.  It has a variety of things for emergencies. There are many possibilities for them on the net
I did Quetico in the 1960's and parts of it were virgin territority and we ate lots of rice and fish.  Beautiful place