Coping With Extreme Weather

Some of the most common and dangerous risks to hunters result from exposure to extreme weather.

Hypothermia

Hypothermia occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, causing your core body temperature to fall. Hypothermia is often induced by cold, wet conditions, such as rain, snow, sleet, or immersion in water.

Moisture from perspiration, humidity, and dew or rain on bushes and trees can also soak your clothing over time, putting you at risk in cold weather. Wet or damp clothes will draw heat out of your body more rapidly than cold air. Wind lowers your body temperature as it evaporates moisture from your body. Resting against cold surfaces also will draw heat from your body.

Dress properly for the worst weather conditions you expect to encounter.

Prevention of Hypothermia:

• Hypothermia can be prevented by dressing properly, by avoiding potentially dangerous weather conditions, and by drying out as quickly as possible when you get wet.
• High-calorie foods, such as chocolate, peanuts, or raisins, provide quick energy that helps your body produce heat.

Symptoms of Hypothermia:

• Uncontrolled shivering—usually the first obvious symptom, but ceases as hypothermia progresses
• Slow, slurred speech
• Memory loss
• Irrational behavior, such as removing clothing
• Lack of body movement
• Sleepiness
• Unconsciousness, which could lead to death

Hypothermia is the number one cause of outdoor fatalities.

Treatment of Hypothermia:

• Find shelter for the victim.
• Remove wet clothing, and replace with dry clothing and other protective covering. If there is no dry clothing, use a fire to dry one layer at a time.
• Give warm liquids to rehydrate and rewarm, but never give the victim alcohol to drink. Quick-energy foods also produce inner body heat.
• For mild cases, use fire, blankets, or another person’s body heat to warm the victim.
• In more advanced stages, rewarm the victim slowly by placing one or more persons in body contact with the victim. Place canteens of hot water insulated with socks or towels on the groin, armpits, and sides of the neck of the victim.
• A victim at or near unconsciousness must be handled gently, and not immersed in a warm bath or exposed to a large fire, which can lead to traumatic shock or death. Immediately contact emergency medical personnel to evacuate the victim to a hospital for treatment.