Backpack Hunting

Backpack Hunting
What items should be in a hunters survival kit? Serious woodsman or woodswomen only?

I ask only because I keep maintain and use my survival kit on a regular basis. The most dangerous hunts I do are hound hunts where I wait for fresh snow and head for the highest altitude I can drive to then hike in on foot. Also these hunts are done at night. I have spent many nights in the cold looking for my hounds and making my way back to my truck. Anyways I recently looked online for a list of items and could not find anyone who had a good list. The reason I say this is either they have way to much to carry, or not enough to survive, and lastly not one single kit contained toilet paper. Not one! I don’t go in the woods with out TP. I call it mountain money. All kidding aside though, what is in your backpack and what activity do you participate in that requires you to have such a kit? Can you carry your bag comfortably over miles of rough country with no roads or trails? I have found that my pack has evolved over the years and varies slightly from season to season. Oregon hunter

Good Question — as with lots of outdoor stuff, this all becomes personal preference and needs.

I hunt in Virginia (not too far from humans EVER), and in Colorado where you can still get pretty remote. Also, I am a physician and prior military survival instructor, so my kit is probably weighted (literally and figuratively) differently than others might be.

As you often hear, the first tool of survival is your brains — starting there, everything else is pretty much optional.

In Mine:
Water or way to purify water. I carry iodine tablets
Waterproof matches
Signal mirror
whistle
Toilet paper – in a zip-lock bag
space blanket
a fairly advanced medical kit (this is more for if I come across someone needing help)
several pairs of pocket hand/toe warmers — the chemical kind that just start to get warm when you take them out of the pack
about 20 feet of 550 army parachute cord

Other things not in kit but they always go with me:
food – snacks and usually a denty moore beef stew with a pop-off lid.
GPS with extra batteries — don’t forget to mark the trailhead before you start of into the backcountry
Cell Phone (often I am where there is no signal, but sometimes hilltops can get a weak signal)
LED head lamp
Knife – I carry 2. One large (Buckmaster — the knife I got for survival school in 1986 and it is still a great tool) one small (a Gerber multitool – knife, pliers, saw, etc.).
I almost always carry a firearm of some kind — even when I’m just hiking
some type of waterproof outer shell
hat

A great reference is FM 21-76. It is the military Survival manual. Not something you can pack when you’re on foot, but it’s a great reference and kind of fun to read. It has improved a lot since my first copy. I teach my son a few things out of the manual each time we go camping. He thinks we’re just doing cool “outdoor” things.

Good First Aid kits that are light and complete for the non-medical person are Adventure Medical Kits — google them — many variations to fit your needs.