North American Rescue CAT Gen 7 Tourniquet
The gold-standard arterial tourniquet — the one piece of trauma gear every upland hunter should already own.
Quick specs
| Category | First Aid |
| Brand | North American Rescue |
| Price | around $32 ($) |
| Beginner score | 5/5 |
| Best for | Every vest, truck, and dog kennel. Buy two — one on you, one on the dog. |
The review
The CAT (Combat Application Tourniquet) Gen 7 is the tourniquet that every credible trauma curriculum trains on. NAR designs them, the U.S. military buys them by the millions, and there's no upland-specific upgrade that beats one — it's the right tool for arterial bleeding from a dog bite, a knife slip during field-dressing, a hard fall onto a rebar fence post, or a shotgun mishap.
The reason to own one (and to carry it on your belt or vest, not buried in a pack) is the timeline. Femoral artery bleeding can be unsurvivable in three minutes. A CAT applied in 30 seconds saves the life. NorCal upland country puts you 20-60 minutes from the nearest hospital on a good day; the CAT is what gets you to that hospital still alive.
Buy two: one on your person (vest pocket, belt loop, or in a dedicated pouch), one in the truck. Watch the NAR training videos before you need it — the windlass technique is simple but practiced once is far better than read about. Pair with a chest seal and a hemostatic gauze (we cover those in the BFG and DAM kits). If you only buy one piece of standalone trauma gear, this is it.
Where to buy
- North American Rescue product page (brand-direct)
- Buy at MidwayUSA
- Buy on Amazon (verify the genuine NAR Gen 7 — counterfeits are common)
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