In my 50 plus years doing all this stuff, I've needed one once. I was moose hunting up in NE Manitoba, in the Ferry Rock region. Long story short, we ran out of gas for the outboards and while the outfitter was content to play cards in the cabin until the gas showed up, I was not. We had had a bull encounter in an area not far from the cabin so I loaded up the canoe, paddled across the lake, through a little channel to another lake and then to the far end of the second lake to a rock outcropping. I got up to the top of that rock outcropping and got comfortable, fresh moose sign in the area. I settled in, got my binos out and did a little moose calling. After a short time, I was rewarded with a reply grunt from across the lake. I went back down to the canoe, loaded my stuff back in and shoved off. My mistake, didn't get settled into the canoe and rolled it right over. In a fraction of a second, I was soaked! Got back on shore and emptied out the canoe, thankfully, didn't loose anything, nothing was at the bottom of the lake. Air temperature was in the mid 30°'s, no ice on the lake but the water was cold. Soaking wet and shivering, I got a fire going and dug out my second set of clothes that were in my waterproof daypack. So at least I had dry, and eventually, warm clothes. Glad I got the fire going, warmed me, and my spirit, back up. Should have just put the wet shoes back on when paddling back to the cabin, the bottom of the aluminum canoe got pretty cold with just socks on. Amazing how fast I forgot all about the moose that grunted back at me!
Should add, started this fire with wooden matches that I kept in a metal twist top waterproof match holder and dryer lint kept in a plastic ziplock baggie. There was an abundant supply of dry kindling, so thankfully, that wasn't a problem.
Last edited by DeanAnderson; 09/17/22.
