As we all know those little bottles of wind checker powder can cost around $3 to $4 each and they are half full. If you're like me you can go through a bottle in two or three hunts. To offset the cost I have tried different materials such as chalk for chalk lines, cornstarch, hunter specialties foot power and talc power. All of these items worked but they didn't give the really fine powder that floats on a light breeze. Then it hit me the other day when I emptied out the fireplace...Wood Ash!

So I did an experiment tonight. The winds here are extremely light so I filled a wind checker bottle half full of sifted wood ash and tried it out and... Bingo it worked!

Here is what I did.

I cut a 6" x 6" section of window screen material.

I scooped up some "cold" wood ash and sifted the ash through the screen onto a sheet of paper to separate the coals from the ash and then through out the coal chunks.

I then moved the empty screen over a clean sheet of paper and poured the sifted ash onto the screen and sifted the ash a second time. This gave me some very fine material.

Then I put a small funnel into my wind checker bottle and poured the "twice"-sifted ash into the bottle.

The total cost of my wind checker powder was about 5 minutes.

Thanks man that is a good idea I am going to try it!

ive always used baking soda but ill try that. thanks for the tip man.
-cory

Not trying to hijack the thread but I think it was Guru who had a thread on using Milkweed pods for windcheckers. They are free and float on the wind for a long time and very easy to watch.
Denny

Good idea, Tom!
 

good idea.  make sure you don't get it in your eyes.. could cause burns.  

Another long term  (you can watch it forever) floater is the yarn used for tying salmon egg flies.  just pull off several strands of the filaments and let thm go.  They are typically orange or red or yellow in color and you can see them float far away.
ChuckC

I use corn starch -will try the ash...nice idea

I never thought of the stuff on the market advertised as wind checker powder as expensive.  I'm all for doing things myself to save money, but this ain't one of them.

i use cornstarch as well ........... it works great !!!!! ........ cheap and easy !!!!!

I use the foot scent away foot powder to refill my bottles. At $7.00 a bottle, I get about 3-4 years of refills out of one.

Mike

Milkweed pods here....one milkweed pod will last for years...just keep it in a plastic bag in your fanny pack or pocket.  It's also environment-friendly....you're helping making feed for the Monarch Butterfly.  Don't need any silly plastic bottles of stuff.   :p

Fire extinguisher powder....contact a business that recharges fire extinguishers...I got a quart of it for nothin'

Here's a whole field of wind checkers 8^)....

Wood ash is used every hunting day all over southern Africa to test the wind and has been for many, many years, maybe even before recorded history. Usually it is tied up in a loosely woven cloth bag and shaken to release a little ash. Very effective.

Allan

cattails, just break one open and stuff a 35mm film canister full.

Cornstarch works great and it's cheap.

going to try the wood ash.  We have two pellet stoves that produce a very light ash.  Should work great.

Thanks,

Mike

milk weed infestation-the farmer's friend.  Best ask the landowner

Yeah I like cattails, never head of a milkweed pod? might not have em round here.

Also like the wood ash idea! thanks for the heads up.

J

Cotton ball (or milkweed pod) attached to inside of bowlimb with rubber band.  Pull off a thin wisp and watch it float.  Better than powder 'cause it stays visible longer...and wind patterns can easily shift 20 feet beyond where you are.