You put a lot of time, money, and effort into planning and carrying out a hunting trip or expedition. You don't want to bog down your hunting packs with bulky or heavy equipment for cooking. Also, if anyone in your party becomes injured on the trip, you want to be able to handle most types of injuries, so you don't have to cut the trip short. Here are tips to help you easily handle these situations while you are on your next hunt.

Make a Portable Cook Stove

During a hunt, you can constantly be on the move tracking game through the mountains. As you travel each day while hunting, you don't want to carry around a heavy propane, wood burning, or butane camp stove. Instead, you can make your own lightweight camp stove out of an empty 24-ounce aluminum can. 

First, rinse out the can and wipe it dry with a towel. Next, using a sharpie marker, draw a line around the top of the can one inch from the top. Using tip snips, cut off this part of the can, shortening it so it is more stable when you use it as a stove. 

Mark another line one inch down from the cut edge of the can. Within this one-inch section around the top of the can, draw in four equally-spaced one-inch by one-inch squares. With snips, cut out the rectangular sections between each one-by-one square. This will give you four metal one inch long and one inch wide tags to protrude from the top of the can's cut edges. These tags will provide support for your cooking pot.  

Using a 1/2-inch wide drill bit, drill eight equally-spaced holes around the bottom side of the can. These will provide ventilation holes to feed the fire while it is heating your pot and food. Use a file to remove any sharp edges from any areas of the can you removed. With twigs, paper, and sticks, build a fire inside your can to burn off any plastic lining inside the can before you use it to cook food. 

When you need to feed the fire, you will need to remove the pot and place more sticks, twigs, or other fuel into the can, then replace the pot. You can pack this can along with a small cooking pot and matches or a lighter for a lightweight stove that will fit inside your hunting pack.

Do-It-Yourself Emergency First Aid 

While you are hunting and living outdoors for several days, there is a chance you or someone in your hunting party may get a skin laceration. With the right knowledge, you can treat and dress the wound without cutting your hunting trip short to get medical treatment. 

If the wound does not stop bleeding after several minutes of applying pressure, the wound is deep, or has edges that separate, you should get to a doctor for treatment. Also, if there is dirt or debris deep within the wound you cannot remove, or if the injured person has not had a tetanus vaccine in the past five years, get them to a doctor. 

Otherwise, you can treat a wound with some simple items you may already have with you. To clean out the wound, use hand sanitizer or high proof liquor if you don't have access to soap and water. It is important to clean any bacteria out of the wound to prevent an infection. If the wound becomes infected, the infection can spread into your heart as septicemia sets in, which can be life-threatening.

After you have cleaned the wound, dress it with bandages to keep it clean while it heals. If you don't have any bandages or adhesive, cover the wound with a clean piece of fabric moistened with hand sanitizer or high proof liquor and held in place with a strip of duct tape. The fabric will also prevent the duct tape from sticking to the wound. 

Use these tips to help you on your next hunting trip. If you're interesting in a hunting package for your next hunting trip, contact a company like THE HUNTING GROUNDS.