Hunters Should Be Cautious As Remnants of Ida Grip the State

Late season hurricane Ida hit the gulf coast earlier this week but the remnants of this storm our now stalled over North Carolina and the Mid Atlantic states. Parts of North Carolina are expected to get up to 7 inches of rain before this system clears out. In addition to heavy rains the state is experiencing high winds with gusts in excess of 45 mph. This is a deadly combination as trees are toppling over after ground saturation erodes the integrity of the root system and the high winds just push the trees over.

Chilly, windy, rainy

“It’s going to be chilly, windy and rainy today,” said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. “It’s the gusts that are really kicking up out there.”
Wednesday was the third-wettest day recorded at Raleigh-Durham International Airport since 1944, according to WRAL meteorologist Nate Johnson.
The storm that started the week as Hurricane Ida weakened Tuesday after making landfall in southern Alabama. It was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved east over the Florida panhandle.
Moisture from that system joined forces with a cold front and a separate low pressure system off the coast of North and South Carolina to produce a nor’easter that will continue to dump rain on the eastern half of the state into Friday.
“The rain will probably be lighter and spotter on Friday, but still there,” said WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel.

WRAL

With signs of the rut beginning to kick in as well as it being the week of muzzleloader season across the center part of the state many people including myself has taken this week off to hunt. Hunters hunting from treestands should be aware that the tree they are hunting out of may not be stable and could potentially topple over. Other hazards include flash flooding as rain continues to fall.

People need to be safe and carefully consider whether or not hunting in their particular area can be done safely. I did not hunt yesterday nor did I venture out yet this morning. I do have plans to hunt this afternoon but if conditions are not safe I will forgo the hunt to be safe.
People should be cautious and carefully check things out before driving across any flooded areas and before climbing into a tree.
Be Safe

Finding Your Way In The World

Now a day’s everyone seems to use a GPS unit to get around no matter if it is driving to the store or hiking in the wilderness. GPS has certainly made navigation a lot easier for us and helps us find our way around unfamiliar territories. While I could do a lot of stories about GPS how it works and how to use them etc. I’m not going to at this time. Over the next few weeks I want to focus on what I feel is becoming a lost art and that is using a compass and a map.
Growing up in the city and going to public school one would not expect outdoor skills would be part of the curriculum. I was lucky in that as part of my physical education class in high school there was a number of survival skills they taught us. One of them was how to use a compass and a topo map to get around.
Next to my high school there was a nature reserve and we used it to learn how to do orienteering. If you’re not familiar with the sport of orienteering it basically is a course of points that is laid out and with a map and compass you go out and complete the course. At each one of the points there is a way to mark your card to prove you made it to each one of the points.
There are orienteering clubs all over the world and likely there is one near you where you can often learn the basics for free or for very little money. Some of the local parks and recreational departments may offer orienteering and some may have permanent courses set up that you can use.
Using a compass and a map is important skills to know no matter if your desire is to find a remote place to hunt on public land or to hike in a national park to a remote waterfall. Especially if your GPS unit dies, your batteries die or you find yourself in an area where your access to the satellites is blocked.
So join me next Friday and we’ll look at compasses and how to use them.

Survivor Friday: Knowledge Key To Surviving

Not long after moving to Maine many years ago I decided I better take the hunter safety class even though I wasn’t required to. Most of my hunting experience up until that point had been in small pockets of woods where I could walk a few hours and hit some type of civilization. Northern Maine is a whole different animal with woods you could walk for weeks and not see another soul.
I was in my twenties then and basically the oldest male in the class most of the class was made up of youngsters and women looking to get into the sport. It seems to me that Maine was ahead of the curve getting women involved in hunting. That was a great class and most state wildlife agencies can tell you where you can find a class in your area. Everyone no matter their age or gender should take the class.
As part of that class I was given a handy little book “You Alone in the Maine Woods” that covered what you needed to know of how to survive. This book was part of my survival pack for many years even long after I moved out of Maine until it finally fell apart. Much of the information is useful for many other parts of the country and I often read this book while sitting on stand when the hunting was slow. I’ve discovered this book is now downloadable from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and available for free.
I hope you check it out and practice some of the skills you never know when you may need them. The premise of the book is to really prepare you for the unexpected night in the woods. While many of us think that is highly unlikely to happen to us we just never know for sure.
This past weekend a hiker got lost in Pisgah National Forest and ended up spending the night in the woods.

Lindsey Pfundstein used a trail map to find shelter, stuffed a hammock with leaves to keep from freezing and otherwise avoided a panic that could have left her wandering the woods at night. The 22-year-old experienced hiker and daughter of a Boy Scout troop leader emerged from a section of Pisgah National Forest on Monday morning, ending a search that involved about 55 people. A roommate reported Pfundstein missing about 7 p.m. Sunday when she failed to return from a day hike as planned.

Skills I’m sure she learned over the years kept her safe.

She realized about dusk she was on the wrong trail, but continued walking until she found the shelter.
As temperatures dipped below freezing, she made the bed and cover of leaves and set her mind on making it back to the trailhead after sunrise.

Citizens TimesHopefully you’ll never have to spend a unplanned night in the woods but be prepared in case you do. A little planning and some knowledge will go a long way to keeping you safe and comfortable.

Surviving The Cold and Avoiding Hypothermia

Dressing in layers and covering exposed skin is important steps to keeping warm and avoiding cold emergencies.

Watching the miracle plane ditching in the Hudson River last week on the news my mind started running through what I would do if I were responding to such a call. Given that there was so few injuries from the crash the threat of hypothermia was next on the list.

Hypothermia is when your core body temperature drops to 95 or bellow and if not treated can lead to life threatening conditions. Especially while participating in outdoor activities one needs to be aware of the risks. While we often think of dead of winter with the mercury dropping below zero as the time such events could happen other times of the year we may underestimate conditions that could lead to hypothermia. Getting wet whether it is falling in or getting soaked in a rainstorm are classic situations that lead to hypothermia.

A person suffering from hypothermia will have; uncontrollable shivers where the body is attempting to generate heat, Loss of coordination to do simple tasks, Slurring of their speech, Respiration may slow down and be shallow, confused, be cold to the touch, be lethargic or sleepy.

What types of symptoms usually occur?

The symptoms are typically a slow progression. The sufferer often is not aware that they may need medical attention.

* Cold: hands, feet, face……
* Fatigue / Sleepiness
* Shivering (not always seen in older adults)
* Confusion / Mental Status Change
* The”-umbles,” (stumbles, mumbles, grumbles and fumbles)
* Shallow / Slow Respiration (late sign)
* Weak Pulses and Low Blood Pressure (late sign)

In the very young these symptoms can occur in even mildly cold environments. For example a child who sleeps in a very cool room without proper clothing on can develop hypothermia and mimic other medical emergencies. This is also a potential problem for the elderly and those with peripheral vascular and neurological issues. If the person doesn’t feel the loss of heat they won’t know to go to a warmer environment or take other actions.

Michigan Fire Service

Reacting quickly to these signs or a situation that could lead to hypothermia is important. Often times when we hear of lost people dieing from “exposure” most often its hypothermia that has killed them. Avoiding hypothermia for the most part is pretty easy if you plan ahead and react properly to situations that put you at risk.

Layering clothing has long been the preferred method for dressing for the conditions and little has changed other then better material is now available to keep us comfortable. First lawyer should be capable of wicking moisture away from our body to help keep us dry. The additional layers are designed to trap air that helps better insulate us. The top layer should be wind and moisture proof to keep you dry. Protecting your head and extremities is also vital to maintaining your core body temperature.

Other factors like wind chill, rain, sleet or snow can contribute to the risk of hypothermia.
Besides being properly dressed people need to be prepared to take other steps to get warm including building a fire. Having the ability and the skill to build a fire could save your life. Everyone going afield should have a survival kit that includes a couple of methods to build a fire. In a latter edition will talk about survival kits and the items they should include.

Falling into water or getting soaked can lead to very rapid cooling and heat loss. In situations like this you must get warm and dry quickly. This is a true emergency and if you’re by yourself you need to react quickly before you lose the ability to.
I was ice fishing many years ago when one of the guys fishing with me fell through the ice and into water up to his mid thigh. We quickly got him out but the blue jeans he was wearing froze almost instantly. We were able to build a fire, someone had a spare pair of socks he could put on, and he basically stood by the fire in his long johns with a stick holding his jeans over the fire to dry them out.

If your doing something and you start to shiver you need to find a way to warm up immediately. Make sure you stay hydrated, avoid alcohol (because it makes you feel warm when you actually are not), keep a close eye on those around you especially children and older adults who may not be aware of the signs of hypothermia. Be careful out there and stay warm.

Where The Heck Are Ya? Survivor Friday

As an EMT one of the gut wrenching calls was responding to an area with someone most likely critically injured and you don’t know exactly where they are. You want to provide the care they need but time and manpower is being wasted because the exact location is not known. In my early days as an EMT in rural Western Massachusetts this most often involved motor vehicle accidents and cell phones were not as prevalent as they are today. 911 would get the call and dispatch us to an area around mile marker such and such. Most of the time we realized these were not often accurate and if we were lucky only a mile or two off. With mountainous terrain locating a vehicle off the road and down the embankment was challenging at times.

Well think about for a moment your favorite place to deer hunt does it have a street number if you need help? Or is it more likely you have to describe the area “ I’m on the River Road about 3 miles south of the intersection with Birch Rd and River Rd.” That may get them to your truck but if you’re a mile in the woods to your stand how do you describe the way in if you need help. Add to it the stress of the situation and any impairment the illness or injury may have caused. Here’s a little exercise try to tell someone how to get to your deer stand preferably someone who has never been there before. Not as easy as you might think. As hunters we like to keep our honey holes to ourselves but it’s important that we make sure somebody knows how to find us if we need help. So here is my plan for where I hunt;
· Get a cell phone that works in the area you hunt
· Make sure a few people know how to get to your stands
· When you hunt make sure someone knows your hunting and when they should expect to hear from you.
· Develop directions on how to get to where you hunt and practice verbalizing them.

Maps, GPS coordinates, how to use a compass, are other skills you may want to consider and will be topics we cover out here at some point. A fairly new product on the market is SPOT I have no experience with this device but from what I hear about it, friends & family can track your whereabouts, you can send out a text message as well as an emergency call. Sounds kind of like an advanced emergency beacon that I’m sure if you got into trouble it would more then pay for itself.
We often love to hunt to get “lost” and escape the everyday world we face but lets make sure we can be found if something should really happen.

Survivor Friday’s New Year New Feature Here At Moose Droppings

Seems like the airways and the outdoor reading sections have a high interest in surviving what ever catastrophic event should befall you. While many of these things are interesting for a TV show the vast majority of us won’t find ourselves a drift on an ice float around one of the poles.

I want to make this a weekly feature and focus on some of the basics or more common things we may face. In my earlier life I was an Emergency Medical Technician in some pretty isolated parts of the country. Places where a 911 call and help was not a few minutes away but an hour away was not unheard of. My goal is to get us all to think and plan ahead for the unexpected and what we can do to help others or ourselves should the need arrive.

So rest assured I won’t be parachuting into the Amazon Jungle and blogging about how I escaped. While that would be interesting and probably very entertaining for all of you I plan to focus on very common every day things we could face. I hope this is informative and interactive so if you have a question or a story to share please contact me moosesign@aol.com Additionally fellow outdoor bloggers feel free to contact me if any of these stories you think might be of interest to your readers I’m always open to provide guest posts and exchanging links.

Well here we go into 2009 lets make it a safe and productive one.