What items should be in a hunters survival kit? Serious woodsman or woodswomen only?

Question

I ask only because I keep maintain and use my survival kit on a regular basis. The most dangerous hunts I do are hound hunts where I wait for fresh snow and head for the highest altitude I can drive to then hike in on foot. Also these hunts are done at night. I have spent many nights in the cold looking for my hounds and making my way back to my truck. Anyways I recently looked online for a list of items and could not find anyone who had a good list. The reason I say this is either they have way to much to carry, or not enough to survive, and lastly not one single kit contained toilet paper. Not one! I don't go in the woods with out TP. I call it mountain money. All kidding aside though, what is in your backpack and what activity do you participate in that requires you to have such a kit? Can you carry your bag comfortably over miles of rough country with no roads or trails? I have found that my pack has evolved over the years and varies slightly from season to season. Oregon hunter

Answer 1

Good Question -- as with lots of outdoor stuff, this all becomes personal preference and needs.

I hunt in Virginia (not too far from humans EVER), and in Colorado where you can still get pretty remote. Also, I am a physician and prior military survival instructor, so my kit is probably weighted (literally and figuratively) differently than others might be.

As you often hear, the first tool of survival is your brains -- starting there, everything else is pretty much optional.

In Mine:
Water or way to purify water. I carry iodine tablets
Waterproof matches
Signal mirror
whistle
Toilet paper - in a zip-lock bag
space blanket
a fairly advanced medical kit (this is more for if I come across someone needing help)
several pairs of pocket hand/toe warmers -- the chemical kind that just start to get warm when you take them out of the pack
about 20 feet of 550 army parachute cord


Other things not in kit but they always go with me:
food - snacks and usually a denty moore beef stew with a pop-off lid.
GPS with extra batteries -- don't forget to mark the trailhead before you start of into the backcountry
cell phone (often I am where there is no signal, but sometimes hilltops can get a weak signal)
LED head lamp
Knife - I carry 2. One large (Buckmaster -- the knife I got for survival school in 1986 and it is still a great tool) one small (a Gerber multitool - knife, pliers, saw, etc.).
I almost always carry a firearm of some kind -- even when I'm just hiking
some type of waterproof outer shell
hat

A great reference is FM 21-76. It is the military Survival manual. Not something you can pack when you're on foot, but it's a great reference and kind of fun to read. It has improved a lot since my first copy. I teach my son a few things out of the manual each time we go camping. He thinks we're just doing cool "outdoor" things.

Good first aid kits that are light and complete for the non-medical person are Adventure Medical Kits -- google them -- many variations to fit your needs.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

#1...always...some way of making fire..... I have a magnesium bar with a flint striker. I also have a Zippo and a Bic lighter.

#2. A multi-purpose Victorex Swiss Army knife. Do not buy a cheap copy. The bigger the better. You never know what kind of tool you will need.

#3. Something that can be used as a tourniquet. If you have to ask then you should not be in the woods.

#4. A compass and a good set of maps for the area where I am going. Screw a GPS unit. That only tells you where you are and not what is between that and where you want to go. Also the batteries run out at the worst time.

t#5. A cell phone and/or 5 watt hand held Walkie talkie. It is much easier to call for help than to walk for it.

#6. A good first aid kit. 1-2 POUNDS of stuff.... Consider spending the extra money and get some HEMCON packs to stop serious bleeding.

Lastly, a damn good hand gun and ammo. Right now, I carry a Ruger Alaskan with 45 Colt in 1,2, 6, and 454 Casull in 3, 4, 5. The Colts are for dangerous primates and the Casulls are for unfriendly bears.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What items should be in a hunters survival kit? Serious woodsman or woodswomen only?
I ask only because I keep maintain and use my survival kit on a regular basis. The most dangerous hunts I do are hound hunts where I wait for fresh snow and head for the highest altitude I can drive to then hike in on foot. Also these hunts are done at night. I have spent many nights in the cold...

Answer 6

Hunting Survival Kit

Answer 7

I do long all day hunts and get back in the dark. Besides GPS (and extra batteries) I think a roll of Medical tape is a must. That is the only first aid kit I have.

I must give kudos to camelbak backpacks. I have a small pack (much smaller than say a normal size School backpack) with a big bladder. I fill up the bladder put in my flashlight, instant coldpacks, gps batteries, shells, food, tape, calls, camera, keys, Huge ziplock bags, 5 paper towels (used for cleaning hands and other areas), wetnaps (for skinning), rope (for cleaning and tying filled ziplock bags to my pack). I will walk all day with that thing and not get tired from the pack. They are very well designed spreading the weight across your shoulders, chest, and waist. It is amazing that little pack can carry all of that. There is no jostling around of stuff until I get a few critters.

I might add something about food. MRE's make me gag (especially cold). At the grocery store you can get foil packets of chicken breasts in barbecue sauce. Also find an Indian food store and try out some of their foil packets. I find there are some real good ones and they are cheaper than MRE's. The drawback is they are vegetarian.

Answer 8

I have spent most of my time hunting in SE Alaska, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

My survival gear really isn’t in a kit that I can grab. I carry some of it around my neck, in my pockets, and in my bag. The contents of the kit really don’t change too much with geography for me. I could add and take away a few things for the different areas, but…

If I am hunting in an area where I can not visually see my car, I carry the following:

Around my neck:
Whistle
Spare compass (well, the kids broke my backup one…got to get a new one this year)
Strike anywhere matches in a metal case

In my pockets/on my person:
A candle (for starting fires…easier to hold a candle for 10 minutes than a lighter…plus the wax is supposed to be an OK firestarter in a bind)
Toilet paper in a ziplock bag (firestarter and …well, to use it for what it is meant for)
A compact space blanket
2 lighters (one butate and another regular gas station lighter…I smoke when I hunt, so one is to light cigarettes, the other is for just in case)
Gerber knife kit (I have a lock blade knife and a saw I carry on my belt)
Pin on compass

In my pack:
Water (I carry a hydration bladder…I think 100 oz)
Food (I carry munchies and usually an MRE)
Spare ammo (I usually carry a full box when hunting)
A full-sized space blanket (not the cheap pocket sized ones)
GPS with spare batteries
Rope
Rain poncho

It sounds like I carry a lot, but with water, food, and everything, it is around 10 pounds, give or take.

I hunt a lot from a treestand and tend to hunt 100's of yards away from others if not miles. I try and keep the essential things on my body in case I fall from the stand and break a leg or something. With a wife and children, I want to try and do everything I can to stay alive in case something happens.

Things I might add:

A flint and steel (I thought about adding one, but to be honest, I never used one, so I just never bought one)
Firestarter (magnesium block or the tube stuff)
Water Purification tablets (when your lost isn't a good time to get the sh*ts from bad water)
Wire (for making snares)

When I hunted in SE Alaska, a lot of times I hunted on the islands. Occasionally, especially if the weather was rainy (which was pretty much always), I carried a single road flare with me. Part of this was to signal a boat from shore if need be. More realistically, I carried it to start a fire with wet wood if I had to in case I fell into the water, got drenched in the rain, or got stranded on shore by the tide.

My hunting is mainly for deer. SE Alaska has mountainous terrain from hell. Illinois and Wisconsin can get thick undergrowth, but it is mostly flat or smaller hills. I've carried these items walking an entire day without much problem. The water is the heaviest. As you drink throughout the day, it significantly lightens the load.

Answer 9

You can survive with out food and water for a couple of days, but if the weather is questionable then you cannot survive without shelter. I would pack an emergency blanket and tools to use in building a shelter.
I have a first aid kit, small axe, military shovel, blanket (in a ziplock bag) rain poncho, Swiss Army knofe and Leatherman

Answer 10

My Year-Round Kit contains the following:

Disposable Lighter (replaced frequently)
2 homemade fire starters.
Multi-tool.
AAA Maglite & extra AAA battery
Emergency Mylar Blanket.
Small tube of sunscreen
Ibuprofin
Excedrin
Iodine Tablets
A few small band-aids
duct tape wrapped around a sharpie marker
super glue
Powerbar or something similar
Whistle
Small compass
50' Parachute cord

If packed correctly you can get it all into a 1qt Nalgene bottle, although I keep my stuff in a small nylon pouch.

In summer I throw in a small bottle of 100% DEET

I carry TP in another ziploc in my backpack...it's not a survival item in my opinion.

This is just a list of basic survival items I take. I regularly pack more than this depending on where I'm going and when I'm going there. My survival kit, in its pouch, easily moves from my day pack, to my multi-day pack, to my ski pack, and then into my car. (used to live in VT...some roads you don't travel with out basic survival gear in winter.)