Your out in the backcountry and......

[teachrtec]

........your stuck for the night. What have you got on you to start a fire? What is your back-up?

I often feel like I am ill prepared for this possible scenario

[Jermz]

Well see, I'm all for the campfire, but I gotta have means to lite a cigar first - so I usually carry wooden blue tips, then a back up is a triple flame torchlighter, then a metal match should that fail... I usually have some sort of flamage makin materials to those effects....since I usually carry a camera a lens works for a mag glass (course tough to use at nite) and lately I've been liking the steel wool and 9v... regardless, I gonna get that cigar lit! ;D

[Tentwing]

To be honest this is something I always worry about.

Way back in the early 1990's I was fishing on the White River at a place called Roundhouse Shoals That has a very large island in the middle of the river. I was fishing the side of the island opposite of the access, and before I realized it the water had come up.

Well I didn't own a cell phone till 2001. , so just call me "Island Boy" What would have been a terribly miserable night on the island was made less miserable by a campfire.

I just happen to have a Zippo is my vest that I had found on a river bank years before. I tried to give it to a friend (Gray Ghost) who smoked because it was obviously an expensive lighter. (Well in true Ghost fashion for those of you who know him ) He had It cleaned and restored and then gave it back to me saying it was a Good luck fishing charm and I should keep with me in my vest, so i put it in the pocket with my lucky arrowhead.

Now I own more lighters than any non-smoker you have ever met ; bet on it. Bic make a mini-disposable that comes in a 4 pack available at the Doller General and Fred's for a buck.

They fit very well in the watch pocket of a pair of blue jeans. I have one in every pair of waders i own, in the ash tray of my truck, probably more than one in my vest, one in the pocket of my sleeping bags, and in the pockets of my camo.

Most importantly there is one as well as Magnesium and a striker in my Survival kit which i don't go into the woods without.

Fishermen and Hunters are the two most likely genre's to get lost in the woods. Unlike Hikers and Campers they don't usually carry maps, compasses, or the tools necessary to ward off exposure.
Remember the rule of 3's.......Lack food can kill in 3 weeks, lack of water can kill in 3 days, and exposure can kill in 3 hours.

I kind of hoped this new section of the board would bring about threads like this one. The more informed Anglers are the better they able to avoid danger.

Good topic teachrtec,.............Tentwing

[rbaileydav]

i just pull the belly button lint outta my navel and use that to start a fire.

DD

[Petey]

I use my navel belly button lint... but I run out I use DD's...

I almost have two lighters on me. One in my pocket one in a water proof bag. On a wet night I would be in trouble. But typically I can find tender. And if you find a good pine tree, even if it is damp you can strip the bark off of it, split the wet outside strips off of it and it will light pretty easily.

[flip]

I am a bit of traditionalist. Yes, a lighter will start a fire for you , but what if you take an unexpected swim? Then your lighter will be useless until it dries out. I always cary a smal piece of iron pyrite and flint. It is also good to know how to make and use a "fire bow". It takes some practice, but you can make a fire pretty quick with one.