Survival gear when out shooting wildlife

15 years ago I was a very regular geocacher, so I was out hiking alone about as many times as I had a partner along. At that time I used a Camelbak 1-day sized backpack with water in the hydration bladder. What else I brought evolved over time but I kept a very minimal First Aid kit with some basic stuff in there. One of the mylar silver emergency blankets (mainly because it had minimal size/weight penalty). Normally had a compass in addition to my GPS (required for geocaching then), phone, spare bug spray and sunscreen, extra batteries. A Leatherman SuperTool normally was in the backpack also, was too big for a pocket. I always keep a small flashlight in the pants pocket since a couple of incidents in my youth where I was caught in the dark without illumination. But that was mostly what I carried for survival purposes. I was only going out around 3-5 miles max on the hiking paths.

In all the time I did that, I had just a pair of situations that could have gone south on me. One time I foolishly ventured into a marsh as I misread the path to a geocache. Feet were mired into the muck and I had difficulty extricating myself. I did have a walking-stick and that became a shovel to dig my feet out. But the battery in my phone was dead so it could have been bad if I did not improvise a shovel. Another time became the longest hike of my life when my work cellphone in it's holster dropped off the shoulder-strap I had clipped it to on my backpack. When I took inventory of my gear near the end of the hike is when I realized what happened. Had to back-track miles to find it. The real danger was of being picked up and carried away by mosquitos. I kept reapplying spray regularly but they still swarmed me on the final trek out. The sun was setting fast and yes I was spent when I finally got to where I parked. The extra water and granola bars I put in a cooler there was consumed quickly.

---

› See More: Survival gear when out shooting wildlife

Mother Nature believes strongly in tough love. It is best not to rely on her loving protection.

These are the big three I try to be minimally prepared to deal with:

First aid

Water

Shelter from the elements