UPDATE: For those alert readers who wondered what a "wazed" piece cardboard would be used for in a survival kit, that typo is now fixed.... know what a "waxed" piece of cardboard would be useful for?
November 16, 2010
When you look for information on what to put in a little survival pack that you would have with you whenever you are outdoors and not walking on sidewalk, you find a staggering variety to choose from and even more advice on what to put in one you assemble yourself. A Google search gives you over 2 million options and YouTube over 5,000. What should the well prepared rural person do?
First, apply your good sense to what others have to say and sell and don't consider including anything you aren't sure you know how to use and can imagine needing. For example, many kits include fishing hooks and line as well as wire for snares. Ever used these in this barebones way? If you haven't, they aren't going to work for when you are lost in the woods. Even more fundamental is, how long can you survive without food? The answer is about a month. Water is much more important—especially in the summer or if you are hot. You can only go a few days without water. Well, is there anything that is a more pressing need than water? Yes! Maintaining your body heat! You can get hypothermic in minutes if submerged in cold water and it is common even in mild weather at night if the temperature is going below 60 degrees F. But any temperature below your body temp will tend to cool it; colder temps just do it faster and if you are wet you will chill more quickly. If you are cold (and especially if wet) your first priority is to get and stay warm. You need to prevent hypothermia which will impair your judgment, can cause cardiac arrhythmias and ultimately metabolic shut down and death. So staying warm and getting yourself found and out of the cold is your most important mission, then drinking water (dehydration accelerates hypothermia) and your least acute "need" is food.
So what is the important stuff to carry with you if your short afternoon hikes goes awry and you end up spending the night in the woods? You need tools that you know how to use to keep you warm and as dry as possible, a means of signaling those looking for you, and a few tools that may make you safer. How bulky is this? Your stuff should fit in a large pocket, on your belt, of in a tiny fanny pack.
Here is one persons kit that includes: a plastic shopping bag, hacksaw blade, flint striker knife, signal mirror, waxed cloth, tinfoil wrapped in tissue paper, flint, matches, waxed fiber block, candle, knife, waxed cardboard, flashlight (dark round item),fresnel lens, duct tape, razor blade, and a whistle.
If you don't know why something is in this set or how to use it, e.g., strike a flint, you should exclude it because you won't use it and it will waste space. I would add a big plastic "garbage" bag folded up, a Ronson lighter, a quart zip lock bag, a little flagging wrapped around something, either a little bit of paracord or one of the seven threads inside paracord and a bandana. You can assemble your collection to fit in something you already have or wrap it with plastic wrap to fit in a pocket, pouch on your belt or a fanny pack. Just make sure it is a handy size you will use.
Anyone got other ideas—different favorites, a way to make this smaller—better ways to make it handy?
Hat tip: Jim McNutt
