Survival gear when out shooting wildlife

Clovishound

Senior Member
My response to another thread got me to thinking. I'm a retired aircrew member, and spent a lot of time over the years taking survival/survival equipment training and refresher courses. The mindset has stuck with me, and when my buddy and I hunt, I normally carry a good bit of survival gear with me in case something happens and I have to spend a night in the woods, or some other issue crops up out in the woods. I have yet to make a wildlife photography outing that takes me any meaningful distance from my vehicle and civilization, other than the couple of trips to the boneyard beach. That beach not what I would call remote, but it is a 20 minute walk from the car over a trail that can flood at high tide, and another half hour to civilization. On those occasions, I normally carry a backpack with enough gear to spend a night in the boonies, and some basic first aid stuff. When hunting, at a minimum, I carry a tourniquet, gauze and tape, bandages, water, plastic sheeting and bags, matches and fire starter, a knife, compass, whistle, flashlight, wire saw, glow sticks, rope, gloves, poncho, emergency blanket, spare long underwear and socks.

I may have to rethink what I carry as my new camera gear backpack is fairly full now. The items that take up the most room are the spare clothing. This may actually the most important gear on an unplanned extended stay in the cooler months.

What do the rest of you carry when you are in such situations? I may be overthinking this due to my training, but I do feel that at least some type of a rudimentary kit is an excellent idea to have with you if you are in a situation where things may go south without warning.
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Not having had any similar training, I pretty much just jam a few squares of toilet paper into my pocket and maybe a candy bar. A bottled water also, if I don't forget and leave it on the counter (again). I don't even own a backpack, let alone anything to put into it. If something so bad happens to me that it requires a tourniquet to fix, well...I've had a good run. No regrets.

I'm actually not lying here. Except: I don't pack toilet paper, either.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
Well, not sure I'd really need a tourniquet on a photo outing. Hunting is slightly more likely to encounter a serious injury requiring one. Of course, I could easily make one in the field with the rope and some handy small branches. The commercial model is small and easy to use, so I carry one, plus my hunting buddy is a retired paramedic, so he kind of pushes me on the medical stuff. Cutting branches and assembling even a rudimentary tourniquet while bleeding out might be problematic.

Toilet paper and candy bar are comfort items. The water is a must IMO. Not mentioned, but a cell phone is a must also, although many remote locations don't have coverage, hence the whistle and compass, a map of the area wouldn't hurt either. Most places I go, a hike in a straight line in any direction will pretty quickly intersect a river or road.

Again, I may be overthinking this, as the odds of getting stranded in the woods are very small. The odds of a traffic accident to and from are far greater. Still, it never hurts to be prepared, if not for yourself, for someone you care about. My daughter is usually with me on my photo outings. She may be a grown adult, but I still feel pretty protective of her. If something happened to her, I doubt I would survive the encounter with my wife.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I carry a Black Rapid strap with a camera and lens attached... and a spare battery in my pocket... I've never needed anything else that wasn't readily available for a 1/2 day photo shoot... I may have a pack in my truck with other lenses and a tripod... I don't ever recall going somewhere that I was more than a 1/2 hour from my truck...
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
Well, where I hunt, we are normally less than 1/2 hour from our vehicle also. The issue is tracking a wounded animal may get you off the trails and into a situation. The photo shoots at the beach are less about getting lost, than getting stranded. The strip of beach is separated from the parking lot by a fairly long trail through the marsh. It is raised a few feet from the marsh, but obviously can and does flood at extreme high tides. Also the gate closes 1/2 hour after sunset. I'm sure I could get a ranger to come and open up, but all in all, seems reasonable to be prepared for the worst. It's not uncommon for day hikers end up getting stranded and don't survive, or barely survive for want of a few basic items.

Bottom line it is a personal decision based on experience, and perceived risk. Many places I don't worry at all about it. Others I make sure I have at least a few basics. In the past I just grabbed my hunting backpack and carried it with my photo gear in a separate bag. It stays packed, and has everything in it, so why reinvent the wheel. Now that my photo gear pile has grown and it's in a backpack, I have to rethink. Got me to wondering what everyone else does.
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
I don't venture out alone very much, especially in a remote area, but I usually keep sunscreen and DEET in my bag along with a bottle of water and a couple snack bars. I keep some in the car too. I won't be trekking out into the woods alone, but we do have hiking trails around here, and the heat can take you down pretty quickly. Best survival things you can have is a buddy and plenty of water in case you twist an ankle on the trails. People die hiking alone. They end-up falling and can't be seen easily by rescue. These days you can get a GPS locator in case you get stranded. If you are an adventurer, it would be a good thing to have.

My brother gave me a small survival bag that has a reflective blanket in it. I need to do an inventory and make sure I have enough stuff in case something happens even just driving somewhere by myself. You never know, you can get stuck in a traffic jam with no way off of the freeway on the hottest day of the year.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
I admit to being too casual about this at times. I need to do a better job of carrying water with me, for sure. For the most part, though, I'm not too far from the car and there are usually other people in the area. I always have a cell phone. Hat and extra clothes when needed in the backpack.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
I think a fully charged cell phone is the most important thing.

I would put it up near the top, although there are a lot of places I go that do not have cell service, so I like to have backup. If I had to choose between a knife, and a cell phone, I would probably choose the knife. I can make and do a lot of things in the woods with a knife. A cell phone can only do one thing, and that is dependent on having a signal and battery power. OK on reflection, I guess it can do two as you can use it as a flashlight. For a little while. With a knife, I can make what I need to get a fire going and have light and warmth as long as the wood holds out. I could probably make fire without a knife, but it would be much harder.
 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
Great topic! In my camera bag, there's not much other than camera stuff- just a couple energy bars and a water bottle on the side of the backpack and an altoids tin with bandaids, alcohol wipes, water purification tabs, a tiny flashlight, a button compass, a couple sticks of fat wood and a lighter. A map is easy enough to fold up and add to the kit if its an area I am unfamiliar with. I always have a hat on my head, my phone in my pocket and (at least one) pocket knife. Here in the PNW, I have to adjust my needs to the season. In summer, bug spray and sun screen may take priority over the hand warmers and extra wool socks for winter. I do have more supplies in the truck and rarely venture far, but I understand the need for supplies to get back to the rig.
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
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.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
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
 
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