Now Is A Good Time To Talk About Trauma Kits

They’re right. And in this Twitter thread, they explain what you need:

  1. “First, you want a tourniquet. Soft-t is one of the best. Swat tourniquets are light, but less bombproof. Costs about $20. Take that shit out of the box and practice with it. The point of a tourniquet is not to stop the bleeding, but to reduce the diastolic pressure in the artery downstream of the wound. Nowadays, medics give em thumbs up. Can be on for up to 6 hours, lower chance of amputation necessary.” [Here’s a less expensive tourniquet]
  2. “Next: a modern hemostatic agent. Quikclot gauze or Israeli bandage. These *only* help stop bleeding. Israeli bandages are not tourniquets. They don’t apply anywhere near enough pressure to occlude the blood vessel. Rule of thumb: bright pulsing jets of blood? Tourniquet. Anything else: a hemostatic agent. Together, these two things fit in the palm of a hand and cost about $40. Pull the Israeli bandage out of its shrink wrap and practice with it. Put it in a sandwich bag.”
  3. “Next two things: gauze and tape. These are cheap as hell too. Don’t go wild. Gauze and tape isn’t there to make bandages. They’re for gushing wounds a tourniquet can’t reach: neck, torso, etc. You *pack* the gauze in there, tape it as tight as you can. Practice this. All total you should now have something that fits in one hand, costs about $60, and prevents bleeding out.”

“This is pretty much all you can and should have as a trauma kit without getting a certification through accredited training. Anything else is stuff you do *not* want to be fucking with under high stress without hands-on training. This is stuff you can practice with at home, learn exactly how it works, and use even without courses. Also, it’s cheap. It won’t help with *every* terrible injury. But unless you’re a fully-stocked and trained EMT, you’re not gonna be able to anyway. What this will do, is help with massive bleeding. The ABC’s require skill and training, not stuff.

“Extra stuff that can come in handy: a survival blanket to help with shock. Even this requires knowing how to use one properly. Exam gloves protect the patient from you. Get sturdy nitrile gloves that’ll protect you from *them*. Between this handful of stuff and a basic course in first aid, you’re about as ready to save a life as you can be. This will hopefully keep someone alive til actual help comes. And it costs a hell of a lot less than a gun.

“A decent, non-paranoid trauma kit costs about $80, fits inside a sandwich bag, and could save a life. Anything else requires actual training, and if you don’t have that why the fuck are you carrying it. Statistically, most Americans live in cities, less than 15 miles from work. Odds are, medical attention will arrive fast. Odds are, just stopping bleeding as much as possible will keep a person alive til they do, even with minimal training. Anything else is pretty much out of your hands until actual help arrives, unless your job *is* that actual help.

“It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a gun, takes a fuckton less time than learning how to use a gun, and isn’t intended to kill people. Spend that extra time and money on such as donating to charities or whatever. Two birds, one stone. This is the cheapest, laziest way to increase the odds of someone surviving yet another American mass shooting.”

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Oh, and pookleblinky has some more gear recommendations too:

The Survivor’s Guide to Bowhunting

You never know when disaster strikes so it is good to prepare yourself with basic survival skills. Bowhunting is fundamental, and getting equipped with the knowledge of archery is highly important as it is one of the most valuable skills you can possess when trying to obtain food in the wilderness.

Benefits

It is important for you to possess the knowledge and skills of archery for bow hunting for many reasons. Firstly, you can get yourself food with ease in the wilderness. Starvation will be least of your worries with bowhunting abilities as you are able to kill any animals with your makeshift bow and arrow.

You can either hunt large game in the woods for a larger portion of food to last you the whole day or settle with catching fish in the streams. When shooting the fish in the water, you can use your arrow as a spear or even shoot it straight with your bow in shallow streams.

Moreover, the bow and arrow you have can be used as your defense if attacked by wild animals for instance. Although not much, the bow and arrow, together with your bowhunting skills can be used as a weapon to survive in the wild. In other words, it is good to have some protection in the form of a weapon when lost in the wilderness.

Apart from that, the best part about bowhunting is that you can make your own makeshift bow and arrow using simple materials in the woods. They are rather easy to make, as you require materials that are abundant in the wilderness such as wood (for the bow) and sticks (for arrows). The vines of plants can pass as the string of your bow.

 

Tips

#1: Plan Your Strategy Well

When bowhunting especially under extreme circumstances, having a strategy will result in a higher chance of you landing yourself a meal. Therefore, it is important to plan ahead by scouting the area and observing the behavior of your game before bowhunting.

Hunt in the area where animals seem to forage and eat, like berry bushes where you might easily find a rabbit munching away. It is also great if you plan your hunting range and spot so you can be at a safe spot which is also strategic for you to aim from. You should also plan ahead where and when to hunt and the places to stay out from to ensure your ultimate safety from wild animals.

Continue reading “The Survivor’s Guide to Bowhunting”

Survival Fishing With Your Bug-Out Bag

Guest post written by Almo Gregor

If you’ve been around the prepping and survival community for any length of time, you’ve heard of a bug-out bag. While each person’s idea of one has slight variations, the core components are the same. But as far as I’m concerned, they all have one flaw in common: food rations.  

I’m not sure where the idea of carrying only three day’s worth of food came from, but pretty much everyone says the same thing. Well, I don’t know about you, but I intend to survive for more than three days. If I’m stuck having to walk, it’s probably going to take more than three days to get to any place I can call a survival retreat.

That means increasing the amount of food I’m carrying. But even that won’t be enough. I’m going to have to eat once I get there too. So I either need food cached at my retreat or some means of getting my own food; preferably both.

That’s where fishing comes in. The idea of hunting for food may seem like a great idea, but as any hunter can tell you, you can spend a lot of days hunting, without bagging a thing. So it’s not a very secure way of feeding yourself, no matter what anyone says. On the other hand, if you can get to any body of water, chances are pretty good you can get some fish; all you need is the right equipment in your bug-out bag.

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How To Get Temporary, Disposable Credit Cards

Using your own credit cards is a great way to let the authorities know where you are immediately.

Now, most folks already know about Visa Gift Cards, which you can buy almost anywhere, and use anonymously.

But here are some other services you might not know about:

  • Privacy.com – Free temporary virtual credit card numbers.
    • Pro: no fees
    • Con: You need to connect a bank account
  • Final – Free temporary virtual credit card numbers, plus a credit card with rewards.
    • Pro: 1% cash back
    • Con: You need to apply
  • Citi/Chase/BofA – Included virtual numbers.
    • Pro: No signup if you’ve already got one
    • Con: Must sign up
  • SudoPay – iOS app that generates virtual numbers.
    • Pro: No application, no sensitive info taken
    • Con: Must pay up to 10% fee

Family Survival Tips and Tricks

This guest post was written by Dan Chabert, a writer, traveler, and ultramarathon distance runner.

In the face of an emergency such as a natural disaster, rioting, or any other crisis situation, it is always essential that families make plans and preparations for such periods. The first thing you think about in emergency situation will be the safety of your family. This is why it is advisable to make prior arrangements in case of unforeseen circumstances.

In preparing for such situations, it is equally important for the planner to know the right survival supplies to get and to have the necessary survival skills – such as hunting – to be equipped with in order to outlive such periods. It is as a result of this that I’ve decided to come up with this article/guide to show you some survival tips and tricks that should come in handy during such times of crisis.

All members of the family need to be involved in the planning process so that everyone – not including babies anyway – should know what exactly that they are supposed to do in such cases. Many considerations should be taken into account while making such plans. The following should be done in preparation for, and potentially during such emergency situations:

  • Always include every family member in the planning process and ensure to explain everything to everyone as often as possible. You can teach young children things like memorizing their address, their full names, and their parents’ or guardians’ names etc; as this can be very useful in cases when they are separated from you.

Continue reading “Family Survival Tips and Tricks”