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Dark Continent Preparations Part 1 With a trip to Zimbabwe for dangerous game fast approaching us we were reflecting on the amount of preparation it takes to get ready. We thought we would share with you our experience and thinking on the matter. Between us, this is going to be our eighth...

Truth Behind Human Scent & Human Odor Here we go delving into a richly and hotly debated topic that has been written about more times then the proverbial “Stand Placement for Whitetails”. Our intention is not to offend any company, manufacturer or pro-hunter that has a stake in this field but...

Hunting At High Altitude After Paul had arranged for my first wilderness hunt, he informed me that when (not if, but when) I shot a Caribou, I had better be prepared to hike it out on my back. “Let’s get started training” he said with a grin. We worked out a schedule of weights and stairs...

Tree Stand Safety Everybody reading this has personally known or knows of someone that has fallen from a tree stand. It is a real danger that we need not forget. Putting up a stand on a nice warm, dry, well lit day in late summer here in the South; when we are in shorts and a tee shirt makes...

Vaccinations Last time, we concluded with the thought that we would look at the syndrome of hypothermia but since the African summer hunting season is upon us, we decided to look at vaccinations and their importance instead. Africa is well, Africa and my first trip was everything I could...

Preventative Care If life teaches anything, it is that you really never know what to expect. I was buried in basically a coffin three feet under the snow with the temperature 55 degrees Fahrenheit below zero outside. Accompanying me in my grave like accommodations were two Inuit guides and...

Recoil & Your Retina Although, we have never had a retinal detachment, we have seen many of them and they can be annoying to an absolute tragedy. The treatments very but are usually inconvenient to say the least and usually requires one to lay flat face down for 18 hours a day for at least...

Nutrition & Hunting While many hunters start young, I did not. Though I grew up in a southern (well formerly southern town, Atlanta), I did not start hunting until well into my adult life. Because of that misfortune, when I did start, I had a lot of catching up to do. Acquiring the gear was...

Lacy Act This time, we are going to deviate from the normal physical ailments and focus on a serious subject that can affect every one of us every time you step out of your home to go out on a hunt be it in your back yard or thousands of miles away. This situation can and will cause you...

Hymenoptera We hunters find ourselves in a unique position in terms of our risks of encountering all manner of crawling and flying pests. We are “big game” when it comes to these critters. We are fortunate that arthropods do not have a SCI like organization teaching them hunting ethics for...

Hearing Loss Turning the corner on what passes as a trail in the great swamps of South Carolina, I spot a Bobcat. The feline is walking away and the wind favors a life size mount. I discreetly rack one in, shoulder the muzzle-braked rifle and boom. Well, not boom to me, I didn’t hear it go...

GERD - Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease One of the adventures and complications of traveling to all ends of the earth in pursuit of big game, is exposing our digestive tracks to a multitude of different types of foods. With this exposure, travel and novelty comes an increased incidence of...

Zimbabwe Dangerous Game Hunting Safari A huge amount of preparation went into planning this trip. It was booked a full two years in advance to ensure we had the best area and PH’s. Since I had taken numerous buffalo with a rifle in the past, I decided to try to take a Cape buffalo with a bow...

Do You have a Sleeping Problem? The few times I have experienced insomnia, it certainly wasn’t fun at all and left me drained the following day. On a Brown bear hunt on the peninsula of Alaska a good while ago, I had the fortunate blessing to be able to harvest a true 9’10’’ behemoth. After...

Depression It wasn’t bad enough that between the three of us we filled only 5 of 17 tags in two weeks of wilderness hunting in BC. No, we tolerated the leaking tents, lack of equipment, terrible weather and an over abundance of horses as well. Even the horseback swimming experienced in a...

Deep Vein Thrombosis A few times each year the general public is bombarded with information about a new risk for a “new” disease. Usually the media blitz is the result of a celebrity type championing a cause or contracting an ailment. Often this blitz is much ado about nothing, other times it...

Coronary Artery Disease It was hot August day in South Carolina, when we returned to the club house after an evening deer hunt. All the hunters were gathered around the skinning shed when one of our friends collapsed without any warning. CPR did no good and at 54 years old, he had passed in...

Strengthen Your Bow Pull Safer & Easier As all of us know, preparation is the number one key to success especially when it comes to bow hunting. The difficulty of taking a game animal, especially a “trophy animal” with a bow necessitates a lot of time and effort before the hunt. Now, we...

Sprains and Strains In 1994, on a September hunt in the Alaskan peninsula for Barren Ground Caribou, Dr. Greg Bonham, a good friend of ours, found himself sharing a spike camp with me. This was first of many successful hunts with Mr. Phil Shoemaker and his lovely wife Rocky who are the owners...

Snake Bite Whether most of us admit it or not, the majority of folks just don’t like snakes. They interest us all right, but much more so on TV than up close and personal. In all cultures in which the environment contains snakes, these belly crawlers are imbued with special powers. Despite...

Motion Sickness “You look green” said my guide as I departed my first water plane ride for terra firma. That was an understatement if ever there was one. While my buddies and the pilot took enormous pleasure in the ride through the mountains of British Columbia, I was not experiencing much...

Malaria Malaria is a disease that conjures up all sorts of images, and none are pretty. This illness used to be common in most of the temperate places on earth. Once, our home town of Blythewood, South Carolina was a summer retreat from the malaria infested parts of the capital city...

Heat Related Illnesses Here in our home state of South Carolina, the opening day of the deer season in much of the state is on August 15th when the temperatures can exceed 100 degrees F and have a humidity index of 90-100%. To compound the problem, a lot of the habitat native is very thick...

Getting In Shape For Hunting Season Last time we discussed how nutritional supplementation could enhance your hunting experience. Being physically prepared for hunting season will dramatically improve your hunting enjoyment and maybe even your harvest. Now deer season opens here in SC on...

Food Poisoning Food poisoning is an all too common malady. Practically everybody reading this has either personally contracted a case or know somebody that has. The recent headlines about E-Coli represent food infection and that has been covered previously and information is available on our...

Do's & Don'ts Of Traveling With Medication Rather then writing about a specific illness, injury or disease process this month, we will look at the medications that we take with us on our adventures that take us away from out homes. Specifically, we will concentrate on how to transport these...

Long Flights & Deep Vein Thrombosis A few times each year the general public is bombarded with information about a new risk for a “new” disease. Usually the media blitz is the result of a celebrity type championing a cause or contracting an ailment. Often this blitz is much ado about nothing...

Hunting With Arthritis The more adventurous and physically challenging the hunt, the more we notice it as we start advancing past our early 30’s. Sitting still, often awkwardly for hours in sub-freezing temperatures awaiting the arrival of one of our beloved monster whitetail bucks often ends...

Dangerous Game Emergencies II Although some the following may sound humorous, in all reality it isn’t; more like gallows humor. Traveling to many places in the world, in pursuit of big game exposes us to all types of potential harm but nothing catches our attention more then actually being...

Dangerous Game Emergencies I Traveling to many places in the world, in pursuit of big game exposes us to all types of potential harm. However nothing catches our attention more then the risk of being injured by the very game we are pursuing. No where does this occur more often then on the...

Cholesterol One of the fun parts of hunting camp is sitting around the dinner table with a group of folks you just met and exchanging hunting stories. Most outfitters go out of their way to pile on the food especially after a long cold day in the deer stand. Predictably there aren’t many...