Lately there has been a lot of talk about survival kits and 72 hour kits for emergency use.  Actually, the talk has been going around for many years, but for some reason just recently there seems to be a bigger push. ( Is it because of Obama?)

I went on line looking at survival kits and there is such a wide variety and it’s sort of funny what people are thinking when they put together these kits.  One kit I looked at included a whole bunch of fishing stuff…from the basic hook and line to spinners and flies…loads of different sinkers etc.  As for me, if I was building a survival kit, I “might” have a fishing set up in the kit, but probably not…why take up valuable space and weight for that, when a few more high calorie candy bars would probably get you through the amount of time it would take you to catch a fish (maybe catch a fish).  Perhaps it was that persons idea to just give you something to do while waiting to be rescued…I don’t know.

Then there was the one with the emphasis on first aid.  It has the normal bandage stuff, tape, salves and antibiotic meds, aspirins and ibuprofen etc., but it also had splints, sewing needles and official stitching material thread.  That’s not something I think I would want to be doing out in the field…sewing up someone who has been injured that badly.  I would think it would be better to just keep the wound open and clean rather than sew into it the dirt, tree bark and rocks that were around while the person was getting cut up that bad.

Sure, stop the bleeding, calm them down, keep them relaxed and wait until help arrives.  Again, the space and weight taken up by those types of items should be used for something more useful like maybe “spinners for fishing”…just kidding.  Even a joke book would be better than that…again, in my opinion.

There were several sites that had 5 gallon buckets with toilet lids on them.  I’m sorry folks, but if I was in a survival mode, I would not care one iota about squatting in the open, or finding a bush to get behind while I did my daily daily.  Besides, the weight of the bucket would be better served to be a back pack and/or more high energy bars or drinking water packets.

Survival kits for the car, survival kits for home, survival kits for airplanes, survival kits for the work site, survival kits for camping, survival kits for hiking, survival kits for back country hunting/fishing base camps, survival kits for school, survival kits for you name it.  Each one seems to have some of the same stuff, but each one again has some unique things in them that just don’t seem to make a lot of sense.  Would you rather have a shining mirror or another book of waterproof matches?  With matches you could make a smoking fire to signal with.  Would you rather have a deck of cards or another high energy candy bar and another book of waterproof matches?  You can always entertain yourself when lost by talking to yourself…besides, if you are stranded with another person and wanted to play cards, they wouldn’t because they know you cheat, and to start a game of cards would probably end up with one of you having to need the sewing kit for stitching up the battle scars.  No, give me the candy bar.

Would you rather have a disposable shaving kit and toothbrush with paste, or another roll of toilet paper?   You are supposed to come out of a survival situation looking like Si on Duck Dynasty and your breath smelling like high energy candy bars and not have burdock leaves sticking out the back of your trousers.  Besides, toilet paper makes for a very good “short term” aerial signal when spread out on the ground. (Don’t forget to gather it up just before dark, you might need it in the morning).

Speaking of survival kits, don’t forget to check out http://www.lonetreesurvival.com/

Bears Butt

June 10, 2013