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Self-Reliance-Illustrated.Pdf Issue 17 — November/December 2013 Self Reliance Illustrated 1 An Unexpected Test of Skills & Gear By Gerald Young Disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert in outdoor survival, nor claim to be. I just wanted to share my incident and what I learned !om it so that others can learn !om my mistakes. Also I’m not a"liated with any of the manufacturers of any of the brand name gear that is mentioned. #is is just the gear that I use. n November 11, 2011 I started the day o! by loading my truck up with Oall of my gear along with the gear of my friend and his 10 year old son. We were headed up to the Adirondacks on a canoe camping trip. We were scheduled to meet the rest of the group at a state campground at 10:00. "e weather fore- cast for the day was for the temperature to be 30-35 degrees, snow showers and wind 15-20 mph and gusting up to 30. A#er the truck was all loaded we hit the road. We were on the road for only 10 minutes before what turned out to be a 6 point buck, jumped right in front of the truck. "ere was no sign of him until it was too late. I hit the brakes real hard but it wasn’t enough. "e deer went tumbling and we came to a stop. "e truck had some heavy front end damage. Grill was gone, head lights were hanging, the bumper was all bent up, and the radiators pushed into the engine. A#er the crash is still took 3 rounds from the handgun to put the animal down. A#er the Sheri! ’s department came and completed a report, we nursed the truck home and developed Plan B. We obtained another truck, switched gear over, and were back on the road. I made contact with a friend who was also going on this trip to let him know about the crash and that we were going to be delayed about two hours. He advised me that he was also run- Locations of gear on body. BIO: Issue 17 — November/December 2013 Self Reliance Illustrated 81 ning a little late. "is would turn out to be mistake number one. I only made contact with one other person who was going on this trip. I should have at- tempted to contact some of the others. We arrived at the boat launch at the campgrounds just a#er noon and met with the others who had been running late. "e vehicles of the other people who were part of this trip were all parked so we knew they had le# for the camping area. We changed into some appropriate clothing for the canoe ride. My clothing was composed of the following: Rail Rider pants, wool shirt, Wind Stopper $eece jacket, wool felt hat, military Gore-Tex pants, wool socks and Kenetrek hiking boots. We loaded the gear into the canoe. My gear was packed in a Duluth #4 Cruiser, a Duluth Canoe and Camp Chair with pouch, a 5 gallon bucket with lid, a water bottle carrier, a possibles pouch and a collapsible water bucket. "e other party’s gear was loaded into two large trash bags and a 5 gallon bucket. Gear for this trip was typical for this type of trip. In my Duluth Pack I had my shelter: hammock, tarp, and sleeping bag, spare clothing which was composed of extra socks, a wool jacket/ shirt and a set of grid $eece long johns, trauma kit, hygiene kit, insulated ground pad, and a sportsman’s blanket. All of these items were placed in a pack liner bag and sealed to keep all of the items dry. "is would turn out to be a good thing. Also stu!ed in the pack was my Gossman Tusker and on the outside was a small ax and a trail blazer saw. "e 5 gallon bucket contained all of my food, a pot with lid, and a small cast iron frying pan. "e water bottle carrier had a stainless steel guyot and titanium cup. "e possibles pouch contained map, compass, chemical hand warmers, spare handgun ammo, gloves, sharpeners, repair kit, headlamp and spare batter- ies, spare cordage, beef jerky, and a few other odds and ends. In the pouch on Gear in left front pocket. the canoe seat, I had a Land Shark Bivy, small PSK, and a packable rain jacket. 82 Self Reliance Illustrated issue 17 — November/December 2013 COLOR I try to always carry what my circle of friends and I refer to as pocket gear and belt items. I guess you could refer to this as a PSK. "e gear in my pockets and on my belt included the following: belt knife, Opinel folding saw, Leather- man Wave, ferro rod and striker, whistle, match safe with REI storm proof match- es, Skoal tin %lled with Vaseline soaked cotton balls, small %rst aid kit, one AMK Heat Sheet, %re cube %re starter, 550 cord, and decoy line. I also rounded this out with a neck knife. "is gear proved to be well worth its weight later in the story. With the canoe loaded, well over-loaded, we donned our PFDs (personal $oatation devices) and hit the water. In our canoe were my friend, his son, and myself. "e other canoe contained my other friend and his wife. About 25 minutes from the launch, we were in a section of the creek that connected the ponds that was about 60 to 70 yards wide. About this time a gust of wind came up and took my hat from my head. I was sitting in the front of the canoe when this happened and I looked back just in time to see my friend instinctively reach to save my hat for me. With him shi#ing his weight in an over- loaded canoe, we started to take on some water. He then over corrected and we really started to take on water. I looked between my legs and saw the water %lling the boat. I was just reaching for my collapsible bucket and said I’m going to start bailing when my friend said it was too late, we were sinking. We were only about 30 yards from shore which turned out to be a bog when this happened. Once I was in the water, I grabbed the bow line and %gured I could swim and tow the canoe to the shore with the gear. "e cold water took my breath away and my clothes soaked up the water fast. "is made swimming a real chore. My friend had pushed his son up on top of some of the $oating gear and was pushing him while attempting to swim himself. My Gore-Tex pant pockets %lled with water and the soaked Gear in right front pocket. $eece continued to make swimming issue 17 — November/December 2013 Self Reliance Illustrated 83 to shore hard. I kept trying to touch bottom thinking that it wasn’t that deep but couldn’t. Once I got to the shore line you still couldn’t stand because the bottom was so mucky, you just sank. It took all of the strength I had le# just to pull myself out of the water. Once on the bog, I turned and saw my friend’s son was at shore so I pulled him out of the water. Next was my friend. He was totally exhausted from pushing his son along and swimming himself. He just didn’t have the strength to pull himself out. I told him to give me his hand and I would pull him out. He said that I couldn’t do it. I managed to tap into that inner strength that we all have and don’t use. I pulled all 245 pounds of him out of the water. A#er stripping the wet outer layer o! I started to gather wood for a %re. "e people in the other canoe started to gather up all of our gear that was $oating around. Fortunately, the wind and cur- rents were in our favor and the gear was dri#ing towards us. One of the $oating Gear around neck. bags that were recovered %rst contained a wool blanket and my friend stripped his son of his wet clothes and wrapped him in the blanket. While this was going on it was time for the %re. "is is where the pocket gear comes into its own. I had the wood gathered and initially tried to start the %re with the tinder cube. "is wouldn’t light with the ferro so I tried the storm proof matches, this also failed. "is failure turned out to be no fault of the %re cube, but the person trying to light it. I then switched to the Vase- line soaked cotton balls. One strike on the ferro and there was $ame. Slowly I added wood to the %re nursing it to life. "e others at this point had man- aged to secure most of the gear. Now the little guy, who weighs 50 pounds and is just skin and bones (no pun intended) was shivering real bad. "is was a big concern of mine. I was scared that if we Wool blanket, Land-Shark Bivy and hand warmer. didn’t do something fast he could end up in a bad way. I then remembered the Land-Shark Bivy. "e Land-Shark 84 Self Reliance Illustrated issue 17 — November/December 2013 Bivy is a thick, plastic, reusable bivy bag capable of blocking wind and elements.
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