Starting a fire in snow/rain

[Alpine Mojo]

Vaseline and cotton balls are waterproof and cost next to nothing.  So is paraffin mixed with sawdust or lint.  I never understood all the fire starting gimmicks on the internet these days.

[jasnt]

Vaseline and cotton balls are waterproof and cost next to nothing.  So is paraffin mixed with sawdust or lint.  I never understood all the fire starting gimmicks on the internet these days.

and both can be bought at the dollar store.

[T-Dozzer]

Another vote for dryer lint & wax

[boneaddict]

Vaseline and cotton balls are waterproof and cost next to nothing.  So is paraffin mixed with sawdust or lint.  I never understood all the fire starting gimmicks on the internet these days.

It's all I use if needed.   

[Bushcraft]

I've been using fire straws for many years.  I make them out of bright colored large diameter plastic straws (think slushy sized straws), cotton balls and Vaseline.

Cut the straws to 2" to 3". Seal one end of the straws by pinching with hot pliers.  Melt the Vaseline. Dip a cotton ball in the Vaseline and stuff it into the straw with a toothpick. Two to three cotton balls will fit in a straw. Seal the end and wipe excess Vaseline off the straw that is now sealed at both ends. Done.

The beauty of these is that you can make a bunch of these for next to nothing, they weigh next to nothing, take up almost no volume and they can be stashed in your pants and shirt pockets as well as a dedicated fire starting kit in your pack and they make zero mess.  Super easy to light with either a lighter (sealed or cut and fluff one end) or a spark (by cutting and fluffing one end) and you can conveniently hold one end to slide it under your tinder.  Burns quite a long time.  Easy to add another straw if you need more heat to get a fire kicking off in more difficult conditions.

[birddogdad]

saw a cool thing once where parifin wax was heated and dry moose droppings were put in. fire starter pellets.. I would think that any big game pellets dryed that way and put in wax, kept in ziplock...

[Highmountaindan]

Hey guys,

I plan on doing some backcountry hunting on the west side in November. It's guaranteed to be wet. Any tips on starting a fire in these conditions? Any special tricks or gear you use?

Take some old mans beard moss that is dry to mostly dry. Usually you can find some near a tree trunk where it is not as wet. Take you pocket knife and cut open sap pockets on young fir trees and load up the moss with the sap. Make about 5 half goofball to golf ball size sap balls and you have natures most readily available fire starter that will lite on fire when moist and burn long enough to get tinder going. I use this technique when it is damp and moist.

[Okanagan]

Good stuff.  Herewith a few comments from experience:

1.  Trioxane, which I have used for years on backpack hunts, will evaporate/disappear while in your pack or pocket if the foil packet gets a pinhole in it.  It lights super easily and burns hot but may let you down.  If you carry it, check once in awhile to make sure it is still useable.

2.  In my experiments with drier lint and pure cotton balls, the cotton balls were significantly better.  I am sure that in my case that is due to having synthetics and other fibers that don't burn as well as cotton in the lint mix.  Your lint may be a better fire starter than mine. 

3.  Easiest and least messy way to get Vaseline on cotton balls for me was to put a big dab of Vaseline into a Ziploc bag with a bunch of cotton balls, seal the top and knead the Vaseline into the cotton like working bread dough. 

4.  Can't ditto enough to gather a LOT of the smallest and driest of wood plus LOTS of the next size.  Starting a fire in West End rain in November is easy compared to keeping it going-  almost impossible at times with backpack gear.   It takes considerable prep time gathering stuff, consciously arranging for the initial flame to go up through a large bundle of the finest hair-like twigs (which will be too damp to snap if it has rained for weeks) and constant attention and constant drying of wood.  To get the best burn, break off all branches of the finest twigs so that they lie side by side rather than having forks and branches make the little twigs spread out too much to burn well in a tight bundle.  IME a fire is not worth the effort sometimes.