First Aid For Hunting Safety

First Aid For Hunting Safety: Hunting can provide opportunities for many types of injuries. Getting ready is your best defense against crippling injuries or even life-threatening accidents. Knowing some basic first aid and using common sense while in the wild can save lives and limbs.

First Aid For Hunting Safety

1. CPR

If you don't know CPR, learn about it. Contact your local, EMS, or fire department to find out when and where you can attend community CPR classes. You never know when you might need to do CPR with friends, family members, or even strangers. A few hours from time you can save life someday.

Many CPR classes offer basic first aid classes too. Check with your local provider to see if this option is available before registering for class.

2. Crisis Safety Rules

The first safety rules during a crisis may sound selfish but important. Take care of yourself first. Check the accident location for unsafe conditions. Make the area safe for you and the people who see it before starting first aid. The reason behind this rule is that if you are injured or incapacitated, you cannot help others. If you are injured, rescue workers who arrive at the site will ask you as an additional victim to be treated. Seconds make a difference in a crisis, but take a few beforehand to ensure that you will be able to provide the assistance needed.

3. Basic First Aid

Health workers are taught ABC about first aid: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. Your first concern is whether an accident victim has a clear airway. If your mouth or throat is blocked by blood, water, or objects, try this problem first. Next, see if the victim is breathing or in danger of stopping breathing. The brain and vital organs cannot last without oxygen. Give rescue breathing if necessary.

Then, check for any heartbeat and any injuries that might seep the blood. Put pressure on the bleeding area with a clean cloth if possible. Don't be afraid to push! If someone else is there who can help you, ask for their help in putting pressure on the wound. If the bleeding is severe and the wound is in the arm or leg, you can use a belt or strap to wrap around the limb and secure it tightly to limit blood flow to the injured area and slow bleeding. This is called a tourniquet.

Ask for help! After you control breathing and give an initial round of CPR, call for help and continue CPR until the rescue worker arrives. CPR can be tiring. If someone else is available to help, do two-person CPR or occasionally exchange tasks to prevent rescue fatigue.

If you or another hunter falls from a tree stand or other elevation area, DO NOT move until you are sure there are no spinal injuries. Moving people who have a spinal cord injury can cause the broken bones to penetrate the spinal cord and cause paralysis. Ask the fallen victim to move their fingers and toes only. If they are unable, they have injured their spine and need special care in moving. If they breathe and don't have a lot of bleeding, leave them in the position where they are and get help.

If they can move their fingers and toes, gently turn them to their backs if they have not been so positioned. Try to change it as if it were a log; keep your head, legs and body parallel and stiff when you roll them. This will prevent compression of the spinal cord if the vertebrae that protect the spinal cord are disrupted.

Some falls and spinal cord injuries that affect the neck area can cause a person to not breathe on their own. If this happens, you must provide rescue breathing for them until help arrives.

Using firearms safety and common sense like avoiding aggressive animals can help prevent hunting accidents. Educate yourself, hunt with others, and always tell someone where you will be hunting and when you will return. Maintaining security in the forest is everyone's responsibility. Be sure to do your part.

Advertisement