Thanks! I found their forum for first aid packs, and that is exactly the kind of nerdy expertise I was looking for!
Here’s Les Strouds Survival Kit Checklist:
[ul]
[li]Belt Knife[/li][li]Candle[/li][li]Coffee Can (to boil water and carry most of the kit in)[/li][li]Dried food[/li][li]Duct tape[/li][li]Fire starting device[/li][li]Tinder[/li][li]First aid kit[/li][li]Fishing lures , hooks, line and sinker[/li][li]Flares[/li][li]Small headlight[/li][li]GPS[/li][li]Orange garbage bag [/li][li]Hand lense[/li][li]Map and compass[/li][li]Surveyors tape[/li][li]Money[/li][li]Multi-tool[/li][li]Needle and thread[/li][li]Parachute cord or similar rope[/li][li]Pencil and notebook[/li][li]Protein bar[/li][li]Safety pins[/li][li]Folding saw[/li][li]Signal mirror[/li][li]Snare wire[/li][li]Space blanket[/li][li]SPOT satellite messenger[/li][li]Water purification tablets[/li][li]Whistle[/li][li]Ziploc bag[/li][/ul]
Of course this is like a life jacket and only works when you wear it. So the kit has to be on your person at all times.
SPOT satellite GPS messenger
Water in Nalgene
Space blanket
Striker to start fire
Duct tape
Dental floss for binding and tying
Diving knife
Fox 40 whistle
Iodine paste for wounds and water treatment
Get one of those pump or wind up LED ones, plus also a wind up radio.
You don;t need tongue depressors or a thermometer.
Knife- get a large Swiss army one, with scissor, saw, etc. By “large” I mean one with the longer blades.
You also will need a firestarter, some matches, and tinder.
Wool socks.
a couple of brightly colored bandannas.
I go much lighter in my kit. I have an emergency bivy, headlamp, lighter, small med kit with ace bandage and a few simple meds. Your goal IMO shouldn’t be to survive a long time on your own, but it should be to survive a night, to fix yourself enough to get out on your own power, and/or to get help. I’ve never found any of the fancy or heavy things (such as a full knife or fancy medical kit) to be useful in the woods, but that’s me.
For meds, have you taken Wilderness First Aid? If so, the instructors there are great at fine tuning your meds for the back country. A lot of things that seem really useful don’t give you much advantage in the back country.
I notice that nobody has mentioned carrying a snake-bite kit.
But if you’re hiking in snake country, this shouldn’t be buried in your pack with all the other first aid stuff. This kit (basicly just a suction cup) is about the size of your thumb, so you can keep it in a pocket, readily accessible.
Dont forget the “Use it return it policy” Send them your story and whats left, they will send you a new one free.