Self Rescue Pack

Don_Parsons · #1 08-26-2017, 07:22 AM

So after the threads that came up this week about "encounters with bears in the West Country,,," I think its time to step up or re-fresh our own game plans for those of us that choose to.

Even I am complacent at this as I have to force my self to stay on top of this "Self Rescue Plan" thing.

My last adventures at this was "Lets say, the chitz."

After my small incident in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta deep in the back woods was a eye opener,,, it hits home when we survive an ordeal.
It Highness our ready-ness at the time and yes that it fades away over time.

Today I open my Self Rescue Pack from year 2015 when I put it together.

It's a small package weighing about a pound / pound and a half.

A little bit of everything.

Small medical wraps, thread, needles, string, tape, plastic bags, fire starter, knives, fire, fire fire, flash lights, wire, batters to replace.

Yuppers.
The emergency food and water are in my day pack.

Funny thing is that I have lots of trinkets that I could pack, but keeping it too a medium too small assures that it goes with me / on me when I leave my truck.

My incident back in 2014 proved to me that l'm not as tuff as I once was, and when wound, its 4 to 7 times harder to save ones self. "depending on the severity and out lying factors in weather and terrain.

Many of us I hope have had a good summer, now the season is changing as we soon step into fall,,, this means its harvest season for some of us.

So today I open my small self rescue pack to see if I need to add, subtract and refresh what I have.

I mentioned 2 things on the bear attack thread that folks might consider when building a SRP,,, water and fast energy depending on how far one needs to travel in the even of disaster.

They say your not to eat or drink anything if injured, so consider this in one's action plan to.

This is a open ended thread of ideas and things we can share on so we all continue getting the best bang for our buck when traveling off grid.

PS: This self rescue idea can be at home, camping and working. Of course the main focus of it is when we travel into the woods on foot.

Don

Don_Parsons · #2 08-26-2017, 07:47 AM

Set your self rescue pack up in mind that you only have half of your functions.

And alot 3 to 7 times at doing things.

When the wind is sucked out of your sails, it's much harder to do things.

Don't over tight pack and tape things off since the challange of just getting access too the pack alone is a struggle.

The adage I use now is that we are working with half of our body functions, so our mind and body is working double over time at each stage of the game...

Can we pull the lager garage bag over us with one hand when it starts too rain.
Can we take the tape off the batters to put into the flash light with 1 hand.

How far can we walk with 1 good leg.

This I know all to well my friends as my walk was like the walk from 4@!! and back.

22 kms over 7 hours to get cell service, then wait for help from that point.

My ordeal started at 3pm and the medic system took place at 3am.

I know it sounds like nothing, but when we are damaged, it's the worst.

It is then that we soon find out what we are made of.
I'm a family and friend dude, so I put this forward in my mind.

Don't give up, don't give in.

Self rescue will be the most challenging thing in one's life.
How prepared we are in-side and out depends on the tools in our mind.

Don.

PS: alot access too stuff in our SRP.

Don_Parsons · #3 08-26-2017, 11:25 AM

Letting folks know where your going is #1

We still use marker ribbon, and attach note of intended are that we are going, this sure helps if things go south.

Walking over those small draws & ravines are nothing, even getting over fallen timbers is easy,,, not so much when wounded.

Not all, but most humans don't like Slopes at 15 degrees, I know this is true for me at mid life, even more so if my injurys "if" one occurs would really put me to challange.

Most of my Harvesting friends are not 29 years young, so preservation of ones self is priority #1. Taking a hit puts us in our place. A few of us might think the same thing.

Can we return too where we're at. What obstacles will we encounter if we only have 10, 30, or 70% of functions.

The ground is mighty hard, a tree over the trail now becomes a blockage. A ravine is a challange.

We only know this as we plan ahead. Fore sight is my plan as much as others that might choose what works in their planning.

My 2014 wreck is just 1 of the many I've been in, I only hope I plan wizer "if" or when the next one happens.

Each of us at some point will know this,,, hopefully not as it take the wind out of our sails.

Don

1stLand · #4 08-26-2017, 11:55 AM

Sorry I missed the story about your ordeal.
Would be interested to hear it again

Grizzly Adams · #5 08-26-2017, 01:09 PM

I'm waiting to hear the complete story about the Panther River attack. That guy must have had Balls. Thinking he had at least a couple of tricky river crossings to get out of there.

Grizz

Whipper Billy · #6 08-26-2017, 02:47 PM

I think it's important when out hiking or hunting to keep your more important survival items in your pockets ("on me") in case you get separated from your backpack. For me:

Knife, physical compass, 8.5 x 11 copy of a map of my area, lighter, small freezer sandwich bag with matches, 2 energy bars, 4 motrin, 4 aspirin & 4 assorted fabric band-aids

Thanks for your thread. Factoring in injury is not something I often read about and is not only a consideration for a Self Rescue Pack. In Survival Rifle discussions, some suggest heavier firearms (i.e. over/under) that would be difficult to drag around on one leg or carry, raise, aim, release the safety & fire before the game moved if they had an arm/hand injury. Reloading could also be a challenge, especially when trying to get off a quick second shot from a single shot rifle.

CF8889 · #7 08-26-2017, 03:44 PM

I always carry a little flair pen with my kit. Takes up no room, and can really help getting people to notice you if you are lost or unable to move. Comes with 3 shots.

Hogie135 · #8 08-26-2017, 04:49 PM

Included with my small first aid kit with all your regular items, I picked up a package of quick clot to add to it

1stLand · #9 08-26-2017, 10:27 PM

First Aid Kit:
- Bandages
- Gauze
- 70% Rubbing alcohol spray
- Eyedrops
- Tensor Bandage
- Hand Sanitizer
- Lip Balm
- Sicssors
- Ibuprofen
- Strong Pain Killers
- Kleenix
- Matches
- Lighter
-Tweezers
- Surgical Gloves
(Most of the items in my first aid kit were bought at the dollar store, including the small shaving kit I keep all the First Aid Items in)

- Folding Saw
- Fillet Knife
- Hunting Knife
- Retractable Fishing Rod with hooks, slipshots, bobber
- Bear Spray
- Life Straw
- Sunscreen
- 1 days worth of food

MrDave · #10 08-27-2017, 11:43 AM

Multi pack of crazy glue is a must.

Don_Parsons · #11 08-27-2017, 08:03 PM

Good post 1 Land

My incident was in the back reaches of the Chungo.
Front tire on my dual sport bikes decided to become an anchor in a sand hole,,, Ha

I wasn't going very fast as it pitched me off the bike, lucky thing I had on all my riding gear as I landed on my shoulder braking my collar bone, the bike caught my ankle and foot on the way down.

Pretty much limited me to 1 good arm and 1 leg for the walk out.
My first 2 mistakes was not letting the friends and family know where I was going, and not having extra food and water. That would of been a wize plan.

Once I got my wind back I realized the bike was toast, front folks and rim were done.

The 22 km walk to cell service was brutal.
3pm till 10pm at night before I was able to contact 911.
Then at mid-night the Nordegg ambulance picked me up for a 3 hour drive to the Rocky Mountain House hospital... 3am.

Better planning would of improved this incident from the get go.

My good friend also did a self rescue and became his own medical surgeon on the side of a mountain in BC when he took the chain saw kick.

The helicopter dropped him off at Sun up, at 10am things went south, they couldn't get to him when a storm blew in as he waited till the next following day for a air life too Vancouver.

His incident was much worse than mine as he did everything right.
He was lucky since he had some fish hooks and fishing line in his emergency pack.
He was in shock while he put him self back together.

He said his hands were shaking the whole time, one stitch at a time.

His incident changed the logging practices in BC,,, helicopter drop crews, satellite phones, and they try too keep the work crews not spread apart too far.

Don

Don_Parsons · #12 08-27-2017, 08:17 PM

Extra note...

Take note of our walks into the back country.

The ravine and downed trees are not to much of a issue when we have good body functions,,, but its a whole different challange "if" mobility changes.

That little hills one walks up and down is nothing, the creek is easy to cross and those fallen trees on the trail don't even slow us down.

The reverse to this is the even of injury.
The little hill is now a mountain, the trickling creek becomes a raging river,,, and those fallen trees are road blocks.

So the wizer game plan for me is taking a mental note as I walk in, that way it gives me better timing when back-tracking if things go south.

Taking note of our surrounding sure helps us plan, that way we will know how far we choose to explore.

Don_Parsons · #13 09-05-2017, 05:36 AM

The continuing plan of up-date.

My Pal Ron & I up-date our what if rescue plan, and ways to limit issues in the first place.

We harvest some-what in the same area, so both our our families know where our staging area is.

Now comes the "when we can up-dates."
1 unit gets the attached note of our info,,, a red arrow pointing direction of travel with a small clipping of the special type of survey ribbon we use... We use 2 types of ribbon not commonly used as our trade-mark."

This weekend is bow harvest part 3 or 4, but even then we continue to prep our trails in and out not-harvesting,,, this lesson the risks of us stepping into a hole, sliding off a side-hill, and other obstructions that "could" lead to issues that "might" contribute to something going sideways.

Next we made up our drop ribbon clusters,,, just like the bread crumb trail idea.
Drop the ribbons on the way in, and pick them up on the way out.

At the head area where we stage from is another arrow.
That arrow points to the 1 of 3 spots we might be at threw the day.
Even though our cell-phones drift in and our of cell service we send our pre-planed GPS coordinates any-ways...
If either one of us move, these GPS text files seem to go threw.

I like what my friend says.
We're not 29 years anymore, multi tasking is slower and harder as we age.
We kinda loose our self securitys and coronation,,, so taking our time, planing ahead, and setting up all 7 to 10 aspects of being in the bush sure helps.

Knowing that we have emergence shelters, supplies, and systems set-up back there is a real plus "even if we never use them." at least they are there.

That hidden wood lot and roll of plastic along with supplies that remain there during our season is just fine till we gather it or prep it for our wither adventures.

Planing ahead with some harvest time is now part of the plan,,, the age thing could be part of it, but it what ever it is that gets us into the back country with safety in mind allows us to improve the higher quality of these outtings.

Our system is like having a control main station with many satellite emergency sub-stations on the alert,,, and a way to access them by all means possible,,, well less a truck or car that is. LOL.

This weekend we fixed the hills, draws, and access points to and from,,, that way help is much closer if something were to happen.

Don

Don_Parsons · #14 09-05-2017, 06:26 AM

I wanted to edit the above post, but the edit option is not showing.

Is there another option to access the threads we post?

Don

ceadog · #15 09-05-2017, 06:45 AM

I added a SAM splint to my pack - used to use them tons as a ski patroller, only 4 oz.

denied access · #16 09-05-2017, 07:42 AM

Best advice for a self rescue pack is not to rely upon it. A pack is fine. But a small first aid kit and compass in a cargo pocket, knife on your belt, steel and fire starter in another pocket, bic in another and your spot on your person is best. Let me explain.

I used to carry a emerg pack everywhere. Last year a friend od mine and his buddy were canoe hunting a river up here and tipped. They lost everything. By the time they got to shore they were very very cold and had nothing to work with. They both had survival packs and rifles that got lost when the boat tipped. Had their girlfriends not been in another canoe I have no doubt they would have succumbed to hypothermia.

This got me thinking and made me change my habits. I still carry a pack with a good first aid kit, food, water filter, etc etc but the bare minimum I need for self rescue I carry on my person.

Also remember that when it comes to rescue and survival gear 2 is 1 and 1 is none. You also should be able to light a fire with heavy winter mits on because that is what it will be like to get one going once you have early stages of hypothermia.

Don_Parsons · #17 09-05-2017, 10:34 AM

^^^ X's 2

Totally agree. Just enough on the person can make or brake the system.

We're lucky since we only visit the few areas with in the block we mapped out.

Its about 1 mile to the river from our main staging area, we work the edges up and down the water way, it's sure nice having satellite pods on stand-by.

I hope that neither us ever use those satellites pods.

Don