Why I Always Carry Survival Gear

[.270]

Great write up and I have some of those space blankets in my truck and one in my pack but I haven't ever actually taken one out to see if it would fit much less work. I will look into the sleeping bag style like you did. Congratulations on a well earned bull.

 

[Dinkshooter]

I used a throw away mylar space blanket in a non emergency situation................once. Never again.

https://www.surviveoutdoorslonger.c...vive-outdoors-longer-escape-litetm-bivvy.html

The name makes me laugh though, doesn't say survive outdoors, just survive "longer"

Sounds like you are very well prepared for such an evening. Adventure is never fun when you're having it. Only later.

 

[Cav1]

I just figured things up and it was only 1.7 miles from the elk to the truck as the crow flies but the route we had to take to pack it out was 3.3 ground miles one way. In the morning I was glad I hadn't tried to make it out in the dark. The shortest and flattest route out was an FS trail along the main creek but there had been some kind of big wind event in the past year so all kinds of hillside Doug fir and creek bottom spruce were knocked over and intertwined into one big impenetrable obstacle after another. I wound up taking a steep half mile detour to the east just to climb up out of that mess and hike out on a nice old two-track on an open, grassy ridge.

The only really big and potentially dangerous surprise was just how small and useless my emergency space blanket/bath towel turned out to be!

Well, every head on the wall needs a story to go with it so this one will have a doozy.

 

[Nameless Range]

Sounds like a wild night. Nice Bull!

 

[BrentD]

I found the space blanket "sleeping bags" a few years ago. I pack two with the idea that a double wall might be a big improvement over a single layer. I have yet to have to use them. I hope to keep it that way.

Seems like you knew what you were doing. Uncomfortable, but safe.

 

[wyoboypt]

So he went over 400 yds? Doesn’t sound like well placed bullets to me.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Not second guessing your decisions, you did a better job than most would have. A lot of hunters might have ended up in some real rough shape. A couple of thoughts I picked up in SERE B, not the real cool guy SERE, but a good course none the less.

1. The quickest way to get lost is to start walking without a plan and try to navigate on the fly. Once you get tired, you start making bad decisions, especially when you don't take time to concentrate.
2. 30 minutes studying the area surrounds the area you plan to hunt before you step off from the trailhead, will give you a much better understanding of the bigger picture. When you do that develop some "panic" azimuths that will bring you back to an unmistakable line you can follow back out.
3. Don't ever go anywhere in the dark that you don't know how to get out of.
4. If you get turned around, stop walking, build a fire, collect your thoughts, and develop a plan.
5. If the enemy situation permits, backtrack through known terrain, before you take the unknown "shortcut". Often times, especially in the mountains the direct route is not the best.
6. Keep all of your survival gear together, whenever possible keep it as dedicated use, as soon as it is a multi use item, you won't have it when you need it. Tyvek (lightweight windproof/waterproof lean-to, poncho, sleeping bag, ground cloth) and road flares (firestarter/signalling) are awesome pieces of survival kit. Take your survival kit and vacuum seal it in a bag, so pieces and parts don't get lost.
7. 2 is one, 1 is none. If it is critical; bring two.
8. Tell someone where you are, and what you are going to do if things go sideways. Have the discipline to not invalidate the plan.
9. Technology doesn't trump woodsmanship, but PLBs/Sattelite Communicators are lifesavers.

Again, good job. This is a great thread for all to read.

 

[Cav1]

So he went over 400 yds? Doesn’t sound like well placed bullets to me.

You make a very good point made, sir. The first shot was good as a broadside standing double-lunger. While quartering him out I found that the second shot had been off as it hit the back edge of the near side shoulder blade rather than going through to the interior of the off side shoulder I was aiming for. But I was rather stretching the range and the '06 was starting to wind down so neither bullet penetrated deep enough to make an exit wound. At the site where he first went down and two places along the trail where he'd fallen there were big sprays of blood across the snow but otherwise I only found an occasional drop or two here and there along the rest of the entire trail even though the hoofprints showed him frequently stumbling and sliding. With him ending up on his back, when I went to dress him out the first cut into the chest cavity pretty much showered my head and shoulders; he was awash inside but it simply hadn’t been able to leak out the small .308-inch entry holes fast enough.

So perhaps another lesson re-learned. Although I always practice shooting from field positions out to 500 yards every year, ordinarily I seldom take a shot over 300 yards, certainly less than ten over the past 26 years and most of those "long" shots were still under 325. This was pushing things a bit at 425, but I'd worked up my dream load this summer that groups well inside of 4" at 400 yards. Running the numbers I see the load is still just squeaking past 2,100 fps and 1,760 ft.-lbs at 425. While it got the job done it was obviously not as swift and clean as I would have preferred and I will have to remind myself of that the next time I contemplate a long shot.

Sometimes, though, elk are just incredibly tough and refuse to die. Elmer Keith saw a whole lot more dead elk than I ever will, so to quote him from Big Game Hunting: “Likewise I have found many of these old fellows with bullets incised in scar tissue in various places and small holes clear through the lungs, as shown by the strips of scar tissue where the bullet went through. One old chap I killed in 1931 had a 220-grain Soft Point .30 caliber slug and two .30-30 slugs incised in his muscles.”

MNHunter, excellent point on the road flares. When you’re cold, wet and tired you don’t want to be dinking around searching for dry mouse nest tinder or removing a shoelace to construct a friction drill. During an autumn controlled burn in the Boundary Waters more years ago than I care to tally up, the weather went south on us and we used a fire crew fusee to quickly build a roaring warming fire in the pouring rain. Later I did hear that inhaling the fumes could cause dain bramage, but I don’t believe that. Now I actually carry a Swiss Army surplus M71 “Emergency Cooker”, essentially a fancy can of Sterno. I put down a big blob of that gel fuel, build the tinder and sticks around it and light it up.

 

[MTGomer]

So he went over 400 yds? Doesn’t sound like well placed bullets to me.

Big elk are tough. This is why a shoot I big gun. People like to talk about how you can kill a bull with a .243, amd you can but when shit goes even slightly sideways, having a big gun can make a difference. The 400 this one went probably would have been less with a 300 or 338. Probably further with a 270 or 308

As for the OP’s story, it should be required reading for everyone. When I see people with a rifle and a knife, I can’t help but wonder what they’d do in a situation like this. Die, that’s what a lot of them would do. Preparation pays off.

Congrats on a cool bull and a story you won’t soon forget.

 

[BrentD]

There was a pretty toasty elk pelt not too far a way. Ever think of going back for it?

I like the pebbles in your boots trick. I doubt I would have thought of that.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Glad it worked out safely. Try lithium batteries in the cold, no comparison.

 

[Corax]

Excellent post. I am glad I am sitting here reading what you wrote than the other way round. I am definitely going to spruce up my emergency kit.

The only thing I have to add is to consider a big plastic trash bag as an emergency shelter - cut a face hole in one corner. Outdoorsafe.com sells 38"x65" heavy bags, orange or blue.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Gr8bawana]

There was a pretty toasty elk pelt not too far a way. Ever think of going back for it?

I think you've been watching too many Hollywood movies. I don't think it would do much good to wrap yourself up in a wet elk hide. Wet on the outside from the snow and wet on the inside from just being skinned. Especially when the OP did had dry base layers to put on.

To the OP, glad it all came out ok for you and you got one heck of a nice bull as well. I hope I never have to use the survival gear I've been packing around for almost 40 years.

 

[Gerald Martin]

This was worth the read for learning how to dry boots out with the pebbles. Great write up. You write well. Please post more often.

 

[MJE2083]

Great story, glad it worked out ok. You're right though, those blankets are useless. I used one many years ago in a non-emergency situation and immediately found it to be useless. Better than nothing I suppose, but the shortcomings are quickly evident.

 

[Tradewind]

Big elk are tough. This is why a shoot I big gun. .

Has to be MTmuley approved to be considered a BIG GUN. :hump:

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Great write up, been there! We used to have a Survival Specialist on here long time ago. Glad you didn't have to drink your pee! John

 

[duckhunt]

Thats a ton of good information

 

[MJE2083]

I've got to ask...how close were you to using that "panic button"?

 

[BrentD]

I think you've been watching too many Hollywood movies. I don't think it would do much good to wrap yourself up in a wet elk hide. Wet on the outside from the snow and wet on the inside from just being skinned. Especially when the OP did had dry base layers to put on.

A wet bear pelt I might agree with you, but an elk with hollow hair, not so much. And it could be dried with the fire reasonably well. At the very least it would have made a decent wind barrier and would hold in some of the fire's heat when thrown over a few branches under those spruce. It did, after all, keep the elk pretty warm.