Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Surviving a cold wet night

Any updates headed into the winter of 2015?

new or innovative additions?

Same as always, water and ways to purify more, shelter/fire, signaling, first aid, food, adjusted for the mission.

Regards, Jim

Building a woods wandering kit, based on LBE, pistol belt with pad, suspenders, (2) 1qt.canteens (one stainless)/cup/cover/stove/hexamine and (2) chlorine dioxide tabs duck taped to the back of the bottles, butt pack, knife, side arm/reloads.

In/on the butt pack (some of which is typically attached to me):

H2O: water purification kit.

FAK (BOK on belt)

Fire: fat wood, ferro, PJCB's, Bic, lifeboat matches, ranger bands, Sterno, flare.

Signal: whistle, mirror, MPIL, strobe (lithium and spares).

Comms: cell/ham

Shelter: medium weight merino tops and bottoms, socks, hat gloves, puffy, poncho, wobbie, tarp, hot packs and foam pad to keep at least my butt off the ground.

Nav: compass, GPS/batts, maps, binos, pace beads.

Cordage: 6mm static kern/550/webbing/biners.

Food: varies from stripped MRE, LURP, Gu, bars.
snares/fishing.

GB hatchet fits between the butt pack and the belt and a Silky Gomboy fits in the tool pocket of the Duluth or carpenter pants I typically wear if not in my woolies. Headlamp/flashlight, spare batts/light sticks.

To augment what's in my pockets, for an unexpected night(s) out, hunting/fishing or just for a walk in the woods. Add a pack with more better, and usually a shotty with various shells (game/buck/slugs) hunting season or not.

Regards, Jim

tag

Cool thread, got a lot of great ideas from it. I did notice that a lot of the minimalist type lists don't include a whistle. A lot of packs now have whistles built into the sternum strap buckle but as with fire starting and duct tape, nothing wrong with redundancy. Speaking of duct tape, I wrap a foot or two around all kinds of things (lighter, trekking pole, knife sheath)so there's always some handy. Besides Benadryl it's also about all the first aid kit i carry most of the time. If it can't be fixed with a knife, duct tape, and/or Benadryl it can wait a couple days

Interesting thread.

Along with the "normal" bits- robust fire kit, first aid, repair stuff, good headlamp/spare batteries, nav items (compass, map, gps)- the stuff that's going to really help me get through an unplanned night out- are:

extra clothing- a good insulating jacket (w/ hood!)- temp/weather dependent on which one, but I like synthetic due to it's ability to handle wet better (than down), particularly Polartec Alpha and Climashield; a fleece balaclava; fleece mitts; spare wool socks and a good shell jacket (again hooded)

sleep system- this won't make for an overly comfortable night in really cold conditions, but will keep me alive

diy climashield quilt- climashield 3.6, quilt weight 15-ish oz
SOL bivy- this is their newer one and actually breathes 8-ish oz
ccf pad scored to fold up (like a z-pad) 4-ish oz
5x8 sil tarp 8-ish oz

relatively light and very low volume, easily all fit into a 20-ish liter daypack

Kudus on your choice of gear. I like it enough that I checked on the breathable SOL bivy-- and it is not available on the SOL site nor any of the Amazon sources I checked. Wonder what's up with that? More demand than they can supply or did they pull the product?

Thanks .

It's called the Escape bivy (they also have an Escape Lite, not as robust) I know REI carries it, probably Amazon too. Shop around as the price can vary.

Here's a source,

http://www.lapolicegear.com/sol-0140-1229.html?gclid=COvC9ojj-88CFYJnfgodriwIXA

Dunno what was up but when I first looked up the Escape breathable, every source on Amazon and the SOL site itself said that it was not available and not sure when it would be. The next day, all but the SOL site had it for sale.

Thanks for the tip. I bought one at Cabela's today and it will be in my daypack when hunting tomorrow. I've spent a fair number of unplanned/impromptu nights out without sleeping bag etc. and this item should improve the experience.

^ good deal; unplanned nights out suck; the bivy should help them suck just a little less

Dryer lint soaked works very well too.

I haven't read all the way through this thread so my comments may have been covered. A woodsman who had been in that situation a few times gave me some pretty good advive. He said to find the thickest or most shelteres area you can (wind protectin and an evergreen canopy) and stay on your feet.

It sounds odd but you can regulate your temperature much better on your feet. Running in place, some squats, etc. will raise your temperature. If you get stuck without a tarp, bag and stove, keep it in mind. Your body will want to lag down but it will sap your heat.

STEEL WOOL (waterproof) + Battery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNJhJwnSs

FOIL WRAP(waterproof) + Battery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOBQNcsUv8

WAX-SOAKED(waterproof) TAMPONS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NggUFCI9lZ8

Great thread to 'brush' up on. Reminds me of some overnighters that were much more comfortable due to some of the knowledge learned here.

Great thread!

As long as it's from fabric thats not treated with fire retardant......

Pure cotton balls are better than dryer lint.

I did a test on pure cotton balls vs dryer lint, both coated equally in a Vaseline/paraffin mix. The cotton balls ignited quicker and burned better. It probably depends on what fabric the lint came from. Pure cotton balls are consistent.

That's what I carry, in an old film canister. It's funny when i break that out to show the hunter ed classes, I have to explain what a "film canister" is to the kids.