This weekend was opening of Muzzleloader season here in Ok and I was of course in the woods. There are pine trees everywhere in all stages of growth and as I sat waiting on my 8 point buck to come along, I know that Les and Baer use the pine branches to make shelters and beds and the sap is a great fire starter, but there are other uses.

We cooked several items in a dutch oven and my hunting buddy asked how should we remove the coals from the top to avoid getting it in the food. I reached up grabbed a branch and swept off the tops.

Later, some dishes were dirty and the food was being stubborn..again I went to the pine, grabbed a hand full of needles and they made an excellent pot scrubber.

To ensure my clothes stayed fresh, I took some pine and shoved it in a bag with my clothes, and then before heading out...I rubbed the needles all over me...leaves behind a nice pine scent.

Got the 8 point by the way.

Amazing...and that's just one tree. Now if you could just cook over the wood.

Hi Hghvlocity,

Congradulations on getting your buck, I am packing right now to go deer hunting at my camp next week. My son is an Apprentice Hunter (14 years old) which means that we use one firearm and he does the shooting, Dad does the instructing/supervising. It has worked out great as a training and father/son bonding technique over the past 2 years.

I have another use for pine boughs. When I hunt moose out of my wall tent camp we heat it with a small tin wood with a 5" chimney pipe. When the stove is rocking in the evening it can get so hot in the tent that you have to strip down to your shorts, but let the fire go out and it gets cold in a hurry. The wood be burn in the stove is just scrap left over from logging and often it is not the best, producing a lot of soot and cresote. One night it plugged the spark arrestor and filled the tent with smoke, the smoke alarm woke us up. Now when soot starts to build up we take down the 3 pieces of pipe and run a bushy pine bough through them a couple of times, it cleans them very well.

Mike

Now that we have extolled the virtues of pine, can someone tell me a good way to get pine pitch off of my tent/clothes/pack in the field? Goo Gone works, but I usually keep the solvents at home.

Sometimes peanut butter or mayo.