Time To Secure Survival with a CAT Tourniquet

Forget the band-aids for a minute. How much medical knowledge and gear do you have for a serious medical emergency like trauma or a severe bleed? What if I told you EMS crews have under a dozen insanely effective items for these situations? And what if one of these items, in particular, is of utmost importance to the average person (especially outdoor types) and requires almost no medical knowledge? Meet the CAT Tourniquet.

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In this post, we cover what a CAT tourniquet is, why it is one of the top life-saving tools and why you should have one.We will also review the Rugged tourniquet pouch and how such a simple and affordable item can be your tourniquet’s best friend.

A GENUINE and rapidly deployable tourniquet for bleeding control can save a life, perhaps yours or someone you love. So grab a coffee and take a massive leap in survival skills by reading this post for the next 5 minutes.

What is a CAT Tourniquet? Understanding This Vital Trauma Tool

A CAT tourniquet a.k.a Combat Application Tourniquet, is a critical piece of trauma survival gear to stop arterial bleeding of the extremities by applying pressure. We are specifically talking about arms and legs (lower extremities). This medical device is something you will find just about any soldier carrying on their person. It is also part of any EMS or first responders emergency medical kit. More and more tree service crews are mandated to have one right on their belt, and we’ll cover why in a moment. 

If you are wondering why you are reading about soldiers and first responders and why you would remotely need something like this, I have some news for you. The cat tourniquet application is a self-aid item, meaning you can apply yourself (even to yourself) with little to zero medical knowledge.

The sole purpose of a one-handed tourniquet is to buy you enough time to seek professional medical help and give the medics enough time to assess and provide care, even in situations where you would otherwise be dead by the time you give 911 your name. I apologize for the shock factor – however, it does highlight the sheer power of such a simple life-saving tool. Not to mention why we should all have one in our wilderness first aid kit.

When to Use a CAT Tourniquet?

The simple answer is that you will instinctively know when an injury warrants a life-saving tourniquet. When someone is bleeding out badly, the number one priority is to STOP THE BLEED. If the bleed is an extremity, this is when a CAT tourniquet comes to the rescue. And there is no better medical device to do that job.

Let’s keep this brief as it is the not-so-fun part. From car accidents to a terrible fall on a hike that can injure the extremities, countless scenarios could cause bodily harm, requiring the use of a tourniquet.

When Should I Carry A Tourniquet?

The short answer is always – without being paranoid:)

There is always an authentic tourniquet on my pack, and the pack goes where I go. So, for example, if you’re shopping in the mall, you don’t need to carry a TQ. But when you’re in your car, you should have one somewhere in the vehicle. For me, it’s in my pack in the trunk. This, my friends, is the fine line between paranoia and being prepared.

As an outdoors blog, let’s cover 3 scenarios where tourniquets are an absolute MUST CARRY. If these situations do not apply to you, that’s perfectly fine, but at least it illustrates some of the uses:

1. When Using Firearms or Hunting

Hunters, trappers, target shooters and so on deal with guns. They are usually at a range or in the woods – Ie. in the middle of nowhere and far away from civilization. And, of course, we do not worry about getting shot as guns and proper use are far safer than the average person realizes. However, what if the gun blows up during discharge? Yes, it’s very rare, but it does happen.

We also handle ammunition, which is a very safe practice. But at the end of the day, it’s still an explosive device.

It’s shocking how many hunt camps do not have trauma kits on site. When, in fact, each hunter should carry one on their person. What’s even scarier is that most people don’t even know what a tourniquet is!

2. Off-roading

How many people grab a can of Coke or, worse, a beer and hit the trails with an ATV? We all see the empty beer bottles discarded in the woods, which is appalling on one hand and frightening on the other.

I NEVER hit the woods without a basic gear set or a get-home bag. And that ALWAYS includes a medical kit and a CAT tourniquet.

Look, we have all seen car accidents, and there’s no need to get into details. An ATV, snowmobile, dirt bike and so on are all vehicles, which also get into accidents. The only difference is that when off-road, NO ONE is coming to help you.

3. Chainsawing, and I could Have Died Once on this One!

I was about an inch away from death when I finally decided to cut down an annoying tree stump. As I was crouched, the chainsaw somehow caught the inner thigh of my expensive Fjallraven pants, which I bought just the week prior.

The problem is two-fold. Chainsaws do not cut flesh, they tear it. Add the fact that the inner thighs carry a lot of arteries – it quickly becomes one of the worst places to injure yourself. Nick those arteries, and let’s just say someone is taking a permanent nap within a few minutes – unless you have a true one-handed tourniquet!

My beloved pants were repaired, as they were too expensive to toss out:) As for me, I just missed it as I’m still writing. But when I chainsaw things now, the tourniquet is in a pouch and immediately available!

So, you see, if you spend time in remote areas, are involved in first aid training, or work in high-risk environments, a CAT Tourniquet should be part of your emergency medical gear.

WARNING! Do Not Buy Cheap Tourniquets!

A CAT tourniquet vs knockoff – The post repeatedly refers to a CAT tourniquet, which stands for Combat Application Tourniquet. A CAT tourniquet is the industry standard, comes numbered and is used by the military. 

With counterfeit tourniquets, you risk breakage, the windlass rod snapping, etc. This Facebook reel shows you a knockoff tourniquet in use and its outcome. When it comes to tourniquets, there are countless horror stories, which is why I refuse to buy a non-patented combat application tourniquet.

CAT Tourniquet Price

At the time of writing, an authentic CAT tourniquet sells for $44.99. As the best life-saving bleed control tool that stops significant hemorrhage and takes a giant step towards aiding the survival of some freak accident, I’d argue that’s inexpensive, especially since most people may only have 1 such serious trauma care item in their field medical kit.

Do You Need a CAT Tourniquet?

CAT tourniquets are extremely difficult to find in Canada, but thankfully S&J Hardware carries them. Check out the genuine CAT tourniquet here at S&J. 

S&J Hardware was kind enough to offer our readers 10% off with promo code Bushlife10.

We wholeheartedly appreciate you using our affiliate links as they support the blog, and no, we are not trying to make a sales pitch. Finding a quality tourniquet that is not readily available in stores is difficult. I looked everywhere with no such luck until one day, I found S&J Hardware by a complete accident one day.

Couple that with all the ongoing wars, and it’s a miracle S&J can procure these core wound care medical items. During wartime, civilians rarely have access to self-rescue tools as they get bought up and shipped to the front lines.

I Get the CAT Tourniquet. But Why is a Tourniquet Pouch So Important?

Your hand just got mangled or, worse, blew up. The blood loss is alarming, and you are in shock. You can’t think as well as you usually do, and you’re shaking. So, do you take your better hand and TRY to open your pack? Only to dig and TRY to find your first aid kit? Now open it to get to your TQ. By now, you might have lost a litre of blood, and you just panicked your way through a really, really bad situation.

How To Store a Cat Tourniquet

Tourniquets, by nature, are a rapid deploy item! So, store the CAT tourniquet inside a holster to the outside of your pack, whether it be your bugout bag, hunting pack, automotive first aid kit, etc. For faster application, you should be able to get to it in seconds, and it should be easy! So, that brings us to the other half of the post.

Review: Rugged CAT Tourniquet Pouch by S&J Hardware

S&J Hardware in Belleville, Ontario is a fantastic outdoor store. We’ve reviewed their budget bug-out bag, medical equipment, and recently, a wicked custom Remington 870 that would knock the socks off anyone who even remotely likes guns!

But it’s not just an outdoor store. They manufacture armour plating, accessories and all kinds of cool things here in Canada. Recently, S&J launched their Rugged product line, which includes their best CAT tourniquet pouch for quick access.

Specifications

When you read ‘mil-spec’ anywhere, your BS meter should be cranking on level 9 immediately. Most of it is trash! I have a Condor admin pouch and love the layout. But the pouch is ok at best. When you store items in it, the loops stretch and learn the shape of the held item to the point that they don’t even hold anymore. Let alone try putting something smaller in its place. Unfortunately, this is common for your typical mail-order, tactical, ‘mil-spec’ items.

By comparison, I have an S&J Hardware shotshell carrier that deserves a review. It’s had shotgun shells in it for years. It has also been on many hunts in various crazy weather conditions and holds just as good as a brand-new one. When you pull out a shell, the loop flattens right back. As someone who owns plenty of genuine military gear, it’s easy to say S&J Hardware produces a FAR SUPERIOR product in quality and function. Well past anything the military could ever dream of.

The exact material Rugged Textiles uses for their tourniquet holster is not specified. The website claims, ‘Ultra lightweight, waterproof, flame resistant, IR resistant, 10-15 times stronger than nylon’. I can confirm the tourniquet pouch is lightweight – it’s as light as a feather. As to the others, I trust their claims wholeheartedly based on a history with their products.

How To Carry a CAT Tourniquet in a Survival Bag

Equally as important as materials comes attachment. The Rugged cat tourniquet holster mount is a malice clip. It’sa plastic clip designed to lock in place and work with anything MOLLE or PALS. MOLLE is a military term meaning’modular lightweight load-carrying equipment’. Of course, military concepts like MOLLE have long transitioned to the tactical side and even the civilian world. You can find MOLLE webbing on many packs, pouches, chest rigs, etc.

Thanks to maybe John Wick or John Rambo, tactical styles are being found in the fashion world, and MOLLE is more abundant than ever.

Of course, it can simply attach to your belt or non-tactical pack so long as there is a loop to clip to.

Colour and Cross

The Rugged tourniquet pouch comes in black, ranger green and FDE (flat dark earth). While not the most fun colour, it covers all the basic tactical options and can blend nicely with almost any pack.

Instead of branding the product, Rugged has opted to put a cross on the overlap. At their expense of losing branding options, Rugged is providing something more useful: Signifying medical gear! It’s just the right thing to do.

Price, Promo Code and Links

The Rugged Tourniquet Pouch is a $24.99 product. Of course, at the time of writing. It is well justified to the penny! It’s a pouch you buy once and should still be using 30 years from now, even if you are an outdoorsman who puts their pack through hell and back.

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Further Reading

If you got this far, thank you so much for your interest in this topic and your support on the blog. It’s a topic we take very seriously – one more thing before you move on. There is one big problem:

99.99% of First Aid Kits Are Somewhat Useless

You buy these first aid kits at the drug store or outdoor store for $10-$20, toss them in the car or pack them for your next camping trip. Great, you’ve covered some medical basics, and that’s good. You even have the warm and fuzzies. But have you really covered your family’s medical needs on that next adventure?

Last summer, a fish hook landed on my finger on a family fishing trip. I pulled it out with a pair of pliers while screaming, all thanks to the barb on the hook. It was that or wait 21 hours in a hospital to do the same thing less painfully. I then taped it with gorilla tape since I’m a man who identifies as a man. This dumb ass forgot to pack that day. But life moved on, and I didn’t NEED the ‘first aid kit’. Frankly, it would have only aided in keeping things sterile.

Now, what if something serious were to happen? That little first-aid kit does absolutely nothing. That’s when we look at items like the life-saving tourniquet. Our post, Emergency Medical Kit: Surprisingly Life and Death is 9 Items, is the next step in assembling a proper trauma kit. 

Pair this stocked medical kit with first aid and trauma essentials with a Jase Case antibiotic kit, and you now have all your medical bases covered.

Disclosure and Final Thoughts

I am NOT a doctor, and most likely neither are you:) As such, nothing in this post should be taken as medical advice. There’s the legal bit.

Here’s the heartfelt one: A high-profile banker from RBC’s head office once said, “The bank doesn’t eradicate risk – we manage it. Otherwise, we would never write any loans”. It should be crystal clear that BushLife is about getting you outdoors, not talking you out of it.

So, the final thought is to “manage” the risk by spending a few bucks here and there on trauma survival gear and learning how to use them. All that’s left after that is having fun!

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