So you cut yourself in the field. Now what?

[Charon]

And this is why i always advice hunter to acquire some medical skills. i brother son broke his ankle while hunting, fortunately my brother knows a thing or thing about chiropractor. he could set the ankle back before heading to the hospital. the ankle would have swollen if he didn't know what to do. i always take a first-Aid kit to a hunt, safety is priority.

 

[ODB]

Having had to stitch up a guy’s thumb, the irrigation of the wound was more painful for him than the four stitches I put in it.

 

[RickH]

This video got me to thinking about what's in my first aid kit and upgrading it.
I added some quickclot and some Vetrap flexible bandage.

 

[BlackFeather]

I'm a big fan of quick clot, or medical grade super glue for decent sized cuts. One of the biggest mistakes people make is keeping their FAK buried somewhere in their packs.

Pro-tip: Keep a pack of quick clot, glue, duck tape, tourniquet (or a triangle bandage for an improvised tourniquet) and a compression bandage in a ziplock bag. Carry it in your main hand cargo pocket! This isn't for little cuts, this is for when you stick yourself real good. It takes up very little space, is light weight, and worth having on you at all times. You are doing the cutting with your knife in your main hand 99% of the time meaning it's usually not where you get cut. This way your cut-kit is accessible quickly.

You can keep the rest of your FAK in your pack (easily accessible), but when you cut yourself it's normal to start panicking and bleed everywhere. If you've really had a bad day and you're losing a lot of blood, you want to be able to get pressure, a bandage, or a TQ on it ASAP.

If you watch the video in the post above, you'll see that the fellow with the cut leg could have benefited from the tip mentioned. Thankfully he had his buddies with him to patch him up, otherwise he could have been in a bad spot. They did a great job staying cool and improvising. Some quick clot and a compression bandage give you time to work while you put a better dressing on.

 

[Marmots]

I'm a huge fan of steri strips. They are lightweight and have worked really well for me in the past. I also usually carry a 50cc syringe to backflush my sawyer squeeze filter, and it works great for irrigating wounds.

 

[Mike7]

For those that have never used quick clot, it is not a panacea. It is maybe 15% of the equation while how you treat the wound/hemorrhage is 85% of the importance. And although it could have been used, it clearly wasn't required in this above situation with some venous and possible muscle bleeding. The quick clot does nothing unless you get it to the bleeding source. Halt the bleeding with pressure, and then apply the quick clot quickly and firmly, followed by more "focused" pressure.

For a wound like above, one might consider stopping, grabbing a bandage or corner of a game bag, sitting crosslegged, and thrusting a small amount of bandage material directly into their wound for several minutes with vigorous localized pressure to the bleeding source, while their buddies are coming to help.

I assume from what I could see, that this injured fellow didn't need to apply any more pressure than the small amount that he was applying, because the bleeding was easily controlled by then and he was already starting to clot?

Placing the elastic wrap over a dressing after a few minutes or more of manual pressure to stop the bleeding, allows the dressing to keep applying pressure. Then applying tape (this tape doesn't need to be tight) to the edges of the dressing and overlapping onto dry skin will keep the entire dressing from sliding down, and keep the injured party from getting foot numbness from tight tape tourniquets directly on the skin.

And then if you hunt nasty steep places with blow downs, you don't regularly wear flat billed hats, and certainly if you weigh over 200 lbs, be prepared to walk your ass to the ATV.

 

[Amac1989]

Thanks for the info here

 

[Wrench]

Just relax. All bleeding will eventually stop.

 

[timmymac24]

I didn't read all three pages so it may have been mentioned but I like the "midget condoms". Saved the tip of my thumb or what was left of it while cleaning an elk in AZ after a swipe with the Havalon got me.

 

[Backyard]

Super Glue is a Good Thing.

Only if it is a derma-type (for skin), regular super glue will create an badly infected mess.

 

[Clearedhot1]

First time ever cutting up dozens of critters, I cut my left index finger on a solo backpack trip in designated wilderness this year. I should say that my brother had just left for home hours before, so I was solo at the time of the incident. Bled like a stuck pig and was ticked off at myself for the mistake and the time it took to properly deal with it as I was back in some seriously rugged country and a ton of work to do to get back to camp. Bit of a mini epic night...

Direct pressue is the key. Direct pressure until it stops bleeding--can take some time. Don't keep pulling the bandage off too look. That can stop the clotting process and start the bleeding all over again. A gusher can really take a long time to clot up. If bandage soaks through just add another on top. When it's controlled, wrap it with whatever tape you have to keep the bandage in place. I've always got some Gorilla duct tape wrapped around the shaft of my trekking poles--good stuff. That's what I used at that point.

I don't carry a suture kit on hunting trips, but do have one for wilderness open ocean sea kayaking trips because help can be so far and long away and expensive. One of my paddling partners is a doc, though, so it makes that more practical. I'd do it on someone else or myself if needed. Not really a choice at that point. But, generally, you still need to get the bleeding under controlled before you suture, generally. If needed, the wound should be closed with sutures or 'liquid stitches' within 6-8 hours. The liquid stitches work well too...had a cheek split to the bone under my eye put together with that. Split it on the job and our department doc used the liquid stitches back at the station--all free, no paperwork and one less trip to the ER--nice!

Back to the wound, Don't take the bandage off for quite a while and unless somewhere you have have ability and supplies necessary and preferably someone else to help deal with it--this is when you might consider doing a little cleaning and using some antibacterial treatment like neosporin, etc.. Initially, the priority is getting the bleeding stopped. The more bleeding, the higher the priority this is. If there is actually spurting blood, you may have gone deep enough to hit an artery and priority one becomes even more important and can take longer. I've used Celox powder a couple of times on folks with arterial bleeds squirting--just pour it in the wound and bandage. Stuff works. Had a guy once though, that was on blood thinners and he fell striking his head on the corner of a chest of drawers and had a squirter coming out of his temple area. Any of u guys ever dehorned cattle? It was a little bit like that--place was a mess. Nothing but hold direct pressure all the way to the ER--nowhere to put any Celox.

Heard a story of a guy that was drunk (ETOH reduces ability of blood to clot and 'thins' blood), cut himself in the thumb, went home to sleep and died in his drunken sleep from an uncontrolled cut on his thumb. Just to say circumstances can come together and make a 'small' issue life threatenting. Same issue if someone is already on anti-coagulants/blood thinners.

There's probably others on here with a better understanding and experience than I and I'm not saying the above is at all complete. I'm not an ER doc....

“I've always got some Gorilla duct tape wrapped around the shaft of my trekking poles--good stuff.”

Now THAT’S a damn good idea.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FLAK]

Panic. Run. Scream. Repeat.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Backyard ,been useing superglue for 40yrs.never had a problem I could'nt amputate.

 

[Backyard]

Backyard ,been useing superglue for 40yrs.never had a problem I could'nt amputate.

Hmm.
On deep open wounds or just stuff like cracked dry finger tips. Cuz I got quite the reaction from just the little finger tip crack once and a Dr told me thats a big no, to use the derma type they use. Said I could find the same stuff at a vet supply, I guess dog hunters use it.
But hey, if it works. Thanks.

 

[87TT]

A lot of good info here. I think the main take away is don't panic. I may just be a klod but have cut myself way too many times. Usually just stop the bleeding with direct pressure and bandage. Last year I went to cut some more firewood and cut my leg with the chainsaw. (the wife insists on chaps now) It was just above the knee, I had just cut a load of logs and spent the day rolling them down to the road and was cutting them into biscuits to load on the truck. I was alone. I immediately applied pressure with my hand as I searched the truck for what I could use. I found a rag and some electricians tape. Tore the rag and placed it over the wound and wrapped it tight enough to stop the bleeding. I pulled my shredded pants back up and finished cutting the biscuits and loaded the truck. I did phone the wife to come help with the wood. I went home and got in the shower to clean up before unwrapping my leg. I then washed out the now really bleeding leg. I re wrapped it with clean dressing. I called the nearest hospital (an hour away). They said to come on into the ER. They recleaned it a little and 15 staples later I was done. The doctor told me to take it real easy as I could rip the staples out. I told him it was the middle of September and I was going to be elk hunting in the morning. I kept it clean and re wrapped it every day I was camped in the woods. It was a little tough in the blow downs but I managed.