Safety afield is always important, but the stakes are so much higher in cold weather, especially when boating.
Avoiding mishaps is 95 percent of the equation, but preparation and composure under pressure can help ensure your survival when the unthinkable happens.
That was never more evident than the recent accident in Oklahoma that killed Craig Strickland and Chase Morland. Strickland, lead singer for Backroad Anthem, actually died on the ground from hypothermia. A 50-cent cigarette lighter might have saved his life.
That's why I always carry a lighter and tinder in a resealable bag whenever I go afield. It's a failsafe item in case I have to spend the night in the woods. Fire is heat, and heat is life.
I've been in that situation twice. Once while I was in college I hiked with a friend deep into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. It was in June and I carried only a denim jacket and a light stadium blanket in a backpack.
June is hot in Arkansas. How was I supposed to know it would snow all night? Fortunately I was with an Eagle Scout who knew how to build good shelters from available materials.
That's the same trip I came face to face with a timber wolf, but that's a story for another time.
The second incident was in 1995 when I was swept away in a flash flood while wade fishing a remote Ozark Mountain stream in Crawford County with my friend Lee Nigh of Van Buren. I was totally unprepared to spend a cold, rainy night wearing only shorts and a T-shirt, and I was entering a critical stage of hypothermia when rescuers finally found me at 3 a.m.
I couldn't foresee getting slammed by a flash flood, but a 50-cent cigarette lighter would have eased the severity of the hours that followed.
In any survival situation, the objective is to make it one more hour, and then one more hour after that. That is a minute-by-minute proposition, but making heat and shelter are the major keys to survival.
If you can make and fuel a fire, you can maintain your body temperature, which will get you to the next minute, and the minute beyond. A fire of sufficient size and duration will allow you to dry your clothes and get you to the next hour, and the hour after that.
Living outdoors the entire winter and spring of 1987-88 while backpacking from Arkansas to Maine made me an expert thriving in foul weather, but letting my guard down nearly killed me that freak afternoon in Crawford County.
That's on my mind as I watch the swift waters of the White River rage past at Cedarwood Lodge at Rea Valley. Eight floodgates are open at Bull Shoals Dam compared to four last week, so the water is even higher.
Ken Green, owner of Cedarwood Lodge, said the water flow is equivalent to 10 generators. It's lower than the flood that did so much damage a couple of years ago, but the current is faster and harder. For boaters, it's perfectly safe until the moment it isn't.
For example, Bill Eldridge of Benton fished with me last week on the White River. He brought a small flatbottom boat with a 9.9-horsepower outboard, and he rued not bringing his big boat. It's good that he didn't.
He took the big boat crappie fishing on Lake Ouachita after the White River trip. A loose wire scorched and shorted against the engine block, stranding him in the middle of the lake.
"Imagine if that would have happened on the White River," Eldridge said.
If it does happen, don't panic, Green said.
"I tell my guests before they go out that if they get in trouble, get to the middle of the river and call me. I'll come get you, even if I have to go all the way to Calico Rock."
Don't try to get ashore, Green said. Hitting a tree or boat dock will capsize a boat instantly.
It happened to Chuck Dicus, president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. He had to swim when his boat capsized against a rock in considerably lower water.
"The high water is actually better in that situation because it covers everything," Green said. "There's nothing to hit in the middle."
If you do become separated from your boat, wearing your life jacket will get you to the next minute. If you can get ashore, a 50-cent cigarette lighter in a resealable bag will help you get to the next minute.
In winter, a minute is worth a lifetime, and preparation is the key.
Sports on 01/28/2016