Extras, Extras, Read All about Them: The Last 5 C’s of Survivability

For the last two weeks we have been discussion the theories behind packing and the first 5 C’s by Dave Canterbury. Both those blogs can be found respectfully: Here and Here

This week as promised we will be continuing with the last of the 5 C’s and other items I keep in my bag.

So let’s start with C of Compass.

  

In this I include a compass, binoculars and a combo of both of them. I decided to use all three just to try them out and see which one works the best.

The next C is the C of Candle. These items are:

  

Also remember the candle from earlier. To that I add a headlamp and hand flash light.

Next is is two C’s. The C’s of Cargo Tape and Canvas Needle. Plus extra items. These are:

The Cargo tape is Gorilla Brand tape recommended by Dave. The Canvas needles are just a set of heavy gauge needles. To this I add, Neosporin, fishing bait, and a turkey call. This is kind of like my junk drawer for the pack.

Now in this next picture I am sure it is hard to see, but in here is a full set of clothes I could use for

hunting, warmth, and spare. These are:

3 cotton bandanas in the left corner, a pair of AWESOME wool socks, sunglasses (for my blue eyes while hunting), camo face paint (for hunting and boredom??), work gloves (so many uses), ball shorts, camo hat and camo shirt, pants, and sweater. These will help maintain my micro climate in bad conditions.

Also the 3 cotton bandanas are the last of the C’s, Cotton. These items can be used from cleaning your self and purifying water, to in emergency char cloth and bandages.

Now, with another idea of Dave’s with the 5×5 of tool maintenance I include the following:

 

Shown here is a puck stone, a 4 inch Wal-Mart stone, 4-in-1 file and rasp, a smith dual, coarse and fine, sharpener, a 9 inch sharpening stone, an orange handled carbide sharpener with guard, Camillus sharpener that does so much I can’t even describe it all plus my diamond rod.

Now the rasp and file plus the puck are for basically my axe and really I would only need the dual sharpener plus that diamond rod for my knife and maybe my saw. Finally a toothbrush to clean my pots pans or other tools to keep them well maintained. Yes somewhat of a luxury item, however it’s so cheap and easy to carry it couldn’t hurt.

Next with my hunting/ food gathering kit I have this 110 Conibear. I want to get some snares and maybe a sling shot but for now this is it.

Next how about food. Don’t expect a French style meal, however I wouldn’t go out without it. You’ll find in my food stores:

6 packs of beef ramen and a pack of beef jerky. This stuff will basically stay here and I won’t have to worry about it going bad. I would also like to add a summer sausage to this. But wait until you find a sale. Each bag contains 2 meals. So including the beef jerky you have 12 fulfilling meals.

Finally my items I still don’t know why I carry. Is:

On the list of item for the basic bushcraft class at the pathfinder school, these are on the list. Now I could’ve bought the wrong thing, but these haven’t ever been needed during any test and for now just take up space. Still trying to convince myself that they can go but, no luck.

Like I have said in my earlier blogs, you will learn what works and what can work with modification, and what just doesn’t work. I believe it is better to pack the stuff that you can use and leave out stuff that doesn’t make sense to you.

So next week we will wrap up this group of blogs about my pack and pack mentality. Next week's blog will be about where everything goes and my ideas about where everything goes.  As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.