Need a new first aid kit.

You know it's kinda funny (not) that you mention that. When I first handled a tq, we were told to use it on ourselves for practice. What a feasko. Glad I practiced alot!
Yeah, We set all our CATS to be large enough for both arm & leg. For years like this, then the clip style came out explaining the purpose, and I was so glad I never had to try to wrestle a shot up leg through a CAT. :)

Learn new things all the time.
 
Here you hitters go:
IMG_9844.jpeg
IMG_9843.jpeg

IMG_9845.jpeg
 
I have always put together my own and we use it at home to keep the contents in rotation. Have a smaller one in the truck for everyday. Where I live the heat and humidity can degrade the contents in a summer so I keep a check on it
 
I don't have much to contribute but over many years I've updated and got rid of things in my kit I carry while hunting. I have a lot of what has been mentioned here and a lot of good info from everyone. Thanks ! I had to sew up my knee with cap showing after falling off a cliff at night heading back to camp in Colorado 1993. My backpack saved me from a broken back. Probably my spotting scope also . I had needle and thread in my kit. Buddy's dad's friend was an Air Force Flight Surgeon. He told me I was doing the wrong way. Showed me correct way. I only had enough thread to do 6 stitches on a 2.5 in. plus opening. I could barely walk next day which was day before elk season. I hobbled back up Mtn.. Spent night there. Next morning shot a bull. Fell 2 times on side of mountain cutting it up. Horse rolled over me going downhill next day to pack out. Stitches never broke . Couple years later a buddies wife who was a nurse gave me suture kits. Fish hook needles with mono filament line. Yes. Haven't used yet thank God. Little scissors, tweezers, hemostats, etc. Good to carry also. I won't get into what I carry but weighs only a pound and it covers most everything that could happen to me. Well maybe not getting tore up and eaten by a grizz but most things. I've had a couple other times I glad I had a kit and a few times I've used to help buddies who think they don't need one. Most likely they wouldn't know what to do anyways. I've done CPR on 3 people. One was dead already. Not a pleasant experience. I was leaving a hunting spot driving down the Mtn. There was a guy laying in middle of the two lane road by a bicycle. I got out and started CPR he was white. No pulse. His liquid went into my mouth. I was trying not to puke. Did just chest pumps after. A car came down the road. There's no cell service there until bottom of Mtns. Told them to go to Forestry Station and call paramedics. About 10 min. they were there. Nothing they could do. When I was leaving the hunting spot a big group of bicyclers that went up road stopped by on way down. Only one guy waved at me on way up. I was in camo. While I was there two bikers stopped and talked to me. I told them what happened. The one guy said that was his best friend he owned a bicycle shop with and his son was just killed in Iraq the week before. It hit me hard. The guy that waived at me when going up was the other guy. It was his other son. We remembered each other. The father asked if I could take his dead friends bike down to the marina and he'd buy me a cup of coffee. I thanked him for his son's service and the offer and said I'll take the bike down there but I have to get home. I wanted to wash my mouth out more. A week later I was pulling in some aeral fiber phone cable in near his Bike shop. I stopped in to see how he was doing. Long story. I'm sorry . I just wanted to get it out. The next week i had something similar happen about 10 miles from there. Another story 🙄
 
Last edited:
OK, I'm going to offer a few suggestions here. Just for background, my experience is that I was a paramedic for 38 years before I retired last year. I created and taught Care Under Fire courses for law enforcement starting in 2009. I had lots and lots of experience supporting SWAT teams and treating gunshot wounds (GSW) and other trauma in a busy urban EMS system.

Put together a basic first aid kit with comfort items so that you can take care of blisters and minor injuries that will make you miserable and will happen much more frequently than major trauma. Take a stop the bleed class, as has already been mentioned here. You won't figure out what to do in the middle of an emergency starting from scratch.

A good quality tourniquet is a good idea. It is the one thing you can self apply one handed that can make a large difference in survivability. Have a rescue blanket. Hypothermia makes major trauma much less survivable.

If you are by yourself, the odds of you being able to self-treat a major injury (unless you can do it with a tourniquet) are slim. You can keep a less serious injury from becoming life-threatening. As one of the docs that I was most fond of working with used to say, blood only works if it is inside blood vessels. So do what you can to stop any significant bleeding.

An Israeli dressing or an Oales dressing is nice to have, but you may not be able to self apply it to any major injury. If the major injury is on an extremity, a tourniquet is a better choice. If the major injury is to your chest or abdomen, external pressure dressings will have little or no effect on internal bleeding. There is a scene in the movie "Day of the Jackal" where the victim is directed to put pressure on a GSW to the liver to slow the bleeding. What a waste of time.

Quickclot works about 30% better than just regular gauze, but it is not a miracle cure. It is very expensive and has an expiration date. Stay away from the powder. The military retired it after it causes a few near miss helicopter crashes when it got into the pilots' eyes. Rotorwash is a thing if you need air evacuation. You're only going to pack a neck wound or groin wound. It won't do anything to help a penetrating wound to the chest or abdomen. If you don't know how to use a chest seal and have practiced with it, it is a huge waste of time.

The longer you are away from definitive medical care (if you have a major injury) the poorer your chance of survival. Having a ZOLEO or other locator/communicator can make a huge difference. Obviously, there are lots of places with no cellphone coverage - that's where a ZOLEO shines.

SAM splints are a nice to have. They work a lot better if you have trained and practiced with them. Practice is important. When I used to teach the classes, 1/3 of the class was presentation, 1/3 was familiarization, and 1/3 was experiential, using simunitions as a motivator and confounder. Medicine changes if you're getting shot at (hopefully not an issue with this group).
 
OK, I'm going to offer a few suggestions here. Just for background, my experience is that I was a paramedic for 38 years before I retired last year. I created and taught Care Under Fire courses for law enforcement starting in 2009. I had lots and lots of experience supporting SWAT teams and treating gunshot wounds (GSW) and other trauma in a busy urban EMS system.

Put together a basic first aid kit with comfort items so that you can take care of blisters and minor injuries that will make you miserable and will happen much more frequently than major trauma. Take a stop the bleed class, as has already been mentioned here. You won't figure out what to do in the middle of an emergency starting from scratch.

A good quality tourniquet is a good idea. It is the one thing you can self apply one handed that can make a large difference in survivability. Have a rescue blanket. Hypothermia makes major trauma much less survivable.

If you are by yourself, the odds of you being able to self-treat a major injury (unless you can do it with a tourniquet) are slim. You can keep a less serious injury from becoming life-threatening. As one of the docs that I was most fond of working with used to say, blood only works if it is inside blood vessels. So do what you can to stop any significant bleeding.

An Israeli dressing or an Oales dressing is nice to have, but you may not be able to self apply it to any major injury. If the major injury is on an extremity, a tourniquet is a better choice. If the major injury is to your chest or abdomen, external pressure dressings will have little or no effect on internal bleeding. There is a scene in the movie "Day of the Jackal" where the victim is directed to put pressure on a GSW to the liver to slow the bleeding. What a waste of time.

Quickclot works about 30% better than just regular gauze, but it is not a miracle cure. It is very expensive and has an expiration date. Stay away from the powder. The military retired it after it causes a few near miss helicopter crashes when it got into the pilots' eyes. Rotorwash is a thing if you need air evacuation. You're only going to pack a neck wound or groin wound. It won't do anything to help a penetrating wound to the chest or abdomen. If you don't know how to use a chest seal and have practiced with it, it is a huge waste of time.

The longer you are away from definitive medical care (if you have a major injury) the poorer your chance of survival. Having a ZOLEO or other locator/communicator can make a huge difference. Obviously, there are lots of places with no cellphone coverage - that's where a ZOLEO shines.

SAM splints are a nice to have. They work a lot better if you have trained and practiced with them. Practice is important. When I used to teach the classes, 1/3 of the class was presentation, 1/3 was familiarization, and 1/3 was experiential, using simunitions as a motivator and confounder. Medicine changes if you're getting shot at (hopefully not an issue with this group).
Excellent info, thanks.
 

Recent Posts

Top