I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to die one day. Even worse than that, I’m going to die, too.
Ideally, this will not be due to massive blood loss while on a hunting trip. Now, I am not sure this can always be completely prevented, but having the correct supplies — including a tourniquet — on hand and the know-how to use them can help to reduce the likelihood of this unfortunate event. Another useful thing to have to aid in the application of such things is a pair of emergency shears. I was given a pair of these, in the form of the Leatherman Raptors, and this piece of kit immediately found its way into rotation, and won’t be leaving any time soon.
The Obvious
These are shears, plain as day. They do what trauma shears do.
If you need to cut webbing or a pants leg or jacket sleeve out of the way during an emergency situation, these will obviously facilitate that. I guess you could use them to cut normal things as well if you really wanted.
The obvious stuff on these is, well… obvious.
There’s also an oxygen bottle wrench, glass breaker, and small ruler here, but these things might be slightly less relevant for the outdoor situations in which we use the Raptors. Some of the things I like best about them are not immediately obvious at first sight.
The Less-Obvious
The MOLLE scabbard/sheath works perfectly with my Final Rise bird vest, and helps to keep it immediately accessible in the event of a serious emergency. Whatever MOLLE gear you run, you can easily attach the Raptors to. If I had to nitpick, the retention is perhaps just a bit on the loose side, and depending what you have planned you might want to add a lanyard.
There is another under-advertised feature that the Raptors sport, one that I particularly like to have while running the dog; a ring cutter that is almost disguised on the shears can double to cut your dog out of a snare if there’s a run-in. That alone is a better solution than packing around a heavy pair of piano wire cutters, or if you’re of the “two is one” mentality, you have an extra pair right here.
Conclusion
None of the medical stuff you’re “supposed” to be bringing with you will be effective unless you know how to use it, so if you’re going to be toting around TQs and so forth, you should be aware of how to apply them and in what situations you might need to deploy the Raptors. As the saying goes — “get training.”
They’re built well and made in the USA. With the convenient method of carry and their light weight, the Raptors will stay on my bird vest, always ready to go and hopefully never to be called upon.
