Welcome to my first effort at producing a newsletter. Many of you have been asking for one so here goes. I intend to use this format as a way of sharing information with you, introducing new products that I come across and test in the field, and as a way of continuing my effort to cut down on the number of people getting hurt, becoming ill or dying in the backcountry. It is also my way of trying to remove the fears and phobias that many people have – fears and phobias that discourage them from enjoying the outdoors in the first place.

SCG newsletters will be produced periodically, probably several times a year and only when I have enough material to warrant producing a new one.

Later this year I will be filming my first survival video. Duncan Gilchrist, a videographer friend of mine, and I are pooling our talents and will be producing a 30 to 45 minute tape that will cover many of the topics I talk about during my seminars. Look for it to be available in the fall.

Audiovox has unveiled the FoneFinder, a handheld phone that can be vehicle mounted and has a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver built into it to pinpoint the location of 911 callers. With the touch of a large 911 button on the top of the phone, the phone and its GPS receiver are turned on. A built in speech chip announces the caller’s location to emergency dispatchers. With the GPS and the speech chip, even an injured caller who can’t speak or someone who doesn’t know exactly where they are can get help. FoneFinder works within the existing cellular telephone infrastructure, so the system should be immediately deployable. Price will be around $400. The system was developed by Tendler Cellular of Boston and OKI semiconductor of Sunnyvale, California. A word of caution - cellular telephones are dependent on their batteries and to be used, you must be within the cellular footprint. Much of the backcountry is not!

Burns are amongst the most horrible of injuries and fortunately serious burns don’t happen very often. I have always cautioned people against using petroleum products to light fires. Especially those who are inclined to pour gasoline onto a pile of branches and then ignite the fuel with a match. The result is usually an explosion! My sister-in-law did this several weeks ago when trying to light a fire in her fireplace and received second and third degree burns over fifteen percent of her body. If using fuel is your only option, pour some into a shallow container, build up your sticks over the container, then light the vapor on the surface of the fuel. This process results in a controlled burn rather than an explosion .

I also had the opportunity this year, while guiding deer hunters, to test some of Raven Wear’s cold weather clothing. I wore their "Rifle Hunter Anti-Freeze System and came away from the experience very impressed with the effectiveness of their clothing to keep me warm under very cold, snowy conditions. The only part of me that got cold was my feet.

I’m going to take care of my cold feet problem next year by having a pair of bootblankets. Bootblankets are designed to keep your feet warm when you are inactive. You put them on as you sit down while your feet are still warm. They are not designed to be worn while you are hiking. One of my hunters this season used a pair and never had a problem with cold feet. We sat for seven to eight hours a day watching for mule deer when the temperatures were around ten degrees F. with a wind blowing most of the time. It was difficult for me to stay still with cold feet but my hunter was very comfortable. Check them out.

The folks at BackCountry, Inc sent me an Esbit Stove last year to test while I was guiding elk and deer hunters in Wyoming. This small, lightweight but sturdy, stove uses solid fuel tablets to heat fluids or food. One tablet will heat twelve ounces (2/3rd of a GI canteen cup) of water to near boiling in about eight minutes. I used one every day for seven weeks and came home convinced that it would be a good addition to anyone’s daypack. It would be particularly useful in a survival situation when building a fire could be difficult. It could also be used in a shelter as long as the usual precautions were taken to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Two events reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette, our local paper, "Mother and daughter survive 6 days snowbound on plateau" and "Hope fades for boy lost on Christmas tree hunt" got me thinking that we need to do a better job preparing our children for a survival situation. Too often we think that someone else will always be there to do the things that need to be done. I’m a great believer in Murphy’s Laws one of which states "the very person you’re counting on to help you through a tough situation is going to be the one that is incapacitated and needs help." This results in the ill prepared, under-trained, inexperienced person having to cope. Wives often fall into this category; children count on Mom or Dad being around. Hunters count on their guides to get them out of trouble. Bush pilots are counted on by those they transport to have sufficient emergency equipment for both crew and passengers. All to often it doesn’t work out that way. Because of this, children should be taught from an early age how to conduct themselves if they are ever separated from their parents.

The University of California – San Diego started a new children’s survival program in 1998 at their annual Wilderness Medicine conference held in Snowmass, Colorado each year. Each child spends four hours in the field with a survival instructor learning how to use the contents of a minimum survival kit. They learn how to shelter themselves in a large, heavy duty plastic bag; they learn the importance of staying in one place and waiting for the rescuers to come to them and they learn how to use a whistle and flagging tape to attract attention to themselves. For more information on this program contact Patty Snodgrass at 619-534-4795.

The Survival Consultant Group offers a similar program. Contact me at 719-593-5852 for more information and for survival kits designed especially for children

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This is the site I go to when I want to find out what’s going on in the survival industry. Doug Ritter, the site manager, does a super job staying on top of what’s happening. His unbiased evaluations of equipment and survival procedures can be relied on. Check them out at www.equipped.com

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Could you if you had to? For how long? Winter is upon us – have you taken the time to put together a few odds and ends that might enable you to spend the night in your car if it were stuck in the ditch? We tend to take for granted that our vehicle will get us to and from work. But what if …………? Every winter the newspapers report cases of people dying from hypothermia in their vehicles or more commonly dying while trying to walk to help. What kind of clothing do you wear when traveling during the cold times of the year? Do you have any additional clothing or perhaps a sleeping bag or blankets to put on in the event you get caught in a storm? Have you ever stopped to think how you would relieve yourself inside a car if you had to? What’s going to keep the interior of your car warm when you have used up all the gasoline? These questions and many more need to be asked. Perhaps more importantly you have to admit to yourself that you might indeed be the one that gets stuck. If that’s the case then you are well on your way to getting prepared. The following will give you some ideas of what you might carry in your car for an emergency and what you might do if you get stuck.

• Assemble a survival kit

- Shovel, sand or kitty litter

- Tow chain and tire chains

- Flashlight, warning lights, road flares

- Ice scraper, brush, windshield washer fluid

- Spare clothing and emergency food

- Sleeping bags or blankets

- Long burning candles

- Tin can to use as a toilet

- First aid kit

- Bright piece of material to use as a flag

• Before you leave, fill the gas tank and refill it often during the trip especially if it’s snowing.
• Dress to survive a winter storm
• Keep your cellular telephone charged up
• Let someone know your travel plans and stick to them. Don’t be creative with your routes – stick to well traveled roads.

If stranded in your car STAY THERE!

• Check for injuries and treat them
• Move all survival equipment from the trunk of the car into the passenger compartment
• Tie a signal flag to the antenna
• Cover yourself with all available clothing, carpeting, maps, seat covers, newspapers to increase the amount of insulation around you.
• Clear the exhaust system of snow and keep it clear if you run the engine
• Run the engine five minute every 30 minutes or ten minutes every hour. If the exhaust system (or the car) is covered with snow DO NOT run the engine. Lethal levels of carbon monoxide can build up very quickly.
• Light a candle to generate heat and light.
• If you are warm and sleepy, ensure good ventilation then go to sleep. If you are cold, warm up first then go to sleep. Never fall asleep with the engine running
• Don’t eat snow, melt it first using the candle or heat from the heater vent.
• Eat available foods for the heat they produce.

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The State of Wyoming Emergency Management Agency has recently published a pamphlet titled "Wyoming Winter Driving Book." The book targets Wyoming residents but contains information useful to anyone regardless of where you live. Give them a call at (307) 777-4900 or e-mail them at wema@wy-iso.army.mil for a copy

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Many of the fears and phobias we have are centered around animals (I include insects and reptiles when I use the word "animals") and unfortunately, the fears and phobias we have are not based on good information. All to often they are based on nursery rhymes, childhood stories we read or were told or from other sources that we accept as fact. For example the concerns we have about being bitten by a snake or mauled by a bear, wolf or cougar are greatly exaggerated.

The Wilderness Medicine Society some time ago published an article titled "Deaths resulting from animal attacks in the United States." In the article, which reviewed a ten year period, 1979 – 1990, the number and nature of animal attacks were studied. The authors, Ricky L. Langley, MD, MPH and William E. Morrow, Ph.D. determined that during that period 1882 deaths occurred. The numbers are revealing. Of the total deaths, 527 resulted from hornet, bee and wasp stings – one of the highest categories. Despite the thousands of people that are bitten by snakes each year few die. In this study only 66 out of 1882 died from snake bite – about six per year. Deaths caused by domestic dogs was another high category - 186 deaths. There were so few deaths from wild predators that they didn’t rate a separate listing. There are things we should be concerned about when we venture into the outdoors, dehydration, hypo or hyper thermia, and lightning strike for example. Being eaten by some ravenous animal is not one of them and concerns like these should not keep us from enjoying all that the outdoors has to offer.

Having said this I offer the following:

The campers were frightened, a bear had been seen,

Huge, and brown colored, undoubtedly mean.

A black bear, or grizzly, they couldn’t decide,

But a bear in the campground? They wouldn’t abide.

They went to the pay phone, came up with a dime,

And called the Game Warden, who came in good time.

"What should we do?" and "How should we act?"

"To avoid that trip down the intestinal tract?"

Bears hunt with their nose, they are driven by scent,

Put all of your food in the car, get it out of your tent.

Get rid of your garbage, and clean up your camp,

And if you’re still worried, leave on your lamp.

"But what about hiking? Is that safe to try?"

"Another encounter, and we know we’d just die."

Then hike in large groups, and make lots of noise,

And stay all together, the girls and the boys.

Some hikers whistle, and others give yells,

And some like to carry small, silver bells.

Most bears will shun people, or so we have found,

And the jingle of bells, warn the bears you’re around.

They then asked the Warden. what kind of bear,

Had come through their camp, scaring everyone there.

Was it a black bear, as some of them say?

Or was it a grizzly that come through that day?

Tracks, they were searched for, but none could be found,

But a pile of droppings were there on the ground.

One look told the Warden, what he needed to know.

A black bear was the culprit that started this show.

"What clues did you look for, and what did you see?"

"That told you the species of bear this might be?"

The droppings of black bear, look exactly like that,

While the grizzly bear has little bells in its scat

Mike Reid

District Wildlife Manager, Pagosa Springs, CO