Whats in your hunting survival kit

My kit is a little more extensive than most due to my location...

Map
Compass
GPS
Cell Phone
Maglite 3-D cell LED flashlight
Spare Batteries for all of the above
Water
Trauma/First Aid kit
Granola/Protein Bars
Toilet paper
2 pairs of socks
Leatherman
Lightweight Tarp
100' of para-cord
Spare ammo for all the guns I have with me
Gloves
Balaclava
"Windproof" lighter
Flint
Steel Wool
Break Free CLP (great for gun lube, but also great fire-starter in a pinch)
Bore snake and various gun cleaning tools
3-Knife game skinning set
knife sharpener
 
1- Duct tape (10-20')
2- Stainless steel bailing wire (5-10")
3- Lighter
4- Para-cord (15')
5- Water purification pills (enough for a couple gallons)
6- Whistle
7- Map & compass
8- GPS
9- Tiny little LED head lamp
10- Pocket knife
11- Cell phone, handheld marine radio, sat phone (depends on where I'm hunting).
12- Extra booze
13- Extra smokes or chew

(12 & 13 give me somethin to do while waiting for help I guess)
 
I have been a student in the search for the perfect survival kit for a long time now. I have several different sized kits for everything from a pocket to a full sized rucksack. One thing that is consistent in every kit is a good whistle. I prefer the Fox 40 whistle in safety orange. They can be purchased for around $5. You can blow on a whistle all day long and keep from going hoarse. The noise carries for a long way as well.

First aid kits and the skill to use them are often neglected as well. I agree with what others said about always being near roads or other people for most of us but being able to use a pressure dressing and having it available for example can be a real life saver for you or others.
 
Only thing I'll add is mine includes a coupla plastic sandwich bags--for storing water. What are you going to put the water in while the purification tablets do their thing?

Lightest, most compact thing I could think of for storing a few cups of water.
 
My day pack for hunting in remote areas contains the following- Binoculars, Radio, GPS, Knife/Sharpener, Ammo, Plastic garbage bags, Compass, Map, Mini flash light,Bic lighter, Toilet paper in a plastic zip lock bag, Gatorade, Muesili bar/chocolate bar, Duct tape, Panadol/antacid ,leatherman tool, spare batteries. I wouldnt mind a satellite phone but the prices are a bit prohibitive.
 
Well mine equalsout to most all the items listed above along with a SPOT Unit. The Spot Unit will get you help and or let others know your exact location.
 
"What are you going to put the water in while the purification tablets do their thing?"

I always have a plastic 750ml Jim Beam bottle that I use for water to drink while hiking.

I forgot to add to my first post: A few bandaids and some misc. pain pills. I don't bother with a pre-fab 1st aid kit because I don't plan on performing open heart surgery.
 
All the basic stuff plus a good med kit with some quickclot and meds (antibiotics and a pain killer especially). You never know when or how an accident or a moron with a gun will strike.
 
First aid kit, moleskin, 150' of 550 parachute cord, fishing kit (hooks, line, sinkers), fire starting supplies, some dry clothes, space blanket, tube tent, 3 MREs, bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, a small pot to boil water in, mess kit, hunting knives, flashlight. It all weighs about 12 lbs, and it fits in a LRRP rucksack.
 
Lots of good stuff here.

A couple of things that don't go in a kit, but are absolutely required:

1) Healthy dose of common sense
2) Huge amount of "remain calm"
3) Plenty of practice with stuff in kit to help me with #2
4) Will to survive
 
a random but useful article

When backpack elk hunting I also carry a few cyalume lightsticks and some big rubber bands to shoot the up into the branches in case I need spotting from above.
 
Don't any of you guys carry a personal locator beacon (EPIRB)? Where I hunt a cell phone is next to useless. The modern 406Mhz beacons can give your location within 25 yards.

Maybe that was one of the reasons why I was out last weekend searching for a missing hiker in some pretty rugged country ranging to over 7000ft. He was travelling ultra light, travelling alone. told no-one where he was going or when he was due out, left only one entry in a hut book and consequently wasn't missed till he failed to get off the plane in the States. That was 6 weeks later. Needless to say we were looking for a body.

The obvious moral of this story is that nobody will come looking for you if they don't know you are missing. A survival kit in my opinion is to help you survive should you be injured (or lost) until help arrives.

David
 
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My wife wants me to get one of those. I'm seriously considering the one that can send the "all is o.k." or "s.o.s"... Can't remember what one that is right now but I think it sends the "o.k." message to e-mail. Anybody heard of this thingy?
 
My wife wants me to get one of those. I'm seriously considering the one that can send the "all is o.k." or "s.o.s"... Can't remember what one that is right now but I think it sends the "o.k." message to e-mail. Anybody heard of this thingy?
Click to expand...

That would be handy. The units I am talking about (PLBs) are for emergency use only. When activated they send out a unique code which is picked up immediately by geostationery satellite and forwarded to the nearest national rescue centre. The unique code gives the location of the unit as well as its identity so the rescue centre can contact the owner or next of kin to see if it is an unintentional activation or the real thing. There are two types available here - the cheaper one (approx $US300) gives the position to about 5km and the more expensive unit (approx $US500) uses GPS to give a position to 5 metres or so. Both types also send out a homing signal on 121.5MHz.
 
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I just took some photos of one of my packs for another site and thought I might as well post it here. This one is a "warm weather" set-up for hiking, floating, certain hunting/fishing, etc. I have another one almost exactly the same that sits in a bigger pack with room for clothes, extra ammo, etc.

Some of the contents include:

1. Camelbak MULE
2. Large carabiner and 6 feet of prussik line.
3. Gerber tool and big rock knife
4. small knife sharpener
5. pocket chainsaw
6. 550 cord
7. Small fishing kit with leaders
8. whistle, mirror, button compass, firesteel, magnesium bar
9. contractor trashbags and stuff sack for gathering/transporting
10. small but well stocked first aid kit with OTC meds such as benadryl
11. full size compass
12. tea candles, matches, pencils write in the rain paper, duct tape
13. playing cards with survival info. on them
14. headlamp and water purification tablets
15. folded up small loaf pans for cooking, eating drinking gathering.
16. most stuff is in waterproof baggies
17. nails
18. cotton balls soaked with vasoline and placed in empty pill bottle.
19. survival bivy bag (much better than a space blanket).
20. probably a few other small things I tucked away and forgot about.

This whole thing is pretty light and obviously also carries water!
 
My survival gear in my pack is pretty robust - BUT

I have a really bad habit of dropping my pack at the first sign of a critter I want to sneak on. So what I did was buy a very light weight sheath knife (finnish style) and put it on a neck lanyard with a flint. I will add an emergency whistle this year.

That way, when I drop my pack, I at least have enough for me to make it though a night or two if necessary. Due to where we hunt, we are seldom more than 1 mile from some type of logging road - granted it may be 1 mile straight up....

We also make sure that everyone in camp knows the approximate area each is hunting, so if someone doesn't come back by dark +2 hours, the search starts.
 
A couple sandwiches, salami or ham.

Seriously, where I hunt now I'm only about 100yds from my vehicle. Natty Bumppo would not be proud.
 
about weight

A friend/climbing partner and I were shuffling around in our tent one winter morning in the Tetons. We were getting ready to summit one of the lesser known peaks. He noticed that I rolled up my bivvy sack and stuffed it into my summit pack, "What's that for?" he says, "In case we don't make it down before dark" I answer. "Well, if you don't bring it we'll make it back before dark". "How do you know that?" "Because if we don't make it back before dark we wont have a warm place to sleep!"....
 
many of the items mentioned and some I'm going to add also.
if you wear eyeglasses then carry a repair kit or (I do this) some contact lenses and small vial of solution.
a good thread IMO.
 
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