Fire Starting in the Backcountry

Learn the basic principles of fire-making and you’ll enjoy your time in the backcountry all the better. Even when you don’t need a fire, it’s comforting just knowing that you could make one if you wanted it.

It’s wise to pack along fire-starting materials when hunting in wet country, and to pick up suitable fire-starting materials as you encounter them rather than waiting until you desperately need them.

A: A few strips of newsprint tucked inside a Ziplock can be a lifesaver.

B: Commercial fire-starting pastes, such as Mautz Fire Ribbon, are cheap simple products that take much of the stress out of fire building. A proper, well-organized pile of tinder and kindling on top of a quarter-sized dab of paste will rarely refuse to burn. Or, if necessary, you can skip the tinder altogether and jump right to pencil-sized sticks.

C: Coughlan Fire Sticks are waterproof, non-toxic, and let off a strong and long-burning flame.

D: Keep two lighters in your gear and keep at least one of them in a sealable plastic bag. It doesn’t hurt to be over-prepared, carry a few wooden matches inside a waterproof match-holder as well.

E: Dried bird’s nests are excellent emergency fire starters. In rainy conditions, check tree cavities for bird’s nests; often, these are perfectly dry when everything else is dripping wet.

F: The bark from paper birch burns amazingly well. It is full of resinous oils that repel water and ignite into a hot blaze when touched with a match or lighter. It is easy to collect; sheets will literally fall away from living trees.

G: Fatwood, or heart pine, is a highly combustible kindling taken from the resin-impregnated heartwood of pines such as jack pine and longleaf pine.