CHAPTER FOUR:
Backpacking
The Hunters Pack
We call the Survival Pack a Hunters Pack when hunters carry it. Its cargo
consists of hunting equipment and supplies and emergency survival items.
Besides meeting the special needs of hunters, we can modify the survival pack
contents to serve the needs of anglers, photographers, and other fresh-air
lovers who venture forth into remote areas where there is the possibility of an
unexpected overnight stay.
“Be Prepared” - Boy Scouts of
America motto
A growing number of urban people are now spending more recreational time in
rustic settings. Some of those who venture away from roads and paved
trails run the risk of becoming stranded (lost) in remote wild areas. Let
us examine what happens when an ill prepared urban outdoor recreationist
becomes lost. Too often, the first and most dangerous emotion that sets
in after the realization of their predicament is panic. The feeling of
being cut off from the comforts and protections of normal life and now being
stranded in a wild, uncertain, dangerous environment can create the feeling of
panic. Panic is the overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic
agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction. The urban resident, whose main contact with
nature may be viewing Hollywood films that are heavy on fear and light on
factual information, may find his or her mind filled with cinematic images of
terror. (There are lions, tigers and bears, oh, my!)
“Expect the unexpected”
-British Royal Marine Commando
motto.
Panic-stricken people often do strange things, such as running off blindly to
get back to safety. In order to run faster they often shed packs,
clothing and other useful survival items. Commonly, this mad dashing can
lead to exhaustion, which can be followed by dehydration (too busy running to
drink). The end result of panic can be a case of life threatening
hypothermia.
In any case, panic can only make things worse. If you feel that you are
going into panic, sit down, breathe deeply several times, count to fifty
slowly, and press your thumb into your nose. This “pressing the panic
button” may help some people stop a panic attack. However, almost any
constructive activity can act as a remedy for panic. By occupying the
mind with routines such as building a fire, heating water, or preparing a
snack, the mind can be directed away from panic and turned toward rational
thought which is necessary to deal with a survival situation.
A survival situation can be defined as any situation when the outcome is in
doubt.
There are three basic types of survival situations.
1. They can be
immediately obvious -In the middle of nowhere your dependable aircraft,
watercraft, car, bike, or snowmobile breaks down and you are stranded without
transportation.
2. Some
survival situations can develop slowly -Late in the day, you decide to take
another loop of a ski or hiking trail. Now you are losing daylight and
you are getting colder and you’re not sure you have gone the right way---You
are turned around (lost).
3. Situations
resulting from negative mental attitudes
A: Hurrying to
meet a deadline.
B: Not
realizing your limitations.
Under these conditions, be aware of the danger of losing your way and becoming
stranded.
When faced with the fact that you are lost, you have two ways to react - either
by panicking, or by assessing your situation rationally. Once you have
made an estimation of your situation, follow it up with a plan. Then put
that plan into action while keeping a positive mental attitude (PMA). In
a survival situation you must live for the present and deal with each moment as
it comes. First, you will need to provide for your own basic needs -
shelter and water. This is the rationale for having a survival pack
containing those basic needs with you anytime you are out in remote
areas. You cannot depend on others to bail you out. You must be
solely responsible for your own well being by being prepared for any possible
situation.
On the subject of hypothermia, winter, due to its low air and wind chill
temperatures, would seem be the season with the greatest risk for
hypothermia. However, records show that most hypothermia deaths occur
during the spring and fall seasons, with air temperatures between plus 30 and
50 degrees Fahrenheit
In the spring and fall, daytime weather conditions can be more benign than
nighttime weather conditions. Because many daytime recreationists do not
plan to be out after dark, when they are forced to be, they are often ill
prepared for the rapidly changing nocturnal weather conditions.
Nevertheless, because things do not always go according to plan (If you want to
make God laugh, tell him or her your plans) it is best to be prepared for the
worst possible weather conditions for the region, the season, elevation as well
as the time of day.
Both military and civilian outdoor experts stress the need to have enough
supplementary clothing to provide insulation from the extremes of weather
conditions that you might expect for the seasonal, regional range of daily
temperatures. As an Alaskan bush pilot has said "If you can't lie
down and fall asleep at any time you are outdoors, you are not properly
dressed. You shouldn't have to keep moving to stay warm."
These items are selected to help meet the conditions of the Snow Belt states.
(1) Supplementary clothing, including rain gear.
(2) A one-person tent or bivouac sack with a fly
and fifty yards of nylon cord.
(3) A synthetic fiber sleeping bag and pad.
(4) Water and food.
(5) Signal Devices such as whistle, flares, or a
strip of bright cloth.
(6) Flashlight with extra bulbs and batteries
(7) An appropriate topographic map and compass
(8) A Leatherman tool or Boy Scout knife
(9) A First Aid kit
(10) Fire starters,
such as matches in a waterproof container, cigarette lighter and plumber's
candles.
At first this may seem to be a lot to carry, but when you think about it, this
load is rather cheap life insurance. In addition to keeping you alive and
free from the risk of panic in a survival situation, the Survival Pack will add
a degree of flexibility to your outings. A person who is prepared with a
survival pack might see being ‘turned around’ as an opportunity to have some
extra time in the outdoors.
Food is not as a vital survival item as are water and shelter because most live
persons are found within 48 hours after the start of a search. As long as
water is available, healthy adults can survive for two weeks or more without
food. Extreme dehydration can be fatal as it reduces the body's blood
volume, with the same lethal effects as hypothermia. Without sufficient
quantities of oxygenated blood, your vital organs such as the heart and lungs
will cease to function. You cannot live without water.
Shelter in the form of a tent or bivouac sack and sleeping bag with pad are
necessary to prevent a dangerous loss of body heat from the effects of
temperature, and precipitation. A sleeping bag and pad inside a tent or
bivouac sack will provide protection from hypothermia as well as shelter that
will allow sleep. As the wise saying goes "When all else fails, take
a nap." Sleep relaxes the mind, reducing the danger of panic, and
serves to replenish the body's vital energy. Many Alaskan bush pilots
will not get into a general aircraft without a tent and sleeping bag.
Survival pack size
These items require a pack with a carrying capacity of more than 2,000 cubic
inches. The average day-pack is not large enough. In this writer's
opinion, a leading candidate for the Survival Pack is the Duluth Tent and
Awning Company's Rambler Pack. This is a large rucksack with a central
bag, a zippered back pocket, two side pockets, and a zippered map pocket under
the top flap.
I suggest that you practice to be prepared, by trying your Hunters (Survival)
Pack on a shakedown camp out in your own backyard or a local park
campground. These are places where, if any problems were to develop,
assistance would be close at hand. A shakedown experience could also give
you the confidence to try a one night, bare bones, backpacking outing with your
Hunters (Survival) Pack instead of a full backpack. As the Athenian
philosopher; Socrates (469-399 B.C.) noted, “The fewer our needs, the more we
resemble the Gods.”
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