[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Survival Kit Challenge (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/13/2010 8:02:39 PM EDT
|
Myself and puddintame would like to offer our services as survival enthusiasts.
We are planning, during the month of September of this year, to go on a 3 day, 2 night, trip into the remote wilderness of Alabama for the purposes of testing two commercial survival kits. Our price range is between $50 and $100. Here are a few examples of such a kit: http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CAMP229-1.html http://www.cabelas.com/link-12/product/0066688519078a.shtml?cmCat=perf&rid=0987654321 http://www.amazon.com/Mayday-Person-Deluxe-Emergency-Backpack/dp/B000EPLKSW The only additional item we plan to take along with us is a single survival knife of our choosing. In addition, we will each take a cell phone and a hand held GPS for emergencies. We intend to record the trip using 2 FLIP video cameras. We would like to get the hive’s thoughts on which survival kit you would like to see us use. Keep in mind the price parameters, because neither of us is rich. (if you are a vendor, we'd take one of your products for testing  ) Our thoughts are that 99% of commercial survival kits are complete bullshit. We have both spent our fair share of time in the wilderness during extreme and ideal conditions and question the true effectiveness of a simple commercial kit that so many folks may put their lives on the line for.
We plan to be as open and forthright as possible during this process and welcome questions, concerns, and assholes alike. What kits would you like to see tested? |
|
How about this, put together a survival kit yourself for under $50 that fits into a Nalgene water bottle or smaller container. Let us know what you found that worked, didn't work, didn't need, or shoulda brung.
I'm not a fan of store bought kits except maybe as a starting point. |
|
Take what you think you will need, and see if you ever have to break open the kit. Or...
Take what you think you will need, each of you throw away 2 items of the others kit, and see if you have to break open the survival kit. Or... Build your own $50 kit and see if it works. Or... Take your BOB and see if it works. |
|
Quoted:
How about this, put together a survival kit yourself for under $50 that fits into a Nalgene water bottle or smaller container. Let us know what you found that worked, didn't work, didn't need, or shoulda brung. I'm not a fan of store bought kits except maybe as a starting point. Which is why this is such a great idea. It will illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of pre-made kits. It might be a good eye opener for people new to the survival lifestyle. |
|
The first 2 kits appear to be more to be "survival tools" someone might purchase to add an existing pack. So, you're not really getting a good picture of what someone might have with them if they bought one of the first 2. Even if someone bought that and put it behind the seat of a truck,they might also add soem water, a tarp and an MRE.
The kit at Amazon, looks more like what you're intending to test. If I read your post right, you're looking for that commercial kit that a peson might purchase 'thinking' it covers all the bases and they don't need to put any more thought into it. What happens when they end up needing it and it IS all you have. Make sure you consider the power needs of the flip cameras so you can ration time and replenish. Have at it. |
|
Three days and two nights in the woods and $50.00 to prep?
I would take the $50.00 to a grocery store and spend it on food and beer. A survival kit is great but does not beat being prepared. I mean so much of what is in kits is useless to me... A bandage has one use. A roll of TP has 12 including a bandage Roll of duct tape, paracord, bic/zippo lighters and all the rest will Make you safe and comfortable and turn survival into a three day outing. I hate to see you guys spin your wheels proving a store bought survival kit is junk. |
|
The first two kits are pretty much the same.
Some tinder, the blast match, and a chain type saw with an aqua bag. That I can tell, one of them has a signal mirror the other does not. The blastmatch and tinder are good stuff. I use both. Your pics would prove useful to this board and its members for those who are unfamilar with the blastmatch. The third kit, has a lot of crappy stuff I would not take the time to throw away. It costs less for a reason. If you take the third kit into the wilderness the best equipment you will have is the knife YOU are bringing along. IMHO |
|
You all make good points.
One of the things we like to do when we go out is to test our equipment. We have both done this enough now that we are comfortable with our static set of tools. So we are looking for tools to test for our next trip that might benefit others. I suppose it doesn't have to be a kit.
|
|
You need to 'splain a bit more about what you're going to be doing in the woods.
Is your plan to mimic E&E? Are you planning to make yourself hump 10+ miles a day and then camp both nights? Or are you planning on finding a spot 20' from your truck and toughing it out in the same place for 3 days? Neither way is wrong, but it greatly dictates what I'm going to be stuffing my survival kit with. (Actually, that's a lie. In either case I'm carrying oatmeal creme pies, beef jerky, peanuts, water purification, and a tarp. Now THAT'S a survival kit I can live with!) |
|
man, *some of* you guys are one-track-minded! The whole idea behind the OP's plan is that he's going to show that the pre-made kits will fail (more than likely), thus demonstrating why we prep the way we do.
OP, I think this is a great idea, but this may not be your best audience. I'd love to see the results. I'm willing to bet that since you guys have experience, you'll be able to make this work a lot better than somebody who is buying the kit because they don't know any better. |
|
Quoted:
You need to 'splain a bit more about what you're going to be doing in the woods. Is your plan to mimic E&E? Are you planning to make yourself hump 10+ miles a day and then camp both nights? Or are you planning on finding a spot 20' from your truck and toughing it out in the same place for 3 days? Neither way is wrong, but it greatly dictates what I'm going to be stuffing my survival kit with. (Actually, that's a lie. In either case I'm carrying oatmeal creme pies, beef jerky, peanuts, water purification, and a tarp. Now THAT'S a survival kit I can live with!) What is E&E? We are going to hike a few miles in, pick a spot, and setup camp. We will stay there for the duration of the trip. |
|
Now that I've read the responses I'd like to reconsider my first suggestion.
The first two kits you listed are pretty similar but fairly incomplete. On the plus side, they have some good components which you could/should incorporate into your regular kit once the demonstration is over. The last item is a pretty complete setup with food and waterand some beginners might view it as a ready made BOB. This might be a better choice than the first two if you want to test an entry level kit. One other alternative is one of the cheapo "pocket" kits that you see a lot in sporting goods stores. If you want to go this route, I will purchase and have the following kit sent to you: Pocket Kit |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
You need to 'splain a bit more about what you're going to be doing in the woods. Is your plan to mimic E&E? Are you planning to make yourself hump 10+ miles a day and then camp both nights? Or are you planning on finding a spot 20' from your truck and toughing it out in the same place for 3 days? Neither way is wrong, but it greatly dictates what I'm going to be stuffing my survival kit with. (Actually, that's a lie. In either case I'm carrying oatmeal creme pies, beef jerky, peanuts, water purification, and a tarp. Now THAT'S a survival kit I can live with!) What is E&E? We are going to hike a few miles in, pick a spot, and setup camp. We will stay there for the duration of the trip. Escape and Evasion |
|
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday.
I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. |
|
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. Had a discussion with puddintame, and we are going to do this instead. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. Had a discussion with puddintame, and we are going to do this instead. Please carry food and water purification if you're planning to cover ground. Even if you don't use it, right now, in this weather, it's just not a good idea to go hiking without food and water. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. Had a discussion with puddintame, and we are going to do this instead. Please carry food and water purification if you're planning to cover ground. Even if you don't use it, right now, in this weather, it's just not a good idea to go hiking without food and water. Well you make a great point. When covering ground, we are going to have to take extra equipment. It is way easier to hike to a spot, and boil water, but if we are moving most of the time, that will be tougher. Same goes for food. We'll likely carry bolt-action 22s. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. Had a discussion with puddintame, and we are going to do this instead. Please carry food and water purification if you're planning to cover ground. Even if you don't use it, right now, in this weather, it's just not a good idea to go hiking without food and water. Well you make a great point. When covering ground, we are going to have to take extra equipment. It is way easier to hike to a spot, and boil water, but if we are moving most of the time, that will be tougher. Same goes for food. We'll likely carry bolt-action 22s. If boiling is your purification method, remember that water needs to be boiled for something ridiculous like 20 or 30 minutes to ensure that there aren't any hardshell parasites left alive. This is a rather lot of fuel and time. Can I suggest a 7oz hyperflow instead? Also, check local game and firearm regulations before taking a 22 and planning to use it for nourishment. |
|
Quoted:
If boiling is your purification method, remember that water needs to be boiled for something ridiculous like 20 or 30 minutes to ensure that there aren't any hardshell parasites left alive. This is a rather lot of fuel and time. Can I suggest a 7oz hyperflow instead? Also, check local game and firearm regulations before taking a 22 and planning to use it for nourishment. Yep, we do this a few times a year, and we do typically take a water purification device with tablets as a backup. Same with the .22s. But we are now trying to decrease our reliance on these, and remove a few of them each trip. The ultimate idea being that we can operate without them. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think going to your local Wally World and picking a $50 kit would probably be the best choice. Most people would grab one from a mainstream store like Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's, or places like that while their just window shopping. I wish I would have looked at the "Nalgene cup" survival kits they had at the Raleigh REI while I was there Saturday. I do think you need to flush out what your planning on doing. Are you planning on building a shelter and sitting around for a weekend? Are you going to try and walk back to civilization? I mean, it's hard to emulate a sheeple when you already know a lot more than the flock. Is that what you're going for? Just curious, because I think it's a cool idea. Well, right now we don't have solid plans, other than to stay in place for the purposes of setting up what would be a long term survival situation. An example of maybe being isolated in an unfamiliar place with limited supplies. We plan to build semi-permanent structures, such as a shelter, if we cannot find a natural one. We plan to begin the process of locating food, whether it be fish, local small game, or even insects. On our last trip, the Crappie were feeding each night by chasing schools of minnows onto the sandy shoals of the Cahaba river. Makes for a great dinner, and all you need is a spear. We are going for two primary reasons. First, to continue to hone our skills, because there is so much to learn, and so many skills we need to spend time practicing. Second, we'd like to evaluate the actual usefulness of one of these commercial kits. I mean, do they really hold up to the kind of abuse that you'd dish to them when creating a survivable situation? I think we all doubt it. Now, I'm not opposed to doing an escape/evade scenario as mentioned above. We could cover a lot of ground in 3 days, but we don't have the support system needed for this. We'd have to have an area large enough to get lost in, that we aren't already familiar with, and a support friend or family member to pick us up. I'm just not sure how we'd do that and it be realistic. We have considered doing this in the GA swamps, but there legal issues regarding it. Had a discussion with puddintame, and we are going to do this instead. Please carry food and water purification if you're planning to cover ground. Even if you don't use it, right now, in this weather, it's just not a good idea to go hiking without food and water. Well you make a great point. When covering ground, we are going to have to take extra equipment. It is way easier to hike to a spot, and boil water, but if we are moving most of the time, that will be tougher. Same goes for food. We'll likely carry bolt-action 22s. If boiling is your purification method, remember that water needs to be boiled for something ridiculous like 20 or 30 minutes to ensure that there aren't any hardshell parasites left alive. This is a rather lot of fuel and time. Can I suggest a 7oz hyperflow instead? Also, check local game and firearm regulations before taking a 22 and planning to use it for nourishment. I thought it just had to get to the boiling point...once it starts to boil all the critters are dead. |
|
4 minutes tops from here: http://www.wikihow.com/Purify-Water
Not safe at all according to wikipedia: Simple procedures such as boiling or the use of a household activated carbon filter are not sufficient for treating all the possible contaminants that may be present in water from an unknown source. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification (to be fair, I think that by saying "all contaminants", they are including heavy metals and other non-biological containments) Most effective way, and within a few minutes from here: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml Looks like this topic is up for debate! |
|
Quoted:
If boiling is your purification method, remember that water needs to be boiled for something ridiculous like 20 or 30 minutes to ensure that there aren't any hardshell parasites left alive. This is a rather lot of fuel and time. Can I suggest a 7oz hyperflow instead? Also, check local game and firearm regulations before taking a 22 and planning to use it for nourishment. Last year, on a trip my son and I took, we had much success. We didn't take food that trip, so we had to fend for ourselves. Dinner the first night: 
The fish and bird being cooked: 
We don't always get good video or pics from our trips, but I'm hoping to change that next month. |
|
Great idea
I think most of the "Packaged " Survival kits either give you crap when you need to put the bucks on it (Knife) Or give you stuff you will never need Stuff you will need more of You'lls job will be to bring this to the light Another thing could be Bring YOUR kit and show how LITTLE changes in a kit you make can make a HUGH change in ease of surviving Like some kits I see give you paper match Show how fast you can light a fire with a BIc instead Or a Blast Match, I tend to carry both Same thing, Fresnel lens to light a fire Can't light a fire at nioght with one |
|
Thanks.
Just going over our summer gear list now, trying to trim it down to the bare essentials. What am i missing below or what can we take away from list. We can get specific on gear items after we agree on the list. water and purification compass/map first aid multitool knife cookware fishing hooks/line 22 rifle |
|
The first 2 kits appear very similar to kits sold in the ARFCOM online store...
http://store.ar15.com/store/index.html?cat=11 |
|
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or.............
In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. |
|
Quoted:
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or............. In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. I'll put this to ARFCOM, what do you guys suggest? Basically puddintame and I are looking for a challenge. |
|
Quoted:
Thanks. Just going over our summer gear list now, trying to trim it down to the bare essentials. What am i missing below or what can we take away from list. We can get specific on gear items after we agree on the list. water and purification compass/map first aid multitool knife cookware fishing hooks/line 22 rifle Yea, man, that works for me. We could nix the fishing line for 550 para cord, and have dual use cordage and fishing line. Wacha think? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks. Just going over our summer gear list now, trying to trim it down to the bare essentials. What am i missing below or what can we take away from list. We can get specific on gear items after we agree on the list. water and purification compass/map first aid multitool knife cookware fishing hooks/line 22 rifle Yea, man, that works for me. We could nix the fishing line for 550 para cord, and have dual use cordage and fishing line. Wacha think? Yeah, thats better. The more tools with multiple purposes the better. Also, what about flashlight. Are we opting out on that? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or............. In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. I'll put this to ARFCOM, what do you guys suggest? Basically puddintame and I are looking for a challenge. pull a Survivorman situation....2 guys hunting, offroading, etc....take what you would have with you plus the kit. I recall what you said about not having someone to pick you up at the end so that could be a bit of an issue. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or............. In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. I'll put this to ARFCOM, what do you guys suggest? Basically puddintame and I are looking for a challenge. pull a Survivorman situation....2 guys hunting, offroading, etc....take what you would have with you plus the kit. I recall what you said about not having someone to pick you up at the end so that could be a bit of an issue. I think I've convinced my wife to drop us, and pick us up. 
but I like your idea. Anyone else have any ideas? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks. Just going over our summer gear list now, trying to trim it down to the bare essentials. What am i missing below or what can we take away from list. We can get specific on gear items after we agree on the list. water and purification compass/map first aid multitool knife cookware fishing hooks/line 22 rifle Yea, man, that works for me. We could nix the fishing line for 550 para cord, and have dual use cordage and fishing line. Wacha think? Yeah, thats better. The more tools with multiple purposes the better. Also, what about flashlight. Are we opting out on that? Negative. I think a flashlight, at least one, is a must have. I carry one everyday, everywhere I go, so it isn't unrealistic. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks. Just going over our summer gear list now, trying to trim it down to the bare essentials. What am i missing below or what can we take away from list. We can get specific on gear items after we agree on the list. water and purification compass/map first aid multitool knife cookware fishing hooks/line 22 rifle Yea, man, that works for me. We could nix the fishing line for 550 para cord, and have dual use cordage and fishing line. Wacha think? Yeah, thats better. The more tools with multiple purposes the better. Also, what about flashlight. Are we opting out on that? Negative. I think a flashlight, at least one, is a must have. I carry one everyday, everywhere I go, so it isn't unrealistic. Ok, good. I agree, it's one of those essentials. |
|
As for the fishing line
If your in an area with lots of locations to fish I would keep it in the kit 90% of my area has streams, ponds or a river I keep some 100 lb and 35 lb small braided fishing line About 30' ft in my kits No use breaking down para cord when for little or no weight you can have the real thing I also carry a much larger amount of hooks for the same reason YMMV But it looks like you plan to fish I can make a throw line or trot line I would use the Para cord for main line, well tied off so I don't lose it and droppers out of the 100 or 35 With bait caught from the small flies I carry also Use a fly to catch a small perch/sunfish and use that for bait on big line I normally try to add a small amount of lite weight mono to catch the sunfish quicker |
|
Quoted:
As for the fishing line If your in an area with lots of locations to fish I would keep it in the kit 90% of my area has streams, ponds or a river I keep some 100 lb and 35 lb small braided fishing line About 30' ft in my kits No use breaking down para cord when for little or no weight you can have the real thing I also carry a much larger amount of hooks for the same reason YMMV But it looks like you plan to fish I can make a throw line or trot line I would use the Para cord for main line, well tied off so I don't lose it and droppers out of the 100 or 35 With bait caught from the small flies I carry also Use a fly to catch a small perch/sunfish and use that for bait on big line I normally try to add a small amount of lite weight mono to catch the sunfish quicker Oh yea, we always carry fishing line with hooks, and usually set up trot lines. This time though, we are trying to minimize what we take with us. A few dozen feet of 35lb test would be pretty easy. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or............. In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. I'll put this to ARFCOM, what do you guys suggest? Basically puddintame and I are looking for a challenge. pull a Survivorman situation....2 guys hunting, offroading, etc....take what you would have with you plus the kit. I recall what you said about not having someone to pick you up at the end so that could be a bit of an issue. I think I've convinced my wife to drop us, and pick us up.
but I like your idea. Anyone else have any ideas? Thank you...aside from the SHTF situation I believe this would be a realistic scenario |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I think you need to create a scenario that the average person might find themselves in and then do that with a kit that the average person might need. Like if you were 4-wheeling with a friend miles from nowhere, the truck broke and you had to walk back. Or were staying at a cabin in the woods and the truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Or............. In any case, those survival kits suck. Better off backing a small butt pack with gear you think you'll need. I'll put this to ARFCOM, what do you guys suggest? Basically puddintame and I are looking for a challenge. pull a Survivorman situation....2 guys hunting, offroading, etc....take what you would have with you plus the kit. I recall what you said about not having someone to pick you up at the end so that could be a bit of an issue. I think I've convinced my wife to drop us, and pick us up.
but I like your idea. Anyone else have any ideas? Thank you...aside from the SHTF situation I believe this would be a realistic scenario So a few updates as to what is going on... I made a call to the AL forestry folks regarding our plans. Unfourtunately, we are not allowed to bring rifles/kill animals on about 70% of the forest area we were planning to visit. The 30% area is too small to do a scenario where we travel for the duration of our trip. So I think we are going to pick a single location where hogs are prevalent, and camp in a low area nearby. We are still going to take minimal gear, and puddintame and I are going to get together next week to discuss what gear we will take. I just placed an order for a dozen quick-loc snares, and a half dozen duke 110 body traps, so that might be an option for increasing our odds for getting meat. I typically make my own snares, but they aren't as effective as some of the commercial ones. The duke 110s are really light, and I've not used them before, so I'd like to test-drive them for a survival scenario. I bought a garmin 60cx and loaded up the maps for the SE US. This is only in case we get lost and start running out of time. I do know we plan to park a good ways away from our intended camp site. We haven't nailed down the coords of our site yet, as it is hard to determine how an area looks from gps maps. 
If anyone has any specific things they'd like to see us test, or maybe some techniques to try, we are open to suggestions. At this point, the only new gear I'm considering is the hennesy asym classic expedition and the condor rodan. Based on the fact that everyone already knows that the commercial kits suck, we are going to postpone that effort in favor of testing specific gear items I think, but hell, we change our mind almost daily. |
|
Quoted:
This trip is still on. It has turned into a more traditional camping trip, but we are testing some new gear:
Is the 17 HMR considered a "hog," caliber? For penned farm animals we've used 22 LR solids and 22 MAG. solids (the old Winchester 45Gr. solids were good and a lot of local slaughter houses used it). |
|
Quoted: I think it is actually a small varmint caliber.Quoted: This trip is still on. It has turned into a more traditional camping trip, but we are testing some new gear:
Is the 17 HMR considered a "hog," caliber? For penned farm animals we've used 22 LR solids and 22 MAG. solids (the old Winchester 45Gr. solids were good and a lot of local slaughter houses used it). It shoots a 17 gr round @ 2800 fps, so it will be all about shot placement. I've seen quite a few hogs get taken by the .17 |