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  Hunting GearHunting PhotosOur MissionSafety Topics |
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We are proud of
our PitchWitch fire starters and all of the other fine hunting gear we supply.
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| "Thanks for your wonderful products! your
Binosoft Pouches were a life saver on my recent safari to Africa. With the low humidity
and dusty conditions, the pouch saved my binoculars from excessive wear and damage." Kyle Ball |
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"Thanks for the
RidgeRunner Kit. It's great! The kit helped me have the confidence to go the extra
distance it took to harvest this nice 300 + pound black bear. One arrow brought him down
within 60 yards. I was 3 1/2 miles behind a road closure and had to spend the night to get
him out. Your kit helped me stay comfortable through the night." Ivan Crews |
 My brother
Rohn and I recently experienced an extreme Mountain Goat hunt in Kiliuda Bay on Kodiak
Island, Alaska. Any goat hunt can be extreme, but Kodiak in October can be really extreme,
receiving up to 15 inches of rain in October alone. We flew out on October 2, 1998 packed
in for two days and established a base camp. I killed a heavy, beautiful, 9-inch billy on
the fourth day, and Rohn got an equivalent 9-inch billy on the next day. Now the weather
took a turn for the worse, boasting high winds, constant rain and occasional snow
flurries. We packed for the next seven days to get the goats to where the plane had let us
off. We returned, and packed the camp out on October 15, expecting to be picked up in the
super cub the next day as previously scheduled.Our pick up day turned out to be a young hurricane. So did the next, and needless to say, we were at the mercy of Mother Nature to break long enough for Cub Air to get us out. It was cold, and we had been wet for nearly a week. Fortunately, we both had King of The Mountain wool clothes which performed beyond my wildest expectations, and we had PitchWitch Fire Starters. After more than ten days of rain and snow, there was nothing dry enough to get a fire started. Saturated driftwood, wet alder and decaying cottonwood, was all we had to work with. We put two PitchWitches on a piece of wet bark, and built a "cabin style" fire over them with small, wet sticks. I honestly believe that one would have been plenty, because it lit easily, and continued to stay ignited amidst a downpour of rain and wind. When the pitch core took off, it produced a very hot and determined flame. It continued to burn long enough to dry the fuel above it, and in only minutes, we had a very welcomed fire. We sat around our PitchWitch fire for three days, defending our goat meat from the prominent population of Kodiak grizzly bears, and re-living the experiences of the past 16 days. We finally recognized the subtle purr of a bush plane and got picked up on October 18, 1998. Extreme? Well maybe...but not if you are prepared. Always have proper gear, good hunting partners, and PitchWitch Fire Starters. When it comes to hunting gear, we have a standard rule to "live" by: "Buy the best, take care of it and don’t loan it out." I promise you, if you have King of The Mountain wool clothes, Impertech rain gear, and PitchWitch Fire Starters, it sure will be a lot easier and more comfortable waiting for that bush plane. Thanks BackCounty for adhering to your quality standards. Respectfully, John and Rohn Nelson |
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"With shorter
seasons and more hunting pressure, more hunters are entering the back country looking for
those big bucks. That means getting away from the crowds. I hunt the back country two or
three miles from the nearest road, hunt hard and am prepared for all kinds of
weather." "I carry a PitchWitch Hunter kit with PitchWitch fire starters. It gives you a good feeling just knowing you can build a life-saving fire any time you need to." Denny Brown |
| "When the rain is blowing sideways and you are wet and
cold. You need to be able to start a fire fast. The PitchWitch fire starter provides a
constant flame that helps dry out kindling and start a fire quick. A must for a hunters
daypack!" Lennis Janzen |
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Mary Beauchamp |
 "PitchWitch
fire-starters have been the handiest damn things to get a fire going. I usually use them
for starting fires at camp but more than once I have found them convenient on a day
outing.Two years ago the little red fire-starters did save me from hypothermia and I was far enough from my pickup I shudder to think of the outcome had I not built a fire. Wet from sweat, falling snow from tree branches and falling temperatures the higher I went; I chilled out fast. I could hardly use my fingers to get a few twigs in place; early stage of hypothermia. I dried myself out some - raised my body temperature and plodded back before darkness fell upon me. Later I heard a report that two young hunters froze to death trying to get back to their rig in that same storm. When searchers cut their tracks, they found three separate spots where the two had stopped and attempted to build fires. Their bodies were found just a few hundred yards from the road and their rig. Here in Montana someone dies every winter because of ill-preparedness. Many perish when their rig quits or gets stuck miles from anyone else. I carry a Survial II in my glovebox and one in my pack at all times. They may be there forever, but then some day they may be needed!" Thom Norby |
 "When I hunt I hunt hard. I'm usually two
ridges further back than most hunters, and I've probably backpacked in. My normal stay is
three to five days. It's big, wild country and it's surprising how far from camp I can
get. I'm always coming back to camp well after dark.""Hunting in South Central Montana at elevations of 7,000 to 8,000 feet, the weather can be great at 10 AM and by 1 PM the wind can be blowing, the temperature might have dropped 30 degrees, and it can be snowing hard." "When you hunt like I do, where I do, you have to be able to start a fire fast under any conditions. I've used PitchWithces™ for nearly twenty years. I've started a lot of morning and evening camp fires, and a few emergency fires as well." "One I particularly remember was a hunt in early September with my Dad and my hunting partner Wes. We had backpacked into a remote area in South Central Montana. The first day we hunted and video'd in a cold drizzle. That night we went to bed early hoping for better weather and looking forward to more close encounters with big bulls." "Dad woke me up at 1:00 am. He looked worried and said he was chilled, having chest pains and having trouble breathing. He said he had to get out of that damn little tent." "I could understand his claustrophobia but I knew it was cold out. I gathered the best kindling I could find, placed some wood around it, nestled a couple of PitchWitches™ in the kindling and lit them. It took a couple of minutes, but soon the fire was burning and the soup was hot." "The Wind died down, the rain stopped, and Dad and I sat around the warm fire long after he had finished his soup.We sat and told stories and warmed ourselves until his chills were gone and so were his fears. The next morning we eased off the mountain and took him to the doctor. He was fine." "My family doesn't hike or hunt in the back woods without PitchWitches in a pocket or a fanny pack. If you guys are smart you'll carry them too. If your wives are smart, they'll make sure you do." Terry Trim |
| "I've tried a lot of fire starters and the
PitchWitches are truly the best I've ever used." "The worst time I ever had building a fire was at Black Lake in the Jewell Basin. Every year we hike there with Jim and Linda, good friends of my Wife Sue and I." "1994 was a very wet year and a late spring, but we decided to go anyway. We hiked through 4 to 5 foot of snow and it rained most of the way." "With all the rain everything was soaked and we were all cold so Jim and I started to build a fire. Everything was wet, there was no moss or dry twigs anywhere in the alpine firs. Finally I dug into my pack and pulled out some PitchWitches. Within minutes we had a nice fire." Wes Plummer |
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| "Four straight days of rain, everything
soaked including ourselves, and hot on the trail of a big bull and his harem. A night out
was not going to be fun but necessary if we wanted a chance at this bull. The PitchWitches
were just what we needed, getting the wet tender burning quickly, and helping turn a
miserable night out into a short interlude between hunts! I don't go anywhere now without
them!" Bill Dunn |
Photo not available |
(800)381-5437
BackCountry, Inc.
PO Box 190
19924 320th Avenue NE
Duvall, WA 98019
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"I
wouldn't have been any wetter if I'd hopped in the shower. The difference was I was
packing 40 pounds on my back, fully dressed and my hands were numb. The wind raged and
blew with so much force the torrential rain was coming at us horizontal to the ground as
we plodded along. The weather brought new meaning to"dampening the spirits" of
my first backcountry hunting experience!"