Survival kit - do you carry one?

[wabi]

I usually hunt & fish close to home, so my survival kit is most often my cell phone.
I am putting together a small kit (a small canvas shoulder bag) to keep in my truck for those times I venture to unfamiliar locations, though.
I've tried to cover the basics - first aid, storm protection (waterproof lightweight parka, tube tent, & "space blanket" sleeping bag), fire starting kit, a lightweight (titanium) cup & small alcohol burner with a few essentials like coffee & tea bags & instant oatmeal packets , an "emergency" water purification filter (straw type good for up to 20 gallons of water), a couple light sources (LED keychain & LED headlight), a signaling device (multi-function type whistle), and a "swiss army" knife with enough tools to confuse anyone.

What do you carry in the way of a survival kit when you head out on a hunting or fishing adventure?

[mikej]

i have never carried one but it is a good idea to look into

[DuckHunt]

I wish we had enough woodlands around here to make survival an issue. I've tagged twenty deer in the last three seasons and only two of them weren't within 400 yards of a house. Even those two were less than 1/2 mile from civilization. You just can't get deep into the bush around my area.

I have hunted on some public lands that were larger (>7000 acres). In those areas I like to carry a GPS with me just in case I need to know the shortest distance to the nearest road. Other than basic hunting gear the only thing I carry extra is water.

DuckHunt

[Pydpiper]

Great topic Wabi!
I have a huge kit in my truck, I have enough junk in here to start my own walk-in clinic.
I am not always in my truck though.
When hunting I have various first aid stuff in a small kit that comes with me in my hunting pack, it has everything from simple band aids to safety pins, superglue, aspirin, gauze, tape.. It is in a zip-lock bag, and then in another zip-lock bag in case my emergency happens near water, which it likely will knowing me. Same with my cell phone, I have a waterproof bag that it goes in when I hunt, same reason, a wet cellphone isn't of much value.

Whenever I have to get something out of my truck kit I laugh at the things I have in there. I can literally deliver a kid on the side of the road, in a snowstorm.

I do a lot of buying from this guy, usually flashlights but he has some pretty cool stuff on his site.
http://www.lighthound.com/First-Aid-Kits_c_170.html

[raydaughety]

I have a fully stocked trauma bag from my days as a paramedic that has band aids, air splints, ice packs, ace bandages ect...... that I keep in the truck for Tyler's baseball team and put it in the hunting truck after baseball season. It's kind of overkill so I think that I'll take some of the non essential stuff out and put some of the "survival" items that Wabi mentioned in it. Great idea Wabi, thanks.

[Farmer]

I have most of same things as you Wabi , also include :

aspirin

para cord

after bite

imodeium

a roll of black electrical tape ( fixes many things including nasty cuts )

small vial of hand sanitizer

last but not least a couple rolls of TP ( in zip loc bags )-- works great to start fires , trail marker when tracking game day or night , and cleaning up cuts

[MPSNIPER]

Actually got into mine at my hunt camp 5pm this evening. -17c and was getting a little chilled after trying to call in a coyote, so I grabbed a piece of birch bark , some dead twigs for kindling and out came my fire starter and I keep a sandwich bag in my backpack that has a few of my wife's cotton balls (she uses to remove makeup). I smear a bit of petrolium jelly on the cotton and store it in a sandwich bag. Tore off a small piece and 1 spark and the petrolium jelly lights first strike and will throw a 2'' frame like a candle that will burn for about 2-3 minutes which allow the birch bark to start burning along with the twigs. It was pretty good to have a 10 minute small fire to warm the fingers before I drove the atv a mile and a half to my truck. Could only have been better had a coyote decided to show up.
-Michael.

[bbbwb]

Wabi: You have sighted many scenarios and this prepared for them. The only items that I carry beyond your list is a small block and tackle for hoisting a deer, plus a hatchet and a fold up 20"saw with both wood and meat/bone blades. I realize the swiss army knife probably has the saw blade but I prefer larger saw should I need to go for shelter and the cutting up of an animal.
I am always thinking that my pack is too heavy whin I leave vehicle or camp but when reviewing to reduce, it all seems to end up going back in.
You have a good list for being prepared and should be commended for it. Hopefully you will never need it.

bbbwb

[mikej]

piper why the superglue?

[Boo]

piper why the superglue?

Gaping wounds. Works well but hurts like hell!

Only if I'm in the wilderness I carry some stuff but as years go on it's less and less. I carry a space blanket, lighter, 45 cal aerial flares and a couple of bars of high cal garbage.
Edit, I forgot, a whistle.

[mikej]

thanks boo that's what i was thinking but you never know

[Grizzly Adam]

I wish we had enough woodlands around here to make survival an issue.

I understand what you're thinking, Duckhunt, but what we all need to remember is that our trips into the woods aren't the only situation that can put us in unexpected peril.

In fact, our daily driving is probably far more likely to put us into that sort of situation. You can get into a life-or-death survival issue just about anywhere you drive, especially in an area with hills n' hollers!

Here's just one representative example, from the UK, but could (and does) happen anywhere:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... crash.html

Just google "trapped in car for days", and you'll see that it's not even uncommon.

We should all remember that almost any day's normal activities can throw us into an unexpected survival scenario. Lost in the woods isn't the only one!

As to what we carry, well, that's the tough one!

It's wise to customize your kit to your area. As for driving around here, I'd say flotation gear of some sort is wise.

For instance, in a normal drive to the outer Banks last night, I crossed many miles of bridges coming and going (including the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge, 5.2 miles long, tenth longest in the nation), and probably seven miles of causeway, along with riding alongside two canals deep enough to submerge a car for probably thirty miles.

I know from experience that every year, without fail, some tourist or tourists will run off the road and drown because they couldn't get to shore. More rarely, a local will die that way.

It was a nasty, rainy night with very wet roads and hydro-planing hazards last night ... but did I have any flotation gear?

No. And that's the conundrum we all face:

Will we have what we need when we need it?

It's not an easy thing to plan for, but we all should.

[saxman]

I keep one in my hunting pack but since leaving the great white north I dont keep one in the Jeep,but I need to change that.

Great topic Wabi

[Pydpiper]

piper why the superglue?

Boo nailed it. I also have used it for fixing a broken call, mending torn fabric..
Dollar store has small packs of the stuff with three tiny tubes, I find a use for it more frequently than any other part of my kit.

[Mike P]

I always take my doctor with me.