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

I've learned over time how to head out into the woods and survive for days without carrying too much weight. My pack used to weigh around 90lbs when I first got into backpacking. Now I just take basic nessesities. I also stopped lugging alot of water weight by using small water filters for drinking water while hiking and boiling water for camp use.Also I used to take canned foods which hold alot of water weight,now it's freeze dried foods,jerky (which can be rehydrated) and I find edible plants while camped. I also stopped using a typical tent for shelter,now I use a small bivy shelter and a fleece sleeping bag. For inclement weather I use a rainproof poncho and a fleece jacket and cap when it gets cold. My main focus is keeping weight down, it just slows me down.

I have lots of the same stuff, but since I clean my deer after taking out of the woods, I carry a saw that fits in a small can.
I think they call it "pocket chain saw".
I also carry a "BlastMatch", in addition to a lighter and water / wind proof matches.
I always have my pack, because you never know what might happen and I have things that I need for the hunt anyway.

yep,basic survival gear,a collapsable fishing pole with some tackle,a .22 and you'll never go hungry.

On a backpack hunt, boredom is a lot lighter than an iPod. Or a book. Ranks right up there with packing booze.

Besides, I don't know how to run an iPod, nor have I ever gone postal from boredom.

A bit twitchy, perhaps.....


I've often wondered where Dwane disappeared to after that goat hunt all those decades ago....

Rob- the body not only "gives a good fight" to resist being cold, it also adapts.

If I've been leading a "normal' lifestyle of interior-dwelling, then go on - say - a several day back-pack trip in sub- freezing temps, I'm cold the first hour or so, and dress and shed accordingly. Within an hour or two, however, my metabolism kicks into another gear (usually about an hour, with some adjustment thereafter), and after a day or so out there in the outdoors, when I come back into a 68 or 70 degree room, I have to strip to my undies to be comfortable for some hours afterward. (I have a reputation in the local McDonalds! )

30 years ago, in my first fall in the Arctic, it took exactly one October weekend trip to figure out that Coleman single-burner, with freeze-dried food was just not as good for a 3-day trip as a dozen 8" frozen tom-cod (eaten frozen, guts, feathers, and all!) and a 6 inch square of muktuk, also eaten frozen, but sliced into thin slivers, with a quarter to half-inch of blubber on the skin. (Them Eskimos have learned a thing or two over the centuries....)

The fish, I think, is mostly for mild protein gut-filler, while the muktuk contributes bookoo carbohydrate calories for heat. The Coleman (or other heater) is right handy for the "luxury" of brewing up some hot, heavily sugared tea, tho! I've used Jello similarily to the tea, in less harsh climes.

I think that the more one goes back and forth between indoors and out, the more readily the body adjusts to the differences.

Mental set also contributes. If you "know" you are going to miserable the whole time- you probably will be. If you "know" you will adjust shortly, it's gonna be a whole lot more pleasant of a misery.

One name -- Les Stroud. May have a tip or two. Check out --youtube as well for alternate tips per your location.

The body definitely adjusts to heat and cold. It takes a while, but I know it happens, so I am convinced the subconcious regions of the brain which control things like breathing, blood flow, digestion, release of sugar and adrenalin, can learn from experiences and adjust the response of these systems.

Tests with people who have repeatedly endured extreme cold, like Navy divers and trappers in the North, have shown that their bodies ramp up the burning of sugars and fats to keep the core temperature much higher than normal people, so that they can survive in water below 40 degrees for more than an hour, and still think and function.

The same is true with heat and humidity. The body has to learn to sweat and to regulate its temperature.

Interesting concepts. Please tell me where your medical and/or physiology degrees came from.

You don't need a medical degree to know this. I know it from personal experience, and from studying experiments on how some people can become conditioned to surviving cold temperatures which would quickly kill most other people.

I also know it from being an engineer who helped develop vital signs monitors, and from participating in one of the early tests myself, which involved treading water in cold water for several hours.

Scientists use thermal imaging and internal sensors inserted through the nasal passage and esophagus to monitor core body temperatures.

You can begin reading unclassified material here:
www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=28434

For all the things you claim, you must never sleep.

If you think Boy Scout level camping is astounding, you must not get outdoors very much.

Likely one of us does not.

Buh-bye.

Go camping. Get outdoors.

okay I'm gonna go toss my sleepin bag in the yard.


if it survives


I'll join it tomorrow night


but if I get cold I'm comin back in

How'd that work out for ya?

whewww I'm cold Mike, the first night when I just tossed the bag out to see how it did, the damn dogs ran off with it.


been lookin for it ever since.


so screw the camping gig, I just ain't into it.

75* here today and I'm sittin inside with the heater full blast, trying to teach myself to sweat.

beer helps

I was telling some friends about living in Faribanks. 96* F in the summer, -40* F in the winter. What's not to like?

Most of them though it remains a frozen wasteland year round.

I lived it.

It's already a better summer than last year!

If you want to read a biased opinion of Snugpack products but that I think is pretty accurate go over to www.wiggys.com and cruise through his archived newsletters from a few years ago. At the SHOT Show this year I asked one of the salesmen at Snugpack about laundering their products...bottom line was you will ruin any of their insulation if it is not professionally dry cleaned. I have a Wiggy's Desert Bag that is rated to 40* but have slept down to 28* in an unheated tent. Stuffed down it is about the size of a large loaf of bread. It has been washed no less than 10 times since purchased in 1995 and is still like new. The Wiggy's sweather and vest I have were purchased in 1997 and have been laundered 3-4 times a year..still good to -10 with no wind. I bought my brother a sweater for Christmas two years ago and it is all he ever wears now.

As to the original question about Surviving a Cold Wet Night... What I carry depends on where I am hunting/hiking. One thing I always have is a lightweight single ply GorTex rain jacket and pants. Over normal clothing it almost acts as a sleeping bag keeping in warmth.

The survival kit size varries depending how far I'll be from the nearest road when out... Some places it fits in a BDU pocket and other times it will be a large Mountaismith lumbar pack. Another thing always carried in addition to any food/snacks for the day is 2-3 energy bars that are never eaten except in case of emergency.

For those that don't think the body adjusts to the cold I suggst reading "The Long Walk" about escaping a Russian prison train...a great and inspiring read.

Bob

Old Indian saying "white man only face, Indian all face". Don't know who said it, but it means the native Americans were able to withstand the weather with less or little clothing compared to the pioneers of early days.
I went on a week bow hunt in WVa and stayed in a tent. Used only the campfire for cooking and warmth. Started out wearing plenty of clothing then went to a hooded fleece pullover and light camo jacket. The ponds froze during the week and had some light snow. Went to eat at my friends Uncle's house later in the week. Walked inside and I thought needles were sticking me in the face. It was the heat in the house, which was awful. After a while I got used to inside and ate a fine meal. When we left to hike back across the mountain to camp, I thought I would freeze to death. We did take a small buck each that week...good times and good memories.
Look at some of the "street people" in towns, they wear the same clothes year round and carry "packs" (gear)slung across one shoulder. Something to think about..