From the CPF:

"Has anyone ever carried road flares? The pop/strike kind, not the gun. I used to hike with a guy who always had two waterproof flares strapped to his pack. The idea was if you really needed to signal anyone, see, or defend yourself really badly (aka furry and ferocious), they could do the job. Over the years I've surprised (or been surprised by) bull moose, bears, wolves/coyotes and such, and so far I've been lucky. The idea of carrying a flare for defense, in addition to the basic utility of the flares, seems sound. Obviously if you're hiking in an area with alot of dried brush, any kind of flame seems like a bad idea. What do you guys think?"

Thread:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthre...p;amp;fpart=all

So what do you guys/gals think? Pete

hand held flares for signalling in any forested area is useless unless you use them to start a forest fire. The tree cover would block most if not all of the "signal".

Hand held flares for self-defense is no better or worse than a flaming torch. Difference is if you pull a flaming branch from your campfire and wave it around you still have the campfire as well. The hand-held torch will go out before the patience of the furry aggressor. Also there are serious deployment issues with flares for defense. A bear will be charging at something close to 30 mph from a distance of less than 100 yards. This gives you ~5 seconds to deploy. With a revolver you might get two rounds out. With a hand-held flare you will still be trying to get the cap off when the bear munches down on your cranium.

I think that the true risk from critters is much less than the risk from the maniac in the car next to you during your morning commute. We go through our daily lives taking and ignoring greater risks all the time. This isn't an argument for lack or preparation but rather for reasoned preparations. If something is impossible to prepare for adequately (nuclear blast, meteor strike, 747 flying into our office) we will deny it or accept the risk, if something is too low probability to be worth the cost of preparations (lightning strike, meteor strike, flood in the mountains, Iceberg in the tropics) we will accept the risk, if something has low - no serious consequence (button falls off, finger scraped pulling a circuit board, drivers arm sunburn) we will not bother preparing for it. We must evaluate each situation that worries us and really do the research on the statistical probability and severity of consequences and effectiveness of mitigating preparations to determine if it is worth worrying about.

In the case of defending yourself while in the wilderness the only effective defense is a firearm and proper training. The training should cover the means of avoiding conflict as well as handling conflict. The simple expedient of tying a cow-bell to the top of you hiking staff is sufficient to ward off almost all wild-life attacks. You might still be stalked by a carnivore like a large cat but omnivores like bears won't be surprised by your appearance and therefore won't be seen by you or threatened by you and so won't attack. If you are in circumstances where humans are your problem then you either must evade and escape or kill and nothing beats a gun for those options.

BTW deploying a firearm while an attacker (bear or human) is charging you is much different than target shooting at the range. This is a skill that must be practiced while under stress and fear.

Attacks by large predatory animals are very rare. Wolves,Coyotes and bears are successful because different personality types allows for wide adaptation. The "unpredictable" bear is just as predictable through carefull observation as the teenager in gang attire or boyscout uniform. I had two 'encounters' with kodiaks in Alaska. The first was on the Buskin river. I blundered onto a huge male. I fired one warning round from a 1911 before overzealous oiling froze the slide. He gave me a look of contempt ( stupid Califonia Coast Guard idiots) and moved on. Later I was working off duty as Exchange janitor. I was waxing the deck and backed into a mounted bear. In the twilight I saw this huge monster rocking back and forth. I ran, or actually slid across the wet wax and slammed into the opposite wall. I stared at the "'stuffed bear", turned <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> and looked around to see if anybody walking by saw my antics. I got myself to the library and Alaska F&G the next day to learn something usefull besides barroom reminisces. The only time a large animal truly presented any danger was a bull moose challenging our C130 landing on the mainland <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

A friend of mine is a sheriffs deputy, and on their search and rescue team. He carries a variety of fire starting goodies in his pack, and his sure-fire-never-fail fire starter is a cut down flare. He cuts the butt end off, leaving a flare with an overall length of about 2.5 inches. He then makes a small wooden plug to fit into the cut off end and nails it in place with some short nails. Not worth a damn for scaring off anything, but it gives him five+ minutes of super hot flame that will dry out then ignite almost anything...

Hmm...
Hammering nails into road flares, Seems a little dangerous to me. Is there something more to this story?

I immediately envisioned explosions or, at the very least, unexpected, "very hot flames" jetting out of the road flare right about where the nail goes in.

I usually carry a road flare when deer hunting. Not only can they be used for signalling, but they, as someone already stated, can be used to dry out and start just about anything.

They are very visible at night, the red glow can be seen over and through the trees pretty easily. I shot a deer at dust one time. By the time I started to gut it night had fallen. The small flashlight I had was inadequete so I popped the flare. Not only did it cast light, but my brothers saw the glow and came to help.

They also put out quite a bit of smoke, if nothing else, can be smelled a long way.

I don't know if I would carry one while backpacking because of the weight, but for hunting or being out in foul weather, they are pretty good insurance.

For anyone who likes the idea of using cut-down flares for firestarting, but doesn't want to drive nails into flares at home <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, here's a link to Orion Camp Fire Starters.
Stay safe,
J.T.

Maybe I didn't explain that part well enough. After cutting the end off of the flare he creates a small hollow area in the part he is keeping, then inserts the wooden plug into the hollow and nails thru the wall of the flare into the wood.

But I doubt that there would be any danger in whacking the filler material in the flare anyway, I don't think that will ignite the stuff. I have hit 'em, run over 'em with a car at high speed, never had a spontanious combustion...