Photos by Richard Sitorius
I have seen homemade survival kits small enough to fit into a Sucrets box and so big they’d require a Clydesdale to carry anywhere. Virtually all portable survival kits attempt to balance three difficult factors: size, weight, and the inclusion of stuff that might actually be useful.
At the 2010 SHOT Show, I came upon a kit that I feel is an excellent option for
hunters—the SOL 3, made by Adventure Medical Kits. In a package no bigger than a medium-sized paperback, and weighing less, the SOL 3 contains enough medical, survival, and gear repair items to enable hunters to cope with a wide variety of emergencies.
Taking advantage of Virginia’s much-ballyhooed snowfall and low temperatures in February, I took the kit outside for a day to wring out its most essential items. At minus four degrees at dawn, it may not have a genuine life-and-death situation but it was still PDC* in my book.
To me, if you can’t actually handle a survival kit in the rain, cold, snow, dark, and wind, it isn’t much good. In a survival situation, your hands might be frozen stiff or trembling because you’re soaking wet.
I have to say, the SOL 3 is a masterpiece of organization and accessibility. The blaze orange pouch has separate compartments—one for tools and gear repair and one for medical supplies. Plus there is a small detachable pouch for carrying just a few selected pieces instead of the whole thing. Getting the pack open and finding specific items was easy even with frigid fingers. Two belt loops on the bag make it possible to carry around your waist, or you can just toss it in your daypack.
Here’s what I thought about a few of the key items.
The blanket-- I was very surprised at how quickly I began to warm up underneath the 90 x 60-inch, 
Heatsheets® space blanket. Space blankets are basically designed to deflect wind and rain and reflect your body heat—up to 90 percent of it-- back to you. It’s important to cover up as completely as you can—no exposed skin. One side of this blanket is blaze orange, so it’s highly visible, and it even has wilderness survival tips and diagrams—on collecting water, building shelter, etc.-- printed on one side. It could easily be turned into a makeshift tent or lean-to if you wanted.
(Click here for a true-life account of a similar survival bag sold separately from the SOL 3—called the Heatsheets Bivvy and here for a story on one called the Thermo Lite 2 Bivvy. )
The Flint and Steel Fire Starter—The flint and striker method of starting a fire has been around since before Jim Bridger. It’s quite reliable, as long as you have some dry tinder, which the SOL kit duly supplies. Matches have often gotten wet for me, no matter how 
waterproof a device I stored them in, or else blew out in the wind. Flint and steel may not be modern or high-tech, but they work. Getting sparks took only a couple of hard strokes on the steel, and the supplied tinder caught immediately.
The Emergency Headlamp—It was a bit of a surprise to find a very small but powerful headlamp in the SOL. You can clip it to your hat brim and adjust the angle, or stretch it on over your head. The beam won’t light up the sky, but it’s 
enough to see your GPS, compass, or hunt for something in your pack at night.
The Mirror—Don’t underestimate the value of a signal mirror, especially if you’re immobile or injured and forced to rely on someone else to find you. I’ve seen light reflect off rifle scopes hundreds of yards away. A 
rescuer could spot the flash off this small mirror at much greater distances.
The SOL 3 retails for $56.00 A complete list of the contents—67 pieces in all—includes the following. (Most of these can be refilled directly from Adventure Medical Kits.)
Survival and Gear Repair
1 Heatsheets Survival blanket
1 Emergency LED Clip Headlamp
1 Button Compass
1 Slim Rescue Howler Whistle
1 AMK Flint Steel Fire Starter with Striker
4 Tinder Quik Firestarters
1 Mini Rescue Flash Mirror
2 Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil Sheets, each 23-1/2 x 17-3/4 inches
5 Safety Pins
1 Roll Duct Tape, 2 x 50 inches
3 Eight-inch Cable Ties
3 four-inch Cable Ties
4 10-foot pieces of Nylon Cord, 150-lb Test
Medical Supplies
A leaflet on wilderness first aid
11 Pre-cut Moleskin Dressings
6 Sterile Gauze Dressings of different sizes
Assorted Bandages
10 Yards of ½-inch Cloth tape
Assorted Ibuprofen, Antihistamine, After-Bite Itch Relief, Antibiotic Ointment Tincture of Benzoine, Iodine
Splinter/Tick Remover Forceps
1 Pair Nitrile Gloves
1 Pair EMT Shears
If you don’t think you need all that, consider the scaled-down Pocket Survival Pak for $34.00.
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*Pretty Damn Cold
