First aid for hunting

When hunting, as opposed to when hiking, completely different types of injuries can occur - both gunshot injuries in the form of dangerous shots but also injuries from frightened animals that can both be stabbed and bitten or torn. This means that you actually have to be prepared for a great many types of injuries. Here we go through the type of first aid equipment we recommend.

Tourniquet

Bears often try to bite when they attack and then try to bite an arm or a leg. At the same time, animals with horns, such as moose and wild boar, can injure arms and legs in a similar way.

If a leg or an arm is seriously injured, it can be very difficult or almost impossible to stop the bleeding with ordinary bandages and you can quickly bleed to death. This is especially true when one of the large vessels is damaged. In this type of injury, a tourniquet is your absolute best friend. With it, you simply shut off the blood flow to the arm or leg and thus stop bleeding. The CAT-7 is our absolute best-selling tourniquet closely followed by the SWAT-T.

Hemostasis dressing

Both animals and bullets can cause major damage to the chest, where it is otherwise difficult to apply a traditional dressing. Here instead, a hemostasis dressing works very well. You simply pack the dressing into the wound cavity where the dressing itself causes the blood to coagulate and you get a plug in the way of the bleeding.

Decompression needle

If the lung is damaged so that it leaks air between the lobes of the lung or if any vessel is damaged so that it leaks blood between the lobes of the lung, this will cause the pressure to rise and eventually the affected side will begin to push against the heart and eventually the heart will not being able to pump anymore, which leads to a very hard-to-treat cardiac arrest. This is very easily remedied with a decompression needle. The needle allows air and fluid to escape and in this way relieves the pressure that has built up.

Start by counting to the space between the second and third ribs. Then imagine a line that runs along the nipple and stay out of it (towards the arm). The needle is inserted into the upper edge of the rib. At the bottom edge of the ribs are both vessels and nerves, which is why you never go towards the bottom edge. This is actually very simple and potentially life-saving, but is still an advanced medical procedure that requires training.

Chest bandage

In case of gunshot wounds, a so-called thoracic bandage applies. These often come as a two-pack, for both entry and exit holes. They are available both as unventilated and ventilated. The advantage of ventilated is that liquid and air can escape and you cannot get a pressure pneumothorax this way (read under decompression needle).

Miscellaneous

With compresses, fixing bandages and tape and of course gloves and table salt, the remaining injuries can be handled fairly well and last but not least, a compression bandage is always good to have when the sprain is present.