Survival / Camping Tip

[MK-M-GOBL]

Here’s a little survival tip that I thought I share. I hope that nobody ever needs to use it but if so, you’ll now know. If you ever find yourself way back in the woods and needing to spend the night, birch bark makes a great fire starter. Not only does it make a great fire starter but it will even light up if it’s wet.

In Vermont on opening morning I took a piece back to camp to show the guys. I put the bark and submerged it in a puddle of water for a little bit. Took it out and put the lighter to the wettest part of it. After only a few seconds the thing was fully engulfed in flames. The birch bark has a natural fire accelerant in it that makes it light able no matter how wet it gets. It really works and could someday come in handy if you ever find yourself needing to start a fire in wet conditions

[regnar]

I can attest to the effectiveness of this tip.

About 10 years ago I was duck hinting down a remote river in Northern Ontario with my father in law. The temps were in the low 40's and it was windy and rainy. We shot a small rapid and managed to flip the canoe. Us, the paddles, two fishing poles and tackle box, a Beretta AL390 and a Belgium Browning A-5 went in the drink. My father in law cant swim so I got him first. Then I went after the guns. Mine was wedged against a rock and was easy. My fathers in laws browning was in about 8 feet of water when I found it. The paddles were plastic and floated so my father in law fished them out. We we lost one fishing pole (brand new!!) and tackle box.

I figured I would get some small branches and show my father in law how to build a fire. He was busy gathering some larger pieces of wood getting it ready to build a fire. I told him he need smaller stuff and head out to find some. When I headed back the fires was BALZING. I swear he striped about 6 feet of birch bark of a tree and piled 1'- 2' pine branches in a teepee over the wood and it lit like nothing.

After several hours of drying out we headed back down the river. We ended up finding the tackle box. It was a solid 6 hour trip so after our extended break we were on the river for almost 9 hours. With the car in site a couple ducks took off in a side channel to our left and as we both reached for the guns over we went again!!! much shallower this time and we just got everything together and head to the truck!!

[browning204]

The natural fire accelerant is called Oil!