The Dangers of Gold Prospecting!

[goldwright]

Being prepared is just something we have to do, my last patch was 5km from any roads and every day when leaving camp I will jump on my inmarsat sat phone and email coordinates to my wife so she knows where I am if I don't return. I carry a PLB with gps, sat phone, small first aid kit, small torch, flint and tinder, spare batteries, 2 gps's ( one for geo traking and one for backup and food for the day all with a 3 litre water bladder in a back pack. I also carry a small laptop with OZI explorer on it in the ute and log tracks and waypoints at night in camp and email these coordinates through to wife of where I am intending to go next day. Technology is our friend and remember doing it old school without any of the modern day gadgets so anyone who gets stuck out there these days is just foolish and poorly prepared.

One of my mates used to make fun of me until he did his knee about 7km's from camp and walking was not an option and I was not going to carry him that far so on the sat phone and 3 hours later he was in hospital, he now has a similar pack to mine. Survival is great unless you are 50+ km's away from anywhere and no one knows where you are, that's why they invented helicopters.

 

[AtomRat]

I'm a bit confused still ( have concerns i should say ). What would you do goldwright if you lost your kit / technology due to a drop or river..etc

I understand you saying to go fully prepared for anything..but to me..its impossible to be prepared for anything as we don't have control over that.

 

[goldwright]

I'm a bit confused still ( have concerns i should say ). What would you do goldwright if you lost your kit / technology due to a drop or river..etc

I understand you saying to go fully prepared for anything..but to me..its impossible to be prepared for anything as we don't have control over that.

I look at it this way, if I have planned it out and something bad happens not much I can do. My mate would of died out there without modern day tech, even if he was Bear Grylls as he could not move and was in a great deal of pain just sitting. I find it hard to imagine losing my pack, again would have to be foolish to lose it. Just done a quick calculation of tracks from gps from the last 2 years just over 478 kms on foot in the bush with one incident of falling into a creek that was overgrown and was lucky not to hurt myself and that was a good reminder to take a little more care. I like to think I would be able to survive if I needed too, but again have never needed too so far and like to think this is from good planning in the first place.

 

[AtomRat]

Be careful, Merry Xmas mate

 

[Rusty]

Those guys were working an area they had got to know pretty well. Probably only swinging a few hundred metres from their car, thinking they weren't going far enough to have to worry. But, that's enough to get bamboozled.
I spent half an hour once ..backtracking and zig zagging trying to find my car .. and was at most 200 metres away from it. After I found the car, I went back over some of my tracks to get straight in my head where I had gone wrong. On the way out I had marked my track - tagging trees, marking ground, watching shadows & etc. At times I was only 20 metres away, but the car was hidden by bush. It scared the hell outa me ..now I never go bush without my GPS, PLB & satphone .. and spare batteries. Even now when I use my GPS to bring me home I'm still sometimes surprised by the direction that it has me approaching my car, thinking that it's in another direction. But, it shouldn't be a surprise when you think about it, we wander aimlessly with our heads down and our minds on targets. And I'm often blown away by how much time I've been swinging, 2 hours can seem like minutes.

Like those guys, I had been working the area for a few days and knew it pretty well. They got complacent. I wasn't, but I did underestimate the bush.
People knew where I was, when I was due back, and I had stuff to survive with, but that's an extreme I hope I never have to deal with.
I gotta say though, when I read that this guy went out without even a bottle of water on a 40+ day I figured that was just plain dumb.

 

[nucopia]

The wife and I just bought two hand held 80 channel CB radios today , we have a CB in the prado i just bought as well.
Also have a tom tom in the prado, but i figure a hand held GPS would be the next thing we need ,along with a good first aid kit.
I have two small pocket size torches and two pocket knives, what else should we get for our survival pack ?

 

[AtomRat]

The wife and I just bought two hand held 80 channel CB radios today , we have a CB in the prado i just bought as well.
Also have a tom tom in the prado, but i figure a hand held GPS would be the next thing we need ,along with a good first aid kit.
I have two small pocket size torches and two pocket knives, what else should we get for our survival pack ?

A traveller size first aid and survival book, wrapped in plastic bags and attached to your main gear by ropr / string Collapsing containers are great for extra small packaging things like cups. Needle(s) and superglue for quick body / temp repairs

 

[nucopia]

Just ordered a few things on ebay
belts and pouches water bottles compass flint and steel
looking for a hand held GPS and first aid kit next
what Etrex is recommended by other members ?

 

[Rusty]

The basic eTrex 10 was the GPS of choice in the goldfields when I was there. Set it at the car and turn it off until it's time to come home.
Carry spare batteries, there was an experienced prospector in Kalgoorlie lost for a few days a few years ago, batteries in his GPS went flat.

... and I like this snake bite treatment for the First Aid kit. Take the time to read the link pages
http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11771

 

[Davent]

Rusty, Ive never heard of that cream being used for snake bite. Thanks for posting, what harm could it do?
Worth putting on under the compression bandage for sure, could be a life saver.

 

[AtomRat]

I'd be a 'little' conserned to make sure the ointment doesn't dry up considering its nitro g, and would have to read a little more on it all.Wonder if Magnoplasm has any use on snake bites as it draws things out of the body and also can be easily made ( basically epsom salts )

Remember when using a bandage on snake bites..start at the tip of the limb, bind / wrap the limb overlapping the cloth and not too tight, you don't want to cut the circulation. Wrap the bandage as far as it can make it up the limb and then splint the limb to immobilise it.

 

[Davent]

Dont think magnplasism would be any good, but it wouldnt hurt. Just remember that doctors swap the bite area to id the snake, they might swab the area and say hes been bitten by an anus!
magnplasim is great when you get a small piece of glass, splinters, under the shin, but snake venom works its way through the lymphatic system, not the blood.
I should actually qualify that statment, all venomous australian snakes, elapids venom works the lymphatic system.

Other species like vipers (rattle snakes, pit vipers etc) the pressure imbolisation method is not the way to go.

 

[user 4485]

I'd stick to current medically recommended snake bite treatment as posted many times on this forum. The above link is 3 years old, based on hearsay, on a forum & hasn't been made part of any recommendations or training I've done as recently as 2 weeks ago with a senior NSW Ambulance Service Paramedic!
Stick to proven treatments not snake oil remedies.

 

[AtomRat]

http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites

 

[nucopia]

I remeber a friend comming to my house in the Philippines he had been bitten by a snake on the finger and was freaking out poor bugger.
I quickly got him laying down with his arm hanging down below his heart leval and put on a preasure bandage. We then put him in a tricycle and took him to the nearest hospital 30km away.
When we got there and the doctor examined him , they put him in a bed for observation. i asked about anti venom and they said nope we dont have any here and if we did we would not be sure if it would work because we dont know the type of snake that bit him. The best treatment now is to leave the preasure bangade on and monitor his vitals.
He spent the night in the hospital under observation and I dont think he had a goodnight laying there worrying.
But he was sent home the next afternoon with the all clear. They speculate that he was bitten by a non venomous snake..
Still it pays to take every bite seriously as a few months previously a young boy was bitten in the same area and did not survive.
The local albalario ( medicine man/faith healer) tried cupping the bite area to draw out the venom and made the kid drink the blood of the snake that bit him as a cure. He died with in a few hours of being bitten.
I was away at the time but really believe if they had have even had basic knowledge of current snake bite treatment and had have taken him to the hospital, he at least would had a chance of surviving.
Ignorance as well as the snake caused his death.

 

[Davent]

I'd stick to current medically recommended snake bite treatment as posted many times on this forum. The above link is 3 years old, based on hearsay, on a forum & hasn't been made part of any recommendations or training I've done as recently as 2 weeks ago with a senior NSW Ambulance Service Paramedic!
Stick to proven treatments not snake oil remedies.

Just out of interest mate CPR, what is the recomended compression to breath rate these days, 2 breaths to 5 compressions, 1 and 15, no breaths at all and 20 compressions then de fib, is abc, or abcd, or drabcd? The experts cant seem to make up their minds. Red cross is different to St Johns.
Pressure imobalisation bandage is really the only recomended snake bite treatment, but I keep an open mind.

 

[user 4485]

CPR is 30 to 1. It has been like that with 3 different training providers in the last 3 years & was like that in years prior but it is relatively new. The 1 breath is optional & it is much more important to keep the compressions going. DRABCD has also been the standard for awhile now.
I think you'll find that trainers like Red Cross & St Johns teach the same, at least nowadays, as its all under Nationally Recognised Training by Registered Training Organisation's to specific competency standards.
Use snake oil remedies if you wish. An open mind is good but I prefer proven to speculative.

 

[user 4485]

30 to 1
DRABCD

That should have been 30 to 2 (or 100 compressions per minute if you don't wish to do rescue breaths) & DRSABCD - forgot to send for help :lol:

 

[Davent]

Mate I keep an open mind because of life experience.
I have been really lucky to experience a varied career path.
at the moment im 9 years into prisons, which is kind of why I bought up the drabcd thing. Yes its nationaly recognised training, but its just that , training. Atm, im 3 from7 (thats 3 that have been revived from cpr to 4 that were not) of that 3 , 1 later died in hospital. 1 was before corrections, I was working as a fishing guide, and I did 2 breaths to 15 compressions, that was about 1997, he lived and visited me 3 months later and gave 100 bucks worth of scrattchies and took me out for dinner.
I have used the de fibs 3 times, and no shocks delivered any time, because the patient had already passed away.
Guess the point is, any compressions and breath combos are better than nothing. CPR does work, most ambo, s will tell you that 3 revives from 7 attempts is way above average, never give in.
As for snake bite. Australian snakes venom works on the lymphatic system, it moves pretty slowly through the system, and the pressure imbalisation method has proven to buy you time. If I was 3 hours from help, and had to drive myself out, and had a tube of that cream, I would use it with the compression imobalisation bandage, cross my fingers, and put my foot to the floor.
If I was nearer to help, I would use P.I.Bandage, and call an ambulance, with as much info as possible.
As a side, one of my work collegues was bitten by a small western brown,only 30cm long, on his little toe, 20minutes later he was feeling very bad indeed, 30 minutes later he was unconscious. He spent the next 6 months off work, and still has some problems with his kidneys.

1st aid needs to be kept very simple, ABC is perfect. Airways, breathing, circulation. CPR, should also be kept simple, settle on how many compressions to breaths the average person is capable of doing, and keep it at that for as many years as possible, changing the numbers by 5, or 10 compressions to breaths just confues people, in something that should not be confusing. I was taught stuff in the Army in 1985 that I can still quote word for word. Maybe these people that get paid to teach should learn from that. I have cert 4 in training and assessing, and its an absolute croc IMO, as are most cert 3 and 4, s ive done, not worth the paper they are printed on. Only thing they are useful for is getting cushy jobs.

 

[Davent]

By the way, I know that last post may sound negative, its not meant to at all.
Mbakso, I think its great that 1st aid info is being posted, and thanks for bringing up the correct cpr ratios. Wish that all schools taught both swimming and 1st aid at every year level, I think its that important.