Safety and First Aid in the Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors is dangerous, alone or with just a friend
along, you do need to protect yourself — in advance.
My son-in-law was ecstatic when I invited him, Tina and the two
grandkids up to the 1100 acre ranch for some family fishing and
four wheeling excitement on a Labor Day Weekend. Four miles of
the Archie River runs through the ranch with sheer rock cliffs
on the other side. The living side is very rugged as well.
“There isn’t any way to get off the ranch except back up the
road we came in on so you can go anywhere you want to as long as
you take a compass with you when you go.”
Steve listened intently as I laid down the law on four
wheeling. “Before you ever get on, put on a helmet. If you ever
goose it, this thing will pop a wheelie.”
I pointed off towards the river. “After you get past the
cemetery keep the fence on your right and keep going until the
fence stops. You’ll see a trail going off to your right. Stay
on it until you get to the river. I have some work to do up
here, but I’ll be right on down to show you the best fishing
holes.”
When I found them the kids were splashing along the bank while
Tina and Steve were working the deeper water near the sandbar
island.
That’s a good spot right in there,” I told them. “The river
has gouged out a hole about 20 feet deep, but there is a boulder
right along there that is only about 5 feet below the surface so
don’t go diving into the water until you have found it for
yourselves.”
“Don’t worry about that,” protested Steve. “We won’t be diving
in because none of us can swim.”
I should have had a premonition right then, but both Jessica
and Emily had little air supports. I told them how to find a
couple more good fishing holes and went back up to the house for
some more work.
It was almost sundown when Tina came rushing up to the house.
“Steve fell in the big hole. He went down three times before he
got out, and he can’t stand up.”
He was still vomiting when I got the truck up close. Jessica
and Emily were as scared as he was. “I couldn’t do anything but
watch him go down,” said Tina. “Every time he came up he would
scream for me to save him, and I’d yell back asking what I could
do.” (Tina weighs 105 pounds and Steve weighs 245 pounds.)
It was enough to scare the pee-wallion out of me. Steve was
shaking all over and his color was a two-hours-dead-already-
gray. His eyes were glazed over like those of a dead fish.
My own kid, helpless while her husband was drowning? I quieted
down my seething shame. When an accident happens it is already
too late to be planning ahead. “We had a rope up on the bank,
but I couldn’t leave Jessica and Emily by themselves while I got
it.”
She was right, leaving the kids alone while Daddy is drowning
right before their eyes was a sure way to have another accident.
“Do you need Tina to do CPR, or me to pound on your back Steve?”
He shook his head miserably. “I’ll be okay.” I didn’t realize
it at the moment but that was a sure sign of the Macho Man
Mentality.
We advised Steve repeatedly to go to the hospital at once to
guard against contamination. He wouldn’t. Therefore we advised
him to get to a doctor when he got home. He didn’t. By the
time Macho Man was forced to believe he was sick he was VERY
sick. Not only were his lungs infected, but also his kidneys.
In spite of high-powered medications Steve was off work for
another week and moaning in misery. His doctor told him, “Next
time, go to the beach when you want to drown yourself. Sea
Water usually doesn’t cause an infection while water from a
dirty stream most always does.”
* * * *
The very first thing you need is a pack to put your first aid
kit in. I have three packs, ready to go at any time. Just pick
up the right one and step out the door. Remember my motto:
Pack a pound less and go a mile more.
One pack is the DAYLIGHT pack. It is light, and only the bare
essentials are included because I’ll be out there only one day,
and I’ll be moving fast and furious.
Contents include a compass, my essential medicines, dried
fruit, candy bars, a rope that floats, wound strips, a poncho,
water, a knife, a small flashlight, a butane lighter that I have
tested, lip protection, skin protection, insect repellant, three
pairs of socks, and other toilet items. Each item is small
already, or I take only a small portion and put it in a Baggie.
I also concentrate on items which can serve a dual purpose.
Daniel Boone would have shuddered himself to death at the
thought, but sunscreen and sunglasses are now considered
essential.My camping pack includes all the above, in larger
quantities where sensible. I also have a hatchet in there and a
garden tine fork. Because of my diabetic feet I add at least
one extra pair of shoes, and a pair of slippers. A survival
blanket is added, and a contour pillow. Now that I’m old and
have more sense I also carry a small compact mirror, some duct
tape and a sharp, piercing whistle.
What is the duct tape for? This versatile product has numerous
uses. For example, press a strip over cactus barbs stuck in
your flesh and you can yank most of them out of there, all at
one time. When the stiff brush I’m going through begins to
shred my clothing a strip of duct tape will throw some added
protection to the spot. And what if your trusty Buck Knife
slips and penetrates one of your muscles to the bone? Why, a
strip of duct tape can hold that muscle in place until the man
with stitches arrives. It will also hold your walking stick
together, and I’ve seen it hold a busted distributor cap
together too.
For major expeditions I go whole hog. Love The Outdoors has a
basic list from which you can draw ideas to personalize your own
needs. Any time I see a list of this nature I go through it and
tally up MY new or temporary needs. I also search the internet
for safety kit content lists designed for the specific areas I
am going into. “WOW! Why didn’t I remember that I needed that?”
Activities which induce contact with wild waters should prompt
you to include two essential items, a rope that floats,
preferably yellow so that it is far more visible in the dark –
and you will also want a small pair of needle nose pliers to
remove fish hooks with. Every time I see a trot-line in a river
I’m canoeing or swimming in, I shudder. I would NEVER cut
someone’s fishing line with a knife, but occasionally I have let
my curiosity get the better of me and took a motor boat across
to see what was on the other side of that line.
Steve feels the same way about fish hooks. That’s why he
stepped off into that hole — to remove a bobber and fish hook
he had lost. One second of inattention was all it took. The
current caught him and swept his feet out from under him.
A rope that sinks will be of little use in plucking someone
from the current. If that is all you have, ADD something that
floats to the end of it.
A floating rope should be cast just slightly UPSTREAM from the
person in trouble if they are maintaining their position, as
when clutching a boulder or tree stump. This gives them time to
prepare for where the rope really will make contact with them.
If at all possible, ALWAYS tie the rope off to something solid,
besides yourself, before you cast it out. How tragic it would
be to be tugged into the water with the victim and both of you
drown.
If you don’t have a rope, think of anything you have with you
or around you that floats. Clutching at straws is an old
cliche, but the fact is that even a small branch can prevent a
drowning.
* * * * * *
Not long ago Emily was in the Little Rock Zoo when a female
lion went berserk and began clawing at the clear glass pane
between them. Emily grinned and leaped forward exclaiming:
“Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.”
Now that terrified me, not because I thought the lion might get
through, but because she would feel and act the same way with
animals found in the wilds. If a child is inclined to approach
a full grown lion, crying “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty” then chances are
that same child will welcome the advance of skunks or wolves
that seem to invite petting.
President Carter was harshly criticized for striking at a swamp
rabbit with his paddle but I’ll tell you what! That is not
natural behavior. If a rabbit comes at me that way, I’m going
to defend myself too, a rabid animal is not something to play
with.
Long, long ago, but still fresh in my mind, Jim Peterson made
some startled exclamations that brought me over the hill to see
what was going on. A full grown wild cat was lovingly rubbing
himself up against Jim’s knees. Since I knew that my guardian
angel would protect me from the wild cat I hurried down and
screamed NUAHHUH at him. (NUAHHUH is an old Native American
word which means: “Hold it right there Bub, stop before you
make me do a war dance.”) The animal immediately left Jim’s
knees and dived for mine. He stayed right with me, no matter
how hard I danced to get away from him.
My guardian angel was nowhere around… “Get the truck and
come get me,” I urged Jim. I was still contending with the
amorous cat when Jim came back to save me. I hurled myself into
the back and Jim squalled gravel for 50 feet to get us out of
there in a hurry.
Snakes, spiders, scorpions, Gila Monsters, bears, even rabbits
can be dangerous in the wild. It is best to remember that WE are
invading THEIR territory. Just the other day, in my own back
yard, I picked up a chunk of wood and there was a rattle snake
beneath it. He was cute and he generously pretended to be
asleep while I studied him for signs of life; he was gone when I
came back seconds later with the tools to capture him.
Now that I’m old and have more sense, spiders scare me more
than snakes do, especially since I go far out of my way to not
hurt a spider. After all, snakes will usually try to get away
from you. Spiders usually won’t run from anything or anyone.
I’ve had several friends bitten by the Brown Recluse and without
prompt medical attention the results are not pretty.
Watch out for spiders. Over 1400 NEW species of spiders have
been discovered in just the past few years. You can’t tell the
goodens from the baddens. Neither can your children.
About the author:
Lin Stone is an author, writer and photographer living in Mena Arkansas among the gentle mountains known as Ouachita. His articles and essays are syndicated by talewins to be published automatically on other web sites. He writes about adventures for talewins.com, and he writes about the peaceable things of this world for Share Your State.com. You can have immediate, and free, reading of many more pieces when you send your little surfer scooting to Lin’s home page at http://www.talewins.com/StoneSoup.htm where he keeps stirring up more good things for the soul.
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