View Full Version : what is a possibles pouch?
Melonfish
30-01-2009, 14:55
Okay so i'm seeing alot of talk about them and some bloody nice examples of leatherwork too.
my meaning of this is that its a pouch that you have on you so that whilst your out in the woods you can collect things like tinder, kindling, mushrooms and wild greens etc and generally have somewhere to put them.
am i generally correct here or reading the map upside down?
ta
pete
My interpretation of a possibles pouch is something you wear to keep small bits of kit to hand. What people put in them varies greatly, some go for the whole survival tin malarky while others just put something like a tinder pouch in with a firelighting kit etc, small torches etce etc.
A foraging bag is useful for collecting stuff while out, some go for ex issue gas mask bags etc. For fungi collecting a basket is a good idea as it will allow the spores to spread as you`re walking through the woods.
Try this essay (http://www.kifaru.net/possibls.htm) by Patrick Smith of MountainSmith and then Kifaru fame. Chris
Melonfish
30-01-2009, 15:53
wow, that guy has alot in his pouch. however i think i now grasp the concept, its not an "ooh that looks interesting" pouch but more a "what would happen if the world ended whilst i was out in the wild?"
i get it now. i think my little us army medic pouch suddenly got very small indeed...
I've got a handbag :D :o
cheers,
Toddy
wow, that guy has alot in his pouch. however i think i now grasp the concept, its not an "ooh that looks interesting" pouch but more a "what would happen if the world ended whilst i was out in the wild?"
i get it now. i think my little us army medic pouch suddenly got very small indeed...
many would say his list is overkill, a lot is down to preference. there are loads of threads about possibles pouch content, do a search. i think small is good in that it is easy to grab and carry. i'd say a us army medic pouch is plenty to contain a few essentials.
P.S.'s pouch sounds more like a bug out bag tbh.
cheers,
Toddy
i dont carry one, just tend to have stuf in my pockets on my jacket and a knife on my belt. usualy i just have...
knife
firesteel
sometimes a folding saw
ALWAYS a small first aid kit that lives in my top left pocket so i know where it is
torch in the shorter winter days
some para cord/string
and thats usualy all i carry if im out for upto 3 or 4 hours, if im out all day then i carry a small rucksack with water, some kind of cooking pot, a stove, brew kit and some food
its all personal preference what you carry and how you carry it
pete
I tend to think of kit as falling into three categories: camp, trek and wander.
I've always been a pockets kind of guy for wandering, but am slowly coming around to the pouch idea. A foraging bag sounds useful too.
I was looking at a PLCE first aid pouch online. It seems to be compartmentalised and folds open, which seems appropriate for little bits.
I've got a handbag :D :o
cheers,
Toddy
And I have a manbag.
I like the old sailor's term 'ditty bag' best.
I think 'possibles pouch' is a slight misnomer.
I just call it a 'pouch'.
In mine I keep my firelighting stuff.
Wilderbeast
30-01-2009, 17:41
I keep all the stuff in mine that I constantly need, and also what I could survive on.
1x opinel back up knife
1x millbank bag
1x DC3 stone
1x zippo tin with cotten wool tinder
1x firesteel
1x set of chlorine tablets (about 10, just in case you know!)
4x cupper soups!
1x small first aid kit (plasters and aspirin! Carry some FFD's in my pack)
thats it and that all fits in a pretty small pouch, the point is it's stuff that I need frequently....other than my primary knife and axe and saw!
Shambling Shaman
30-01-2009, 17:45
I've got a handbag :D :o
cheers,
Toddy
Ah yes BUT it is hand stitched out of rabbit pelts with a nettle cordage strap :rolleyes:
Well, y'know........it could be .......... :D
cheers,
Toddy
It's where you keep the stuff that makes life possible while out an about.
Not for everything you might possibly want.
A good one should be large enough to hold a bottle of red wine, corkscrew, melamine glass, bread rolls, good cheese, small tin of olives, small tin of pate, zip lock of pickles, fresh fruit and an MP3 player or small radio. Thats my lunchtime possibles bag, the night time bag would have Stella instead of wine and a selection of good cold meats instead of cheese plus a small flask of Brandy:)
saddle_tramp
30-01-2009, 19:42
i always figured they come from an era when trousers rarely had pockets, so using one is akin to havin belt and braces . . . but im probably wrong
They look nice tho, http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss343/saddletramp2009/Archerysmiley-1.gif
does anybody keep there 'posables' inside mess tins or a billy can in the pouch? i saw it in loftys SAS survival guide. imo having a pot is much more usefull than most stuf found in them.
pete
I tend to feel that a possibles pouch is alot like bushcraft bling.
some people have an old tin in their cargo pocket, others have a hand stitched and tooled leather belt pouch stuffed to the brim with gucci kit.
s'all bling:D
Melonfish
30-01-2009, 21:20
I tend to feel that a possibles pouch is alot like bushcraft bling.
some people have an old tin in their cargo pocket, others have a hand stitched and tooled leather belt pouch stuffed to the brim with gucci kit.
s'all bling:D
does that include solid flint teeth too?
hehe
yeah possibles pouch i see is what you make of it. something small for me i think, so i can keep it together nicely
pete
oldsoldier
30-01-2009, 23:43
a possibles pouch is actually meant to hold some patches, powder, caps, & balls, for black powder rifles. This allows for ease of loading, for the "possiblility" of getting two shots off at a deer, for instance. Other things are kept in there too, but these are quite common among black powder shooters, and some are truly works of art!
I use mine to keep the small things that I want to have to hand around camp, but are a pain to keep in the pocket, such as hand gel, ferro rod, spork, salt sachets, coffee sachets, you know the type of stuff which is handy to have at hand saving a trip back and forward to the rucsack every time you want something small. It's a leather one but fairly small so does'nt get in the way.
Minotaur
31-01-2009, 02:07
I tend to think of it as a survial kit you actually use. It is what Ray Mears writes about in his first book, and is more of a 'Be Preparded' bag than anything else.
I like Wayland's Snugpac Response bag (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20960&page=2&highlight=snugpac), lot of kit but all makes sense.
An even easier way to think about what one is, empty your pockets, and then imagine what else would be there, if it was 200 years ago.