My son and I are going camping with our Cub Scout Pack this weekend. We’re repacking our survival kits tonight so I thought I post his list of gear to get your feeedback.

Background: He’s 9, in his second year of the Scouts Canada Cub Scout program. We’ll be in a cabin on Friday night and in tents on Saturday night. He’s bringing a separate pack with jammies, extra socks and hat, sleeping bag, wool blanket, thermarest, closed cell sleeping pad, etc. Our group provides all tents, meals, mess kits, etc.

In addition to this pack, he’ll also be wearing a lanyard with Fox 40 whistle and fauxton whenever he is not in the cabin. We teach the kids “Hug-a-Tree” and this kit is designed to be aligned with that strategy should he get separated from the group. We’ll be working on basic camping and hiking skills this weekend, including helping our new Cub Scouts to build their own survival kits.

PSK Backpack:
-Pack with bear bell attached
-Water (full SS water bottle, koolaid jammer)
-Signaling (whistle and fauxton on lanyard, AMK mirror)
-FAK (a.k.a. “Boo Boo Kit” - bandaids, polysporin, gauze pads, maxi pad, ziplock bag)
-Extra Clothes (in dry bag - incl. Blaze orange fleece hat, bandana, fleece pullover, rain pants, hotpaws socks, extra gloves, poncho)
-Shelter (AMK bivvy, sportsman's thermal blanket with paracord tie-outs, paracord, contractor's bag, hand warmers)
-Light (LED glow stick, chem light, crank flashlight, LED headlamp)
-Snacks (tuna & crackers snack pack, cliff bar)
-Navigation (compass, map of the Scout Reserve we are camping at this weekend)
-Comfort Items (sunglasses, small teddy bear, small deck of playing cards)

Stuff he can’t carry when he’s with his Pack (no permits/chips until he's a Scout) that I’m bringing for him to use under direct supervision this weekend:

-small folding knife
-Gerber Suspension multi-tool
-fire kit (Gerber BG fire steel with PJ cotton balls, bic, strike anywhere matches, birthday candle, lip balm and tampons)

*He also carries a little cook kit when we go out together but it’s not needed on this trip so is staying home

BTW - It looks like we're in for partly overcast skies, with highs around 8C and lows about -2C.

I will assume he has the relevant skills to use the map and compass.

Go bigger on signalling. If he gets turned around and doesn't show up the entire troupe will turn out looking for him and he should be able to do all he can to help in them finding him.

His map skills are coming along but he's not very good with a compass yet. Luckily, map and compass is one of the skills we're working on this weekend!

We're also going to work on their campfire and knife skills this weekend. He's getting pretty good at these but the more practice the better!

What else would you suggest for singnaling? At this point he has:
-bear bell
-whistles (lanyard, attached to BG ferro rod, built into LED glow stick)
-blaze orange hat (he's got a blasze orange scarf that he could throw in)
-signal mirror
-Bags/blankets (red/mylar sportsman blanket, AMK Bivvy, contractor's bag)
-a bunch LEDs

In the warmer months, he'll sometimes carry an air horn when we're in bear or coyote territory. He could always throw that back in.

Jackie...about his EDC necklace... I don't have any faith in the real Photon lights, much less the fake ones...the three that I've owned have all had switch problems after a couple of years... I'm much happier with a Fenix E01 and lithium cell... I did re drill the hole for the split ring ...wouldn't hurt to get him a "dog tag" with pertinent contact information and any health information, and a highly polished back for possible signaling if he is away from the AMK mirror...

Great idea about the dog tag, Les. I think I'm going to stop at the local army surplus store on the way home. Thanks!

I'm leary about the fauxton too. Personally, I love my micro photon II but he's not as careful with his as I am with mine so he ends up getting a new LED keychain light for his lanyard every few months or so. What we really need is an inexpensive, bombproof and waterproof little LED that has a built-in tracking beacon. LOL!

Consider adding a roll of survey tape.
Many times a search will get within 15-20ft. of a victim and still miss them.
If an emergency happens teach the scout to tie one end of the survey tape
to a rock, branch or any fixed point and then string out the complete roll
and tie it to there belt or in camp. The tape should be strung across a terrain feature, ie across a trail, in a straight line up a hill, perpendicular
to the creek bed, drainage etc. A searcher Will at some point cross the
tape and find the victim.

Great idea, Fred. We found a roll last night and threw it in. He used to carry it all the time but ditched to save space/weight. (Only 9 and he's already becoming savvy about packing.)

Survey tape was my thought also and it's covered so all is good. Until his navigation skills are demonstrated, he needs to keep that signalling stuff available regardless of added weight. If he doesn't know how to use compass and map, the bright orange/hot pink tape should be part of his system. Have him deploy some in the wild when you have an opportunity and then stand back and see just how visible it is.

Right you are Russ. His instructions are to stay put and let us find him, and he knows that his job is to make finding him as easy as possible by making noise and having as big a foot print as possible.

I took him and my nephew out a couple of years ago and we did basically what you suggest - we set up various signals like tape, an orange garbage bag, an orange scarf tied to a tree, etc., and we walked further and further away to see how visable it was. Then we did the same with whistles. They thought it was pretty neat and it made a good impression on them

Surveyors tape as the added benefit of not only being bright colour but it also moves with the wind so provides more contrast.