Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Survival kit Review

I’ve been waiting for a while to try out this kit from http://www.yoyofishing.co.uk/ and I only got a chance last time I went with Wildcrafts because of a nice lake system there.

I have to mention from the outset that this kit is for use in a survival situation only and was reviewed as such. The use of some of the kit as it stands is illegal in the UK under the Salmon and Fisheries Act .

The act says that any set line is not a legal “instrument” unless you attached it to a rod. Then you would need a rod licence. The kit is designed to be left alone and again this is illegal as no rods should be left unattended. I can assure you that the review was undertaken with due respect to the law.

The item is billed as a Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Survival kit and certainly contains everything you would need to catch some fish or trap and hunt animals up to rabbit size in the outdoors, if you know what you’re doing.

The whole thing comes in a handy Aloksack and contains the following:

2 x 9" x 7" Aloksak Element Proof Bags
Hunter Handmade Catapult with .44cal ammo
10 x 4 Ply Rabbit/Squirrel Snares
2 x Yoyo Automatic Fishing Reels
2x Speed hooks
2 x Dermasafe Folding Razor Blades, 1x Dermasafe Folding Saw
Non Toxic Lead Free Fishing Weights
Fishing Hooks and Bait
5x #18, 5x #16, 5x #14, 5x #12, 5x #10, 5x #8, 1x #2, 1x #1,  1x 10 gram jighead.
2x Flys
1x #8 Snap swivel, 2x #14 Snap swivels.
6 x Flavoured Artificial Bait.

There’s a much more detailed explanation of the contents here.

In short, this is everything you need in a handy package that you can put in your cargo trouser pocket or a space in your rucksack. But…does it work, and is it worth it?

Firstly, I looked at the catapult. I’ve got a Hunter catapult myself and I know you must handle it properly otherwise it will fail on you. You must follow the instructions for use to the letter; but get it right and it’s a fabulous hunting weapon with a very powerful fitted Theraband gold band. The kit is supplied with some heavy duty (40 cal) ammo.

The snare wire is also good stuff but is only 4 ply instead of 6 ply. The warning on the website states that for winter, when the rabbits are larger, you should use 6 ply. We didn’t try these out for the review.

I liked the little folding razor blades, and folding saw and these would be a great addition to any little survival kit or tin.

As we were near a lake, it was the fishing kit we concentrated on. I’m not the world’s greatest fisherman, so I handed the whole kit over to Scrivy and watched him struggle with the hooks!

The main pieces of the fishing kit are the Yo-Yo automatic fishing reels. This is an ingenious fishing reel which consists of a stainless-steel spring enclosed in a sheet-metal frame. The small circular device has a line attached to the top end that you use to tie the Yo-Yo to something (possibly a tree limb). The idea is that you pull out the desired length of line, and engage a small wire trigger on the side of the reel. The trigger holds the reel in place, and the spring inside the reel is coiled tightly.

 
When a fish takes the bait, it trips the trigger, causing the spring to uncoil quickly, which sets the hook and keeps tension on the line. As the fish swims away from the reel, the stainless-steel spring becomes even tighter. When the fish quits swimming, the spring jerks the line, pulling the fish back to the reel.

Now these reels are £20-00 each and you get two in this kit. We set the reels and even though we didn’t put on a hook, we certainly could see how they would work and quite frankly, we were quite impressed.

We couldn’t use the speed-hooks but we set them up and could tell that these would be pretty good for catching fish. The Speed-hook works like a spring loaded trap and when a fish takes the bait, it automatically springs open setting the hook.

Well, it all works and I like the way that the pack has been put together. It’s appreciated that this is a survival hunting/fishing kit but we got the feeling the kit could have done with a float and a ledger weight. Apart from that, all the items required to catch or trap something were all present and correct.

This is an excellent hunting, trapping fishing kit for stuffing in your rucksack. Add a firesteel and first aid kit and you couldn’t wish for anything more for a serious survival pack. You might think £65-00 is bit steep, but if you look at the 2 Yo-Yo reels at £20-00 each and the catapult another £20-00 and you’re already up to £60-00 even without the speed-hooks.