Ever used your survival kit?

Option C

This is why i started looking into survival stuff.

About 5 years ago I was in Colorado for training for work. I was there for two weeks during spring break straddling a weekend. Over the weekend I decided to try something new. I went snow shoe hiking in Estes Park. I bought a waist bag with two water bottles and rented snow shoes. I was dressed appropriately and had water but that was it. I told the park ranger where I was going. It was about a 3 mile hike to three different frozen lakes. Made it to all three lakes, but by the time i made it to the last lake, there was no one else out and it was getting late. I was watching the time to be sure I had a enough time to get back. After about ten minutes on the return trip I lost the trail. Trails were difficult to see and I had been following a trail of walking pole marks a couple had left behind ahead of me. While taking in the scenery, I lost the trail. I surveyed the area and noticed I had only left the trail about 30 - 30 yards. I was heading in the right direction parallel to the trail. I decided to cross to the original trail. About half way accross, the snow softened and i sank to should height. The problem was throughout the trip i could hear trickling water below me in areas. The snow was so deep I was crossing creeks of melting snow underneath. I could think about when I sank was that I was going to fall through into water and be stuck overnight , wet and cold. Fortunately i remember watching Bear Gryllis crawl out of quick sandand I used the same method to crawl out of the snow. From that point forward I started researching to be more prepared net trip

This all lead me eventually to ESEE. Happy ending
 
Lenny said:
HeyNC527,

I must be stupid.
What do you mean by: rubber bands- first air, firestarting
And how do you boil water in a plastic bag?
Lenny
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You have never seen water boiled in a plastic bottle? same concept, and as long as I use a freezer bag, it holds up fine,

I meant to put:
Rubber bands- first aid, firestarting.
First aid- can be used as a tourniquit of sorts.
firestarting- rubber burns very hot, and its ignites easily.
 
Only once did I need to get into my survival kit:

Caught on a mountain after dark. I had a Surefire in my pack that I used, but had to take my Fenix E01 out of my survival kit for my buddy to use.

Never ever hike without a few lights, even if its just a daytime thing.
 
i crack mine open once or twice a week during the growing season. i have a set of lock picks in there and there are more locks then keys on the farm so it just saves me a lot of hassle
 
i use my pocket kit pretty often, taking splinters out, starting fires, getting a bit of string or wire to play with... it comes in handy all the time, i haven't needed it in a survival situation, but i've become familiar with it, and been able to refine it to my needs.
 
Everytime I take my Boy Scouts out during Wilderness Survival Merit Badge training and certification.
 
scout1sg said:
Everytime I take my Boy Scouts out during Wilderness Survival Merit Badge training and certification.
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:thumbup: :thumbup:

15 - 20 years ago we used to camp once a month, regardless of weather plus a couple survival type camps a year. Then add in summer camp, Order of the Arrow stuff, joint trips with Civil Air Patrol and even sometimes GSA and what you have is pretty much your whole life spent in the woods at that point. I often wonder if things are still the same like that in scouting now days.

Edit: Though for all I know, that could have just been our Troop too.
 
Sounds very similiar to our Troop here in Kansas, most of us adult leaders are either active or retired Army as well so we get the boys out in the wilderness as often as possible. Putting the boys in situations where they have to apply some hands on field craft builds confidence as well as other life skills that are just not aquired elsewhere these days.
 
scout1sg said:
Sounds very similiar to our Troop here in Kansas, most of us adult leaders are either active or retired Army as well so we get the boys out in the wilderness as often as possible. Putting the boys in situations where they have to apply some hands on field craft builds confidence as well as other life skills that are just not aquired elsewhere these days.
Click to expand...


Where are you at in Kansas?


mlrs
 
I have a bit of a survival story for ya mate,

I was 15 years old at the time and decided to go hog hunting with my mates dogs, I left his house at about 0530 and drove for a few hours to a hunting spot I had heard was good but I hadnt hunted before,

I let the dogs out the cages at about 0830 and started walking in, after about three hours of walking the dogs had dissapeared so I stopped for a rest and a sneaky ciggy(mum would have killed me if she knew) and waited till about lunch time, no dogs, no barking, so I carried on and kept walking, at about 1400 hrs I stopped for a cup of tea and a couple of sammies and called the dogs back in. It that time of year it got dark at about 1800 hrs so I decided to head back to the truck and go home before it got dark.

after half an hour of walking and day dreaming I realized the dogs had all dissapeared, I didnt think anything of it and kept walking, it had been raining lightly all day and I was getting hungry and a bit tired from walking up steep ridges so I just wanted to go home. not long after I hear the my finder bailer barking like crazy so I drop off the ridge and start running/bush bashing to get to where she is bailing.

on the run down I didnt hear the pig screaming, all I could hear was the dogs so I knew it must be a big bastard, as I got closer the pig broke and the barking got further away, this kept happening for about two hours.

In my excitement I forgot about the time and it was starting to get dark and the rain was setting in. My plan was to hoofe it to the truck and get out of the bush as quickly as possible.

as darkness set it I became very disorientated and couldnt get a sense of direction, the rain was coming down and It dawned on me I was going to have to spend the night in here. I kept calling the dogs, and finally the three of them came back, my two holders both had rips on there head and necks, nothing to major tho.

all I had on me was the following,

a swanni wool jacket, good boots,socks etc(warm gear)
emergency blanket,
two cubes of hexemine,
a bic lighter,
a packet of 20 paul mall ciggies,
a 6 inch sticking knife,
brew gears/cups canteen,
water bottle.

as soon as I decided I was going to stay the night I quickly built a crappy lean to shelter, I tried to get a fire going but with the rain pissing down from heaven and not enough light to build a fire shelter I was stuffed,

I ended up in my lean to freezing my arse off wrapped in a survival blanket spooning my dogs, it was miserable, I used to two hexemine tabs to get one brew in at about midnight and I smoked the whole pack of ciggies.

I was cold soaked and miserable but as it does morning came and as soon as it was light I walked back up to the ridge and followed it out to the truck,

my mate who lent me the dogs was there waiting and wen he saw me all he said was you look like death warmed up mate, I glared at him, loaded up the dogs and we drove back to my house, funny thing was knowone even realized I was missing.

after that debacle, I always carry a proper PSK, with a torch, road flare and GPS and all the other fancy stuff, most importantly Im much more clever now and Ive never been in that sort of situation again, I have been lost and spent longer than expected time in the bush hunting but with the proper gear its more like camping than surviving.

If I didnt have that emergency blanket or my swanni I would have been stuffed, but hey I wasnt and it ended with bacon and eggs for breakfast.

I bit of food for thought for you guys anyway,

regards,

Stew
 
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