Spool Monofilament in a Floss Dispenser
I wrap monofilament around the small spool inside an empty dental floss dispenser. This makes for a handy mono carrier, and the built-in cutter works great for snipping leader. —Donald Wier, Lititz, Pa.

Vacuum-Seal a First-Aid Kit
I use my vacuum sealer for more than just venison steaks. Bandages, gauze, and other first-aid items can be sealed and shrunk inside a small plastic bag, keeping them dry and giving you more space in your pack. This also works great with matches. —Jeff Orr, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Mark a Blood Trail With Glow Sticks
On deer hunts, I always keep a few glow sticks in my pack. If I down a deer at dusk and it gets dark while I’m tracking it, I’ll tie the glow sticks to branches to mark the blood trail. Doing this makes it much easier to find my way back once the dragging starts. Just be sure to retrieve the glow sticks on your way back out. —Jason Coyle, York, Pa.

Organize and Separate Fishing Hooks With Safety PinsUse safety pins to keep the fishing hooks in your tackle box organized. I got tired of hooks getting mixed up, so now I use safety pins to keep them separated. Simply feed the point through the eye of the hooks. A lot of hooks fit on one pin, and it’s an easy way to keep the different kinds sorted. —Stephen Elliott, Visalia, Calif.

Haul Firewood With a Web Strap
I took a broken 1-inch ratchet strap, cut off the end with the hook, and tied a loop at that end. I use this to gather firewood whenever I’m camping. I just lay the strap on the ground and pile sticks on it. Then I pull the male end through the female end and throw the bundle over my shoulder. I can carry twice as much wood in half the time. —Eddie Crane III, Richmond, Ill.

Make a Golf Club Gaff
You can turn an old golf club into an ice-fishing gaff: Cut off the club head and attach a large fishing hook (bend down the barb) to some stiff wire. Run the wire up the shaft and out the handle. Pull the wire until the hook is snug inside the shaft, and secure it to the grip with duct tape. —Shannon Borer, Big Lake, Minn

Make a Waterproof Shell For Your MatchesI rely on an old but still useful tip to keep my strike-anywhere matches safe and dry. I place them inside a spent 16-gauge shotgun shell capped off with another spent 12-gauge shell. This keeps my matches in a compact, rugged, water-resistant, floatable container for whenever I’m ready to use them. —Ryan Arch, Galva, Ill

Dry Your Boots With NewspaperI stuff my boots with newspaper, which absorbs the moisture. Then I keep repeating with dry pages every 45 minutes, and they’re good to go the next day. —Marck Schwarze, Elk River, Minn.

[u]Never Lose Another Fillet KnifeI never have to worry about losing my knife if it falls in the water because I threaded rawhide through the handle, flattened the ends, and attached a large cork bobber. —Chuck Martel, Holyoke, Mass.

Never Dig For Nightcrawlers AgainWhen I fish with nightcrawlers, I store them the old-fashioned way, in a coffee can filled with soil. I -remove both ends of the can, however, and cover each with a plastic lid. This way, the worms are -always accessible—I never have to go digging to the bottom. —Lowell Harner, Wabash, Ind.

Keep Your Bobbers In One PlaceIf you have loose bobbers rolling around your tackle box, put them in an egg carton. They will not roll around and will stay in place with the cover latched. —Shawn Hanley, Cashton, Wis.

Keep Doe Pee In a Film CanisterTake a film canister, glue a clothespin to the outside, and stuff a cotton ball inside. Pour in your doe urine, and let the cotton absorb the urine. Then, simply clip the canister to a tree limb near your treestand. After the hunt, simply snap the cap back on and hit the trail. This has worked for me more times than I can count. It’s small enough to keep in your pocket, and it won’t spill. —Chris Coble, Lobelville, Tenn

Carry Duct Tape Minus the Bulky RollDuct tape can be a lifesaver. But carrying an entire roll takes up valuable space inside a backpack—and you probably won’t need that much tape. Instead, I wrap a couple feet around a Bic lighter, so I always have a short supply inside my pocket. If you need more, you can also wrap some around a Nalgene bottle. —Ben Wagner, Bozeman, Mont

Keep Parachute Cord Tangle-FreeThe best way to store 550 parachute cord is in an empty plastic peanut butter jar. Drill a 3⁄16-inch-diameter hole in the lid. Stuff the cord into the jar (careful not to overlap it), and thread the end about 4 inches through the hole you made. Screw the lid back on, and pull out as much cord as you need. Kiss tangles good-bye. —Jim Ratermann, Tipp City, Ohio

A Spill-Free Way To Fill Your Chain Saw's Oil TankInstead of recycling that used dish-soap bottle, rinse it out and fill it with oil. Then use it to refill the chain oil tank on your chain saw. When your tank needs reloading, squirt the oil into the tank. There is no need for a funnel, and there is never a mess to clean up. —Clay Pennington, Asheville, N.C.

Keep Your Bobbers In One PlaceIf you have loose bobbers rolling around your tackle box, put them in an egg carton. They will not roll around and will stay in place with the cover latched. —Shawn Hanley, Cashton, Wis

Keep Bullets Quiet In Your PocketDuring whitetail hunts, I use one of my wife’s hair ties to keep my shells from rattling in my pocket. I wrap the elastic band around four cartridges. This stops the cartridges from rattling around and possibly spooking the deer. I have been able to sneak up on quite a few whitetails using this method. —Matt Scott, Clymer, Pa.

Add a Fire Starter to Your KnifeA small replacement flint—the kind used with a striker that you squeeze to light a blowtorch—makes a backup emergency fire starter. I drilled a 1⁄16-inch hole in the threaded end of the flint, passed a small split ring through the hole, and attached it to the lanyard hole on my Swiss Army knife. Just strike your knife against the flint for a spark. This wouldn’t be my first choice for starting a fire, but it works, and a backup never hurts. —Mark Crowe, Grande Cache, Alberta

An empty Tic Tac box makes a great miniature tackle box for baitfishing. First, I crazy-glued a small, circular-shaped box cutter (for cutting line) to the side of the con-tainer. Then I filled it with hooks, snap-swivels, and weights. Carry it in your pocket, or your glove compartment. -- Ray Koch, Bullard, Texas

Make On-the-Go Repairs With a Glue StickA glue stick offers countless solutions to problems encountered outdoors—patching a hole in your canoe, repairing fishing-rod tips, reattaching arrow nocks. I poke a hole through one end with a heated paperclip, and attach it to the key ring on the emergency compass in my survival kit. That way, I know it’s always there. When I need to make a repair, I just heat the end of the glue stick and apply where needed. -- Ken Holtz, Belleville, Mich.

Get More Life Out of Hand WarmersMore times than I can count, I’ve decided against opening a pack of chemical hand warmers because I knew I’d only use them for an hour or so and I didn’t want to waste them. But after an experiment, I’ve found a way to preserve used ones. I placed two partially used hand warmers inside an airtight container for a week. When I took them out, they still had some heat left. Oxygen is needed for the chemical reaction to work, so cutting off the air supply helps them last longer—and saves you a bit of money. -- Robert R. Salter, Libby, Mont.

Protect Your TP at CampTwo of the most annoying problems at my hunting camp are: wet toilet paper and mice getting into toilet paper. But there’s a solution. Cut a long slit in one side of an empty plastic coffee can. Stick a roll of TP in the can and pull a bit of the paper through the slit. Make a hole in the lid and the bottom. Run string through the holes and hang the can out of reach of mice. -- Mark A. Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Make an Inescapable Mouse TrapHere’s how to catch mice that steal the bait from a trap without setting off the trigger: Tie some yarn onto the trigger, leaving the cut ends about 1⁄4 inch long. Roll the ends to make them fuzzy. Work some peanut butter into the yarn and set the trap. The bait is tougher to get out of the yarn, and the mice will be more aggressive trying to get at it. -- Richard J. Moncsko, Wilmington, N.Y.

Carry TP in a TinOne problem I come across during hunts is when Nature calls, and I have no toilet paper. So I started carrying an Altoids tin stuffed with TP, plus matches or a lighter so I can burn it. I like to keep some parachute cord and a small pocketknife in the tin, too. I guess you could say it’s a survival kit in more ways than one. -- Ryan Adam, Harper, Iowa

Start a Fire With Pencil ShavingsWhen I have trouble finding dry tinder for a fire, that’s when I reach for a couple of the secret weapons that I keep inside my survival kit: a pencil and pencil sharpener. All you have to do is sharpen the pencil (dead pine also works), and collect the wood shavings to use as dry tinder. The pencil shavings light easily. -- Ron McLane, Thomasville, Pa.

Fill Your Nalgene With Trail MixI’m an avid catfisherman and there is nothing I love more than spending all day out on my boat chasing blue and channel cats in central Texas. But after handling shad, catfish, and stinkbait, my hands are in no condition to eat a sandwich. I found that taking a package of trail mix and putting it into an empty water bottle lets me enjoy a snack without having to use my dirty hands. --Josh Wells, Killeen, Texas

Float Sunglasses With a Wine CorkAfter buying an expensive pair of polarized sunglasses, I decided I would minimize the risk of losing them in the water. To make an eyewear retainer that floats, drill two holes into a cork from a wine bottle. Thread your keeper through, and you’re set. I painted the cork a neon color. This way if my glasses fall into the water, they will not only float but will be highly visible. -- Mark Kehoe, Wantage, N.J.

Make a Fire Log Out of NewspaperYou can make a lightweight, compact fire log using just an old newspaper, water, and string. Take your paper and roll it into a tight cylinder and tie it with string. Next, soak it in water. After a couple of days of drying, the brittle paper will catch a flame quick, and the “log” will keep its form for a longer burn. --Michael McGilvrey, Littleton, Colo.

Store Tinder in a Chew TinIf you dip smokeless tobacco, you can use one of the empty cans—which are fairly watertight—for storing tinder. Split fatwood into pencil-size sticks, then shave off small pieces using a standard pencil sharpener or your knife. Continue shaving until you end up with smaller and smaller pieces. When you need it, take out a pinch and it will start with ease. --Paul Thompson, Sumter, SC

Make Your Zipper Easier to Use in Cold WeatherWhen it’s really cold outside and you have on a lot of layers, it can be hard to find your zipper—-especially with frigid hands or while you’re wearing very thick gloves. As a simple solution, just hook a 3⁄4-inch key ring on the handle. --Stanley Elnikar, Streetsboro, Ohio

Wrap Your Rods With Bungee-BallsWhen my canopy tent was destroyed by a storm, I salvaged the bungee-ball cords that held the roof and sides to the frame. Now I bundle my fishing rods with them. They are really easy to wrap or remove one-handed, and they are available in various sizes at the hardware store. --Ron Brown, Pitman, N.J.

Ten-Cent SolutionIf I need to inspect my rifle’s bore in the field (I’ll admit that I’ve slid down a hill or two) or while cleaning it at home, I open the action and set a shiny dime on the bolt face. It reflects enough light from my flashlight into the bore for me to see if it’s clear or clean. --Patrick Edmonds, via e-mail

Stop Rust With RiceFor ammo storage in a bug-free environment, use uncooked rice to prevent moisture buildup. Wrap it in a single layer of tissue paper and store inside your ammo boxes. It works just as well as desiccants like silica gel but is much easier on the wallet and the environment. I also place a packet of rice in with ammo and firearms I’m shipping to an outfitter. --Levi Garrett, Girard, Pa.

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