Safety and first aid when hunting

[Tigger]

I recently listened to elktalk podcast where they discussed an injury that happened while hunting and it got me to thinking about how careful (or NOT careful) we are when hunting. How prepared are you to deal with a broadhead in the calf that is bleeding like crazy 2 miles from the nearest road? Do you have the supplies to deal with it? Mentally can you handle the blood and seriousness of the situation? Do you know what to do? Can you physically get the person out of the backcountry?

Exactly what is in your 1st aid kit? I have gauze and tape that should handle most situations, but will be adding to my first aid kit after listening to the podcast. I will add the Quick Clot impregnated gauze strips and a compression bandage like the stat t.

How about your experiences? What can you share that you have learned?

Then we get into being prepared and not taking chances. Do you jump from log to log 3 miles from the road? Do you step on the wet log or go around it? Is your equipment all reviewed and tested from a safety standpoint? In the podcast, it was noted that he had an adjustable quiver for microdiameter arrows but he didn't have it tight enough. How easy to overlook, yet it resulted in a bad injury.

[Swede]

I have to agree with you on this. It is something I should better prepare for. I give up because carrying everything a person might use in an emergency would be difficult to carry. Still I could do more.

[Jhg]

The best thing you can carry anywhere is training! Great thread. I was fortunate to be required to take a wilderness 1st aid course. WAY different than regular in that the emphasis is on longer times before hospital care. I encourage everyone to take this course. Urban 1st aid takes for granted 30 minutes or less to the ER. Not so in the woods. You may have to care for a collapsed lung or broken femur over night. Could you hang with that ?? Can you save a gunshot accident victim? Treat a severe sprain for 48hrs so there is no nerve damage from swelling? Head injury? Can you make a traction splint for femur break? I take a minimal kit in my pack- ace bandage, anticeptic sponge, tape, ibuprofin, eye wash, pen, fem napkin for bad blood loss. In my truck is a full on 1st aid kit ready for just about anything but mainly designed to save a life for 48hrs.

[Tigger]

One interesting tidbit from the podcast was the injured guy was the smallest guy there. All of them were in tremendous shape, yet they really struggled to move him any distance. They ended up giving him piggyback rides. But think if it was the biggest guy....that wouldn't work.

[DBLGBL]

I carry a small but extensive kit.

CAT T Tourniquet
Israeli Bandage
Combat Guaze
Chest seals (extreme but they take up little space) We actually had a guy impaled on a set of antler two seasons ago Scary chit
Several sizes of guaze pads & compressed guaze
Vet Wrap
Assorted Pain tabs & benedryl
Assorted band aids
Neosporin 1 use
Betadine
Lighter w Duct Tape Waterproof matches & Vaseline cotton balls
Small Scissors
Emergency bivy & cheap space blanket
Paracord
small light

All fits in a 3x4x6 pouch that is always with me. Just carrying this stuff is not enough you need to know how to use it.

2gbl

[elkhuntfever]

Just returned from Colorado where two emergencies have me planning. A saddle broke on the horse dumping the fellow to the ground. He suffered a broken leg and broken ribs and punctured lung. Because of his location and lack of cell service it was a minimum of 6 hours before he was airlifted out. The next day another fellow had a heart attack to out west. He initially called 911 to report having chest pains but collapsed. Other hunters became involved and reported him unresponsive with no pulse and not breathing and were instructed on how to perform CPR.

I believe it is time to take a CPR course and look more closely at our groups emergency equipment or lack thereof.

[Lefty]

The best thing you can carry anywhere is training! .

Ive trapped solo and hunted in secluded and wilderness areas for years, and still enjoy the back country .. SO I naturally became more aware of being safe. I also had one experience,.. well actually a few where death should have been my outcome.After I got married my wife made the comment she "would kill me if I died doing something stupid"
I also was trained then taught, beginning Industrial safety.
Awareness is most important.
I received some great training while teaching at a State Hospital working with Boy Scouts and being evolved or helping out in minor first Aid situations, Even got an old man and a young bad boy gangster breathing again. And some cuts and blood working construction

My church congregation has two military trained Doctors and a PA Ive worked with and became good friends with them and their families. Putting together a first aid kit for scouts and the youth was fascinating and a learning experience.

VE was always concerned about my where-abouts That was a simple one. And once I have phone service that's even easier. SO now a few more people know where I hunt or where Ill be sleeping.
Ive mentioned much of this before:
AT signed back up in the Guard to do medical in the mid east Sand box. he refined and lighten my first aid kit for packing in. He calls it a "comfort kit", aspirin, 1 ' bandaids, tums benadryl, small scalpel vet wrap, saline and cleansing solutions women's tampon, tweezers and a handful of hydo or oxi.
My pick up and ATV have more first aid supplies.
AT advised me quick clot and splints are a waste of time , If pressure and or plugging wont stop bleeding quick clot wont you will be dead anyway.
Breathing ,.. Hunting solo you could be screwed on that one.
Nearly everything in my pack has multiple uses , synthetic belt is a sling, strap, or tourniquet, My extra or emergency supplies are kept clean and can be used as packing gauze or bandages,.. Boot laces and para cord for making a splint

A long ago buddy while an Army Ranger got dropped out of a plane way too low at night somewhere they were not suppose to be,.. Broke his ankles, legs, pelvis, back . He was the medic,.. he said he and morphine had the three best days of his life waiting to get picked up. So attitude about the situation is important

The first thing is dont get hurt to start with. Be mindful of foot placement and broad heads . Know your gear,.. and have everything in the best order possible.

Be prepaided and use common sense.
Years back I was invited on a big game trip; it came out that one guy hadnt hunted with the other in years, I asked why. His comment "he insists on driving junk and having crap gear, we spend more time dealing with his junk than hunting and he is careless and reckless. All went fine on that trip except the end. We knew the weather report. I packed everything and put it on a ridge a couple miles that was downhill to a good road. I though we should spend the time that night and make it too the county road. The one guy wanted to get a good nights sleep ,.. and we woke to 24 inches of wet snow. Packing up their gear was a wet nasty job,..A 30 minute drive out took 10 hours,.. , dented trucks broken windshield, damaged tires, tow chain,s and straps and tire.

Now I need to admit Ive learned some the hard way, dont let experience be your teacher. Make the drive the most dangerous part of the hunt

[scubohuntr]

I recently listened to elktalk podcast where they discussed an injury that happened while hunting and it got me to thinking about how careful (or NOT careful) we are when hunting. How prepared are you to deal with a broadhead in the calf that is bleeding like crazy 2 miles from the nearest road? Do you have the supplies to deal with it? Mentally can you handle the blood and seriousness of the situation? Do you know what to do? Can you physically get the person out of the backcountry?

Exactly what is in your 1st aid kit? I have gauze and tape that should handle most situations, but will be adding to my first aid kit after listening to the podcast. I will add the Quick Clot impregnated gauze strips and a compression bandage like the stat t.

How about your experiences? What can you share that you have learned?

Then we get into being prepared and not taking chances. Do you jump from log to log 3 miles from the road? Do you step on the wet log or go around it? Is your equipment all reviewed and tested from a safety standpoint? In the podcast, it was noted that he had an adjustable quiver for microdiameter arrows but he didn't have it tight enough. How easy to overlook, yet it resulted in a bad injury.

Never step on anything you can step over, and never step over anything you can go around. Jumping from log to log is what keeps Life Flight busy during hunting season.

With the stupidly high prices they are getting for archery equipment these days, my old Oneida quiver has to last a few more years. It doesn't hold carbon arrows properly. Since I can't afford microadjustable quivers, I wrapped plumbline through the arrow holder, once through each position. This pushes the arrow forward against the rubber dividers, and they are nice and tight.

One thing I have been doing this year is using the "find my I-Phone" feature as a cheap tracker. It's set up on my wife's phone, and lets her know where I am whenever I get cell service. I don't hunt really deep wilderness, but I am out of service most of the time. When I go up over a ridge, it sometimes gets a signal and sends her a message with a map. Or if there are half a dozen trucks already in the spot I told her I'd be hunting, and I have to go to Plan B on the fly. I know it's not a Spot Tracker, but at least it's something.

My first aid kit is not what it ought to be, and I need to work on that before next season. I do carry basic survival equipment- firestarter, cordage, knife, wire saw, and space blanket.

[Elkduds]

Preventing illness/injury is preferable to treating same. I thought I was being careful in Sept, which goes w aging and hunting solo. I put a foot wrong, didn't even stumble or fall, and pulled a hamstring. Which is worse than it sounds, no way I could break down or move an elk after that, meaning solo hunt was over. How could I have prevented it? Would trekking poles have kept the leg safe? Maybe, if I had used them for the whole hunt. I probably weakened the leg on over 2 days on rough terrain, then my heel slipping on a rock was the last straw (per my chiropractor). Could I have paid more attention to flexibility as part of being in shape? Definitely. I hiked trails on hills w a loaded pack most days over the summer, never did any stretching. Only had a kill kit and some water in my pack when I got hurt, so I was not overloaded, not fatigued.

Sudden illnesses/injuries encountered during my hunts: sunburn, dehydration, asthma, sprains, strains of joints and muscles, aggravated chronic back injury, colds/viruses, altitude headaches, blisters/cuts/scrapes, nausea/diarrhea, frostbite of old injuries, giardia... For 1st aid I take quick clot, bandaging stuff, triple antibiotic ointment, over-the-counter and Rx remedies.


And trekking poles.