What do you pack to be FOUND???

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Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
A high vis waist coat stuffed in the bottom of the bag, a jetscream whistle, a signaling mirror and a mobile (mostly useless when deep in the woods)
So far I've not been anywhere so remote that I would get lost or needed to worry about being found , but I carry these so my boy gets in the habit of also preparing for the worse , if I just preached he wouldn't take it seriously...
Monkey see , monkey do.
:)

I've also taught him what to do if you were lost , stuck or hurt and needed to make yourself visible , and these items are what ive covered so far.
Except for the phone as that can't be relied upon 100% ...
 
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KenThis

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
825
121
Cardiff
For day hikes I would have a compass mirror, small torch, means to make a fire, whistle, phone, bright orange/foil space blanket and would have left plans with someone.

For longer I would also have a better mirror (from my hygiene kit), bigger torch, head torch, small flashing red bike light, candle lantern and a big orange/foil tarp.

Best of it is I have yet to do solo wild camping or even a solo hike in hostile terrain. But soon...
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Leave the route plan with someone.
Do not deviate from the route plan and times. Just don't.
Save the brilliant new idea for another trip.
Check in upon return.

Of course you need attractions to be found.
Place yourself in the probably easily found zone.
Accidents happen.
 
Another interesting subject on how you view risk.

I know of no Cree indian, or white hunters/trappers up here who would carry anything to enable them to be found. Any more than you would carry something in your towns or cities to be found.

When I used to do guided canoe trips with outfitters we did sometimes carry satellite phones but they often would not work.

You could carry all the lights, strobes, whistles, radios and tin blankets you want up here and its extremely unlikely you'd be seen anyway. Lighting a fire up here would not even be noticed. Here fires many miles across, burn all summer out of control. A camp fire would not be noticed and pilots would just assume it was hunters/fisherman anyway.

Only this year I flew over an old hunter's cabin I'd never seen before although I'd travelled that way by plane and by canoe many many times before and never seen it and neither had the pilot.
 

Bushcraft Yukon

Tenderfoot
Nov 8, 2015
59
0
Canada
Another interesting subject on how you view risk.

I know of no Cree indian, or white hunters/trappers up here who would carry anything to enable them to be found. Any more than you would carry something in your towns or cities to be found.

When I used to do guided canoe trips with outfitters we did sometimes carry satellite phones but they often would not work.

You could carry all the lights, strobes, whistles, radios and tin blankets you want up here and its extremely unlikely you'd be seen anyway. Lighting a fire up here would not even be noticed. Here fires many miles across, burn all summer out of control. A camp fire would not be noticed and pilots would just assume it was hunters/fisherman anyway.

Only this year I flew over an old hunter's cabin I'd never seen before although I'd travelled that way by plane and by canoe many many times before and never seen it and neither had the pilot.

I know a lot of Yukon trappers, First Nations and non First Nations, who carry a sat phone when in the bush or travel with a buddy for safety. And if you get the right phone (Iridium, not the cheaper and unreliable Globalstar/SPOTphones) you have pretty good coverage even way up north.

The way you describe it sounds like First Nations people and old-school trappers don't need those ways of communications. Funny enough, many search & rescue operations in the Yukon involve First Nation people in need for help (probably just as many as non Fist Nation folks...). Had they any means to call for help, it would have been much easier for anyone involved. Reading CBC North news, I always stumble across articles about First Nation hunters getting lost and being overdue for days, and having major search & rescue operations looking for them. Some are being found alive, some dead, some never.

You may be right about all the signal gimmicks are of not much help in a vast environment. But if you left a trip plan with someone reliable, chances are that someone comes looking for you at some point. And if they search the right area, signal mirrors, flares, signal fires, etc are exactly the things they hope to see, because they stand out.

It is true though how with modern technology like satellite messengers & phones, we feel safer. And very naked and vulnerable without. This of course is not quite the way it should be, since those technologies are not capable of preventing accidents. But they may enable us to call for help if something went wrong. Two very different things! Unfortunately they often get mixed up.

My personal view on this kind of safety equipment changed with two events. First was a severe case of diarrhea (probably a bacteria obtained in BC) in which after two days I was so dehydrated and weak that I was no longer able to do anything and I fell unconscious a few times. Took another three days until I got "rescued" and brought to a hospital. That was not even in a real wilderness situation. It was the first time when I experienced something that knocked me off my feet so badly that I thought I could have died, had it happened far away from civilization and without communication means.

Second time was when I was out with a dog team sledding and some nerve in my back got pinched and all muscles locked up. I was no longer able to stand up or walk. Fortunately I was not alone (but often I am) and I got help to get out and to the hospital. If I had been alone somewhere in the Yukon wilderness in the middle of winter without the ability to make a fire or get to shelter, it could also have meant the end.

Those events made me think pretty hard about means to call for help if need be.
 

KenThis

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
825
121
Cardiff
I know a lot of Yukon trappers, First Nations and non First Nations, who carry a sat phone when in the bush or travel with a buddy for safety. And if you get the right phone (Iridium, not the cheaper and unreliable Globalstar/SPOTphones) you have pretty good coverage even way up north.

The way you describe it sounds like First Nations people and old-school trappers don't need those ways of communications. Funny enough, many search & rescue operations in the Yukon involve First Nation people in need for help (probably just as many as non Fist Nation folks...). Had they any means to call for help, it would have been much easier for anyone involved. Reading CBC North news, I always stumble across articles about First Nation hunters getting lost and being overdue for days, and having major search & rescue operations looking for them. Some are being found alive, some dead, some never.

You may be right about all the signal gimmicks are of not much help in a vast environment. But if you left a trip plan with someone reliable, chances are that someone comes looking for you at some point. And if they search the right area, signal mirrors, flares, signal fires, etc are exactly the things they hope to see, because they stand out.

It is true though how with modern technology like satellite messengers & phones, we feel safer. And very naked and vulnerable without. This of course is not quite the way it should be, since those technologies are not capable of preventing accidents. But they may enable us to call for help if something went wrong. Two very different things! Unfortunately they often get mixed up.

My personal view on this kind of safety equipment changed with two events. First was a severe case of diarrhea (probably a bacteria obtained in BC) in which after two days I was so dehydrated and weak that I was no longer able to do anything and I fell unconscious a few times. Took another three days until I got "rescued" and brought to a hospital. That was not even in a real wilderness situation. It was the first time when I experienced something that knocked me off my feet so badly that I thought I could have died, had it happened far away from civilization and without communication means.

Second time was when I was out with a dog team sledding and some nerve in my back got pinched and all muscles locked up. I was no longer able to stand up or walk. Fortunately I was not alone (but often I am) and I got help to get out and to the hospital. If I had been alone somewhere in the Yukon wilderness in the middle of winter without the ability to make a fire or get to shelter, it could also have meant the end.

Those events made me think pretty hard about means to call for help if need be.

Thanks for this, so well put.

Just to add...
IMHO obviously each of us has to assess their own risk and what to carry day to day, what we end up deciding on carrying will probably be right for us in the environments we wander in.
However for emergency use the majority of us will hopefully have no direct experience of what is needed or what this means. Especially since most of us will not be putting ourselves in harms way intentionally. Clearly signalling equipment is not needed 999 times out of a 1000 but when it is it could mean the difference between being saved or not.
Also by their very nature accidents tend to be freak events that are hard to plan for or that will happen even after all the right precautions are taken.

An itinerary left with someone, weighs nothing and is the most surefire means of someone looking for you if you happen to get into difficulty. Thus leaving a route/plan with someone should be a matter of course.
Having a definite means of lighting a fire should really be on your person at all times, this is a no-brainer and we all tend to do this. A signal fire is therefore already in our power.
Most people take a torch or lantern for overnight trips, again many keep it close to hand so another signalling device.
Whistles weigh next to nothing and are great to use to attract attention. Why not take one on a string around your neck?
A mirror or signal mirror, any sufficiently shiny surface might work but why not add a small signal mirror to your wallet?

As for a brightly coloured tarp, my spaceblanket doubles as a groundsheet, tarp or protective layer, it weighs very little and gets used every trip anyway. It just happens to be bright orange and silver. A no brainer for me.

In the UK at least it's surprising the places a mobile phone can reach and coverage tends to improve all the time. Also the majority carry one every day so why not keep one in a pocket.

Further afield or where risks are greater then a sat phone or 2 way radio might be useful but obviously each has to assess the relative pros and cons in that situation.

To my mind it then becomes not why are you taking signalling devices but rather why not??
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
I preach to my grandson about letting somebody know where he's going and a rough timetable. I try to practice it also. That said, when half the point of going in the woods is just to explore, the very nature of the trip means your going to wander off any preset routes. Hunting is much the same. In my case it's still probably a reasonable search area, less than 20 miles squared. In Joe's case (it sounds like some of his trips might be a month or more) that area might be much, much bigger. If he and his party are following game then they might be a great distance from where they told anybody before they left.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Even telling someone that you are going west and not east is a start.
We went east yesterday, to a tangle of old logging roads which actually make a connected loop around a mountain.
Sunny. Gentle breeze. My GF shot 1/2 grouse. My guts have recovered from pot-hole bounce.
Sent some emails before we left, sent more emails when we got out.
 

crucible

Tenderfoot
May 14, 2011
78
0
vancouver bc canada
I'm old school- I don't carry an electronic emergency device like a SPOT or EPIRB, unless you count my iPhone 6.

My emergency signalling gear consists of:
1. fire-making tools- a bic lighter, ferro rod, lifeboat matches and tinder
2. 2 signalling mirrors, a military signalling mirror and the mirror on my Silva ranger compass
3. 2 Petzl headlamps, a Petzl eLite and a Petzl TacTikka
4. 3 chemical lightsticks
5. 3 penlight flares
6. 3 packets of orange Koolaid drink mix powder
7. 2 whistles

The Koolaid powder is used as a signalling device on snow- by pouring it directly onto snow, you can make a SOS signal quickly. It weighs nothing and can even be used for its original purpose, in a pinch. A military pathfinder buddy of mine passed this tip onto me many years ago- I've used it to mark helicopter landing zones- it really works!

The chemical lightsticks can be used as a signalling device at night- when tied onto 6ft of paracord and swung around your head, it makes a glowing circle of light that can be seen for miles.
 

Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
I'm old school- I don't carry an electronic emergency device like a SPOT or EPIRB, unless you count my iPhone 6.

My emergency signalling gear consists of:
1. fire-making tools- a bic lighter, ferro rod, lifeboat matches and tinder
2. 2 signalling mirrors, a military signalling mirror and the mirror on my Silva ranger compass
3. 2 Petzl headlamps, a Petzl eLite and a Petzl TacTikka
4. 3 chemical lightsticks
5. 3 penlight flares
6. 3 packets of orange Koolaid drink mix powder
7. 2 whistles

The Koolaid powder is used as a signalling device on snow- by pouring it directly onto snow, you can make a SOS signal quickly. It weighs nothing and can even be used for its original purpose, in a pinch. A military pathfinder buddy of mine passed this tip onto me many years ago- I've used it to mark helicopter landing zones- it really works!

The chemical lightsticks can be used as a signalling device at night- when tied onto 6ft of paracord and swung around your head, it makes a glowing circle of light that can be seen for miles.
Great tips there buddy!

I'll be using the glow stick idea and if I can, I'll find some powdered orange Koolaid for winter trekking signals too...

Thank you for that!
 
Dec 6, 2013
417
5
N.E.Lincs.
Potassium Permanganate will do the same job as koolaid with regards to marking snow, it will also make a surprisingly large purple area of water if rescue on water is needed and has quite a few other uses too.....certainly a lot more uses than orange juice anyway.

D.B.
 

Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
Potassium Permanganate will do the same job as koolaid with regards to marking snow, it will also make a surprisingly large purple area of water if rescue on water is needed and has quite a few other uses too.....certainly a lot more uses than orange juice anyway.

D.B.
I never knew that D.B.

I knew P.P. can be used for fire ignition too , so that's great to know !
Thanks
 

KenThis

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
825
121
Cardiff
Potassium Permanganate will do the same job as koolaid with regards to marking snow, it will also make a surprisingly large purple area of water if rescue on water is needed and has quite a few other uses too.....certainly a lot more uses than orange juice anyway.

D.B.

It can also be used for skin infections.
 
Dec 6, 2013
417
5
N.E.Lincs.
Water purification, marker dye, disinfectant, fungal treatment, antiseptic solution, ‘fire lighting’????? plus other things….and all carried in a small vial......Care and understanding is needed too though it can also be dangerous if used incorrectly but once upon a time it was a MUST HAVE in a lot of Emergency Kits.

D.B.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
From my electron microscopic experience in my PhD researches, Potassium Permanganate is just about the nastiest **** that I have ever seen the evidence from.
Its a 20 second killer for human tissue. 20 seconds. I'd rather plan better and be a little more conservative than have to use that stuff.
You're damn right that it's dangerous if used incorrectly.

I used a lot of KMnO4 as an accelerant in product development as a NRC/ERD pyrotechnician for commercial fireworks.
Natural Resources Canada/Explosives Regulatory Division. Licences for senior pyrotechnicians for motion pictures and television
are a different classification. I hold both.

Sure, I can fry eggs with dynamite. I can guarantee, absolutley, that the eggs will get fried.
Just plan a little better than to need to use a nuclear device when an antiseptic would have been adequate.
 

Angry Pirate

Forager
Jul 24, 2014
198
0
Peak District
I tend to be in the mountains rather than in the woods for most adventures so my first aid kit contains lots of bright or light-producing items: a survival blanket and bag and a cyalume light (in case head torches have died, but also to give twelve hours light to a casualty if I have to go and do something else - I can also twirl it with paracord to signal helicopters as mentioned earlier)
I also carry a small emergency strobe light which will flash for hours and clips to a rucsac strap or the outside of my bothy shelter. The battery can be reversed to produce constant light making it a handy back up torch. Very light and provides great peace of mind as it can be seen for miles. It's this one: http://evaq8.co.uk/EMERGENCY-BEACON-Personal-Flashing-Rescue-Strobe-White.html
I also carry a whistle.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Potassium Permanganate will do the same job as koolaid with regards to marking snow, it will also make a surprisingly large purple area of water if rescue on water is needed and has quite a few other uses too.....certainly a lot more uses than orange juice anyway.

D.B.

I think I'd rather have OJ the as far as usefulness :)

From my electron microscopic experience in my PhD researches, Potassium Permanganate is just about the nastiest **** that I have ever seen the evidence from.....
.....Just plan a little better than to need to use a nuclear device when an antiseptic would have been adequate.

If water rescue is a concern I'd carry proper Sea Dye Marker www.landfallnavigation.com/-sfdye.html
 

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