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Author
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Topic: Survival gear?
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 08, 2005 06:56 PM
Hey guys, I am taking a Hunter Safety Course to be able to get an Elk hunting permit in Colorado. Our assignment for the night was to bring back to tomorrow's class an item that could fit into a sandwich baggy that could be included in your survival kit. (example:dental floss that could be used to patch torn clothes or to make a snare).
Do any of you have any suggestions for household items that could be used for that purpose. The instructor asked for us to be creative in our solutions. I can think of a number of common things but I am drawing a blank for something that fits the "creative" request.
[ October 08, 2005, 06:57 PM: Message edited by: Gerald Stewart ]
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Greenside
seems to know what he is talking about
Member # 10
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posted October 08, 2005 07:04 PM
Two AA batteries and steel wool for fire starting.
Dennis
EDIT: paper clip for making a leaf compass.
[ October 08, 2005, 07:26 PM: Message edited by: Greenside ]
Posts: 719 | From: IA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Krustyklimber
prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee
Member # 72
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posted October 08, 2005 07:19 PM
Gerald,
An old CD; can be used as a signal mirror (look through the hole, at the sun, then at what you hope to signal, and back to the sun, repeat).
Superglue; can be used to mend a cut, or many other things.
A plastic trash bag; has many many uses, raingear, shelter, water bucket, etc.
A pencil; it helps to be able to leave a note, as you leave a camp, so your progress and condition can be followed.
A spare pair of heavy boot laces; can be used for lots of things (like a bow-drill for starting fires, or a snare for bigger game than floss will hold).
A roll of black electrical tape; is worth it's weight in gold.
A small metal cup; for brewing or boilng of water is useful.
Half a dozen tea bags; better than just water, and some caffiene too.
Some salt and pepper; a rat tastes way better with it, than without.
A paperback book; helps to pass the time, if'n you are just gonna wait it out for help to come to you.
I hope these help.
Krusty 
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Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that!
Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003
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NASA
Knows what it's all about
Member # 177
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posted October 08, 2005 07:30 PM
Quote, "look through the hole, at the sun, then at what you hope to signal, and back to the sun, repeat."
Sweet Jesus, it don't get no better than this. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) LMFAO!!
Posts: 1168 | From: Typical White Person | Registered: Apr 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 08, 2005 07:55 PM
Greenside, Tell me how that is supposed to work. All I can get it to do is turn the steel wool black. I have been trying to use a small amount so it will turn red hot. I am assuming that is the goal.
Krusty, I got it on my first read on the CD thing. Makes sense to me that the hole would allow you to accurately get the reflection to shine on the Rescue plane passing over.
Thanks for the suggestions. Now NASA did you have any constructive things you want to add.
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted October 08, 2005 08:00 PM
I was thinking along the lines of the battery and steel wool, but I use a 9V battery. Touch both contacts and voila!
Note: Carry the battery and the steel wool in separate baggies. :0
[ October 08, 2005, 08:00 PM: Message edited by: Cdog911 ]
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 08, 2005 08:03 PM
I actually took a 9 volt out in the garage but have not tried it yet. I have not done anything yet but burn my fingers. When I put on leather gloves I have a had a hard time handling the steel wool.
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 08, 2005 08:31 PM
I actually can get a pretty impressive sparking with a nine volt. Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I put a tube of lip balm in the bag and am going tell the crowd that you can use it for sunburn on your lips and then use it on the other end to help with severe constipation....you just need to think about which one you did last before using it on the lips again. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Jack Roberts
Knows what it's all about
Member # 13
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posted October 08, 2005 09:33 PM
Some shelter; such as heavy coat or good blanket is nice. Absolutely mandatory to keep you from going insane from boredom is reading material.
Been there, done that a couple times. Shelter is most important but preserving mental health is a close second.
Jack
Posts: 499 | From: Elko NV formerly MD | Registered: Jan 2003
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NASA
Knows what it's all about
Member # 177
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posted October 08, 2005 09:36 PM
I have always kept a plastic medicine vile with a dozen strike-anywhere matches in it. I dip each match in hot candle wax. It waterproofs them, and, they burn better.
Take one of those artificial fireplace logs, you know the wax and sawdust kind? Crumble up about a third of it and put it in a zip-lok sandwich bag. Works great to get those damp or wet twigs going.
A roll of day-glo orange plastic tape. The kind for marking a trail or marking downed game. That helped me from getting lost once. I always keep a roll handy, now.
Speaking of rolls, don't forget the TP, lol.
Posts: 1168 | From: Typical White Person | Registered: Apr 2003
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted October 08, 2005 10:02 PM
Cotton balls covered with vaseline make one heck of a firestarter and work on chapped lips.
You can use a few drops of bleach to purify water for drinking.
A large heavy duty trashbag for rain and wind protection. I know that has already been suggested but it's a good survival item and should fit in a sandwich bag.
I guess if you want to get really creative like the instructor wants you could put in household stuff like, A condom, one cigarette, and a small one ounce bottle of your favorite sipping whiskey. To certain people these could be must have survival items. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) You'll get an "A" for effort at least.
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Melvin
Knows what it's all about
Member # 634
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posted October 08, 2005 11:06 PM
Fuel,Compressed,Trioxane,Ration Heating..This comes in a small bar and can be used to heat a small pot of water.You can also use it to get a good fire going...This comes in a green foil pack that weighs no more than an ounce or so.
Sold by,Van Brode Milling Co.,Inc.
Clinton,Mass.01510 U.S.A.
You might find this where you purchase survival items.
Good hunting,Gerald ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Melvin
Posts: 661 | From: PA. | Registered: Apr 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted October 09, 2005 12:05 AM
practical stuff, like glass beads to trade with the natives, and $100 bills.
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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tonlocus
Knows what it's all about
Member # 254
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posted October 09, 2005 04:43 AM
My wife used to make me these homemade fire starters back in my backpacking days. You take a cardboard egg carton and fill the cups with dryer lint. Then you melt some candle wax and pour it into the cups over the lint. Cut out as many cups as you want to take with you. You can get 4 of them in a sandwich bag.
Beats the hell out of trying to find dried leaves in the desert to start a fire.
[ October 09, 2005, 04:45 AM: Message edited by: tonlocus ]
Posts: 76 | From: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Dec 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 09, 2005 05:40 AM
Hey this is some great stuff guys. Thanks. That's plenty for me for this project but if anyone else wants to contribute more, please do so. I want to print this out and keep it handy for my preperation for future trips into remote wilderness.
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted October 09, 2005 06:09 AM
Where's DAA? That man's walked back from the dark side of no place more times than I can recall.
He's bound to have a few suggestions!
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Krustyklimber
prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee
Member # 72
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posted October 09, 2005 07:17 PM
Gerald,
I dug through my kit and found one other "household" thing I forgot.
Some strips of inner tube rubber; I cut them out of old mountain bike tubes, about 3/4" wide and 20" long or so.
Wind them tight as you need, then stuff the end under the last couple windings and you're set.
Most recently, I used a pair of them to strap a flashlight to my newphew's bicycle (for a 2.3 mile ride through a mountain).
A person would have a hard time surviving here, without fire, I carry serveral sources of varying degree of fire size they can start
I use the vaseline for firestarter, too, but I use gauze pads that fit inside a film bottle (two or three to start a fire, or just one to use for first aid).
I've seen Tony's wife's wax cups done with cedar sawdust, in an ice cube tray.
Whenever you use a wax or vaseline like firestarter, make sure to have some kind of basin under it, to keep it from running away down into the dirt.
Krusty
P.S. They sell a signal mirror, with a hole in the middle, that's how you use one.
And besides I gotta find a way to re-use some of them AOL CDs they send all the time.
P.P.S I also forgot a packet or two of unflavored instant oatmeal, it's food if you really need it, and it's medicine for beestings or other poisonous insects/plants (fixes nettle stings right up ).
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Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that!
Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 09, 2005 07:37 PM
Great stuff Krusty. When I told the instructor about the CD mirror, she just thought that was a great idea. She told me after class that the Battery\steel wool idea was only the second time she had heard that in all of her classes but that she would bring that one up more.
She pulled out some wads of cotton lint that she retrieved from her dryer. It makes great firestarter also.
I was the only person in the class that actually lived up to her instructions to come up wth unique ideas from household items. She even emphasized that we not bring common items like knives or compasses.
Sure enough, guys were pulling out their pocket knives and boyscout compasses. Most of the others just went to Walmart or the sporting goods store and bought a small survival product. Several just bought a bottle of water from the vending machine and held it up as there contribution.
I have a hard time being around half assed effort and mediocrity on the part of people in educational and work related situations.
Thanks again guys for the help.
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Jay Nistetter
Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks
Member # 140
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posted October 09, 2005 07:55 PM
I don't suppose anyone thought of putting a sandwich in their sandwich baggie.
There is something about using a black trash bag to make water.
Oops! I see I'm late once again on another assignment.
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Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are.
I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay.
Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003
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Cal Taylor
Knows what it's all about
Member # 199
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posted October 10, 2005 07:03 AM
I'd just put a Sat phone in my baggie. LOL!
But seriously, I pack a day pack every day all fall, and while we don't hunt anything too remote, I do carry some basics.
A small but full first aid kit.
Firestarter paste and waterproof matches.
Duct tape. Krusty had a good idea with black tape, but duct tape is better for splints, cuts, repairs, and large caliber gunshot wounds. It is really hard to patch a guy up that has shot himself with his .300 super boomer with black electrical tape.
Space blanket.
I also get the already attached silk and needle from the vet, mostly for my dogs, but I could sure sew someone else or myself up if needed. And since I use the same stuff when putting up fur, I'm pretty damn handy with it. I can do a really pretty baseball stitch that wouldn't hardly leave a scar.
A couple of candles.
Sure Fire flashlight.
Toilet Paper.
Thats about all I can think of right now.
By the way Gerald, did you get the package I sent? I asked by e-mail, but you don't seem to recieve them.
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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
FoxPro Field Staff Member
Posts: 1069 | From: Wyoming | Registered: May 2003
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Timberghozt
Knows what it's all about
Member # 707
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posted October 10, 2005 07:11 AM
Hey Gerald.I think about all the good answers have been covered.But,for me it is a Spare can of Copenhagen and toilet paper in the Sandwich baggie.Never hit the woods without em...
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http://www.handloadersbench.com
Posts: 48 | From: Salado, Texas | Registered: Sep 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted October 10, 2005 08:33 AM
I can't believe all the mention of toilet paper! I have been using the travel packs of "sanitary wipes" for years. So superior to regular toilet paper, I kid you not. You can get them in individual envelopes that aren't much larger than a sugar packet, or in packages of twenty-five which are still handy to drop in a back pack or cargo pocket; you don't even need a "baggie". You will never get a better wipe.
Good hunting. LB
I saw Ted Koppel report from Iraq on Nightline, that baby wipes practically won the war over there....something about lack of water, day after day?
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Krustyklimber
prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee
Member # 72
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posted October 10, 2005 02:05 PM
Gerald,
I am totally suprised the instructor hadn't heard of the CD signal mirror? ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Hopefully you won't be the one, or the only one, who actually needs to benifit from the time you took to do this project more than half assed.
Try to keep your survival kit from turning into a backpack full of gear.
A great climber (and the father of the "continuous push" style of climbing) once said "if you take bivy gear, you will end up using it" (*ie. "If we don't sleep, we won't need tents or sleeping bags... and we'll travel so much lighter and faster, that it won't take long enough to need to sleep").
It's hard to balance out "probable need" from "practical need", without experience (and then you have to figure Murphy's Law in).
In other words don't let your survival gear and/or the "ten essentials" put so much of a burden on you, that it becomes a negative asset.
Cal,
If someone was to shoot himself, I'd use the superglue, and a patch from my gore-tex jacket.
After all that is what both of those products were developed for, in the Vietnam War era.
I'm down with "silver stitches", and have used duct tape at work and when climbing, with good success.
If you need a pressure bandage the e-tape and the inner tube strips can be more effective than duct tape.
All are good first aid tools, for sure.
The duct tape, if you are going to carry some, can be wound around a pencil so you don't have a big bulky roll.
With two wraps, side by side, it'll also help keep your pencil from getting broken.
Leonard,
I get the little sanitary wipes from KFC (free), they're good for cleaning other parts of your body too.
Good topic (one I actually know something helpful about).
Krusty
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Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that!
Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003
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Gerald Stewart
Knows what it's all about
Member # 162
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posted October 10, 2005 04:33 PM
Yes Cal and I mentioned watching your video in another post. That was fun to watch. I want to do that some day with someone. I thought I had cleared up much of my email problems but I guess not.
Do you guys think it is neccessary to take a collection of those things with me even though I am on Horseback with an experienced guide an hour and a half from the lodge?.
Posts: 419 | From: Waco,Tx | Registered: Mar 2003
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted October 10, 2005 04:57 PM
Gerald, I hear stories every year of elk hunters who go into it half-assed and end getting themselves in trouble. Most are found alive, a few are found dead, some are never found.
The thing I most often hear is "I only planned on a short hunt" "the weather was so nice when I left" "I didn't plan on getting far from camp" It almost always is the guy who didn't think he would need most of his gear and good clothes because he didn't plan on going far and the weather was so nice. They end up getting much further out then they had planned and the weather turns to crap.
A few years back I made a short evening hunt out on a long ridge. I got to a saddle and paused for a bit when a I noticed a guy who looked to be in his mid-60's slowly walking up out of a canyon towards me. The way he was walking it looked like it was a struggle raise his feet. When he finally looked up and noticed me standing there I could tell by the look on his face he was tired. He asked me what the easiest way to the road was. I said head straight south, and head straight for a distant mountain that could be easily seen, and STAY ON the ridge top. He would be on the road in 15 minutes. Easy stuff.
I happened to glance back and saw him heading right back down into the same canyon he had just walked out of! I whistled at him and he stopped. I walked over and told him he was heading the wrong way. He gave me this strange look like he didn't know what I was talking about. By now, I could tell something was up with this guy. I asked him some questions and found he had left early that morning and didn't have any food or water with him. He didn't plan on being out long but he had spotted a bull and ended following the tracks for most of the day. He finally gave up on the tracks but only after they had led him thru some real shitty country. He was totally disoriented.
It took some pretty serious talking on my part to convince him he was heading right back into some very rough country and it would be dark in an hour. There was no way he would get thru that rough stuff before dark. Especially since he was just a short walk from the road on an easy ridge top trail. I gave him some water, but he said he wasn't hungry when I offere him something to eat. I finally told him to just follow me back to the road. This poor guy was wore out mentally and physically. We would walk just a few minutes and he would rest for five. On one of the many breaks he told me this was the worst day of elk hunting he had ever had. He said he knew he was turned around but just kept on walking until he was exhausted. He said the only thing that he wanted to do was get out and go home and see his wife. At one point I thought he was near breaking down and crying. We finally made it to the road and I gave the guy a ride back to his camp that was 10 miles away.
If I hadn't seen it I would have hard time believing what dehydration, hunger, and total exhaustion could effect a guys thinking that much.
Sorry for the long boring story. Every so often I think about that guy and the look of confusion and exhaustion on his face and remember some of the things he said. Elk hunting for him that day should have been an enjoyable, but it turned out much different.
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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