Fire or shelter?

[2coastcamper]

If you were in a sticky situation and probably only had time for one, would you go fire or shelter?

With a shelter, you'd likely succeed, but you could be quite cold, although dry.

If you spend your time trying to make a fire, you might get one going and be warm, but it could still rain, you might run out of wood, you might fall asleep and then the fire dies.

Obviously, the situation will dictate what you'll attempt. In an area where you pretty much know it's not going to rain (like Calif. in the summer), I'd probably go for a fire and skip the shelter. In an area where I know it's going to stay warm through the night but that there is always a chance for rain (like eastern North Carolina), I might go for the shelter and skip the fire.

What are some of your thoughts on this?

[failghe]

I would go for the fire as I live in florida. I would have to believe that a fire would keep the animals away. And once the fire is going you could look around and try to find or build a shelter for the night.

[outdoorgirl]

I would go with fire first. I would try to get as close to trees that I possibly could so that they could shelter me without having to do anything. Once I was sure my fire was safe and would keep burning, I would then see what I could do about shelter.

[Wild Bill]

Like 2coastcamper said it depends on the situation. Personally I would go with shelter first.

Once you have a shelter then you can make a fire. If you make the fire before you make a shelter there will be nothing to protect the fire from the elements, like rain.

Of course the ideal situation would be to find a natural shelter, like a cave, and build a fire in there.

[southerngal]

I am going with fire first and shelter second. Although it's been quite rainy where I live lately (Georgia) this is not usually the case.

[Lightfoot]

I would like to keep my fingers, toes and nose, so I would probably go for the fire first. Of course, if it were raining I would have to build a shelter!

[drake]

I would go with shelter first (tent, cave) to protect myself from rain and winds. If it's not raining I could build a fire to warm me up outside of the shelter but if it rains, I still have a blanket and a jacket with me to protect me from cold.

[Lovefall]

I'm going to take the fire too. I want to keep away the animals at night, here in NY we have a lot of wild animals. Once I have fire I can work on the shelter later. I can work later by the light of the fire.

[Gopher]

I really think, like a previous poster said, it would depend on the situation and where you were at the time. There are a lot of variables to consider and there is merit in both scenarios. If it were terribly cold or in a place I would likely encounter big wild animals, I would probably go with fire. If it was raining or snowing probably with the shelter.

[Bushman]

Personally I'm a fan of shelter. Fire is nice, but useless if it rains or snows. Besides protection from the elements it also provides some, albeit very limited, protection from some critters.