Some examples:

- This guy was trapped under a flipped ATV in cold weather and could only grasp gear that was in immediate reach.

- This guy was caught in an avalanche and had his pack stripped from his body in the tumble.

- I don't have any links but I have read about a few incidents where people have wrecked their cars over an embankment, been trapped/injured, and could only get to equipment that was in immediate reach.

- As I have posted before, my Wilderness EMT instructor works seasonally for a group that does jungle expeditions. His boss was on one such expedition in the Amazon when he needed to step into the bush for '#2 time'. He left his backpack with the group, went off-trail for a ways to take care of business... and became completely disoriented. He wound up being lost in the jungle with almost no gear for 3 days. Miraculously while wandering around he bumped into a military group and they saved him, no joke. Company policy now calls for a simple belt system with a survival pouch & water bottle attached. If you leave the pack, the belt rig must be on you. This goes for everyone on the trip, both employees and clients.

One of the philosophies that I apply is that "if it isn't on you, you don't really have it."

I have seen packs go to the bottom of the ocean, fall of cliffs, and much more.

There are literally thousands of reasons or situations that can separate you from your pack. warm day you sit down on a log drop your pack, only to realize that there is a bee or wasp nest in the tree. (yes I have seen that one). You sit down keep your pack on you this time, and start to eat a snack, next thing you know a brown bear decides he wants that snack. dropping your heavy bag will be the first thing you do just to lighten your load.

getting separated from your backpack, car, ATV, or RV. is always a great possibility. I personally used to have concerns about loosing my truck to a river or lake, knowing that in my truck was where I kept all of my gear for survival or emergencies.


Often I get heckled for the gear I carry on me. But when you see a person have to ditch from a sea kayak and only able to keep with them what is on them,, you start to understand.

Chisel makes a valid point - the PSK can act as redundancy to stop things becoming a disaster - backup for a broken compass or whatever

Oops, posted too quickly - the other point I wanted to make was that the low cost and burden of a PSK means it is worth having even when the odds against needing it seem astronomical. A SAK, Dougs PSP and a Heatsheet will fit in a pocket, weigh very little and give a whole lot of insurance

What can separate us from our gear?

Water crossings. On deep water crossings, I frequently take my pack off and lay it across my shoulders. If I go down, I don't want to be clipped in, and if it's deep, I don't want my gear getting wet.

Water gathering. I'm "just" going down to the stream to fetch a pot of water. My that stream bank is really sliiiiiiiiiiiiipery!

Nature calls as alluded to earlier.

Stargazing. You laugh, but how many people carry their pack to go out in the middle of the meadow to look up?

Wood gathering for a campfire. Whoa! A perfect pile of wood is just down this "little" drop offffffffffffff... [thud]

Bear bagging. You're supposed to go 100 yards away from camp, right? Well, who's going to carry their gear for "only" 100 yards. What could happen?

With respect to those last several, basically any little camp errand where you believe you'll "only be gone a minute," particularly at night. I've had trouble getting back to my camp after gathering water. The one smart thing I did was put a retroreflective strip on the top compartment of my pack. I couldn't find my camp, but then my headlamp hit the reflective strip, and I was home free. Phew!

HJ

Leaving a light going at my campsite has saved me any number of false steps and related unpleasantness. Even a small LED keychain flashlight can be enough if you can leave it on and clipped in a visible location while stepping away.

What can separate us from our gear?

Am I missing something or is it politically incorrect to discuss “THE HUMAN FACTOR”?

I will make a guess that more gear, camps, packs, vehicles, horses, equipment, stashes, etc go missing by THEFT than all of the other causes together.

On the thread “Urban Carry Recommendation” I waited thru 45 replies to see which would be more popular – 9mm, .40s&w, .38 Special or OC Spray. Not one entry.

I think the nature of the board and maybe some of the people makes it uncomfortable for them to discuss such things openly, or even at all.

Human nature dictates that people gravitate toward getting comfortable and reverting to how they behave at home. One solution to the issue of losing gear is to make carrying essential gear a way of life, your everyday life. For example, I carry a man bag even at home. I work at home and my cell phone needs to be on me always. My point is it actually feels unusual for me not to carry my man bag, which includes basic survival gear.

...because talking about firearms on this site has to be done in such a touchy-feely manner that it's better just to go to another forum