Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting 72 hours in a HPG Kit Bag?

This got me thinking….

I’ve been known to wear a Hill People Gear Kit Bag while hiking and hunting, mostly to conceal a Glock 19 and to carry some essentials and snacks.

Using the Fieldcraft Survival minimalist approach, and using a HPG Kit Bag, assuming the back compartment has a handgun of some sort, what would you put in the middle compartment and the zipped front pouch for an overnighter or up to 72 hours until rescue?

Wife and I just bought 4 wheelers, and while packing some basic survive-where-the-ATV-broke gear, I headed down this bunny hole.

We live in SE WA, and while not as remote as when I lived and hunted in Alaska, things happen that force unexpected camp outs or hike outs.

What would you take, and why?

Three means of starting fires.

Bic lighter, space blanket, paracord/bank line, multi-tool, Powerbars, 5 hour energy shot, plastic emergency poncho, Life straw, bandana, can of Grizzly, I-phone and power bank for phone, head lamp, gallon zip lock bag and any meds I needed to take.

After 72 hours I would be hungry, tired and dirty, but I could stay in place for 72 hours or walk 60+ miles in that time.

JMHO- I really don't understand the reluctance of
so many these days to have an abundance of
rope and cordage on hand. When I see all these lists with
10 and 20 feet of parachute cord I can only shake
my head and wonder wtf
Yeah, you can twist up some vines or whatever,
but why would you?

I have a kit bag, but the only time I use it on its own is hiking local single track trails. It carries my pistol, spare mag in the main compartment the small zipped front pocket carries a small first aid kit, small fire kit, tp and a small headlamp.

If I’m heading to the mountains I want more with than a kit bag can carry. For one I want an adequate amount of water. The kit bag simply can’t carry water efficiently.

A small daypack nets me enough volume to have a quasi decent shelter, a few additional bits of clothing, food, a good headlamp and as mentioned above- water and a means to treat water.

Great for shorter hikes around town, totally inadequate for heading into the backcountry imho.

If you're going to on ATVs anyway, I would go with a much bigger kit.

Almost exactly what my kit bag carries, plus a knife and couple of protein/granola bars. Just enough to get me by in the mountains for a little while if I drop my pack somewhere for some reason. It's also a convenient way to carry items that I need to access frequently when I'm carrying my pack.

What Jordan said.

My ATV is fully equipped for a few nights out, and I have a day pack.

I’m really asking what you’d carry just in the kit bag, as a last resort, for up to 72 hours.

Mine has a life straw, and tablets,
Poncho
Twine
Knife and multi tool
Two ways to start a fire with fire starter
Space blanket
3 high calorie bars
Meds
Cable saw

What am I missing?

Little bit of TP, small backup headlamp, minimal first-aid kit.

Copy

I picked these up as a impulse purchase from Amazon a month or so ago. My thought was I was looking for a replacement for my Tyvek ground cloth but also have it as an emergency blanket if need be. I opened one up to see what it really looked like and I'll say I'm pretty impressed with how tough it is. I intentionally tried to put some sticks through it and tear the ends. I was unsuccessful at destroying it. I was able to roll it back up and get it in the sack so it is reusable in that way and @ 4 oz with the bag you won't even know it's there.

space bag

tag

At least three days of Rx meds, spare glasses/contact solution/case and TP. LED flashlight, fire starter (you have two tanks of gas so really don't need much tinder). Some sort of space blanket or tarp, and a way to purify water. My experience in the woods puts my needs in this order: shelter/warmth, meds, water, defense tools, navigation, then food. I'm assuming the ATV has basic tools, small shovel, means to fix a flat.

Edited to add a saw/axe. This was never really a thing I thought necessary but that changed last year, almost. Elk hunting for the evening hunt, came back on a forest road at night through standing dead beetle kill. It had been a super windy day. In the matter of three hours, more that four trees fell across the road. All were small enough to drive over, accept one. It was right at handle bar height. I was able to lift it enough while holding the throttle with the other hand to get under it. No driving around this one either. Cliff on one side, steep cut embankment on other. Not life threatening but would have made for a long walk back to camp.

Had all that on my list except the saw. Thanks for that.

Knife
Sharpening steel
Paracord
Head light and a flashlight
Small FAK
Vaseline soaked cotton balls and a striker
Space blanket
TP
Compass
Life straw
Rain poncho
Granola bars
Folding readers
Ziplock bag

My dad fell and broke his back and ankle a few years ago, lessons were learned and the kit goes with me every trip.

If you have an ATV then you should be able to easily be set up for a week. The kit bag is a fine piece of gear to have for a few items, meds, wipes and such but it's not a good choice for carrying an firearm.

I have a new KTM 690 dual sport I'm setting up with a rear rack and panniers to keep my gear weather proofed and to transport extra fuel. I keep a handlebar bag on, HPG kit bag on board and sometimes an old Kifaru Scout lumbar pack on me. I've already go an BMW 650 adventure bike thus outfitted but the KTM is more dirt worthy. I do a lot of trails and backroads in Idaho this year it's been a smokey mess.

I have found that though the HPG kit bag is nice, it is much more comfortable when wearing a small backpack to balance out the weight. So in the small backpack, (I use the REI Flash 22), I can carry the stuff that wouldn't fit into the HPG bag.

HPG bag:
-medical kit with tourniquet
-fire starters
-headlamp
-knife, (mora knife attached on the bottom outside straps)
-nav, compass, map, Garmin in reach
-Space bevy sack
-water purifier drops or tablets
-Radio
-Hearing pro/eye pro
-granola bars
-G45

In the REI Flash 22:
-Extra clothes (jacket for rain, warmth, socks, gloves hat depending on time of year and place)
-Water bottle
-other food
-Small closed cell foam pad
-extra mag

I do the HPG and a small backpack when I'm in serious scouting mode - meaning covering ground looking for sign, checking out terrain features, etc. I mostly use the HPG for my Glock, extra mag, phone, keys, gum, bite size snickers. In the pack goes a bit of food, 2-4 bottles water, basic med and emergency kit. Extra clothes usually get strapped to the pack because it isn't big enough to put inside. I really don't carry any shelter but figure a fire and a bit of ingenuity for shelter works long enough to get reached if need be.

If I'm going more than a couples miles off trail roaming around, I take a day pack with the same stuff I take hunting minus my kill kit.

Road flare cut down and sealed on the cut end with epoxy glue and then wrapped in duct tape. About 4-5 inches long or the full lenght.. If needed burns hot and long with added tape and glue to help out. Blow torch hot for fire starting.

Those don't breath, so they retain both heat and moisture. Heat is good, moisture not so good.

The Outdoor Gear Review on Youtube has done a couple of videos on Space Blankets and Bivy Sacks as overnight emergency shelters. They even did one on a Space Blanket shelter that came with a clear plastic side, making it sort of a prefab ultimate survival shelter.

Specifically regarding your first aid kit.
My sister is a NP and works in the ER and my brother in law was an EMT. Both of them suggested that I add a chest seal bandage like Hyfin Vent to my little first aid kit I keep in my daypack.
Getting a sucking chest wound from an atv crash is probably more likely than getting one on hike in hunt.
My brother in law also said you might not be fully conscious or able to speak when help finds you so put a sharpie pen in the first aid kit to write on your skin to record like when you applied a tourniquet, or to track swelling of a bite from something venomous, or record when and how much medication you took if your able to get some prescription strength pain killers to carry in your first aid kit.
They are both really small lightweight items that I was able to stuff into the existing carry bag for the first aid kit.

Not quite on subject but relevant.

Knowing what to do and how to do it is as important as what is in your kit bag. I just finished a 40 hour Wilderness First Aid course put on by NOLS. I highly recommend it over a standard first aid course. Much more in depth and geared towards back country treatment of injuries. Seriously eye opening! You will learn what the most useful things to carry are.

An interesting takeaway from the course was that your first aid kit should be repacked for every trip just as the gear you take varies. Depending on where you are going, how long, how many people in your group, is someone else trained and carrying a kit. Talk to your group and find out if anyones has health issues you need to keep an eye on or pack special gear for, like allergies, diabetes, seizures, what meds they take and what happens if they run out. The list goes on. I guess I'd say knowledge is the best thing to pack in your 72 hour kit bag!

In Alaska I saw too many people get separated from their ATV. It certainly doesn't hurt to carry additional survival stuff in their ATV but I also keep enough survival stuff with me (fanny pack) that I can get by for a couple of days should we get separated.

Excellent point.

‘Jack,

That was my original point, lost on the many.

After I attended Arctic Survival School at Eielson, I got into the habit of taking a fanny pack anytime I was off of my ATV.

Similar to the “Surviving a Cold, Wet Night” thread, I was looking for best practices around the minimal gear you’d take when you leave your ATV, for any reason. And, the logic in the choices for your personal minimalist survival kit.

Per the below, some people missed that point entirely.

If I was carrying a kit bag only to help on an unexpected night out, I'd prioritize fire starting first. A couple ways of ignition and even one of the small flares that are sold (Orion pit fire flare mini flares), along with a Trioxane bar or something similar- basically something that you know is going to get a fire going regardless.

A decently stocked personal first aid kit- would be easy to come up with a pretty good compact kit for 4-5 oz.

If it fit (should fit the larger kit bags), an insulating blanket like the Blizzard Compact blanket. https://5col.com/products/blizzard-compact-blanket

I'd make sure my inReach was tethered to the kit bag.

A good headlamp w/ spare batteries.

Map & compass (my compass is usually tethered and in my pocket).

Few high calorie bars.

Add a couple of packs of Celox gauze.