Missing hunters in Colorado

[ElDiablito]

I cut the handle off my toothbrush. No way in hell am I packing a road flare…..

 

[Dr.Spaniel]

I cut the handle off my toothbrush. No way in hell am I packing a road flare…..

You don’t have the toothbrush with the road flare handle?

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

If your going into hypothermia and everything around you is soaking wet where are you getting dry material to light with cotton balls? Char cloth is simarially useless in a situation like that. JMO, YMMV.

Go outside in pouring rain and give those methods a try.

Mf22 your post was very interesting, thanks.

These things work exceedingly well. I have never had to start a fire in wet stuff out west, but I have several times in Florida where the humidity is regularly 95% and there is a ton of rain/moisure.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/zippo-tinder-shreds-fire-starter

My understanding is the lower dead branches on fir trees are a good source of dry wood in the rain, and most fixed blade knives can be used to split stuff you wouldn’t believe using another piece of wood as a baton. If you only carry a havalon it’s not going to help you.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I had a strange experience hunting in rain that turned to heavy sleet, that I wouldn’t have believed if someone else told the story. I‘ve hunted in rain that turned to snow my whole life and always have enough insulation and Goretex to hunt in the wind and snow, but this was the heaviest sleet I’ve been in and it was different - much colder than a snowy day. At the point heavy sleet had been falling about two hours I was too cold to not shake and had to stop to make a fire even though I was hiking up hill. Something about 100% humidity and 32 degree temps just really sucked the heat out of me.

I was in a similar situation in Idaho last year. Killed an elk on day one a little before dark, brought the shoulders down the mountain in the rain in the thickets/steepest stuff I’ve ever been in, we each fell probably 30 times.

The rest of the meat was hung in a tree and I went back up solo to bring it down the next day. As I’m about to come down with the first load, it starts raining, and then turns into sleet and then snow that whites out everything pretty heavily.

It’s weird being in a situation wondering if your best bet is to haul ass into terrain where you can’t see well because it’s only going to get deeper and slicker, or if it’s wiser to just sit and wait for 30 minutes to a hour and hope it will stop rather than be an 8 hour blizzard.

 

[mad_angler]

In one sense, it might not matter what actually happened these young men.

It could have been hypothermia. We have a had a good discussion about how to avoid that.
It could have been lightning. We talked about how to avoid that.
It could have been falling down steep terrain rather than walking around. We talked about that.
It could have been a rockslide. We talked a little about that.

They could have used their in-reach diffrently (breadcrumbs). We talked a bit about that.

I think we will all pack a little different and act a bit different this fall.

 

[Bobrobheimer]

In one sense, it might not matter what actually happened these young men.

It could have been hypothermia. We have a had a good discussion about how to avoid that.
It could have been lightning. We talked about how to avoid that.
It could have been falling down steep terrain rather than walking around. We talked about that.
It could have been a rockslide. We talked a little about that.

They could have used their in-reach diffrently (breadcrumbs). We talked a bit about that.

I think we will all pack a little different and act a bit different this fall.

Well said.

 

[eamyrick]

These things work exceedingly well. I have never had to start a fire in wet stuff out west, but I have several times in Florida where the humidity is regularly 95% and there is a ton of rain/moisure.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/zippo-tinder-shreds-fire-starter

My understanding is the lower dead branches on fir trees are a good source of dry wood in the rain, and most fixed blade knives can be used to split stuff you wouldn’t believe using another piece of wood as a baton. If you only carry a havalon it’s not going to help you.

Used the on an Alaskan week long float trip that rained 95% of the time. They are the absolute best I’ve found. I keep them in a folded zip lock with some strike anywhere matches. Guide on a second trip to Alaska was amazed how much better they work than piro putty. Picture is 38 degrees and raining.

 

[Dan Carey]

In one sense, it might not matter what actually happened these young men.

It could have been hypothermia. We have a had a good discussion about how to avoid that.
It could have been lightning. We talked about how to avoid that.
It could have been falling down steep terrain rather than walking around. We talked about that.
It could have been a rockslide. We talked a little about that.

They could have used their in-reach diffrently (breadcrumbs). We talked a bit about that.

I think we will all pack a little different and act a bit different this fall.

Some people are willing to take chances that others would never even think of taking. We are all guilty of doing unsafe things in our lives that turned out OK those times. As I get older I have given it more thought about my mortality.
You can get the Zippo tender sherds on Amazon also.

 

[huntsman22]

I still carry, and use, Trioxane as fire starter.....

 

[Smithb9841]

Best thing I learned for a fire kit was on this page. Cotton balls lathered in vasaline and keep in air tight container or even zip lock bag. (Just be aware eventually they might dry out 6 months later or so)

Thanks for posting this. I’m glad you posted that they can dry out I would have assumed they would last a long time. I have an old pill bottle stuffed with Vaseline cotton balls that’s been in my bag for a couple years. I guess I’ll have to pull them out and check them.

 

[EdP]

That's why you've got to keep your body heat up. But I'm a little different than most I guess. If I sit in 70 degree temps I get cold, I need more insulation. I often joke about "if the temps drop below 98.6, I start to chill". But once I start moving, my furnace kicks on into hyperdrive and the heat just emanates off me......even in single digit temps wearing only a base layer up top. That's probably one reason why I'm always on the move. I HATE being cold.

That's me. If is sit still I get cold, then break a sweat tying my shoes.

 

[Dan Carey]

Yeah, That never happen to me when I was younger. Now I'm freezing my butt off siting and if I start to move I'm sweating.

 

[tall]

It could have been a rockslide. We talked a little about that.

I don’t know if it was mentioned earlier but a precaution I use when crossing severe avalanche and rockslide zones is for one guy at a time to cross the danger area. That way if something happens it doesn’t take out the whole party.

 

[*zap*]

These things work exceedingly well. I have never had to start a fire in wet stuff out west, but I have several times in Florida where the humidity is regularly 95% and there is a ton of rain/moisure.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/zippo-tinder-shreds-fire-starter

My understanding is the lower dead branches on fir trees are a good source of dry wood in the rain, and most fixed blade knives can be used to split stuff you wouldn’t believe using another piece of wood as a baton. If you only carry a havalon it’s not going to help you

Sure those things work well but there are much better things if you are hypothermic and may die soon. That is not really an ideal time to gather dry wood, baton wood or play with a ferro rod.
I am talking about not dying from hypothermia is a desperate emergency situation when seconds count and not talking about bushcrafting when an hour or two do not matter much.
Road flare and you have a fire very fast with very little effort.
I have started hundreds of fires by all means possible.

 

[rayporter]

what ever your choice of fire making practice it in bad weather---often.

i make coffee every day i am out with trioxane, rain, wind, snow, sleet, hot, cold, so i know it will start a fire.

i have had cotton balls and Vaseline fail me and had to go to the trioxane.

and i have carried a road flare too. [ on float hunts] on one float i came real close to using the flare after 5 days of rain, and after the cotton balls failed the trioxane worked,

 

[RS_Non-Res]

The google gave me this...

"Trioxane Fire Starter:
It is also effective at starting fires, though it should be used with caution as its fumes are toxic and water can spread the fire when trying to extinguish it."

Apparently comes in pellets and "soldiers" use it too.

 

[BBob]

The google gave me this...

"Trioxane Fire Starter:
It is also effective at starting fires, though it should be used with caution as its fumes are toxic and water can spread the fire when trying to extinguish it."

Apparently comes in pellets and "soldiers" use it too.

Buy it on eBay for cheap and vac seal 2-4 of them together. Each bar is individually packaged and can be broken into several pieces.

 

[yfarm]

Used the on an Alaskan week long float trip that rained 95% of the time. They are the absolute best I’ve found. I keep them in a folded zip lock with some strike anywhere matches. Guide on a second trip to Alaska was amazed how much better they work than piro putty. Picture is 38 degrees and raining.

View attachment 938842

Looks miserable, son had similar experience in early September in BWCA. Incessant cold rain.