First aid kit questions

[evilmercer]

For those of you who go shooting/hunting on land and not at a gun range do you take an extensive first aid kit?

I came to the realization that even though my family goes shooting on land no one ever brings a first aid kit. Luckily we have never needed one but I thought it might be good to put one together or buy one.

Did you buy a kit from somewhere and add some extra stuff, or did you build your own?

What all does it have in it?

I am thinking that I would want to build a pretty heavy duty one to take out with us because we are usually about 30 min to 1hr away from a hospital most of the time.

Thanks in advanced for any input you can give.

[Keith B]

I carry a small kit in the car as well as a slightly larger kit in my balloon trailer. There are a lot of different versions and you really don't need a ton of stuff. Just a basic kit is all most people need to take care of small cuts, burns and abrasions. Anything else is just to hold you until first responders arrive. The Red Cross has some pretty good guidelines for a basic kit here http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/li ... fakit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For my car around town and what goes to the range with me, I carry this one http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Pr ... ItemId=181" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. For the balloon trailer I have this one http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Pr ... eItemId=37" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, and have basically this one at home (not in the anniversary case) http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Pr ... ItemId=524" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[OldSchool]

We just learned (last month) to keep a full kit in each vehicle (how we learned is a separate story).

We start with either a cheap basic kit (Academy-style) or a military M3 kit; these work for more normal wounds and infections, and cover the incidentals at a decent cost. Then, put that kit (intact, if desired) into a larger mil-surplus medic bag (such as the NATO shoulder bag), then supplement with severe trauma gear (tourniquet and/or Israeli bandage, standard medical gauze and tape, QuikClot). Add forceps, scissors, cold packs, etc., to taste.

This all turns out very small and light, very grabbable, and can hide in a corner of the vehicle about anywhere (including under the driver's seat).

Earlier last year, we bought one of the (expensive) already-prepared "trauma kits," and found that the bag was so badly designed that everything kept falling out. Plus, it lacked most of the true severe trauma gear. We kept the stuff that was inside, pitched the bag, and supplemented as above.

[Excaliber]

For those of you who go shooting/hunting on land and not at a gun range do you take an extensive first aid kit?

I came to the realization that even though my family goes shooting on land no one ever brings a first aid kit. Luckily we have never needed one but I thought it might be good to put one together or buy one.

Did you buy a kit from somewhere and add some extra stuff, or did you build your own?

What all does it have in it?

I am thinking that I would want to build a pretty heavy duty one to take out with us because we are usually about 30 min to 1hr away from a hospital most of the time.

Thanks in advanced for any input you can give.

I'm not a doctor nor a medical professional of any kind, but I have had a fair amount of training on dealing with injuries where help is not close by and have given thought to my personal preparations. Here are my ideas, which are not medical advice in any sense and are worth exactly what you paid for them.

Where gunshot wounds and severe cuts are a possibility, I think it's a good idea to be prepared to stop heavy bleeding and seal the chest against air leakage so breathing can work. If a severe injury occurs in an area where highly skilled medical help is more than just a couple of minutes away, lack of some basic equipment and training sufficient to maintain respiration and circulation will quickly turn a survivable injury into a nonsurvivable one.

Trauma bandages and QuickClot or a similar clotting agent, preferably in sponge form that can be directly packed into a wound, are in my kit. Some SWAT officers carry various sizes of tampons to push into gunshot wounds to help slow bleeding. They're neither sterile nor ideal, but they have been used to save lives. I also keep an Ascherman chest seal unit, but you can make do with some celluloid and tape if you know what you're doing.

Field medics I know recommend duck seal tape over the first aid type found in stores because it sticks better when wet - as bloody areas tend to be.

I stock the Swat-T tourniquet because it can be used either as a pressure bandage or tourniquet to stop arterial bleeding in the limbs, and can be applied with one hand.

Tac Med Solutions and Galls's are both good sources of preconfigured kits for various situations from everyday first aid to traumatic injury.

If all this is Greek to you, the best place to start is with basic first aid and tactical medicine courses. The equipment won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it.

[srothstein]

My experience is that Gall's line of EMS supplies is better than I know what to do with. Gall's is a large police supply company, but they also sell EMS and Fire supplies. When I was looking for trauma kits for the TABC firearms range, we went with one of their basic life support kits. It included everything I knew how to use, plus a lot more. Add some Quickclot and you have a very good hunting first aid kit.

[Skiprr]

I agree with OldSchool. Mine are do-it-yourself kits that are Molle-compatible and have three zippered compartments (large, medium, and small), one flat pocket (for bandaids and such), and folds up into about a 9"x9"x6" package. It's small enough to tuck into a range bag, or attach to a belt or pack if "in the wild." I don't remember where I bought the actual containers (maybe Cheaper Than Dirt?), but I've used them for about four or five years because I was unhappy with other containers I'd found.

I consider it a mini-trauma kit more than a typical first-aid kit. It centers around the stoppage of bleeding. Each has:

• 2 IWB (Israeli Battle Dressing) compression wraps
• 4 QuikClot sponges
• 1 "C-A-T" (Combat Application Tourniquet)
• 1 "ETD" (Emergency Trauma Dressing) abdominal-sized wrap
• 2 pairs of sterile gloves
• A saline wound flush
• A bottle of providone-iodine solution
• 2 sterile rolls of gauze wrap
• 2 rolls of waterproof first-aid tape
• 2 individually-packed tampons (a tip from a fellow Forum member)
• 2 rolls of non-sterile "SelfGrip" athletic tape
• A small bottle of rubbing alcohol
• A pair of EMT shears
• A small suture kit

In the remaining nooks and crannies are bandaids in a variety of sizes, some butterfly closures, some basic gauze pads, a tube of Neosporin, a few packets of "tecnu" poison ivy scrub, some eyedrops, and a few packets of Tylenol and of aspirin.

A little large to fit in the kit is the Asherman Chest Seal because it has a valve built into its center that allows air and blood to escape while preventing anything from coming in. But at about $11, it's cheap enough to have one ride in the car, and to toss into another bag if hiking or hunting.

I'm not an EMT, so there are folks on the Forum who are much more authoritative in this area. But I decided a few years ago to take a basic gunshot field trauma course, and have put stuff together based on that.

A bit of advice is to check your kit at least annually, and certainly after any use. Some of the items have expiration dates and, while I wouldn't hesitate to slap on a QuikClot sponge that's a few months past expiration, you do eventually need to replace them. And inspect any items in the kit are supposed to have sterile packaging; if the package has been damaged, the items should be replaced as soon as possible.

[Skiprr]

Geez, not only did I stop to examine the stuff in my kit, but I type slowly, too.

What everybody else said...

[OldSchool]

...I decided a few years ago to take a basic gunshot field trauma course, and have put stuff together based on that.

Where does one find this type of course? We will be renewing our First Aid cert this month, but didn't see an actual trauma course.

A bit of advice is to check your kit at least annually, and certainly after any use. Some of the items have expiration dates and, while I wouldn't hesitate to slap on a QuikClot sponge that's a few months past expiration, you do eventually need to replace them. And inspect any items in the kit are supposed to have sterile packaging; if the package has been damaged, the items should be replaced as soon as possible.

Good advice. Plus, cleaning and repacking things like the sutures. Sort of like checking the firearms out once a year....

[duckhead]

I keep a few Olaes bandages and rolls of duck tape in my car. That covers any life threatening injuries that I'm skilled enough to handle. Minor cuts and scrapes can wait.

[Skiprr]

...I decided a few years ago to take a basic gunshot field trauma course, and have put stuff together based on that.

Where does one find this type of course? We will be renewing our First Aid cert this month, but didn't see an actual trauma course.

I can't wholeheartedly recommend the course I took, so I'll PM you rather than mentioning it here.

I'd also like our EMT-experienced folks to chime in and mention any similar courses that would be open to and suitable for non-medical-professionals. When I was interested in this a few years ago I remember looking at state EMS certification and tried following a variety of links regarding training. But everything seemed geared to--understandably--medical professionals, and the classes available without clinical (hospital/ambulance) hours as a requisite were only ECA (Emergency Care Attendant) stuff and didn't seem to delve into the kind of immediate injury response I was looking for.

The Red Cross offers specialty courses in Professional Rescuer training and in Wilderness training; those are closest to the battlefield first-aid I was looking for, but neither really matched. Always good to have the standard first aid plus CPR/AED training, but since I was carrying a gun, I specifically wanted instruction on gunshot wounds.

I haven't looked into courses for some time. With more of our military returning, there may be more options now for something like "Battlefield First-Aid 101" classes.

[Crossfire]

For the range, we have a basic first aid kit that we have added only 2 items to - QuikClot and duck tape.

If you can't handle it with that, you better have a GPS equipped cell phone so you can give your coordinates to CareFlight. (or whatever you call the air ambulance service in your area.)

[Excaliber]

...I decided a few years ago to take a basic gunshot field trauma course, and have put stuff together based on that.

Where does one find this type of course? We will be renewing our First Aid cert this month, but didn't see an actual trauma course.

I can't wholeheartedly recommend the course I took, so I'll PM you rather than mentioning it here.

I'd also like our EMT-experienced folks to chime in and mention any similar courses that would be open to and suitable for non-medical-professionals. When I was interested in this a few years ago I remember looking at state EMS certification and tried following a variety of links regarding training. But everything seemed geared to--understandably--medical professionals, and the classes available without clinical (hospital/ambulance) hours as a requisite were only ECA (Emergency Care Attendant) stuff and didn't seem to delve into the kind of immediate injury response I was looking for.

The Red Cross offers specialty courses in Professional Rescuer training and in Wilderness training; those are closest to the battlefield first-aid I was looking for, but neither really matched. Always good to have the standard first aid plus CPR/AED training, but since I was carrying a gun, I specifically wanted instruction on gunshot wounds.

I haven't looked into courses for some time. With more of our military returning, there may be more options now for something like "Battlefield First-Aid 101" classes.

Tiger Valley has offered a tactical medicine course in the past in the DFW area. You might try contacting them to see if they will be conducting a course near you in the next couple of months.

[evilmercer]

Thanks for all the replies. I am somewhat familiar with most of the things mentioned. I figure I know enough to use them to get the bleeding reduced/stopped long enough for them to survive until better help has arrived or we are able to transport them somewhere. It seems like I am somewhat on the right track in my thinking on how to build one. Hopefully some EMT trained people can chime in with advice on stuff or classes. It would be nice to find a tactical/battlefield style first aid class.

I figure its just like when we carry. It can be overly done and unnecessary but when you need it you will be glad you have it.

[Skiprr]

Just to note that I included "SelfGrip" athletic tape in my bag rather than bulky rolls of duct tape.

This stuff sticks to itself, wet or dry. And it can stretch. Which can be very important in the field.

Duct tape might stabilize a limb, but it isn't my first choice for my own treatment.