Med Kit

[Poser]

One more thing to add - go find quality training on using the stuff in your med kit. You wouldn’t head out without ever having shot your rifle/bow, but so many will go out without having any medical training.

There’s no such thing as rising to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.

Definitely get some cavalier responses when you ask people about their first aid set up. Everything from “I’ll figure it out” to “I’ll use a belt for a tourniquet” to “I’ll make a splint with sticks.”

If you’re going to play the game, you need the right tools to deal with the consequences. Help is a long ways out when you’re in the backcountry.

 

[FlyAK]

Tylenol
Ibuprofen
Loperamide
Ondansetron
Pepto tabs
Aspirin
Benadryl
Neosporin
Bandaids
Superglue/Dermabond
4-0 Monofilament suture
CAT TQ
6” Israeli
Compressed Gauze
Combat gauze



Nothing is worth carrying if you don’t know how, when, and when not to use it.

One of my biggest personal concerns outside of trauma is a GI issue resulting in nausea/vomiting/diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and inability to get off the mountain.

More for others I may encounter- Benadryl for allergies and aspirin for possible angina

 

[dromero]

I have an older Mystery Ranch accessory pouch with molle attachment on the back ( I move it from pack to pack depending on which pack I'm taking), CAT tourniquet, 4" Israeli bandage, 2 4x4" bandage, 2 small Quick Clots, 1" roll of cloth medical tape, small roll of electrical tape, couple gel Benadryl, couple ibuprofen. If this can't fix me then it's GPS and a call for help or die in the woods. Need to stop the bleeding quick, other than that people don't realize in some of the remote areas, a rescue heli can't always land right next to you, so it's gonna be a bit of time before some one can get to you and get you to good healthcare.

 

[taskswap]

Speaking of medical kits Camofire has a ton of them on sale today.

 

[pcrossett]

Take a wilderness first aid class, or better yet a wilderness first responder class. Then decided what you want to carry based on your knowledge and skills.

What I carry is listed in a couple different threads on the same topic already.

I would second this for sure, having all of the medical gear in the world does not do you any good if you don't know how to use it. The instructor was also very helpful in breaking down what he carried in his first aid kit for the wilderness and answered questions honestly based on different people's situations (hunting vs backcountry skiing vs hiking, etc.). Will obviously be dependent on the instructor but from my experience they are 99% of the time good folks.

 

[Lytro]

Duct tape around a lighter, Vaseline coated cotton balls, a combat tourniquet, and a lace up ankle brace. The cotton balls are obviously dual purpose.

 

[MONARCH_578]

Live the creed and my medic have nice east configurable kits and not too expensive when they are running sales.

 

[Coues hunter]

A lot of great suggestions here. I cut the hell out of my hand quartering up my deer this year. I had all the right stuff but had not checked it for a few years. The tape was all melted. compression bandage and duct tape did the trick. Just make sure you look through your first aid kit every year before the season starts. Also picked up some super glue and steri-strips.

 

[shootnrun]

N.A.R. CAT TQ
Combat gauze for junctional injuries
Chest seal
Duct tape around your lighter
Leuko tape around bottle with a few ASA, IBU, benadryl
Inreach or device to get help coming

I also carry a 14ga needle, but I'm medically trained.
Everything else is just fluff to make you feel good and isn't necessary.

As others have stated, you're training/knowledge will get you further than anything else. And ability to improvise.. My buddies got attacked by a grizzly and used game bags as bandages. Not ideal or "sterile" but kept them alive until help arrived. I have given them both CAT TQs as well as other things I listed as gifts since.

 

[Coues123]

About 15 years ago we rode up on another group of hunters packing in who had just had a horse rare up and go over backwards in the bottom of a real narrow rocky creek. The rider's pelvis was broken between the saddle cantle and a big rock when the horse fell on him. We were about 10 miles in with no way to communicate to get help. We sent a guy on a horse back to the trailhead to get medical help coming.

There was no way a helicopter could get someone on a line to the ground to within a quarter mile of where he was.

The 5 of us left has enough medical training to use a sleeping bag liner to fashion a sling to stabilize his pelvis the best we could. We had enough pack box lids between us to get his torso on a litter and rigged the rest out of tent poles, cooking grills and other things. We padded it the best we could. We improvised in lots of ways to keep him on that litter and padded to almost meet a stokes basket.
We moved him slowly and gently as possible to where we could get him to where we thought was a good LZ. The pilot moved the LZ a little further for a better approach. We moved him again while they cut in a bigger LZ.
Necessity is the mother of invention in those moments.
I keep an Inreach with me now all the time. Your attitude and desire to survive will make a huge difference. As stated earlier, training will be your best asset when it hits the fan. There is some great gear listed in the previous posts. Take what you know how to use and have trained with.

 

[Sawtoothsteve]

Many years ago on this site, in a first aid kit thread it was recommended by an EMT to carry prescription pain killers. So....I started carrying 6 left over tabs from a knee surgery. Couple years later, I took a header off a mountain and broke my neck. I was still ambulatory, so didn't know I was broken until getting to neurosurgeon and emergency surgery, but the pain killers got me through the night and likely kept me from going into shock. Fortunately, I'm healed up and back on the trail, but now I always have a few prescription pain killers in the kit.