How dangerous is it to be BiGFooting alone?

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

........I have fallen off of a log that is higher off of the ground than the one pictured. Couldn't do the Iron Man thing so I did the face plant thing. I believe that I was watched. They know that I am not a threat ( face plant secured that classification ).........

 

If I am watched out there, they likely think I'm an old, fat Special Ops character. I don't walk fallen logs. Too dangerous. I'm slowly slinking and crawling along on the ground in the mud and litter like a Marine under fire (as my Navy captain friend would say). 

 

.........

. This brings up self extraction..........

 

It's best to avoid painful, emergency extractions, whether by self or rescue helicopter, especially if out there alone. Walking around on wet, fallen timber is a recipe for minor disaster.

 

 

[BC witness]

There's a reason loggers wear spiked boots, and falls off logs is it. I once twisted an ankle slipping off a wet log (they're all wet here on the BC west coast), and that was the last time I took the "easy" route. Actually, I broke that rule a few years ago, when my 3 squatchin' buddies and I crossed a creek on a log about 4' in diameter. The first 3 made it across with no problems, but the 4th in line wound up in the creek, icy cold water up to his jewels, when the whole upper bark cover rotated right off the log with him flailing for balance. Fortunately he was unhurt, other than his pride, and it was a hot day, so he dried out quickly, but something like that, on a chilly day, could be deadly, just from hypothermia.

[Huntster]

^^^^ That tree over the creek story combines three of the greatest potential hazards in the outdoors; falls, exposure, and drowning.

[Catmandoo]

2 hours ago, Huntster said:

It's best to avoid painful, emergency extractions, whether by self or rescue helicopter, especially if out there alone

 

Time to check your coverage for Life Flight type of helicopter extraction. The Navy and Coast Guard can extract you but if you need the fast lane to critical care and they can land, civilian medical helicopters may be the way to go..

 

7 minutes ago, Huntster said:

^^^^ That tree over the creek story combines three of the greatest potential hazards in the outdoors; falls, exposure, and drowning.

 

I think that I can post a 4th 'potential'. I used to cross from river bank to a sand bar and other side of the river. Huge tree, about 4' diameter. It was an animal highway. Bear tracks on the sand bar. Best of all, there was cougar scat on both ends of the tree, directly on top.  Flatter than pancakes / crepes. Mostly as thin as crepes. What steps in cat poo?

[Huntster]

13 minutes ago, Catmandoo said:

Time to check your coverage for Life Flight type of helicopter extraction. The Navy and Coast Guard can extract you but if you need the fast lane to critical care and they can land, civilian medical helicopters may be the way to go.........

 

Been there, and I was lucky. I was shot in the head in a winter hunting accident in 2001. We were 43 miles by snowmobile from the Richardson Highway, then 80 miles to the clinic in Glennallen. Luckily, a lodge was just a mile or so away from the accident site, they were open for that winter (the first such winter they operated in years), and they had a radio-phone. They called the Troopers, and based upon the description of the accident, the Life Flight operators were dispatched by the Troopers. 

 

My Blue Cross medical insurance (along with my wife's secondary medical coverage) covered the $11K extraction cost..........as well as the many thousands of dollars of specialist medical care for the next year afterwards. My deductibles probably totaled $1K to $1200. 

 

It would be interesting to know how Medicare can screw all that up..........

 

A few years later a friend fell off a bridge with his snowmobile onto rocks below. It broke his back. People in a cabin nearby had a radio capable of contacting the state emergency operations center at Camp Denali on Ft. Rich. A Pavehawk helicopter was already in the air, and it diverted and picked him up. No charge.

 

Unfortunately, and just a few years after his early retirement at 52 years of age (due to base realignment), he died of liver failure. He was not a heavy drinker. I think that the fall probably damaged his liver, and it came back and took him.

[SWWASAS]

14 hours ago, Catmandoo said:

 

That little bear was all over this terrain. 

I have fallen off of a log that is higher off of the ground than the one pictured. Couldn't do the Iron Man thing so I did the face plant thing. I believe that I was watched. They know that I am not a threat ( face plant secured that classification ). This brings up self extraction. I was scouting a location for trail cams when I fell off of the log. Camp was downhill of scouted area.  In case of injury, crawling downhill back to camp is a lot easier than uphill. I still research alone since that means that I am almost always outnumbered.

The other risk with down tree walking is that when it comes down it looses a lot of branches and the base of the broken branches are sticking out of the tree like a sharp stakes on a civil war embankment.   Fall on them and you are impaled on the tree.    You know the woods can be down right dangerous at times.    

[Catmandoo]

Caenus is all over it.........in the pokey thing department.

Various degrees of protection are available including  air-bag jackets.

Posted September 20, 2018

  On 9/20/2018 at 12:25 PM, Catmandoo said:

Does the Israeli bandage that you carry have blood clotting granules?  We are top heavy and can easily end up with a chest puncture type wound. A chest puncture dressing with blood clotting granules is good to have. Many older researchers are taking blood thinning medicine. 

I have items purchased over the internet and don't know what is good or junk. Any input from your supervisor on blood clotting products?

Not getting sick is important for field activities. Run this by your supervisor:  " Dr Catmandoo says to drink Everclear and you will not get sick because no pathogen on this planet will recognize your body as a host".

Consumption of Everclear is for medicinal purposes only. ( fire starter? )

 

Israeli bandage does not have quikclot or similar infused.  I have a packet of quikclot granules, but in order to use it, every other method to stop severe arterial bleeding would have had to fail.  The Israeli bandage is pretty versatile as it is.  

 

I am not a Dr, so first off, I would suggest you speak to your doctor and explain that you are doing backcountry excursions and may not have help for quite some time...they will give you some recommendations of what supplies to bring with your current ability level.  I also suggest a first aid class and a CERT course is VERY useful.  

 

Now, my training and experience tells me YOU DO NOT want to apply quikclot to a chest puncture wound, if by that you mean a “sucking chest wound” which is a puncture that punctures a lung that does not allow you to get the proper suction necessary to draw fresh air into your lungs.  The clotting granules cause a lot of damage.  That may cause too much damage for a surgeon to repair.  I have seen arterial bleeds that quikclot was used on (femoral).  It did save the soldiers life, but they had to remove a ton of damaged tissue, graft in new tissue, etc.  If you ever have a non gushing wound, use quikclot as your last resort.  If I get a severed limb, tourniquet first.   If I am able to get to an ER in the next 4-5 hours, I’ll go so far as a tourniquet for a sever arterial bleed.  Direct pressure is preferred while your body does it’s thing and swells, clots etc to stem the blood flow.  Being on blood thinners is pretty scary as a bruise or knock to the head can be enough to cause internal hemorrhaging.

 

To use the Israeli bandage for a sucking chest wound, you’d remove the bandage, turn the packaging inside out, place it against the wound to create a seal, then wrap the bandage around tightly, tying a knot over the wound.  

 

I tried the “raise your blood alcohol level to the point a pathogen cannot live” strategy...I got sick...alcohol suppresses the immune system...plus the possibility of permanent damage or alcohol poisoning...and alcohol increases bleeding as well.  With a blood thinner, I would not drink alcohol...ever.

 

If you are very concerned about torso damage, get an armored motorcycle jacket to wear under your jacket. They are $40 or so on eBay.  I keep one in my vehicle as well as a bump helmet in case things get out of hand.  It will help protect against large rocks, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Catmandoo
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[joebeelart]

I have probably spent more nights alone up the hill than many people.  It's taken ten pages of discussion to get to the real danger:  Physical accident, not animal attack.

 

Walking at night is a necessary part of my outings.  Just last Tuesday night I was in the Oregon Coastal Range, walking alone after a "busy" day by the motorcyclists, plus in the area I was scouting for a group to arrive.  Late, under the Zodiac, and without a light, walked by a couple in a cocoon {tent.  Without intent, I scared them muchly. 

 

{Muchly is a term coined by the great Bigfoot and UFO researcher Geo. Earley (spelled correctly).  In my opinion, it should be widely adopted by Bigfooters and UFO'oslogists.} 

 

Anyway .... carefully walking at night under Zodiac and moon glow is not difficult.  Stay on logging roads or wide trails, walk in the center of them, with some light color exposed { in my case gray hair} so the cougars will think a minute before jumping.  Also, walk softly, slowly, feeling your way, and of course, have a light should you absolutely need it. 

 

Anyway, anyway, impalement, falling into a fire {not drunk}, an accidental swipe by a devil's club to the eye, and another mishap in one season put me into the Meridian Park hospital emergency room three times in three months.  I drove myself there three times.  {I was alone in the forest, remember.}  After the third time, I was asked, by way of the insurance co.  to come to the hospital to discuss why I was so accidental. 

 

I've since kept up my "routine," but have been more careful.  Once about eight years ago, I was climbing a talus and ended up dropping a stone on my foot while foolishly wearing only walking shoes.  That ended up requiring a bone taken out, one bone left to mend, a connector joint, and three pins in my left foot.  Don't mention the medical bill .... Oh well, the alarm  gives the TSA people something to think about.  Only once in the last five years have had to go in to get stitched up.  But I've taken two fire fall people into the ER, plus a broken arm, and ... and more accidents. 

 

Physical accidents are the danger of Bigfooting alone:  Physical accidents.  You hurt yourself good out there past routine traveled roads, and can't crawl back to the truck, you are in a bad way.  

 

Joe Beelart here, with the hospital records to prove what I wrote.

 

 

 

[BC witness]

Joe, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only researcher to fall into a campfire. Fortunately, I was not alone when I slipped on a wet root in the dark and tumbled into the fire ring. My buddies reacted instantly, rolling me out of the hot coals and flames so quickly that I only hade a hole burned in my camo pants to show for it. Without them there to save my sorry butt, I could have been seriously burned, as I fell in such a way that I was having trouble getting my feet under me without putting  my bare hands into the fire, and the stone fire ring was making it difficult to roll out. Yes, we were all sober, thank goodness. Now when we have a fire, I'm told to stay away and let others tend to it!!

 

I also get out alone, which I shouldn't do at my age, but it's difficult to stay home when others are not available to join me. When I do go out alone, I am very conscious of my safety, and stick to mild trails. It's very tempting to check out the sandbar in the creek at the bottom of a steep, rocky incline, but I leave that for the days when my younger fellow researchers can join me.

[wiiawiwb]

13 hours ago, joebeelart said:

Physical accidents are the danger of Bigfooting alone:  Physical accidents.  You hurt yourself good out there past routine traveled roads, and can't crawl back to the truck, you are in a bad way.  

Joe Beelart here, with the hospital records to prove what I wrote.

 

 

 

 

Which is why I always have a PLB (ACR ResQLink) with me whenever I'm out in the woods. It will call in the cavalry should I go down and can't get out.

[Huntster]

2 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

 

Which is why I always have a PLB (ACR ResQLink) with me whenever I'm out in the woods. It will call in the cavalry should I go down and can't get out.

 

My PLB bit the dust after spending 9 months at the bottom of Big Lake in my day bag which was in my sunken truck that had crashed through the ice. Lesson: the PLB should be on one's body like a sidearm at all times.

 

I also fell in a campfire, but I got soaking wet.

 

???

 

It was a big fire on a frozen lake. The fire melted off a pit which had melted water in it. The fire was resting on top of wet wood and ash in the pit. The edges of the melted pit was sloped and wet.........very slick. I was also in thick, insulated clothing.........and a bit intoxicated. No burns whatsoever, but my lower half got sopping wet (almost as dangerous at -10 degrees) and a big rip along a seam near the pocket of my pants.

 

A friend (intoxicated) fell into a fire at a government campground. The fire was in one of those metal rings. The ring was almost red hot. Branded him for life. Since then I've seen metal fire rings for sale with torch cut artistic images all around them. No way will I buy one of those. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Huntster

[SWWASAS]

2 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

 

Which is why I always have a PLB (ACR ResQLink) with me whenever I'm out in the woods. It will call in the cavalry should I go down and can't get out.

I have the same unit.   An interesting note on the PLB about changing the battery which is good for several years.     Mine needed changing and I thought I needed to send it off across the country or something like that.    Most PLBs are used by commercial fisherman.  So a local place that services commercial fishing gear was a local  service station for the ACR unit.   Very convenient and they turned it around in 24 hours.   Changed the battery and tested the units operation.   I had to drive a whole 30 miles to get it done.   I also slip it into my flight bag when I go flying.     It is better than the one mounted in the aircraft as far as accuracy.    Searchers are directed within 30 meters.  

[wiiawiwb]

I could be wrong but I think David Paulides, of Missing 411, has observed there is only instance, he was aware, of a person going missing who had both a firearm and transponder (PLB). That's instructive.

 

 

9 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

I have the same unit.   An interesting note on the PLB about changing the battery which is good for several years.     Mine needed changing and I thought I needed to send it off across the country or something like that.    Most PLBs are used by commercial fisherman.  So a local place that services commercial fishing gear was a local  service station for the ACR unit.   Very convenient and they turned it around in 24 hours.   Changed the battery and tested the units operation.   I had to drive a whole 30 miles to get it done.   I also slip it into my flight bag when I go flying.     It is better than the one mounted in the aircraft as far as accuracy.    Searchers are directed within 30 meters.  

 

That's good to know SWWASAS, thank you.  For me, a PLB is like the American Express commercial 30+ years ago....."Never leave home without it!"

Edited July 31, 2019 by wiiawiwb

[keith tolleson]

Make sure you take a baseball bat and sharp knife ! that way if the bat dont scare it away you will have a knife to cut your throat with if it is killing you slowly Ha. 

 

[salubrious]

On 7/26/2019 at 12:36 PM, Huntster said:

 

Sorta' like sasquatches. Yeah, you may not be able to find them, but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't there. Ed Wiseman found that out the hard way. Had to stab the one that attacked him to death with an arrow in southern Colorado. 

Colorado is where I had my BF encounters.