Snares and fishing kit in survival kit.

idaho

idaho

Joined
May 5, 2005
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In almost every wilderness survival kit there is fishing kit and/or snare wire.

Do you expect to hunt or fish in "survival" situation(situation when you're relying on your survival kit, because rest of gear is lost, or some other emergency occurred).
I know I could be different in various parts of the world, but in the Europe, and big part of US, it is possible to get to other people and help in a 3 or 4 days. During such time food is not the most important thing to think about, if you have deal with injury, have water, and protection from heat or cold, you can make it without food more than a week, so hunting or fishing would be waste of time and energy.

Of course fishing kit weights next to nothing(i'm also curios about it's efficiency ) and snare wire can have more uses, but I would like to know Your opinion.
Do you consider hunting and fishing as a part of solving wilderness emergency situation?
 
Its nice to have in case you need them. Also, to keep yourself busy, so the psych aspect of being in a survival situation doesnt affect you is worth ther place in kit. Keeping busy is a very important way to keep calm, and feel like you are accomplishing things. It doesnt take long to get a fire goin, and shelter built, so after that is done, I wouldnt want to just sit and wait forever to be found, when fishing, and setting snares can at least give you some routine in this type of chaotic situation.

Good post man, makes ya think!
 
I think it is a good idea to have the kit and knowledge to do these things. Being near water and having a fishing kit solves at least 2 survival issues (food and water) and then whats the hurry?
 
Although I might not need to eat anything for 3-4 days, if I can catch food it's a huge energy and moral boost for the addition of what amounts to an extra 1/4-1/2 ounce on my person. The fishing line also doubles as fine thread for sewing clothing or wounds.

With respect to efficiency: In a survival situation I'm going to be targeting the most abundant and easiest-to-catch fish (like sunfish). A hook and a handline is all that I need to catch plenty of them (and it takes very little effort to fashion a cane pole out of a long stick). I'm an avid fisherman, and I will occasionally go fishing with nothing but what I have in my PSK just to practice.


In a nutshell, yes, I think that a minimal fishing kit is a good addition to a PSK. You can also use it to snare birds and small terrestrial animals as well.
 
In my area..I am always near streams/Ponds/lakes and fishing kits are lightweight and simple to build why would I not carry one,now snares ,I do carry one but need to hone my skills at that task...
 
While I agree with "why not", I always thought the whole snare fishing line things in a survival kit are really not needed. A person can go without food for what? like 40 days?

To me it would seem stuff to get you clean drinking water, keep you dry and maybe a flare or something to send up a signal would be more appropriate.

But really, just to play devils advocate we tend to emphasize survival and survival kits on this forum but really most of us don't ever even go anywhere we would even have a chance of getting lost and having to survive.

To me (again) would seem like for what most of us do the focus should be on orienteering stuff in case we get lost and first aid.
 
hollowdweller said:
While I agree with "why not", I always thought the whole snare fishing line things in a survival kit are really not needed. A person can go without food for what? like 40 days?

To me it would seem stuff to get you clean drinking water, keep you dry and maybe a flare or something to send up a signal would be more appropriate.

But really, just to play devils advocate we tend to emphasize survival and survival kits on this forum but really most of us don't ever even go anywhere we would even have a chance of getting lost and having to survive.

To me (again) would seem like for what most of us do the focus should be on orienteering stuff in case we get lost and first aid.
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I agree to an extent. I really need to hone my orienteering skills. But in regards to fishing kits they are so small, I don't see the harm in packing them, unless your doing trails in the desert.

In regards to 40 days w/out food, my skinny a$$ doesn't have the fat reserves to make it that long, I would definately need the energy to get my self out.
I doesn't take much energy to rig a handline and it is a definate moral boost when you succeed at catching fish. Then again it can have the opposite effect if you don't. I think it is a kit that is nice to have.
 
To me Fishing kits are light weight so why not..I always have a 1st aid kit, water purify is my water bottle with SS cup,boil,cheap & Easy...the plus side to a fishing kit is a morale booster if you catch something ,if not it keeps the mind busy and thinking....and if the person is lost AKA: ME, makes me sit still by fishing instead of wandering around like a fool since my compass skills are not as strong as other skills.I am detail oriented and can navigate by land structures and what not but if relying solely on the compass in an area I am not familar with and I am lost,Guess you'll find me fishing one day !
 
i think that basic fishing is fairly easy when you are going after simple fish that aren't hard to catch. if you know where to put a snare or something like a fig 4, then in theory that is also an easy way to get food.

right now, i don't carry either becuase i don't know what to do once i have that food in my hands. i don't know how to take apart a fish or squirrel to make them into two piles of food and scrap. so a fishing/snaring kit does me no good at this point. i am spending some time up in the adirondacks this summer, and plan on at least learning to cut up a fish, and maybe some small game from my uncle and his friends.

despite this, i do occassionally carry wire becuase it is just as good as cordage in terms of versatility and usefulness. it can be used to put up a shelter, stich together clothing, repair gear, etc. it can also be used to make snares. just remember to bring the wire cutters or something else to cut the wire so you don't have to try to use your knife...
 
In regards to 40 days w/out food, my skinny a$$ doesn't have the fat reserves to make it that long, I would definately need the energy to get my self out.
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Wrong attitude and probably completely wrong factually. Military teaches 45-60 days without food. They have some guys with no body fat there also.

Carry fishhooks if you want. It isn't a priority for me.
 
Yeah, I would think procuring some food, like an animal would be great for a moral boost, think back when how you feel after killing your first deer, an amazing feling of acomplishment, image in a survival situation how much it would lift your spirits.
 
i carry a small fishing kit and a snare in my PSK... always have... why not.. it's not like it weighs a lot..

my dad who is a lifelong fisherman and 24 year army veteran, has always carried a small fishing kit.. he carried one in his pack and/or in his web gear while in the military and in his cars...

i also think that fishing and trying to obtain food in a survival situation, would give you something to do and get your mind off the fact that your lost... food is good... food = survival
 
I carry a few things just out of habit that I know I probably will never need. Fishing will never be needed in the areas I frequent because there usually isn't any water let alone fish. Trapping I probably would never need either. Though I like to practice making them, it's probably more of the fun of doing it rather than needing it. But I still carry a small fishing kit and snare wire.
Getting plenty of water would be the number one survival priority where I hike. So iodine crystals, a metal cup for boiling etc. are more important items I carry.
 
j williams said:
Its nice to have in case you need them. Also, to keep yourself busy, so the psych aspect of being in a survival situation doesnt affect you is worth ther place in kit. Keeping busy is a very important way to keep calm, and feel like you are accomplishing things. It doesnt take long to get a fire goin, and shelter built, so after that is done, I wouldnt want to just sit and wait forever to be found, when fishing, and setting snares can at least give you some routine in this type of chaotic situation.

Good post man, makes ya think!
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The above post sums it up very well. :thumbup:

Doc
 
nemoaz said:
Wrong attitude and probably completely wrong factually. Military teaches 45-60 days without food. They have some guys with no body fat there also.

Carry fishhooks if you want. It isn't a priority for me.
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Sorry I missed that in my 4 years of service. Then again I was a aircraft mechanic. Maybe I sucked in too much fuel fumes while in tank:D

I'm not giving facts I am giving my oppinion.

A fishing kit is not my priority, I just think for the few ounces it weighs its worth having.

I hope I never have to go any prolonged time w/out food. If ever in a survival situation I think it will be nice to have. First I would worry about more important things like shelter and water.:thumbup:
 
I have thought about this a good deal. For me personally, if I were stranded somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and I knew i was going to have to either wait to be rescued or hoof it back to the world, I would want to get food daily.

If I were going to be staying put and waiting for rescue, I would first get a shelter made. Then I would locate my water source and get started preparing some water. Next, I would start making a signal, something obvious to see from the sky or the ground like a good fire with lots of smoke. Then it's on to food.

If I were going to be hoofing it back in, like if I knew there was a road in some certain direction or knew of something else where I would be able to find people, the first thing I would do, depending on the weather, would be to find my water source, prepair as much as I could carry, then make some sort of quick small shelter. Then, start thinking about food.

Either way, I would still be trying to get some form of food daily. If you're in a situation like that, everything is longer and harder. The days are 48 hours long and you feel everything a lot more than you would without the stress of being lost or stranded. Being hungry plays a lot harder on a person's mind than you might think. The first day, you probably won't care. The second day, it's going to start messing with you. It's true that you don't need food for a long time. You can survive for a good clip with nothing but water, but in that situation, anything that can make you happy is good, even if it takes a little more work. Now I've never been in a real situation like that, so I can't say from personal experience. I have however put myself in situations on trips out into the wilderness for several days at a time to simulate, as best I can without actually being lost, how it would be.

What I found is that, walking all day long in between setting up shelters, collecting firewood, etc. takes an incredible amount out of you and it's made ten times worse by being hungry. When I would only walk half the day, spend the necessary time setting up shelter, gathering firewood, and then also look for food, I was much happier and much more willing to keep going. Just the process of finding the food, having a little bit to munch on, cooking it if necessary, all somehow made me feel a lot better and made me feel like I could do it all for a much longer period of time. Fishing was one of the things I did. It was great to make a fishing pole, catch the fish, cook it, and eat it. It's not just a psychological thing either. If you have food, even if it takes longer to get out, you feel physically a lot better. Yes, you can live without food for a long time, but during that time, you'll be super fatigued, you'll have hunger pains, feel queezy, have headaches, etc. Really the only thing that is bad about finding food and eating during a survival situation is that it takes more energy and water to do it. However, the energy you lose getting your food will be replaced by much more as long as your meal is substantial enough, and typically I've found that i can find water in one way or another pretty much anywhere. The only places I couldn't find water, I also couldn't find food so it wasn't an issue anyways.
 
You can always use the fishing line for other things like snare wire or for emergency surgery so it doesn't hurt to have them.

Survival fishing takes very little energy than other forms of food gathering/hunting -this is important because you want to expend fewer calories than you gather in order to subsist. also keeping busy is very important in survival situations.

Fishing kits make more sense than putting a few band aids into a survival kit. -These take up space and are useless for treating real injuries.
 
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