Minimal kit and do you really need a pack?

[Treehuggers]

What is your bear minimum and do you need a pack to carry it. Lets say a weekend
Friday night to Sunday (return home)
I have a kitcarry smock that I can carry just about every thing in but I always carry my 3L camelpack.
I am going to photo and weigh every thing just for the hell of it.
Look forward to seeing the results.
(10/10 for any one how can go buck naked and survive with a pice of flint)

Rob

 

[Bjorn Victor]

The minimum was the clothes on my back (not including gore tex), a knife and a combat survival kit I modifies myself.
This kept me going during my 5-day survival exam with the Belgian Survival Team (www.stb.be) in November.
It was cold, but the shelter was good and the fire inside it was warm.

It was quite an experience, but I will not bore you with the details...

Bjorn

 

[redcollective]

It was quite an experience, but I will not bore you with the details...
Bjorn

eh? We want the details!

 

[RovingArcher]

For a weekend, I can deal with a lot less gear and have walked into the woods for a hunt with my bow, a few essentials for fire and water treatment, a knife and a bedroll. Now-a-days I use a 10ltr rucksack with needed gear stuffed inside. Mostly comfort items, but I like having a small sack with me. The one I carry will hold water without leaking it out and can also be used to hold wild foods and small game when hunting. It is easily cleaned, because of it's rubberized interior and is rugged enough to withstand even the most hostile of environments that I can journey into. The best news is, because it's E. German surplus, it was dirt cheap.

 

[pierre girard]

What is your bear minimum and do you need a pack to carry it. Lets say a weekend
Friday night to Sunday (return home)
I have a kitcarry smock that I can carry just about every thing in but I always carry my 3L camelpack.
I am going to photo and weigh every thing just for the hell of it.
Look forward to seeing the results.
(10/10 for any one how can go buck naked and survive with a pice of flint)

Rob

Where I live, if you are out overnight, there aren't too many times of the year you don't need a bedroll. I have carried just the bedroll on a tump - any incidentals rolled up in the bedroll.

 

[Treehuggers]

For a weekend, I can deal with a lot less gear and have walked into the woods for a hunt with my bow,.

We cant bow hunt here in the UK - but I think its still leagal to shoot a welsh man with a crossbow if he is within the city walls of oxford after midnight? not that are leagal system to out of date

 

[Treehuggers]

eh? We want the details!

Yes we want details!!!!!!!!

 

[scanker]

We cant bow hunt here in the UK - but I think its still leagal to shoot a welsh man with a crossbow if he is within the city walls of oxford after midnight? not that are leagal system to out of date

Close. Chester I think. Where the town clock only has three faces as they wouldn't give the Welsh the time of day.

 

[Bjorn Victor]

Yes we want details!!!!!!!!

OK. It was during the basic survival course with the survival team. They give you a very good training during 6 or 7 weekends and then they finish with a weeklong exam, where you have to put everything you have seen into practice. You have to make a shelter, make fire, find water and purify it, find/prepare food, set traps and fishing lines, set up emergency smoke beacons, ... In the meantime, they come and talk to you about how you feel (medical problems,...), you have to make knots, you have to use map and compass during a theoretical excersise but also during the night on a real excersise, they inspect the progress on your campplace and shelter, they sit inside it and feel if it the fire is heating the place well enough, because you do not have a sleeping bag or sleeping pad to keep you warm at night...

When you finish the course with more than 75% you get a Lofty Wiseman certificate. It's hanging in front of me as I type
I found that you can do a lot with a good knife and a good (self made!!!) survival set. The sets you buy are good as a start, but they need to be improved/adapted to the region and time of year.

I also followed the subarctic survival course in Kiruna, Sweden, but that's another story...

Hope this was enough details... Any questions?

Bjorn

 

[falling rain]

We cant bow hunt here in the UK - but I think its still leagal to shoot a welsh man with a crossbow if he is within the city walls of oxford after midnight? not that are leagal system to out of date

Yes I can confirm this is still legal.................Bagged meself a couple just last night!!

 

[Barry Smith]

The minimum was the clothes on my back (not including gore tex), a knife and a combat survival kit I modifies myself.
This kept me going during my 5-day survival exam with the Belgian Survival Team (www.stb.be) in November.
It was cold, but the shelter was good and the fire inside it was warm.

It was quite an experience, but I will not bore you with the details...

Bjorn

So what's in your Combat survival kit then...?

 

[Bjorn Victor]

Hello Barry,

Here's the list:

- a small tea light
- matches and striker cut from match-box in plastic wrap foil
- a whistle
- sewing needles in different sizes
- a lot of nylon sewing wire (very strong and does not rot, many uses)
- button compass
- safety pins
- strong small folded plastic bag (condoms jusy don't work for me)
- fishing hooks in different sizes with 0.4m of fishing line attached
- extra fishing line and lead balls to weigh it down
- pensil sharped on both sides
- 2 scalpel blades
- 3 metal trap wires (painted green to avoid reflection)
- commando saw (or wire saw) (you know what I mean)
- fill gaps with cotton balls (tampons are good) to stop rattling and use as tinder

I use a thick rubber band to close the box and protect it from moisture.

I think that is about it. I would have to check to be sure, but I think it is complete.

Comments are welcome!!!

Bjorn