Weekly Tips

This weeks tip, brought to you by yours truly and published in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine's Weekly Tips email blast is yet another reason why 550 cord is so useful to have in your backpack. To my knowledge I have never seen the inner cord used like this, so this may be another, original use for para cord. This is my second tip published and I am having fun coming up with ideas that others might find useful. If you aren't signed up for their weekly tips, you should get on the list, it's free.

550 Cord Wind Monitor

By Mike Miller

The second cardinal rule of successful hunting--after hunting where the animals are--is hunt the wind.

While sitting in my elk blind at 8,500 feet this year I felt like I was constantly picking up my dust-type wind indicator. Although I was well hidden behind a screen of spruce, the movement was bothersome. Thinking about what was in my pack, I remembered the various lengths of military "paracord" or "550 cord" I had. I took a foot long piece of cord, removed the core strands, combed them out and tied them onto a couple of low hanging branches. This provided a sensitive and constant wind monitor that only required the movement of my eyeballs. Perfect!

There are 450 and 650 versions out there as well, and the numbers represent the load limit. Each strand of 550 cord has seven strands inside, and each of these strands yields two smaller strands. The smaller strands are what we are after. Simply unravel them and attempt to fluff or comb them out, and you have fourteen wind monitors per foot or so of cord. You can also tie the strands onto your bow tips, but the micro strands are so small they tear apart when removing burrs, so they don't last too long. Don't forget to take the strands out of the branches when you are done hunting for the day.

For price and convenience, 550 cord wind monitors are still hard to beat. Get out there and hunt the wind!