Survivor Man?

[flintlock75]

My haversack is 15" x 15", the weight is about 4 lbs when carrying a basic load, if I add more food and a 16 oz water bottle it can be 5 lbs or so.I generaly taylor some of the extras depending on season and location. The dried food I carry is good for 2 days at full ration. I can stretch this out to 5 days if nessesary. Since I am a big guy 6-4 and 300lbs this much weight is not a bother, I also carry a British tin canteen, All my gear is F & I period equipment, and I also dress that way when I hunt.

 

[Ridge]

I'd take my 40 caliber flinter. My shot pouch usually has around 40 balls in it and my horn hold about 3/4's of a pound.

I can't see a situation where that wouldn't last until I was saved/found my way out or I was dead from something other than hunger.

 

[flintlock75]

In most places in the lower 48 there are roads and towns within walking distance, so traveling light is not a probelem, In Alaska you might be hunting in a place that only aircraft can get to.
In an emergency you may find yourself having to walk out 100 miles or more. If you are hunting on one of the coastal islands then you have no way to get off. Once while hunting on Montigue Island in Prince William sound I was weathered in for an extra week, before the plane could land.I think that where you live and hunt should dictate the amount and type of gear you carry.Emergencies can happen anywhere, The news is full of people who went out for a day hike in the woods and got lost or injured and spent a week or more alone, some never get found.Fate favors the prepared.

 

[tg]

I would take my normal overnite gear with a couple of days of extra food(dried beef and cheese/dried fruit/water/ and the clothing/bedding would be dictated by the area /time of year smoothbore .62, haversack and shooting bag, belt bag for odds and ends, two blankets, a couple of light snares would be a good thing to set out before sacking out for the night. if in an area not perviously traveled I would take my GPS for a quick line of exit back to where I started, or take a compass and a good map if I wanted to do it the hard way.Probably less than 40 lbs not counting the gun, if local water was avaliable and by supplimenting game for food and the weather was not sub zero one could last a long time with minimal gear and a good shelter and fire at night.I have comfortably done two night trips in decent weather under no pressure of being lost or threatend by severe weather.

 

[shortbow]

To me, the most all around gun, ML or modern is a 12 ga. double, preferably regulated to shoot solids to same POI. In a survival situation up here in B.C., fall/winter, I'd want it in percussion, with an ample supply of the stuff to run it. In addition, the most important things are fire, warm clothes, fly sheet, blankets, ax, knife.

 

[slowpokebr549]

In my ramblings, trapping and hunting,where I ended up sleeping out of doors, the thing I most often wished for was a good canvas bedroll. I use to pack about ten pounds of stuff around on my back and a chipmunk .22. I now find my 12 bore in my hand quite often. This has given me some good ideas for haversack contents.

 

[theDuck]

This is a worthwhile disscussion going here folks. I've been doing survival and bush courses this year with the man who taught 'Survivorman' on the TV series. He even teaches our military. The instuctor has done alot of research into lost people here in Canada and 56% of lost people are Hunters. We are also the least likely to take survival courses.
Your most important survival tool is your mind. It has to be prepared to deal with the situation and any rapidly changing circumstances.
Having the gear is great but don't wait till you are caught overnite in the bush to learn how to use it and find it wanting. Get out and practice with it. As stated earlier in this thread, spending a night out will soon let you know if your gear is the right stuff or not. Shelter and fire building knowledge and skills that you have practised and are confident at will help. It is often what is in your mind rather than in your pack that gets you through.
Getting back to the questions, personally I'd carry my 20 guage flint tradegun with ball and shot. It is light and versitile.

 

[BrownBear]

You know, if I incorporated a gun in my dream disaster, I'd want to do it as light and compact as possible so I had more space and weight allowance for things I think are more important.

In that light, I'd go for a light, compact 32 cal flinter- probably around 5 pounds if I could manage it. With 25 grain charges, a pound of powder is going to give me 280 shots. A .310 ball weighs 45 grains, so 280 of them weigh 12,600 grains or a little under 2 pounds.

Call it a total of 8 pounds or so in my rifle and 280 shots- less than most 50 cal rifles weigh all by themselves. 12,600 grains of lead will produce only 71 .490 balls at 177 grains each, so I'm way ahead on shots too.

Kinda helps you understand why so many frontier rifles were small caliber in the 1700's doesn't it?

No the 32 isn't ideal for larger game, but it'll sure do the job when you are hungry enough to stalk close and take head shots or even clean lung/heart shots. Meanwhile you can zap a whole bunch of small game while waiting for a crack at something bigger.

 

[brubincam]

what is better one 32 cal shot to kill a rabbit or one 45 cal shot to kill a deer??? rabbit=one meal...deer=couple weeks...

 

[slowpokebr549]

If I can decide ahead of time what to pack, I can optimize my load. I am not all that concerned with weight unless it gets completely unreasonable.I have and still occasionally pack in lots of #1 1/2s and #2 double spring traps. I don't know the exact weight of my trapping rig, but I would guess around twenty or more pounds. It is not uncommon for me to cover 3 or 4 miles of river bank,creek and field. I really don't think that a fella has to limit himself to such a small caliber especially when the weight of ball and shot is made up for by the light weight of the smoothbore.I used to carry a single six, or a chipmunk when running my line,but it was more for stowability than weight. If I were in bear country, I would rather have the extra oomph.

 

[shortbow]

The thing about a large smooth bore is this:

If you are lost, you are likely to be weak from hunger, panicky, or so cold, that hitting with a rifle might be darned hard, and missing small or large game in a survival situation would be more than disappointing.

With light shot, you can kill tiny game such as small birds without destroying them. With large shot, you have a dandy self-defense arm, and a 12 bore round ball in front of several drams of powder will knock off its feet anything in North America.

And with a double you got a second chance if you miss or fail to fire with the first barrel.

It is not by accident that the premier dangerous game guns have been sidelock doubles, ML or CR.

 

[Sharp Shooter]

Depending on what you lube your patches with they can be great fire starters.

 

[Walks Alone]

I got a real kick out of some of the replies to this thread. I wouldn't carry any muzzle loader just as a survival tool. :wink:

In a true survival situation out in the wilds, you WILL have to make do with what you have on your person more often than not. So getting your priorities straight before hand AND being equipped for the absolute essentials when the need arises will make a difference, and could even mean your survival.

Just the opinion of someone who completed several survival courses many years ago (civilian/military), and have had to use those skills learned to varying degrees a few times over the 40 years since.

Drilled into me in those courses was the rule of three's in survival - the priorities. And the very last priority, the least of your concerns, is obtaining food. You can go at least 3 weeks without it. Shelter is your immediate priority, followed by water later. So a firearm to shoot food is among the last things you'll need to lug around, especially a heavy front loader with all the doodads needed to use it. If you feel the need of a firearm for protection of some sort - do you really want it to be a one shot front stuffer anyway? (Pepper spray works well for both 2 & 4 legged trouble, is light weight and takes up little space FWIW.)

I have multiple "survival kits" made up, and their contents have been changed many times over the years as I learned what was worthwhile and what was just wasted weight and space. A main kit stays in my truck all of the time, for use if I get stranded with the truck (and I have). And because I live on the desert it includes a large supply of water and many other niceties only because the truck carries the weight instead of me. My regular survival kit is always carried in the field on even day treks; and I have several smaller pocket kits that supplement it based on the where and the when. These "carry" kits are light weight and small enough to easily stuff into a possible or belt bag, haversack, pack basket, or pocket.

Common with all of my kits are various light weight supplies that are multipurpose and will cover just about anything that needs covered in a survival situation lasting from over-night to weeks if need be.

So if you haven't done it yet, please put a kit together, carry it AND know how to use what’s in it. IOW, practice with your kit before you actually need it. If you spend enough time in the wilds, sooner or later you very well could rely on it to save your life.

WA