Fire starting {hunting in the cold}???
- Thread starter msinc
- Start date
As long as everything is dry, it works just fine. If the lint is wet (as in its raining), maybe not.
There is also the issue of a battery going dead.
It can work, but why gamble with your life?
Hunting mostly in the Appalachians, which is a temperate rain forest, it became habit to pack A. Foil. My buddy/mentor taught me this and I just carried on. Never be without two things when fly fishing/hunting in the Blue Ridge. T.P. and aluminium foil and fire of some type. edit - that's 3 things but good to have all.
I keep a couple big lighters, waterproof matches & a handful of paper towel sealed in a Ziploc in my hunting packs & edc bags.
if you carry TP for your own protection, then I guess you have to decide...lol
Kinda like a "crappy" game of Russian roulette
SSL
Gold $$ Contributor
Which ever way you use it, it can save your backside!
Yep, a candle is a handy thing to have when you want to start a fire, as long as you have something to light the candle. I would never just carry matches, I always feel like they might not stay lit long enough.
I am surprised no one has mentioned the old way of carrying "char cloth" and a flint striker. Or a fire piston.
I am half way scared of steel wool and a battery...my luck I'd have a hole in my pats pocket. The steel wool would fall thru it and snuggle up next to my bag. Then down drops the battery and ignites everything!!!! I'd be in a goddamn survival situation then!!!!
Did not clear leaves and junk from around the fire.
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
I have my own twist on the cotton balls & Vaseline . After packing a reasonable amount of Vaseline into the cotton balls , I place them into a small plastic bottle , cap it , and set it out in the sun for several hours . Rotating the bottle periodically . Then ; when I see the Vaseline thoroughly melted into the cotton balls , I uncap , and squirt the bottle half full of Ronsonol lighter fluid . It's not as much lighter fluid as you might think , with the bottle stuffed full of cotton balls . The cotton balls absorb the lighter fluid , and help the cotton absorb the Vaseline . They will start a good fire in monsoon rains and in sub-zero weather , even in 15-20 mph winds . And if your bottle has a good seal , they'll last and be useable for a couple of years . Carry two different types of waterproof matches , and two Bic lighters also .
Thank you sir for pointing that out. Actually, yes he did but it is hard to see in this photo...he's kind of down a little hill. Another member was kind enough to point this out too and I addressed in another post. It had rained the entire week before and napalm wouldn't have lit those woods on fire. Even if it did, the boy is just about smack dab in the middle of the 300 acres I own at this location. The other thing you cant see is the bucket full of water just out of the photo...that is why he made it near that little stream.
I always joke about not ever being lost in the wilderness for long. People ask what I would do and I say, "you just look for the one lone hillbilly standing next to the 40,000 acre forest fire because I am striking a match if I get lost!!"
bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
Thanks msinc, glad to hear i'm not the only one willing to do whats needed if it comes to that. We have a lot of dead bug wood trees in this area and it can in places here even during the hot summer months drop to freezing at night and if i need to burn a dead bug wood tree to stay warm rather than use up my gas in the jeep, and then still be stuck as well as out of fuel, it's going to happen.
While out playing in the hills one time i stuck my jeep to the point that the gumbo was above the axles, i had a new 8,000lb winch with 3/8's cable on it and i broke the cable twice in trying to get out, (ever try to tie a knot in 3/8's cable?). I spent the night there and burned a dead tree and stayed warm, in the morning when the ground had firmed up i was able with a lot of work to jack the jeep up far enough with the handy man jack to get it out.
As i got to the gravel again there was a young forest service guy there because someone had reported a tree burning during the night and he was checking on it. I explained what had happened and he informed me that i would have pay for that dead bug wood tree, i laughed and he got mad and i explained to him that if the forest service had done it's job there wouldn't be over a 100,000 acres of dead tree's standing in our forest. He said i would get a bill, but i never did.
While out playing in the hills one time i stuck my jeep to the point that the gumbo was above the axles, i had a new 8,000lb winch with 3/8's cable on it and i broke the cable twice in trying to get out, (ever try to tie a knot in 3/8's cable?). I spent the night there and burned a dead tree and stayed warm, in the morning when the ground had firmed up i was able with a lot of work to jack the jeep up far enough with the handy man jack to get it out.
As i got to the gravel again there was a young forest service guy there because someone had reported a tree burning during the night and he was checking on it. I explained what had happened and he informed me that i would have pay for that dead bug wood tree, i laughed and he got mad and i explained to him that if the forest service had done it's job there wouldn't be over a 100,000 acres of dead tree's standing in our forest. He said i would get a bill, but i never did.
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10XSHOOTER
Gold $$ Contributor
Dryer lint in a 35 mm film canister with a few matches dipped in wax! fits in a pocket or pack.
Mulligan
Silver $$ Contributor
Just checked what I had in my hunting pack.
Sometimes after elk season, I forget to resupply.
Good to go!
I have used the cotton balls with Vaseline in some of the ugliest conditions, it and the magnesium fire starter have never let me down. I carry the lighter and strike anywhere matches in an orange waterproof match container as a back up. You fight as you train. Use the mag and cotton balls every time and it will not be a problem when you need it
CW
Edit,
The light sticks are super handy to hang near where the fire will be so your hands are free to work. I discovered this one night in the high Rockies with my son. He was gathering wood to get a fire going and kept bringing it to the light of my headlamp and not the location we chose for the fire. I hung a light stick and it worked so well, I continue it’s use today.
I had a habit of setting up a spike camp on the ridge north and south of my main camp, so I had shelter, food, and water no matter where we ended up....... you shoot elk where you find ‘em!
CW
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Just a few.of the things in my daypack. They weigh next.to nothing but all have come in handy at.one time or.another.
I carry multiple ways of building a fire but the one my grandkids always want to play with is the.lightn'n strike. Petroleum jelly cotton balls stored in one end and a striker on the other. Works great in the wind because the barrel focuses the sparks. Holland sells them. 8 recommend everyone stash one In their daypack.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lightning+strike+firestarter&oq=lightn+'n+strike.firestart&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.24396j0j9&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#
I carry multiple ways of building a fire but the one my grandkids always want to play with is the.lightn'n strike. Petroleum jelly cotton balls stored in one end and a striker on the other. Works great in the wind because the barrel focuses the sparks. Holland sells them. 8 recommend everyone stash one In their daypack.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lightning+strike+firestarter&oq=lightn+'n+strike.firestart&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.24396j0j9&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#
Tent camping in florida in the summertime is miserable but the winters can be nice.
Sand gnats and yellow flies have drove me off good fishing spots many times.
Get out before the sun and be back to air conditioning by noon before those thunder storms start to build
That pack is for the Rockies. Don't get far enough from the truck hunting or fishing in florida to need it.
Sand gnats and yellow flies have drove me off good fishing spots many times.
Get out before the sun and be back to air conditioning by noon before those thunder storms start to build
That pack is for the Rockies. Don't get far enough from the truck hunting or fishing in florida to need it.
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