Woodlife

Personal Survival Kits (PSKs) have always been a feature of my kit, even in the days when bushcraft wasn’t called bushcraft and I suppose I fell into the category of ‘survivalists’ of the late 1980s. At that time I was influenced by the esteemed Lofty Wiseman who avowed that everyone should carry a survival tin (described in the excellent SAS Survival Handbook). This was a tobacco tin filled with all manner of items to assist in an emergency survival situation.

I’ve since modified my kit many, many times and probably still not 100% satisfied that I’m carrying the right kit for the right situation. I’ve now refined what I carry for where I’m going and what I’m doing and have now in fact got 3 PSKs. The first one I carry on me at all times and is neatly packed away in my possible’s pouch which I carry on my belt. I know I’m not going to be too far away from my main kit, but you never know. Hence in the pouch I carry a SAK, tinder, disposable lighter, sachet of green heat gel, tea bag, sachet of sugar, Aluminium foil (thanks American Bushman for this one), band-aid, headache tablets, steri-strip, toilet paper and antiseptic wipe.

My second PSK is for my shoulder bag. Again, I usually haul this along with me. It adds to the kit in the possible’s pouch with a sachet of coffee, beef jerkey (not home made, but vacuum packed), a maglite solitaire, sewing kit, plastic bag and another SAK. The actual shoulder bag has some nuts and raisons inside and there’s always 1/2 litre of water. (The shoulder bag carries tools, notebook, binos, camera tracking kit).

My last PSK only gets packed when I go into an area I’ve not been before, or when I’m out for more than a day. This is more akin to Lofty Wiseman’s tin, although I keep it in a water resistant wallet. A wire saw, fishing line, weights, candle, scalpel, whistle, drinking straw, waterproof matches, mini firesteel, and emergency poncho add to the other PSKs. Of course a full first aid kit is added to the kit list.

I suppose you could call my PSKs a modular system and with the addition of a utility kit (containing tent pegs for the tarp, Petzl Tikka XP head-torch, paracord, bungees and water stone) I think I’ve got most items suitable for any emergency situation. Of course it helps to have the Granfors axe and the Mora Clipper.

When I was reorganising my PSKs this morning, little did I know that I was actually going to need an item from one of them. It wasn’t exactly an emergency or survival situation, but a lesson in bushcraft philosophy.

I decided to leave the trangia at home since I had had a pretty good breakfast. After spending a while in the new wood, climbing the watch tower and making a pot stand, I decided to have a brew. There had been a downpour mid week and everything was damp. Although the sun was shining, there was a fierce wind and I had trouble lighting a fire with the firesteel.

The birch bark tinder lit ok which was quite surprising, but there was no way the kindling was going to stay alight. Instead of giving up, I looked in the PSK to see what I had. The disposable lighter had no effect in the wind. Although green heat gel is useless for cooking (it doesn’t even boil water) it does make a good fire starter and it duly did the trick. After a while, my crusader mug was boiling away on top of a nice little fire.

Not a particularly bushcraft type solution to the problem, but if I was in a survival situation, this would have been a life-saving action when all else fails. In this instance I could have sat there remaining thirsty or just gone home; but this was about not giving up and thinking through what other options were available (on a very small scale of course). In this case it was a pretty easy solution. Thinking about it now, even though bushcraft is about living close to nature and using basic methods, it also means being comfortable in that environment. If that means using all available resources to do this, then so be it.