Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum 3 things to carry

My girlfriend has one of the wax melter candle smelly things. When the wax no longer smells, I take a wad of dryer lint and use it to soak up the wax. When it dries, you can break it into pieces and it makes great firestarter.

I didn't realize so many of you hunted in wilderness area's. My club is only 400 acres, and is surrounded by roads. My farm, well, i can't get lost on 80 acres. All good idea's so far.

Yep. I learned that trick from my squad leader when I was in the Army. I swore he was part-arsonist when I watched him get a fire going in water-logged SW Louisiana.

one of the absolute best things you can throw in your pack for a fire is the lint from your dryer screen and a couple matches or a lighter. Stick a chunk in a little snack size ziplock bag with your lighter and it takes up no space/or weight.

The 3 items I listed are just for hunting in general, especially out alone. The areas I hunt are typically 4-12 mile rides on the mountain bike/hiking and I carry A LOT more than those 3 items. I always carry those 3 plus, a few others no matter what.

The biggy for fire and light are that they serve you in an emergency and help others locate you. Most searches include FLIR and NVG use by the crews. Once while stationed in Michigan, we found a party of 4 stranded in a swamp. Their snowmobiles had broken through the ice. It was single digit temps, they were wet, and one even had his boots pull off in the mud. We spotted his lighter flame through NVG's from about a mile or so away. If not for the light source, it would have been a while before we searched that area and found them.

roadkill is right: gotta have enough fuel in appropriate sizes to keep the fire going. haste makes waste ...

I don't carry them with me but a couple of small bags of Fritos corn chips in your bag would be good to carry. You'd have a snack if you needed it and you can use them to start a fire with. They burn hot.

3 basic necessities that I learned from my time in the army are simple. Security, hydration, safety. I have a magnesium fire starter that is tied all together with about 30ft of 550 cord. A clean an always full water source. And when I say water source I mean a metal canteen. And there is always my sidearm by my side. Because if I run out of food. I can kill it. If I run out of water I can purify it with fire in my canteen. And I always have a way to start a fire.

Ha ha your 6 posts late Homer

It's not so much that you can get lost on 80 acres, or 400, or just going out for an evening hunt.

You can, of course, if you're unfamiliar with the area or light out and truly get turned around. But moreso to me the issue is perhaps rolling an ankle or breaking a bone, poking my eye with a limb I don't see, an emergency that would be more than just getting turned around on 80 acres.

Firestarter - magnesium sparker, dryer lint, small candle, whatever
Knife
Paracord
Water, some kind of snack bar
iPhone - yeah, we pooh-pooh these and don't want them with us in the woods. But if you have a signal and can text or call, then use it. Or at least use the compass. If the battery's dead then so be it.
Whistle

Oops. I added one. Mississippi math.

I don't hunt wilderness either.What I do hunt is alot of deep hollows and far from civilization.Alot of times I am the only one down there and if I broke an ankle or anything that immobilized me I might have to spend the night out there.That is why I tote the stuff I do.

Extra truck keys hidden in tool box can also be helpful.

I always have a stash of Belly Button lint to use as fire starter. I suspect most of you Wolfy Goobers do too.

I HUNT 44,000 ACRES AND 90% OF THE TIME IM IN A CANOE BY MY SELF WEATHER CAN CHANGE WITH IN AN HOUR SOMETIMES, I CARRY A ZIPLOC BAG (GALLON) WITH LIGHTER, STERNO FUEL, COTTON BALLS WITH PETROLEUM JELLY, SPLINTERS OF LIGHTER KNOT AND 3 SPACE BLANKETS.. ALSO CARRY A WATER TIGHT PLASTIC AMMO BOX WITH ENOUGH MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO FIX ANYTHING, EVEN CARRY MY OWN I.V. FLUIDS AND NEEDLES IN CASE I HAVE NO POTABLE WATER HANDY

I was driving from Nashville to South Pittsburg, TN on I-24 last week and wanted to know the elevation of Monteagle, TN. I thought the compass on my iPhone might show elevation. I clicked on the app and had to roll the little red ball around in a circle to calibrate the compass, and it told me I was driving SW. It never changed to SE. I need to check it now and see if it's still wrong. It was sort of freaky seeing N&S reversed, knowing that if I ever needed it for an emergency it could be wrong.

It was probably due to electrical and/or magnetic interference inside the truck.

Imonna go check it right now.

This maybe cheating, but the best fire starter ever is tire rubber. I have tons of it where we groove and true truck tires in the shop. It's in nice little spaghetti noodle size strips and shavings.