[SkaerE]

or backpacking?

a good first aid bag of any sorts? or any type of survival bag? granted the survival would only be applicable to people on multiple day hikes (or in less than familiar surroundings)

I've been thinkin here recently that I need to put one together for myself when I head out into the woods. Seems first aid would be more useful for hunters, but I like the idea of a small case for survival as well.

anyhow, I'd like some input here as to what to pack into it.

FIRST AID

1.) Quickclot
2.) length of surgical tubing
3.) Dermabond (or hell, I've used superglue in an emergency)
4.) Military battle dressings (since I have some left over) or womens pads (don't laugh, they're made for absorbing a ton of blood)
5.) ACE bandage
6.) Med Tape
7.) duct tape
8.) Iodine solution
9.) Trauma shears
10.) tweezers
11.) various meds, anti-inflammitories, anti-histamines, etc

seems like all this would fit in a relatively small pouch or bag and while a bother most times, would be invaluable when needed :evil:

anyone else?

[borrowedtime69]

real good list there. and im not laughing about the women's sanitary pads, they work great and are cheap, if you got a wife/GF you can liberate some from...:neener:

in mine i also add:
Salt & sugar to mix in water to rehydrate and regain electrolytes if you are over-heated. the salt is your electrolytes and the sugar in the water slows down the absorbtion so it doesnt just run through your system. just dont add too much of either.

Small squeeze bottle of rubbing alcohol to disinfect, cool the skin down by evaporation, and as emergency fire starter.

imodium tablets for diahrea, this can really knock you out if you cant get it under control.

three handwarmer packets to help reheat you if exposure or hypothermia happen. one between your thighs and one each under your armpitts to warm the blood circulating in those area. the packets are small and light weight.

if on a long hike, they sell a temparary tooth filling kit that you can mix and fill in a busted tooth, cavity, or missing filling. it will save a camp trip if anything happens.
-Eric

[formerflyer]

Well, I just got out my hunting day-pack to take inventory. I probably carry too much, but I’ve been stuck out overnight and I prefer to carry enough so that I can spend 24 hours or so and not be terribly inconvenienced. This is what I carry:

QuickClot battle pack (Quickclot, 2 field dressings, one compression dressing) snapped to outside top of pack for easy access in an emergency.
Floppy boonie hat held wrapped into package with 4 feet of surgical tubing, containing:
2 garbage bags
1 contractor bag (big, TOUGH garbage bag)
Space blanket
2 fire-starters (cotton soaked in wax)
2 condoms
Half a magnesium/flint fire-starter
2.5 oz combo sunscreen/bug juice
1.75” Gerber lightweight pocketknife
Smallest, lightest multi-tool w/pliers available
6 zip ties, various sizes
1.5 oz eyedropper full of bleach (water purifier)
First-aid pouch containing:
2 pr latex gloves
Assortment of bandages
Moleskins
Anti-bacterial ointment
Dacron 20 & 50 lb fishing line (total 15 yards)
Immodium
Dulcolax
Antihistamine
Ibuprofen
Tylenol
Cipro
Antacid

In the small accessory pocket of the pack I carry:
Micro-LED
Surefire G2 Nitrolon w/2 spare batteries
40 ft. blaze orange tape (surveyor’s tape)
10 brawny paper towels in a Ziploc baggie (TP)
Carmex lip balm
Reed end of a predator call (not perfect, but will whistle up a coyote when you’re bored)
Golf pencil
Very small notepad
2 pr foam earplugs
The leftover end of a roll of electrician’s tape
48 hours worth of my prescription medications

Total weight of the pack, without filling the camelback or adding ammo, is right at 5 lbs.
I always get weird looks when I mention the condoms. You’d be surprised the number of strange uses you’ll put these to. And, no, THAT’S not one of them. By strange, I mean for instance, stuff one in a sock to make an emergency canteen, or use one to protect the muzzle of your rifle in rain, snow or dust. There are lots of other uses for them, but make sure to buy the non-lubricated ones.
As for the latex gloves, in addition to normal uses, they’re better than nothing when your hands get cold. They stop wind chill completely, they are waterproof, and you retain full dexterity. Next time your hands are cold, try putting on a pair of latex gloves as a liner. You’ll be surprised how much they help.
You also don't need a girlfriend or wife to get sanitary pads. They are available FREE in airline restrooms. Just don't let the stewardess (can I still call them that?) see you stuffing them in your pocket. You'll get some funny looks.

Does it sound like I’m carrying too much?

[MCgunner]

I carry a snake bite kit in my gun belt. It's got a turnicate in it. That's about all I have except a shirt for first aid when I'm afield. I don't do overnighters much anymore, when back packing. Never really was much into the overnight thing, just day trips.

I have two gun belts. Both have snake bite kits in 'em. They both have lighters in 'em, space blanket, some folded trash bags, compass, knife/multitool, canteen with water treatment tablets, ammo pouch, and flash light/spare batteries. Of course, holster for handgun. Just a few items to get me buy if I need 'em. If I'm huntin' I'll have my hunting knife, also, but normally just hiking I carry a multitool with a knife blade.

[MCgunner]

2 garbage bags
1 contractor bag (big, TOUGH garbage bag)
Space blanket
2 fire-starters (cotton soaked in wax)
2 condoms
Half a magnesium/flint fire-starter
2.5 oz combo sunscreen/bug juice
1.75” Gerber lightweight pocketknife
Smallest, lightest.........

Yeah, ya just never know when you'll bump into a hooker out on the trail...:D

[SkaerE]

2 condoms
1 contractor bag (big, TOUGH garbage bag)

now THAT is what you would need if you ran into a hooker in the woods, just tear some holes in the bag and wala! whole body condom. :evil:

[Carl N. Brown]

I remember an USAF survival training film where a condom was
used as a water storage bag. When the question was raised
about how durable a condom canteen would be, I could not
help but remembered the old joke about the Indian named
Broken Rubber.

[White Horseradish]

Don't laugh, guys. I wore condoms on my thumb over the dressing for awhile when I washed hands and took showers. The dressing was there because I ground off my thumbprint in an angle grinder mishap.

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

My black bag has...

4" candle.
Space BAG, not the blanket. They're harder to find, but worth the extra buck.
Extra lighter. When I'm afield there's always a torch in my pocket.
2,000 foot flares. Six of them. Pen type launcher.
Yellow and orange surveyors tape.
Tylenol
4 Granola bars
eye dropper full of bleach
9v LED survival flashlite with strobe function


When I'm afield on a day hike or an over nighter, there's always a pocket knife with me. And usually my hunting knife. It's a Puma, http://www.pumaonly.com/pages/6377-1.htm. Note that the back edge is also sharpened. Works as an axe too.

In the day pack, Most often I also carry a small camp stove. It's just a GAZ unit. One US army canteen pot with two styrofoam Cup-O-Noodles. Enough water for the day. There's a mini maglite and one set of extra batteries.

I don't carry a first aid kit per'se. I've always got clothing for the environment. A bandana, socks and shirt for bandages. A leather belt or rifle sling as a tourneqit. I seldom if ever hike alone, and never leave home without putting an identical map that I'm carrying, on the kitchen table with a flight plan. -I at least want the searchers to know where to look for my body. Makes it better for the wife and the insurance companies down the road. When hunting, my partner and I carry GMRS radios and GPS's. And a good lensatic compass incase the clouds are too thick for satelite reception. Maps too. I'm never in the woods without pistola and at least one reload. I can make noise but I should probably carry a whistle. I also carry a woods wallet. It's not the one I carry daily. It floats, holds my hunting licenses and tags along with my medical insurance card, ID, One credit card and some cash.

-Steve

[KriegHund]

Before you all laugh, let me say that im a survival freak. Furthermore, my father REFUSES to take ANYTHING when we go camping or hiking. Hes an idiot, IMHO.

To the point-

I take a web belt w/ H strap suspenders.

On the belt=
1 liter canteen
Russian AK bayonette
Glock 78 Field knife
Survival canteen (http://neardeathexperiments.com/smf/index.php?topic=48.0)
Dutch ammo pouch with thermal blankets, 2 flares, and various other survival items, and a mag-light, and about 80 feet of para-cord.
Bag meant for paintball with a decent-sized med gear in it.

Attached to the H-straps as a sort of backpack is an alice buttpack with a folding shovel and sweater, some snakc items. Necco wafers are really good for this sorta stuff.

Some people call it overkill- but i just like to be prepared. It gives me multiple options in case something doesnt work as its supposed too, and its comfortable.

Forgot to add, in the backpack is an extra pair of wool socks. Ive always heard socks are extremely important! They are small enough to be worth carrying.

Oh, i really need to get some glowstick and candles too!

MCgunner
I've heard time and time again that snakebite kits simply dont work (history channel, various TV references, and when i went to get my hunters-safety card)

[~z]

Those condoms are handy for other things too. An old GF went hiking with me one time and we used one...for a blister. Open package dont unroll, just put it on the blister so as the part where you might other wise...well it serves as padding to keep the blister from rubbing anymore. One way of the other, they are handy to keep on hand.
~z

[Merkin.Muffley]

I carry a Buck knife, a swiss army knife, a couple of plastic grocery bags for heart/liver. That's it.

[~z]

Damn, it takes one hard man to walk out of the woods with his heart and liver in a plastic grocery bag.
~z

['Card]

I do a lot of hunting in pretty remote, hard-to-reach areas (especially during bow season) so it's pretty common for me to hike or kayak in and then camp for a few nights while I hunt. This is the checklist for the medkit I keep in my backpack and leave at camp. Most of these items are in small containers so the kit is fairly small, even though it looks like a long list.
Scissors
Tweezers
Band-Aids
Wide Band-Aids
Knuckle Band-Aids
Bottle Liquid Band-Aid
Trauma Bandages
Gauze Wrap
Elastic Wrap
Neosporin
Iodine Swabs
Snakebite Kit
Razors
SAM Splint
Tape
Aloe Sunburn Lotion
Tempanol Tooth Filling
Orajel
Ibuprofen
Ultram
Penicillin
Imodium
Ex-Lax
Sudafed
Melatonin
Tolmetin 400mg
Eye Drops
CPR Microshield
Triangular Bandages

I should also probably mention that I'm an EMT, so the other guys in the group I hunt and kayak with always count on me to handle all the medical/first aid stuff. Because of that, the list is probably a lot longer than it would need to be if I was just looking after myself.

[H&Hhunter]

All of the above is great.

I also carry zilocane, surgical staples, suture packs, dexamethazone for snake bites or altitude sickness.

And one extra bullet for those really bad emergencies.:uhoh:

[lawson]

And one extra bullet for those really bad emergencies.:uhoh:

there was a hiker out here a few years back who had his arm pinned by a giant boulder, and ended up amputating it with a multi-tool knife. he said in an interview he was glad he didn't have a gun, or else he might have taken the easy way out....

i hunt and hike in the desert mostly, so here's my day pack.

i carry everything in an old canvas military backpack

Becker Brute
6x8 tarp for shelter.
2 25 foot lengths of para cord
extra .22 mag ammo for my sidearm
film cannister of tinder with firestarter banded to it
camelbak resevoir (3 liters)
bic lighter
space blanket
emergency poncho
hand warmers
mess kit with utensils and GI mini Tobasco sauce wrapped in a bandana.
snare wire
thermal longjohns (in a heavy duty ziploc bag)
extra wool socks (also in ziploc bag)
3 trioxane tablets
2 power heat cannisters
pipe & tobacco
homemade trail mix (peanuts, raisins, cashews, dried apricots)
2 contractor garbage bags
2 ace bandages
sutures
water purification tabs
latex gloves

there are probably a few things in there that i forgot to list. it sounds like a lot, but it's not very heavy and comforting to have.

[MCgunner]

Man, you guys must've been watching a lot of Rambo re-runs on A&E this week. :rolleyes: Jeez, if I had all that in my day pack, I'd be lucky to make it half a mile. In my 52 years, I hurt myself once hunting, cut my thumb with my hunting knife to the bone when I was a kid. I just wrapped it up in my tee shirt cause it was bleeding pretty bad and rode home on my motorcycle and bandaged it up good, didn't even stitch it. It healed and I still have a little scar there.

I'm no doctor, not even a medic, so stitchin' myself up is a little over the top. :rolleyes: I know guys that carry suture packs in the field, but to stitch their dogs up after a fight with a big boar. They don't hunt with guns, let the dogs pin the animal down and cut its throat with a knife. I've hunted with a fellow that does this a few times. He don't like guns around, might hit one of his dogs, but he don't really worry too much about himself for some reason. :D When I went with this guy, I took a .45 Colt revolver. I wasn't about to get that close to a big boar without back up...:what: This is his main sport, though, and he has been hurt, but he still don't carry stay free mini pads or condoms or anything...LOL!

[azredhawk44]

I go backpacking solo sometimes, and when I go with other folks, I am usually the most well prepared person. Sometimes this fact scares me.

I have a snakebite kit which includes:
razor
venom extractor
antiseptic wipes
band-aids
matches
painkillers (tylenol/acetamenophen, aspirin, percocet)
other stuff (i can't remember right now)

I have a separate first aid kit which includes:
water purifying tablets
ace bandage
gauze bandages
athletic tape
moleskin
superglue
alergy pills
more painkillers
more band-aids
tweezers
matches and lighter
(other stuff I can't remember)

I also carry paracord, at least 50 feet of 1/4 inch thick rope, a light fixed-blade knife from Columbia River Knife and Tool, a swiss army knife, 2 maglite flashlights and extra batteries for each, a compass, topo maps of where I am, my cell phone and a cheap plastic rain poncho.

All that stuff weighs very little. Maybe 5 pounds. It goes with my usual food, water, tent and clothing. And sidearm.

[FatalMove]

I carry gear in backback and tank bag on 4 wheeler:
Waterproof matches
Band-aids
iodine
Hockey Tickets--for cleaning hockey from buttocks :p
extra socks and underwear for warmth and case i get "the runs" :what:
2 c cell maglight
2aa maglight
4 in buck knife non folder
bone saw by gerber for the pelvis bone
3 pair rubber gloves for field dressin 3 doe a day max bag limit
grunt call
doe in heat call
rattle bag
visine for the eyes
small pill bottle for sinus, headache pills
Topo map of area i hunt
walkie talky to talk to dad
cell phone on vibrate so wife can keep her thumb on me
Double check to make sure i leave cell phone in tank bag of 4 wheeler :evil:
1 quart of high quality H2O
visine bottle with bleach so i can drink from a mudhole if i have to :(
And 20 rounds of ammo for the AR-10 :D

[North Texan]

Usually a gun, cell phone, and a pocket knife make up my survival gear. I don't hunt very far from civilization, and usually after varmints or rattlesnakes. If it's at night, I'm hunting from the pickup, which has lots of stuff in it, and if I get snake bit, the only thing I can really do is seek medical attention ASAP.

[KriegHund]

Hey, just dont bug me for stuff when the temp drops from a raining 40 degrees to a snowing 20 degrees in under an hour, after being 60 and sunny when you started out.

Add to that your lost, at least two miles away from you car, and you fell on the cell phone and broke it earlier that day, or forgot to charge it, or dont get a signal. And when you fell, you gashed your leg on a broken rock.

Cause you dont need no dang rain poncho and thermal blanket, or ability to start a fire, or that flashlight for when it gets dark real quick and you need to search under trees for dry sticks on a moonless night.

North Texan-

Where you hunt there may not be thick forosts-

But what if you shot the deer or what have you and need to track it through a forest? Before you know it the temps dropping, its getting dark, and you went and lost your way.

[MCgunner]

Most of my hunting is like North Texan. Heck, most of it is on my own land! I don't carry the phone in the duck marsh, though. I'd likely drop it in the pot hole, knowing me. :rolleyes:

But, I've hunted out west a lot and there are usually NO cell towers. It's remote to the extreme. Now, on this one lease the hunting club I was in had, 13000 acres 13 miles west of Langtrey near a little "town" (about 5 houses, maybe) called Pumpville, we had a sign in/sign out routine and if you didn't get back in, the search party went out after you. Still, I had a little survival gear on my belt as expressed above. It all goes on my gun belt, doesn't weigh much or take up much space. Too, I used to take a lot of day hikes out west, exploring. Here again, no cell towers. If you're in the Guadelupe mountains in SE New Mexico, you have ONE store anywhere close to you in Queens and the next stop is Carlsbad which is 50+ miles from Queens. There's a national forest station near Sitting Bull falls and that's it! If you get lost, they could be finding you by the circling buzzards. Back in the early 90s, the old boy that ran the store in Queens was the central location for a CB network of rescue guys during the hunting season. They monitored a CB channel. Just hope your walkie talkie (if you had one) would reach 'em, not likely, so I never messed with that. I don't know if there's any cell service up there YET! I rather doubt it. Haven't been up there in a while. Might get to go up there next fall, not sure.

When I started hunting out west is when I put together my "survival belt". Before that, I was like North Texan, just get up, drink a cup of coffee, take a morning constitutional (coffee being a natural laxative), get in my truck, and drive out to my place and climb up in the stand. Hunting is much more fun out west. :D

I've gotten lost as a goose in the East Texas piney woods and out west. It's amazing how you can get turned around. In east Texas there's enough fire roads through the woods, the panic usually doesn't last long, LOL, but out west, you can really get turned around and it might take a day or two. It's never lasted more'n a few hours for me, but I could see where I could get totally lost. For this reason, I bought a GPS when they first got popular and have had one ever since. A GPS goes with me every hunt or hike out there now or in the woods. I mark my truck, turn it off, and if I get turned around and my GPS doesn't work, I fall back on my compass and instincts, but so far the GPS works.

[North Texan]

North Texan-

Where you hunt there may not be thick forosts-

But what if you shot the deer or what have you and need to track it through a forest? Before you know it the temps dropping, its getting dark, and you went and lost your way.

Just thick brush. But all of my hunting is on my own land. I have hunted it all my life, and know every rock, tree, and bush on it. I have navigated it both day and night, with and without artificial light.

I don't shoot that many deer, so that situation probably isn't going to come up. But if it did, I'd go back to the house, get the proper gear, and return.

A change in the weather is easy to see coming, and if the weather looks like it's going to take a turn for the worse, I head to the house.

Needless to say, when I'm out and about, I'm not really roughing it.:D

[rallyhound]

i also carry some form of strong pain killer.
I had to hike out about 10 miles with a badly sprained ankle once.
An improvised crutch and a few Vicadin did the trick.

[Kingcreek]

How much I carry depends on where and what I hunt. At a minimum, when I bird hunt and am seldom out of sight of the truck, I still carry a couple band-aids, bandana, pocket knife, and EMT gel or dermaplast. also carry mosquito forceps to clamp off a bleeder if me or the dog gets a bad cut.

[birddog]

Damn, it takes one hard man to walk out of the woods with his heart and liver in a plastic grocery bag.


Once again, the co-workers in the next office HAVE to be wondering why I burst out laughing.

[WayneConrad]

The desert is unforgiving. This is a long list, but all the dry stuff weighs only 4 or 5 pounds. Most of my pack weight is water... as much as a gallon and a half of it (bringing the pack up to around 20 pounds). Water is hard to come by out here, and the terrain is rough enough, and I am enough out of shape, that on even a cool day I can sweat a fair amount of it.

In my pack:

Knife Sharpener
Wire Saw
Portal Aqua
Flashlight & extra batteries for it
Backup flashlight & extra batteries for it
Lighter
Tinder
Sharpie
Emergency Blanket (orange on one side, silver on other)
Adventure Medical Pocket Survival Pak (includes whistle, signal
mirror, spark & tinder)
Poncho
Assorted baggies & plastic sacks
Sun Screen
Chapstick
OTC drugs (pain, inflamation, allergy, diarrhea)
Roll of orange, 1" trail marking tape
Ace Bandage
Disposable Towels
Nitrile Gloves
Roll of paracord
Lanyard
Compass
Topo map
Protractor
Pencil
Ammo for shotgun or rifle
Game bag
Jacket
Extra Socks
Water
Energy bar
Eye glasses
2-way radios
Wipes or TP
Hearing Protection

On my person:

Sidearm & extra magazine
Multi-tool
Folding knife (RSK Mk2)
Cel phone
Hat

[Vern Humphrey]

real good list there. and im not laughing about the women's sanitary pads, they work great and are cheap, if you got a wife/GF you can liberate some from...

As a crusty old medical sergeant once told me, they're plenty strong, "They keep the Reds in, the Poles out and the Frenchmen hungry."

[~z]

birddog, sorry. When I first read it, I couldnt help it.
~z

[birddog]

Apology accepted, and I'm still laughing.

[Art Eatman]

Over the last forty or so years, I've found that tools for minor car repairs and fixing flats or keeping air in the tires get more use than anything else. Never have had any real people-problems, although I have a first aid kit. Gun cleaning stuff, and knife/axe sharpening stuff. Motor oil, transmission fluid.

I asked a doctor one time if I could get a prescription for Darvon and Valium. "Why?" he asked. I sez, "Well, if I take you quail hunting and you fall and break a leg, I don't want to have to listen to you scream for the two hours it takes to get to the pavement.

I never saw a guy write so fast, before.

With me when hunting? A box of shells, 4" hunting knife and 3" pocket knife, some rope and a good bit of toilet paper to mark the bushes where Bambi is, so I can come back and find him with "hauling help". If I'm gonna be out all day, maybe some munchies.

The problem in a dang desert is that it can be below freezing at daylight, when it's sitting time. Then, a half-hour or so after sunup when it's time to start walking, it's time to start peeling off clothes. Midday, a teeshirt and shorts is plenty. :) So, a day-pack to stuff the "warmies" into.

My main deal to to water-up before I leave camp.

My hunting country is on the east side of the Solitario formation, seen here:

http://corry.ws/CorryBook-9.htm

Concentric rings of hills, with a bowl in the central portion. The north-to-south distance is some ten miles.

I mostly work the eastern foothills and the eastern rim. Fun country, if you don't mind cactus, cat-claw, dagger plants and suchlike...

:), Art

[Thin Black Line]

Hmmm, condoms in the first aid kit. And all these times I saw used
condoms in the parking spots near public hunting land I thought they
were the leftovers of promiscuous teens from the night before.....

[loadedround]

Do the Bears really allow you to wear a condom? ROFLMAO