Emergency Wilderness Survival
2018-01-10 23:32:56.716567+00 by
Dan Lyke
4 comments
Larry
asks about emergency wilderness survival:
This got me thinking. If I’m going to be heading out into the woods, placing
myself in a situation where I might be required to spend the night should things take an
unexpected turn what is the minimum list of things I need to have with me? I am far from
being an expert so look at this as a conversation starter. Where could I be off? What have
I forgotten.
I'll toss my response in the comments.
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-10 23:33:20.065699+00 by:
Dan Lyke
[edit history]
The thing in my emergency kit that has gotten the most use over the years is
polypropylene fleece sweat pants and long sleeve shirt. I got it for my paddling dry bag
sometime back in… I dunno, 1990-ish, I and a bunch of stoned poor river guides
borrowed
an outpost van to drive up to an outpost along the northern North Carolina-Tennessee
border. Might have been to run the Nolichucky, but I forget. I believe the trip
overlapped my birthday, and that I was the unwitting designated driver, I learned later
that everyone else was tripping which is why everyone was giggling uncontrollably.
Anyway, the weather was kinda cold and rainy for late June, so when we got to the outpost
of another outfitter I wandered into their store, thought about the weather and the state
of preparedness of my fellow paddlers and handed the clerk my credit card for some
additions to my dry bag. And then someone handed me a margarita that may have had some
lime juice in it the next thing I knew it was the next morning, and we got to
paddling…
And, yes, mid way down that river I was able to pull my drybag out of my boat and be the
hero. In a big way.
Over the years that polypro has made several people who were trekking with me much more
comfortable than they would have otherwise been. I don’t know if it’s saved
anyone’s
life, but it’s certainly made a difference in comfort, and in one or two cases
avoided an
evac. I think, 27 or so years later, that it’s pretty worn out and I should re-
stock the
dry bag, but a hat and extra layer that can be put on over or under other clothes can be
super light, and has been the one bit of survival gear that’s gotten the most use.
Even
as my survival knife has been used only for spreading peanut butter, and the ace bandages
and splints and tape in my dry bag are just still there.
#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-11 12:19:06.759532+00 by:
DaveP
As Dan says, warm clothes are top of the list.
I've used the Vet-Wraps from my survival bag (self-adhesive ace bandages for "large mammals"
which were significantly cheaper than the human-rated ones) a lot over the years. Only once for
binding a wound, but a bunch of times to hold things together, including a folding stool that broke.
The big 5 D-cell head-basher flashlight is frequently useful, so it stays near the top. I'll replace it with
a brighter LED model when the D-cells die.
Next most useful is the disposable butane lighter. Gets dug out a couple times every year. It's in the
bag with 100ft of paracord and a knife which also sometimes proves useful (and the lighter keeps
the ends of the paracord from fraying). Mostly the paracord gets used supplementing tie-downs
when I'm bringing something home from the store, the lighter, well, it lights things. Most frequently
BBQ grills.
Finally, the first-aid kit. Mostly I end up using band-aids for skinned knuckles, but at this point
everyone I hang with regularly knows I have a first aid kit, so small mishaps get sent my way. Anti-
bacterial cream and bandaids are the two items I replace most often because they've been used up.
#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-13 17:33:37.428259+00 by:
TheSHAD0W
Dave, did you know you can get an LED replacement bulb for that flashlight?
#Comment Re: Emergency Wilderness Survival made: 2018-01-14 12:45:21.045719+00 by:
DaveP
Yeah, I know I can. Thanks. But it gets used infrequently enough that the kind of bulb doesn't matter
much. The batteries typically go dead because of age, not use.
I'll maybe buy one eventually, but I currently have Amazon on time-out because they kept delivering
Prime orders in three days, rather than the "guaranteed" two, and my local hardware store doesn't
stock the LED replacement bulbs, preferring to sell me a whole new flashlight.