By Ben Smith:
A few weeks back I talked about things involving water that can kill you; sharks, alligators, and water itself. After some recent events, I’ve thought about several more things that can kill you in the outdoors. And since I’ve been pretty good at eluding death in the outdoors so far, I figure this week is as good as any to talk about some other ways to become a statistic if you aren’t careful…and even sometimes when you are.
First up on the list: snakes. Yeah, I know it’s pretty rare to die from a snakebite these days. Out of anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 bites per year in the United States only 5-10 result in deaths annually. Those are pretty good odds, but I’m kind of like Jim Carey in “Dumb and Dumber” where he says, “So, you’re saying there’s a chance?” Fortunately, this is another one of those things that I haven’t tried out yet. And it’s not because I’ve been real careful.
This past weekend I barreled off into waist high weeds and brush doing a little limb trimming at our camp. When I finished cutting I looked down and realized that I’d forgotten any type of snake protection. Usually, I’m a little more conscience of that, but I got caught up in the moment and just went in all willy-nilly. Looking back on the day, I’m a little surprised we didn’t see any snakes. They had to be there, but maybe the constant sound and vibration of chainsaws kept them running the opposite direction.
And while I’ve never been bit, I’ve had several friends that have been popped by an ol’ nope rope over the years. Just this past turkey season, my buddy hopped out of my side by side to hit the woods before daylight and got struck as soon as his feet hit the ground. Lucky for him the bite didn’t get through his boot, and we were able to kill the snake and get on with our hunt. Others haven’t been as fortunate.
We had a ballplayer several years back that got hit by a Copperhead in a wood pile. If memory serves me correct, he had to have several vials of anti-venom at the hospital. It’s a good thing that stuff comes cheap (insert eye roll). Anti-venom usually runs a few thousand bucks per vial, and you’ll likely need several vials to treat the bite. That alone is enough to wear protection and watch where you step. I also had a video sent to me recently of a Timber Rattlesnake in a tree, so maybe you have to look everywhere in the woods these days. Rattlesnakes in trees might be one of the most terrifying things ever.
Next on the list of things that can kill you, or at least ruin your day in the outdoors is lightning. Lightning striking people isn’t nearly as normal as getting bit by a snake, but the death rate is higher. In the United States, about 300 people per year get struck by lightning and about 20 of those strikes result in a fatality. If you’re a numbers nerd, there are about 30 to 40 million cloud to ground lightning strikes per year, so having only 300 a year to get struck is pretty solid odds. On the flip side, if you spend a lot of time around water and disregard the weather, you’re putting yourself at risk.
Like snakebites, I’ve never personally experienced being struck by lightning. Although, I’ve been pretty nervous several times. One event sticks out more than others and it’s the primary reason my wife doesn’t like to get in boats with me (aside from the fact that I have a tendency to sink them). We were floating down the Okatoma River in an aluminum boat when a thunderstorm popped up on us. Lightning was popping everywhere and I’d pretty much decided that we were going to die that day. I still don’t know how we didn’t get struck during that storm. And for those wondering, yes I sunk that boat about a half hour after the storm was over. We did get it back, though.
Now, I don’t know how many of you guys know anyone that has been struck by lightning before, but I’ve had three friends zapped over the years. The first one that comes to mind was a friend that I played ball with in college. He had been hunting and was walking out of the woods with his climbing stand on his back. Lightning struck a tree behind him and traveled through the ground to the stand he was carrying. It knocked him unconscious and he had to spend some time in the hospital. Thankfully, he made a full recovery and can now jump start a dead battery with his fingers.
The next incident happened just a few days ago. A close buddy of mine was at a local event when lightning struck the house behind them. He was sitting in a chair on a concrete pad that was wet from the rain. The lightning traveled from that house to the pad he was on and knocked him out of his chair. And like my first pal, a trip to the hospital ensued. I called him the next day to check on him, and the only lasting effects seemed to be extreme fatigue and incredibly sore muscles all over his body. He described it as having felt like he played a football game the night before. As of now, he doesn’t have any superpowers that I know of and he’s still a bad fisherman.
I know it’s pretty easy to toss caution to the wind when we get into the outdoors, but these are some real reminders that danger lurks around every corner. And if you haven’t heard, another woman in Florida was attacked by an alligator while swimming in a river. She survived the attack but has lost her right arm. In a couple of weeks, I plan to do my part in making Mississippi safer by killing a couple of alligators. In the meantime, watch your step, go inside when it thunders, and eat more alligators.
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