Whats in YOUR First Aid Kit?

[Michael Palozzola]

Here's a question for any avid outdoors man. Whats in YOUR First Aid kit? Is it a store bought? a home made? a combination of both? What would you not be caught dead (no pun intended) without in the wilderness? And I'm not talking STRICTLY first aid but what is in your "Survival kit?"

[Swamp Hunter]

"Why work with out a net when one is regularly available? It would be like a tight rope walker going.... "nah i got this take the net down." 

 

For the same reason we have an Archery season and a Muzzleloader season. We want to keep our primitive skills sharp.  But why a designated area?  Would you want to hunt with a bow and arrow when everyone else is using high powered rifles? 

 

Why walk when you can ride? Its the same reason the hikers took over the buggy trail and called it their own because they dont want motorized vehicles on the newly created Florida Trail. For the same reason the Loop Unit was designated as walk only.

 

The NO GPS and NO celphone comment was tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously. We cant go back in time no matter how much I may wish it. And NEVER did I, or would I, suggest to have a NO PLB area.  My thoughts about the future and the Big Brother comment were referring to George Orwells book 1984. Think about it.

 

The "real outdoorsman" comment was NEVER meant to be an insult to anybody that uses whatever technology they prefer to stay safe. Some people wear snake boots and others waders but I have a friend that hunts barefoot. Some like to canoe, others prefer a powerboat. To each his own.

 

"Speaking of old skills, do you know a GOOD and RELIABLE edibles of south Florida book?"

Yes I have read some good ones but I cant remember. The best source is the Miccosuki Indians but they rarely share this kind of information. But I do remember studying a good book where the author refered to the Indians as Mikasukis. This may be it. The book has pictures as I recall. http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1961%20Vol.%20...

 

You can purchase Calvin Stones book at Oasis Ranger Station, I believe. To put my comments all in perspective there was a group of Indians discovered by airboaters living on an island in the 40's that had never seen a white man. Can you imagine right here in America? Technology is moving too fast for an oldtimer like myself.

[Kim Gass]

I don't trip to be macho and I respect the wishes of my family who is not with me solo. Its one thing to have to go out there and survive. To play Survivorman with a family back home is just being selfish and a fool.

I have had people die on trips with me. The family has said.."thank you for doing all that you could". Should I do any less for my own family?

[Swamp Hunter]

I understand and neither do I.  Being macho is stupid. But wanting to navigate without a GPS is not being macho or hiking in the swamp without waders.  Same can be said for hunting game with bow and arrow.

 

Exploring the WW in a canoe when you could be using a powerboat....is that being macho?

 

 

I think its more about wanting to practice primitive skills and there is something to be said for wanting to get away from civilization and out of range of celphones.

 

Im sorry you lost some friends.I will do anything humanly possible to help a friens in the wilderness.

[Swamp Hunter]

Modern technology is here to stay, I cant go back in time, so I will use it. A GPS is actually neat but certainly not something I need. 

 

The increased participation on this forum is great and I think we need more of it.

[Swamp Hunter]

I was thinking about it while Im out eating dinner and you are right. Michael and Kim you have both convinced me to carry my GPS and celphone with me at all times while in the swamp as my "safety net".   I have been using my GPS, or should I say learning to use it to mark waypoints, but I just hope I dont become too dependant on it.  I never thought of it this way but it will be now be part of my first aid kit and possibly the most important.  Thanks.

 

Im not wearing waders or snake boots lol at least not yet.. The waders are nice in freezing weather however.

 

 

 Sorry again for the tradgedy or tradgedies you experienced Kim. Sometimes you do everything you can to prevent it but it just happens. Its all part of Gods plan that we dont understand.

[Swamp Hunter]

Back to the subject of snakes, here a a great study done in Australia from venomdoc on the Sawyer Extractor to determine the percentage of mock venom recovered by an extractor.

 

CONCLUSION: "The Sawyer Extractor pump removed bloody fluid from our simulated snakebite wounds but removed virtually no mock venom, which suggests that suction is unlikely to be an effective treatment for reducing the total body venom burden after a venomous snakebite."

 

Now back to the hunter bitten by a Diamondback Rattlesnake in the Big Cypress Preserve last winter. He told me he was bitten several miles out. He called for rescue but still needed to walk miles to Turner River Road where a car was waiting to help. From there he chose to drive into Miami. without any escort.  Why was there no helicopter?  Did he have a PLB? Would it have made a difference?

 

I cant answer any of these questions until next season when I talk to the man and possibly the rangers as well..  This has got me curious.

 

Mike the story about you barely stepping on the Moccasin is played out everyday. You would not believe how often it happens. I have even had these snakes strike at me as I walk past. Fortunately, from my experiences, Cottonmouth Moccasins strike slow and often miss their target, or I would have been bitten many times. They also seem at times reluctant to strike but prefer to coil up with open mourth. But are known at other times to be aggressive. As a snake lover, I used to keep these snakes in aquariums until a handler was bitten.  Diamondbacks are more accurate, not slow, and can bite half their length high. Pygmies seem accurate as well. The not often seen Coral Snake needs time to bite and more often will only succeed on a finger.. I just remembered a very close encounter with a Coral Snake inches from my face in the East Everglades. It was under the bark of a tree I was climbing.

[Kim Gass]

He chose several options none of which were wise.  I have no idea why he chose to drive. What was the NEED to walk to Turner River Road. I can only hazard he had no distress signalling device.

Get the lymph flowing and the neurotoxins do too. This site is pretty graphic. The advice is in line with my medic training. 

http://www.envenomated.com/articles.php?article_id=5

[Swamp Hunter]

I dont know. Hopefully I will speak with him again. I only know him from working at the Wildlife Check Station. Maybe he was in a heavily wooded area? I can say this, he was very angry on how it was handled. 

The rangers were wating for him at Turner River Road so Im assuming he must have been able to call ahead on his celphone. He chose to drive himself because the rangers wanted to take him or escort him to Naples and he wanted to go to Miami close to family.  So he drove himself. 

 

Luckily for him it was a dry bite. He explained to me that a dry bite is where the snake chooses not to inject a full dose of venom.  Now that I think of it, the rangers must have realized this. I would think he would have been in very bad shape after walking several miles if full venom was injected.

[Swamp Hunter]

Here is a link explaining dry bites. http://www.snakesandspiders.com/dry-snake-bite/  

"Among the vipers, dry bites are somewhat unusual. It has been estimated that around 20 percent of viper bites are dry.

Why do snakes deliver dry bites? Some think it is because they are conserving their venom for prey they can actually eat. Some say that it is because their supply may have been just used on a prey item. Some say it is just an accident and the snake did not bite cleanly. The truth? Probably a combination of all of these in some form or fashion."