Thanks for the info ORbow. And I agree with you on keeping my bic. He's right, it can get hot, but it's handy. Plus almost all firestarting equipement assumes you have some level of use of your hands.
One item I'm not picking at, but maybe have something useful to add. I've thought about the 3 shots during hunting season before. I don't carry a whole lot of ammo, at least for my long gun, during most hunting outings. It's occurred to me that a 3 shot string would be ignored by most.
However, not after dark. If you need to use your firearm as a signaling device I'd try to be patient with it until it's liable to be most effective. If you shoot a few shots more than a half hour after dark, it's going to be noted where I live and where I hunt. If you do it twice with at least 15 minutes apart, it's going to draw attention as possible poaching if not actually recognized as a distress call. If you can do it 3 times over the course of an hour, that third time likely has people in the woods looking for you already, maybe with a badge. Added to that, if you're hunting from a camp, almost every group of guys worth hunting with will have a couple of guys looking for stragglers who are either in trouble or possibly dragging out after an hour or so of darkness. That makes it much more likely that there's someone who will key into the shots when you signal.

Well, he's wrong about lighters (plastic "Bic" type,anyway) "exploding and sending shrapnel in all directions". Try it for yourself. Remove the metal guard from the top of the lighter, invert and use the flame to ignite the plastic case. Set upright (in a safe place obviously) and wait. As it melts, the flint and spring will pop out, but even when the gas chamber ruptures there isn't even enough force to tip the lighter over. It will shoot out a 4 to 6 inch flame for about 5 to 10 seconds, then just melt away. It's quite anticlimatic actually.

I survived Fairchild and Eielson S.E.R.E. What I learned:

-Fear the Bunny.

-Read the damn compass.

-Survive the bailout, but no one comes looking for you,even the enemy...Things ain't good.

-Amazing how much energy and water it takes to travel cross country.

Dryer lint...of course it makes a difference in what type of things you are drying. In my case, a large percentage of the lint is made of GSP hair.

Of course, this is supposed to be a serious subject, but I've found that all you need in a survival situation is a deck of cards. Start playing solitaire, and within five minutes someone will be over your shoulder telling you that the red jack will go on the black queen over there...

May be a bit coincidental that DEP followed up a preppers blog with one on field survival, but the two don't have much to do with each other.
Preppers are getting ready for Armageddon; hunters, backpackers, etc. making sure they're up to snuff on survival skills are just exercising common sense. A huge percentage of people who get lost and end up dead do so a short distance from their cars or campfires.
I used to hunt an area near Palestine, Texas fairly regularly that consisted of thick-wooded, boggy, river bottom, and it took about 100 steps into that mess to be completely turned around. I never got lost because I had enough sense to carry a compass and to note what my own tracks looked like, but I'll admit I was turned around a couple of times.
Best bet is to always be prepared to spend the night no matter how short a trek you plan to make; especially in deep woods. That line about “I’ll be right back” being the scariest four words you'll ever hear is a good one.

As taken directly from his website... "Cigarette lighters are touted as a piece of fire starting equipment that should be carried in your survival kit. Cigarette lighters are difficult to light when your hands have lost their dexterity, they do not perform well under cold conditions or at higher altitudes and if dropped into a fire accidentally, they explode sending shrapnel in all directions! Cigarette lighters are for lighting cigarettes not campfires!"

If you go to his website and look at the, More News section towards the bottom it is located there in the article titled, "Survival Myths and Misconceptions". I accept the fact that he has far and away more survival training than I, but I will still be keeping my trusty Bic in the hunting bag.

Keys to survival is preparation, and avoidance! All the other stuff (like fire starters)while some items may work better then others; are really a matter of opinion.
A family friend fought in the Battle of the Buldge, and the key issue was not being properly supplied/prepared; they had under estimated the enemy's will to fight!
I know..that was WAR, but it really came down to survival..ask a GI that was there, and I promise they will tell you it was a TEST OF SURVIVAL beyond the fighting!
Learn from past survival episodes I say!!

I think his idea behind the lighter is you shouldn't just rely on it. One should have multiple ways of starting a fire on them. If you just have a lighter, and the lighter breaks, then you're screwed. I carry a lighter and matches, but should probably get into the habit of carrying a flint and steel striker also.

Peter is quite the interesting lecturer and survival expert. I have heard his presentations and even though I have experience at JOTC in Panama, USAF SERE school, and Ranger training, I learned something new and interesting each time. He is the real deal. Listen up.

I’m sure this guy is good and his coerces are great but telling people lighters are no good is not the best advice for a variety of reasons as far as I'm concerned. I would never bring just a lighter and I always have matches and lighters in my survival kit but if I'm in the bush for a month in the far North I use my bic to start a fire every day and I rarely touch the matches. If you can't light a fire using a bic without burning yourself or melting your lighter you need some more practice starting fires with a lighter, it’s a little different than how you do it with a match.

I can't easily find the answer to my above question on Mr. Kummerfeldt's site, but I do see that he lists a cigarette lighter as one of his daypack items.

When you look at his scheduled speaking events. There's nothing on it, EVER. I skimmed through two years and didn't see one scheduled event on it.

David

I wonder if Peter Kummerfeldt knows Udo C Fischer?

I worked with him along with Alamogordo Search & Rescue (State Police affiliated) and I didn't know just how much a fella can be well known and respected until I was transferred to Eielson AFB AK from Holloman AFB NM.

www.pjsinnam.com/Udo_Toons/Index.htm

for me the best man in "survivor" TV shows is the cameraman.

wool is used as fire retardant in some racecar drivers' suits. so it doesn't burn readily.

From Petzal "television survivalists who eats wolverine dung for the camera"

Love it!

Has anybody ever been lost in the Wabbeseka Scatters? Flooded timber on a cloudy January day looks the same.

As an additional way to light a fire, I recently found that hand sanitizer (70% ethanol) burns quite nicely.

But in practice, I stopped using any fire starters while camping - was teaching my kids how to start fire with minimum of anything. Need only a knife and lighter or matches. There is always dry wood in a forest, even under the heavy long rain. Just need to split dead branch, insides will be dry.

But the best way to be safe is to be prepared and to avoid situations where one is lost. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many unprepared people get lost vs people like on this list, who already have 3-5 ways to light a fire and are generally prepared.

There are different cigarette lighters and that is the biggest thing that I see. When it is cold, a butane lighter is useless, probably wouldn’t even light. Get a Zippo.

To Mark-1: I don't believe in living off the land. Years ago, in New Brunswick, I asked a MicMac Indian named Louis Ward how he would live off the land, and he said: "Carry a big hunk of hard cheese or a big container of peanut butter.That's how you live off the land."

I'd also like to put in a good word for the candle idea. I've carried a plumbers candle for years. All you have to do is get that going and you have plenty of burn time to start a fire.

Norm Strung said to always carry three different means of making a fire: matches, metal match, and lighter. Good advice. I also carry three compasses. That way, if one of them seems to be going weird, the other two get to vote, and the majority wins.

I took Mr. Kummerfeldt's course last summer. It was a classroom only abbreviated version for NYS Certified Hunter Safety Instructors so inclined to pick up some tips. My buddy and I drove four hours one way to see Mr. Kummerfeldt. I also have his video, which I purchased through the National Bowhunter Education Foundation (NBEF). He's excellent on video and even better in person. He's no nonsense with a South African accent. Yes, he told us his story on how he got to the US Air Force. Quite interesting in and of itself. anyway, his point with a standard "bic" style lighter is that Murphy's Law Reigns, especially when you find yourself in a survival situation. He outlines typically that you never ever expect to be in the situation in the first place, thus most people are ill prepared. In addition, because its typically because you are in a plance or boat crash, an auto, atv or snowmobile accident, you are facing having to survive with one or more injuries. Can you imagine trying to gather wood and then trying to start a fire off of native area kindlin with a bic type lighter? Yes, it can be done, but after much consternation and aggrivated pain and frusturation. This guys starts at worse case scenario and works from there because like he says, unless you are prepared, its usually is. Get his stuff, heed his advice and don't be pig headed about your life or your families. One thing I thought was great was that he and his family are always ready to survive. He told us that even when traveling, if they are in hotel and it catches fire, sometimes you have little or no time to gather your things in time to escape safely. He and his wife always prepare a bug out type bag, just a small pouch that has everything that is important to them and they place next to them on their bed. Everything else can stay. Money, wallets, ID's credit cards, prescriptions, glasses, etc. That kind of stuff is intentionally stuffed in this little pack that fits in a pocket. They put on their shoes and are out of harm's way. Good advice and now me and my family do it everytime we travel.