Jim Thornton

What Hunters Need to Know about Cholesterol

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:00:00 -0400

THREE YEARS AGO,the last time Jerry Robinson bagged a buck, he dragged the carcass a mile. Now 70, Robinson, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 190, is still in the kind of good health you'd expect from a guy who's led an outdoors life. He has never smoked and boasts the sort of blood pressure seen in athletes. He hikes, fishes, and has no symptoms of cardiovascular problems and no history of heart disease.Given all of this, you'd imagine Robinson's cholesterol—that much publicized villain in heart-health campaigns—would be exemplary. Not so.

Chronic Wasting Disease in Whitetail Deer

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:00:00 -0400

IN THE FALL OF 2004, a highway crew picked up the carcass of a road-killed buck near Slanesville, W.Va. The workers took the animal to a compost facility, where a wildlife manager arrived to pull tissue samples. He made an incision in the deer's neck and popped out a lymph node the size of a cocktail olive. He then cut through its neck vertebrae and removed a slightly larger brain structure called the obex. After being fixed in formaldehyde, these samples were sent to the University of Georgia, where preliminary test results were positive for CWD, or chronic wasting disease.

How to Treat (and Avoid) Poison Ivy and Other Toxic Plants

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Eager to startflyfishing New York's Croton River, Jay Cassell hiked a half mile to the wateron a cloudless spring day. Four hours and the same number of brown trout later,he trekked back to his car, reenergized by his midweek brush with nature. ButCassell, FIELD & STREAM deputy editor and a lifelong outdoorsman, had noidea how devastating this encounter would prove to be.

How to Stay Awake

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 04:15:00 -0500

A perfect September day was about to dawn in Minnesota. Following a trail of ribbons he'd laid down on a scouting expedition, bowhunter Stuart Bestul silently made his way to the tree he'd chosen on the fringe of a dense forest. He set up his stand without a single clang or bang, pulled himself into position, tested his bow, and glanced at his watch: 5:30 A.M. All he had to do now was sit and wait.

"But no sooner had I settled in," Bestul recalls, "than my head started doing the old woodpecker." The cause of his somnolence: a newborn baby who'd kept him up much of the night before. He tried gouging his fingertips hard against his cheeks. When this failed to rouse him, he stood up in his stand-only to find himself swaying so much he was sure he'd fall. Figuring that a 10-minute catnap would help, Bestul lowered himself to the ground and was just about to nod off when it happened.

"It was the biggest buck I'd ever seen," he says, 14 years after the morning that still haunts him. "If only I'd stayed up there just five more minutes, the deer would have been walking down the trail exactly where I had predicted."

The buck shook its massive 10-point rack several times in Bestul's direction, trying to make him move. His heart beating wildly, the hunter remained frozen, unblinking, hoping the animal might wander off unspooked. It was not to be. In an instant, the deer spun around into the brush and was gone forever.

HUNTING SHEEP Bestul is clearly not the only hunter to suffer impaired performance due to a surfeit of grogginess. And in fact many Americans have some sort of difficulty getting enough rest-the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic says that 31 percent of us regularly suffer excessive daytime sleepiness, and the National Sleep Foundation says that 54 percent suffer insomnia. No one has collected such statistics on outdoorsmen, but stand hunting combines circumstances that hit sportsmen with a double whammy of sleep-related difficulties-hunters will suddenly reduce the amount of sleep they get at night, and they engage in a monotonous activity during the day.

Tom Roth, Ph.D., director of research at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders Center in Detroit, explains that as long as we're running around and staying hyper, adrenaline can usually override the sleepiness. But the moment we sit down, we'll start to nod off. "Feeling sleepy in a tree stand is not that much different from feeling sleepy in church or while watching TV. Inactivity doesn't make you fall asleep-it simply unmasks the sleepiness that you already have."

Missing a buck is one thing. But consider the real dangers that can result from sleep deprivation. It's no fluke that most tree stands today come with a safety harness to help protect against falls. But even with that precaution, Bestul's decision to climb down was the right one-better to ease yourself down on your own terms than to have gravity do it for you.

Expert Advice: Six Tips for Staying Awake
To stay awake when you need to, and maximize the sleep you manage to get during hunting season, here's what experts in sleep medicine recommend:

Catch up. Make up your "sleep debt" a week or two before you hunt. It takes an hour of sleep to provide two hours of daytime alertness. If you're getting less than eight hours on a regular basis, your sleep debt has been accumulating. Say you've slept only seven hours a day for the past week. You "owe" yourself seven hours more (1 hour x 7 days). Sleeping nine hours a day for the next week will get you caught up.

Take a nap. Of course, during hunting season, you're building up a debt as well. For sportsmen who hunt on weekends and work during the week, a good way to pay it back is through naps after work. For days in the field when yyou can't stay awake, Roth says that Bestul's catnap was a good idea, though its timing proved unfortunate. "When you get hungry, your body is giving you a biological signal to eat," says Roth. "When you get sleepy, what's the biological signal? It's not saying to slap yourself on the face. It's telling you to go to sleep." A short rest of 10 to 20 minutes can help clear your brain temporarily of a chemical called adenosine, which induces grogginess.

Go easy on the alcohol. A couple of beers after dinner doesn't seem like a big deal, but as alcohol wears off, it causes subtle withdrawal effects that trigger repetitive awakenings throughout the night. Most of these are too short for you to consciously notice, but they greatly erode the restorative value of your sleep.

Get comfortable. If you'll be sleeping on the ground, it's worth the additional weight and space in your pack to bring whatever you need to get comfortable: a sleeping pad and a bag that's rated for the weather, earplugs, and maybe a blindfold. It's also helpful to simulate as much as possible anything you're used to doing at home, maybe wearing a familiar pair of pajamas or bringing a book if you're accustomed to reading in bed.

Consider medication. If you know you'll be too excited to sleep well the night before, ask your doctor about one of the new-generation "hypnotics," i.e., sleeping pills, which have been proved safe and effective when used on a short-term basis. Fast-acting prescription medicines like Sonata and Ambien would be best suited for a hunter because they induce sleep quickly and do not cause the "hangover" effect common with other sleep drugs.

Be aware of potential problems. Sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea (characterized by loud snoring and brief breathing cessation), are extremely common among middle-aged men. Other medical conditions, from heart failure to Parkinson's disease, can also trigger excessive daytime sleepiness. Your doctor can help diagnose any of these root causes and, if necessary, refer you to a sleep lab for specialized treatment.

Get a Good Night's Sleep for a Good Day in the Field

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:00:00 -0500

A perfect september day was about to dawn in Minnesota. Following a trail of ribbons he'd laid down on a scouting expedition, bowhunter Stuart Bestul silently made his way to the tree he'd chosen on the fringe of a dense forest. He set up his stand without a single clang or bang, pulled himself into position, tested his bow, and glanced at his watch: 5:30 A.M. All he had to do now was sit and wait.

"But no sooner had I settled in," Bestul recalls, "than my head started doing the old woodpecker." The cause of his somnolence: a newborn baby who'd kept him up much of the night before. He tried gouging his fingertips hard against his cheeks. When this failed to rouse him, he stood up in his stand—only to find himself swaying so much he was sure he'd fall. Figuring that a 10-minute catnap would help, Bestul lowered himself to the ground and was just about to nod off when it happened.

"It was the biggest buck I'd ever seen," he says, 14 years after the morning that still haunts him. "If only I'd stayed up there just five more minutes, the deer would have been walking down the trail exactly where I had predicted."

The buck shook its massive 10-point rack several times in Bestul's direction, trying to make him move. His heart beating wildly, the hunter remained frozen, unblinking, hoping the animal might wander off unspooked. It was not to be. In an instant, the deer spun around into the brush and was gone forever.

HUNTING SHEEP Bestul is clearly not the only hunter to suffer impaired performance due to a surfeit of grogginess. And in fact many Americans have some sort of difficulty getting enough rest—the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic says that 31 percent of us regularly suffer excessive daytime sleepiness, and the National Sleep Foundation says that 54 percent suffer insomnia. No one has collected such statistics on outdoorsmen, but stand hunting combines circumstances that hit sportsmen with a double whammy of sleep-related difficulties—hunters will suddenly reduce the amount of sleep they get at night, and they engage in a monotonous activity during the day.

Tom Roth, Ph.D., director of research at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders Center in Detroit, explains that as long as we're running around and staying hyper, adrenaline can usually override the sleepiness. But the moment we sit down, we'll start to nod off. "Feeling sleepy in a tree stand is not that much different from feeling sleepy in church or while watching TV. Inactivity doesn't make you fall asleep—it simply unmasks the sleepiness that you already have."

THE MAX FOR THE MINIMUM To stay awake when you need to, and maximize the sleep you manage to get during hunting season, here's what experts in sleep medicine recommend:

• Catch up. Make up your "sleep debt" a week or two before you hunt. It takes an hour of sleep to provide two hours of daytime alertness. If you're getting less than eight hours on a regular basis, your sleep debt has been accumulating. Say you've slept only seven hours a day for the past week. You "owe" yourself seven hours more (1 hour x 7 days). Sleeping nine hours a day for the next week will get you caught up.

• Take a nap. Of course, during hunting season, you're building up a debt as well. For sportsmen who hunt on weekends and work during the week, a good way to pay it back is through naps after work. For days in the field when you can't stay awake, Roth says that Bestul's catnap was a good idea, though its timing proved unfortunate. "When you get hungry, your body is giving you a biological signal to eat," says Roth. "When you get sleepy, what's the biological signal? It's not saying to slap yourself on the face. It's telling you to go to sleep." A short rest of 10 to 20 minutes can help clear your brain temporarily of a chemical called adenosine, which induces grogginess.

• Go easy on the alcohol. A couple of beers after dinner doesn't seem like a big deal, but as alcohol wears off, it causes subtle withdrawal effects that trigger repetitive awakenings throughout the night. Most of these are too short for you to consciously notice, but they greatly erode the restorative value of your sleep.

• Get comfortable. If you'll be sleeping on the ground, it's worth the additional weight and space in your pack to bring whatever you need to get comfortable: a sleeping pad and a bag that's rated for the weather, earplugs, and maybe a blindfold. It's also helpful to simulate as much as possible anything you're used to doing at home, maybe wearing a familiar pair of pajamas or bringing a book if you're accustomed to reading in bed.

• Consider medication. If you know you'll be too excited to sleep well the night before, ask your doctor about one of the new-generation "hypnotics," i.e., sleeping pills, which have been proved safe and effective when used on a short-term basis. Fast-acting prescription medicines like Sonata and Ambien would be best suited for a hunter because they induce sleep quickly and do not cause the "hangover" effect common with other sleep drugs.

• Be aware of potential problems. Sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea (characterized by loud snoring and brief breathing cessation), are extremely common among middle-aged men. Other medical conditions, from heart failure to Parkinson's disease, can also trigger excessive daytime sleepiness. Your doctor can help diagnose any of these root causes and, if necessary, refer you to a sleep lab for specialized treatment.

THE CAFFEINE NAP

If you want to optimize your alertness during any monotonous activity, sleep researchers at Britain's University of Loughborough may have an answer. They put volunteers on a driving simulator and tested the effectiveness of blasting the radio, opening the window, slapping yourself, etc. Such measures worked dismally at best

A much better solution: Drink a cup of coffee, and immediately take a 15-minute nap. Both caffeine and naps are antidotes to adenosine, a natural sleepiness-inducing chemical. By the time your catnap is done, the caffeine has kicked in. This one-two punch clears gobs of adenosine, buying the sleep-deprived a couple of hours of additional alertness.

Keep Your Cool

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 05:05:00 -0400

John Kirwin, a paramedic in Grand Isle, Louisiana, got the call from the U.S. Coast Guard at 10:15 on a sweltering summer morning. A boat captain was racing a sick tuna fisherman back to shore. The victim, a 42-year-old attorney from Baton Rouge, was suffering from some form of heat illness. He'd vomited twice and was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The heat index that day was already hovering near 105 degrees. By the time Kirwin and his team met the boat at the marina, the victim was conscious but was suffering such severe leg cramps that he couldn't stand. The paramedics took him by stretcher to the air-conditioned ambulance, and Kirwin began checking his vital signs on the way to the closest emergency room. The man's breathing was fast and shallow. He was pale, sweating profusely, and his body temperature was 99.2. With the patient lying flat on his back, his feet slightly elevated, Kirwin did an EKG, then placed bags of ice under the victim's arms and groin and started two IV lines to pump in fluids and electrolytes.

Out trolling with his buddies since early that morning, the fisherman had neglected to drink water to replace the fluids lost by sweat. He then hooked a large tuna and exhausted himself fighting it. His symptoms began with a sudden onset of weakness and a bad headache, followed by vomiting and leg cramps.

The ER doctor would later tell Kirwin that if the patient had spent another hour or two in the heat, he could have died.

Two days later, the fully recovered attorney returned to Grand Isle to thank Kirwin. "He brought me a couple of tuna steaks," Kirwin says. "He said, Â¿Â¿Â¿This is for saving my life.'"

Mercury Rising
The name for what ailed Kirwin's patient is heat exhaustion. "The main symptom is that you just can't sustain the activity you're doing," explains Howard Backer, M.D., past president of the Wilderness Medical Society and an expert on environmental heat illnesses. "In this regard, heat exhaustion is a healthy adaptation. It forces you to stop before you get yourself into even worse trouble."

Worse trouble means heatstroke, which can be lethal. Even victims who receive timely treatment die in up to a third of cases, and 17 percent of survivors suffer neurologic damage.

[NEXT "Story continued here..."] "Heatstroke," says Backer, "is on the far end of a spectrum that usually starts out as heat exhaustion. What's a mystery, however, is the triggering event that tips a person over to the point where adaptive temperature regulation fails." In the direst cases, body temperatures have been known to soar as high as 108 degrees in minutes. This leads to a metabolic cascade of events that can cause liver and kidney failure, simultaneously denaturing the protein in your brain like egg whites in a hot skillet.

The body is not without its defenses. When the brain detects a dramatically rising body temperature, it triggers processes that transfer heat away from the core by pumping blood to the skin where the heat can radiate away, abetted by the evaporation of sweat.

Unfortunately, many factors can impair this natural mechanism for heat dissipation. Alcohol (Kirwin found out that his patient had been drinking) and certain prescription medications impair the body's capacity to regulate temperature. The same holds true for circulatory problems, from heart disease to high blood pressure, excess body fat, and aging.

Stay Out of Trouble
Heatstroke is virtually always avoidable if you're smart. Here are a few tips from the experts:

See the doctor. If you have special risks, including obesity, heart problems, medical restrictions on your fluid intake, a low-salt diet, or prescription drug usage, or if you are over 65, talk with your physician before you go out.

Get in shape and acclimate. Almost all of us can improve our ability to toolerate high temperatures by acclimating to the heat. But just sitting in a sauna won't do it. You have to actually exercise for an hour a day in the heat for five to 10 days in order to improve your tolerance.

Take cover. Wear a wide-brimmed hat and light-colored, loose, breathable clothing, and try to stay in the shade as much as possible. Also limit outdoor exercise on hot days to the morning and evening hours.

[NEXT "Story continued here..."] Stay hydrated. Drink nonalcoholic beverages, like water and sports drinks. Beer doesn't count because alcohol dehydrates your system and interferes with heat regulation. (Kirwin says that he frequently responds to calls involving fishermen who drink beer on a hot day and don't understand why they end up dehydrated.) Excessive water drinking, however, can sometimes cause the body to flush out too much sodium, leading to a potentially fatal condition called hyponatremia. Your best bet is to drink enough water to stay a little ahead of your thirst and supplement it with salty snacks.

Buddy up. Heat illness can cause confusion and loss of consciousness. Keep an eye on your buddy, and have him do the same for you.

Don't downplay symptoms. If you start feeling sick in the heat, stop exercising and head for the shade or air-conditioning. Drink water, eat a salty snack, and take it easy. If you see someone collapse in the heat, summon paramedics.

Watch your best friend. Dogs are more vulnerable to heatstroke than humans, due to their coats and inability to sweat. In the fall of 2003, an estimated 100 hunting dogs died in South Dakota when pheasant season coincided with an autumn heat wave. "Most guys are very conscious of their dogs' health now," says David Smith, a dove-hunting outfitter and owner of Texas Wild. "Many of them won't bring a dog on a hot day. When they do, they bring a dish and plenty of water. If only they'd take as good care of themselves as they do of their dogs."

Why Heatstroke is a Threat to Hunters and Fishermen, How to Recognize it, and How to Avoid It

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

John Kirwin, a paramedic in grand Isle, Louisiana, got the call from the U.S. Coast Guard at 10:15 on a sweltering summer morning. A boat captain was racing a sick tuna fisherman back to shore. The victim, a 42-year-old attorney from Baton Rouge, was suffering from some form of heat illness. He'd vomited twice and was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The Killer Sun

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 07:15:00 -0400

In 1992, Chuck Naiser of Rockport, Texas, decided to stop selling insurance and try to make his living as a flyfishing guide in the coastal bays near Corpus Christi. His wife gave him her blessing, provided that he'd make her two promises: (1) to religiously cover his skin with sun-protective clothing and slather sunscreen on when he went out on the water; and (2) to visit a dermatologist every six months.

Before making the switch to full-time guiding, the now 59-year-old Naiser had spent nearly every weekend of his adult life fishing beneath the broiling Gulf sun. Even this had taken a toll-prematurely "photoaging" his skin, triggering a couple of small precancerous lesions on his face and ears, and periodically causing his lips to crack and bleed for weeks.

Since he started guiding 13 years ago, Naiser has spent from 225 to 240 days a year out piloting his skiff and wading the shallows in pursuit of redfish. Despite all this time in the broiler, he says his ears and other parts remain fully intact and cancer-free, due in large part to his wife's advice. He's also grateful to his dermatologist, who, over the course of two dozen visits, has frozen off numerous precancerous growths on his neck, scalp, and ears, eliminating future problems.

Thanks to their efforts, Naiser says that he's confident he'll be able to keep catching redfish "until they find me lying facedown out there." The key to any angler's longevity, he's become convinced, is sun-smart behavior.

"If I were to drop my guard for even two or three days," he says, "it would shorten my career. Caring for your skin is as important in fishing as having a boat that runs. Just as your boat needs preventive maintenance, so does your skin."

The Dark Side of a Sunny Day
Sun damage is done by ultraviolet radiation, which bombards the Earth's atmosphere in three basic forms: UVC, UVB, and UVA. The first packs the greatest wallop but is mostly blocked by the ozone layer. UVB is only partially blocked by ozone and is primarily responsible for sunburn and skin cancer formation. And UVA can pass through clouds and even glass; it hurts us by augmenting the burns that UVB triggers, and by photoaging the skin.

For fishermen of various stripes, excessive sun exposure is an occupational hazard. Southern-latitude anglers like Naiser are exposed to significantly more UVA and UVB than those in more northerly regions because solar radiation increases dramatically the closer you are to the equator. Not that those pursuing trout in the Canadian Rockies are significantly safer than their colleagues casting for bonefish in the Keys. "Every thousand feet you go up in altitude, there's about 4 to 8 percent more UVB because there's less atmosphere to filter it out," explains San Diego dermatologist Lee Kaplan, M.D., author of the chapter on photomedicine in the definitive text, Wilderness Medicine (C.V. Mosby; 4th edition). "Guys who flyfish at high elevation-the mountains of Montana or Colorado, for example-do face a much greater risk of forming skin cancers."[NEXT "Story Continued Here"]

Another critical factor is that the sun's rays bounce off the water, acting like a foil tanning reflector from yesteryear. "Fishermen can get burned in places you never think about," says Kaplan. Behind the knees and under the chin are especially common. One guy suffered a painfully burned scrotum from light reflecting up his shorts.

Ignominious as this latter fate may sound, it could be much worse. The three most common forms of skin cancer have climbed in recent years:

Â¿Â¿Â¿ Basal cell carcinoma affects a million Americans each year. It's rarely fatal, but if left untreated, it can ulcerate the skin and invade cartilage and bone, causing disfigurement.

Â¿Â¿Â¿ Squamous cell cancer targets another 300,000 Americans annually. These cells can travel to other parts of the body, cluding lymph nodes, lungs, and the brain, but fatalities are uncommon.

Â¿Â¿Â¿ Melanoma is by far the deadliest form of skin cancer-and one of the deadliest forms of cancer, period. Each year, some 7,500 patients die from it. Even more disturbing is the rate at which the risk is escalating, particularly for aging men. "Deaths from melanoma are rising most rapidly of all in men over 65," says John Kirkwood, M.D., a world-famous melanoma researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Melanoma, if caught early, has a cure rate of up to 87 percent. But once a tumor gets established and has moved into surrounding lymph nodes, it will kill up to 90 percent of its victims.

An important factor to be aware of is early sun exposure. A single bad sunburn in childhood significantly ups your odds of melanoma decades later. "For many adults," says Kirkwood, "the die might already have been cast. The real challenge is to protect our children. It looks like we get our greatest sun exposure by far in the years of childhood and adolescence."

Getting the Message
Despite the impact of early exposure, older fishermen still have plenty of opportunities to protect themselves. One form of melanoma, called lentigo maligna melanoma, only seems to result in people who, says Kirkwood, get "gobs and gobs of sun exposure," like tropical fishermen. A case in point is the retired businessman who came to see Kirkwood after a fishing trip to the Caribbean.

"He'd had multiple sunburns," says Kirkwood, "and he'd developed a patch of freckle-like skin near his eye orbit the size of a quarter. A biopsy confirmed it was this form of melanoma, and fortunately we caught it early." A plastic surgeon excised the affected tissue.

Kirkwood says his patient's brush with a potentially lethal disease hasn't stopped his love of angling. "People who are fishermen once are fishermen always. He has altered his behavior dramatically. He always wears a hat and other protective clothing. He is assiduous about applying sunscreen. He's become a very good advertisement for sun-smart behavior."

[NEXT "Story Continued Here"] Professionals like Naiser see that the gospel of sun safety is spreading among fishermen. "The people I take on fishing trips have a common conversation about all this," he explains. "They'll say, Â¿Â¿Â¿Remember how we used to try to tan. Now we do everything possible not to.' Fishermen are getting wise to the message."

Along these lines, Naiser has come up with a motto he repeats to anyone interested in protecting his or her vulnerable human hide.

"Wrap that rascal!" he advises. "Cover it, coat it, gel it down!"

Sun Smarts: A Three-Part Strategy
Researchers have begun to reduce skin cancer death rates through new treatments. Still, prevention is by far the better option. Experts recommend a three-part hierarchy of behaviors: First Priority: Avoidance "Your best bet by far is to stay out of the sun," says Kaplan, "especially during the hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. when sunlight is most intense." If you do venture forth during this prime frying time, try to stay in the shade as much as possible.

Second Priority: Barriers Protective clothing is the second most effective measure. Start with a wide-brimmed hat that shades your entire face and neck. Even better in very intense sun conditions are products like the Simms SunClava, a balaclava with a sun protection factor of 50+. For the rest of your body, realize that typical summer clothing isn't as protective as you might imagine. A normal white cotton T-shirt, for instance, has an SPF of only about 5-and this declines significantly the moment the garment gets wet. Companies like Solumbra, Coolibar, and SunGrubbies use different technologies to give their activewear clothing lines a much higher SPF-from 30 to 50. Another option is a product called Rit Sun Guard, a laundry additive you throw in with your wash to gain an SPF of nearly 30.

Finally, don't neglect your eyeballs. Look for sunglasses that provide adequate UVA and UVB protection. Naiser wears polarized Costa Del Mar sunglasses that also have side shields (polarization doesn't affect UV protection).

[NEXT "Story Continued Here"] Last Priority: Sunscreen Choose a product with a minimum SPF of 15, though SPF alone is not a perfect measure of a sunscreen's effectiveness, since it only measures UVB-blocking potential. Select a "broad spectrum" formula that also stops UVA. Highly water-resistant preparations like BullFrog Sunblock and Aloe Gator are two good choices.

As effective as such products are, they only work if you put them on correctly. Coat any exposed skin, including under your chin, and don't be stingy. The FDA specifies an application of 2 mg per square centimeter to obtain a given SPF rating. For the average adult, this means 11/4 ounces for full-body coverage. Surveys show that most of us use half this much at best. It's also critical to put the sunscreen on before you go outside. And even the most highly water-resistant products must be reapplied every couple of hours.

Finally, don't forget your lips. Companies from ChapStick to Banana Boat to Faces make excellent lip balms with SPF built in.

The ABCDE Test
To catch potential melanomas early, you and a significant other should periodically use the "ABCDE test" to check your respective hides for changes in skin moles.

Look for:
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Asymmetry-for instance, one side of a mole appears different from the other.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Border-irregular or ragged boundaries.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Color-a mole is that is multicolored. Blacks and blues are worrisome.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Diameter-bigger than a pencil eraser.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Evolution-any change, including new nonpigmented fleshy growths.

If you find any of these red flags, or have any doubts at all about what you're seeing, get examined promptly by a dermatologist. To find one, go to aad.org/public/searchderm.htm. option is a product called Rit Sun Guard, a laundry additive you throw in with your wash to gain an SPF of nearly 30.

Finally, don't neglect your eyeballs. Look for sunglasses that provide adequate UVA and UVB protection. Naiser wears polarized Costa Del Mar sunglasses that also have side shields (polarization doesn't affect UV protection).

[NEXT "Story Continued Here"] Last Priority: Sunscreen Choose a product with a minimum SPF of 15, though SPF alone is not a perfect measure of a sunscreen's effectiveness, since it only measures UVB-blocking potential. Select a "broad spectrum" formula that also stops UVA. Highly water-resistant preparations like BullFrog Sunblock and Aloe Gator are two good choices.

As effective as such products are, they only work if you put them on correctly. Coat any exposed skin, including under your chin, and don't be stingy. The FDA specifies an application of 2 mg per square centimeter to obtain a given SPF rating. For the average adult, this means 11/4 ounces for full-body coverage. Surveys show that most of us use half this much at best. It's also critical to put the sunscreen on before you go outside. And even the most highly water-resistant products must be reapplied every couple of hours.

Finally, don't forget your lips. Companies from ChapStick to Banana Boat to Faces make excellent lip balms with SPF built in.

The ABCDE Test
To catch potential melanomas early, you and a significant other should periodically use the "ABCDE test" to check your respective hides for changes in skin moles.

Look for:
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Asymmetry-for instance, one side of a mole appears different from the other.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Border-irregular or ragged boundaries.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Color-a mole is that is multicolored. Blacks and blues are worrisome.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Diameter-bigger than a pencil eraser.
Â¿Â¿Â¿ Evolution-any change, including new nonpigmented fleshy growths.

If you find any of these red flags, or have any doubts at all about what you're seeing, get examined promptly by a dermatologist. To find one, go to aad.org/public/searchderm.htm.

Listen Up, Shooters: Ear Protection Will Save Your Hearing

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:00:00 -0500

"That thing would make a joyful noise unto the Lord," Petzal recalls, somewhat ruefully. "Your ears would ring and you'd go deaf temporarily, but nobody paid much attention. We weren't aware at the time that with every single shot, we were getting slightly but permanently deafer."

NOW HEAR THIS

Petzal joined the Army in 1963, and the assault on his ears continued thanks to regular blasting sessions with M-1s and M-14s interspersed with occasional grenade detonations. The closest he or any of his fellow soldiers came to wearing ear protection was stuffing "squirrel tampons" (cigarette filters) into their ears. "This was worthless," says Petzal. "The truth was nobody ever wore hearing protection, ever, under any circumstances, and if you did, you were looked at as exceedingly odd." Shortly after Petzal left the military in 1969, the Army began issuing ear protection to the ranks, but it was too late for Petzal.

"I went to a doctor in 1970," he recalls, "and told him a lot of people seemed to be mumbling. He told me I'd already damaged my hearing and what I'd lost wouldn't be coming back." The doctor also diagnosed Petzal with early-stage tinnitus, a persistent ringing that's been known to drive some victims to distraction. Even more bothersome for Petzal was a third symptom known as recruitment, a phenomenon in which the brain attempts to compensate for growing deafness by amplifying external sounds. "If a normal person hears a fire engine go by on the street, it doesn't bother him much. But it drives me to my knees. When you get something loud, it's unbearable."

Though Petzal's exposure to gunfire over the decades has been extreme, scientists now know it doesn't take nearly so much sonic trauma to cause permanent damage. In a recent study titled "Recreational Firearms Use and Hearing Loss" published in Archives of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin researchers assessed the hearing capabilities of 1,538 Wisconsin men, ages 48 to 92. Three-quarters of these guys were hunters, and one in seven were also target shooters. After adjusting for other forms of noise exposure, including snowmobile use or the operation of heavy equipment, the researchers determined that for every five years of recreational hunting a subject had completed, the risk of high-frequency hearing loss climbed by 7 percent.

"It's pretty well known," says David Nondahl, M.S., one of the authors of the study, "that on an individual basis, some hunters and target shooters can have their hearing affected. But I was surprised that we were able to demonstrate a widespread association in such a large population."

The study also found that men who had engaged in target shooting in the past year were twice as likely to suffer hearing problems as those who hadn't. Nondahl suspects that the reason the activity is associated with more inner ear damage than hunting is a matter of exposure: Target shooters not only expend vast numbers of rounds but are surrounded by others doing the same thing. Hunters, by comparison, can spend hours in a deer stand before firing off a single shot. More than 95 percent of hunters in the study reported never wearing hearing protection. And in the target shooting group, a whopping 38 percent admitted they never protected their ears.

To University of Wisconsin audiologist Ted Tweed, such disregard for aural hygiene is tragic. "It doesn't take long to cause permanent hearing loss, especially if you're a trap shooter or high-powered-rifle competitor," he says. "If you're out there without protection, it may only take a couple of days. And at this point in our science, once your hearing is gone, it's gone."

BIG BANG THEORY To understand what is actually happening inside an ear, consider the cochlea, a fluid-filled, snail shell—shaped organ buried deep in the inner ear. Sound travels through the air as pressure waves that are funneled down the ear canal to the eardrum, which vibrates like...a tiny drum. Its slight movements are relayed via three miniature bones (the hammer, stirrup, and anvil) to another membrane that covers the opening of the cochlea. When this membrane begins to dance, the vibrations are transmitted inside the cochlea's fluid center, which is lined with minuscule hairlike projections called cilia. Cilia in one area, the so-called basal turn, are set to jiggling by high-frequency sounds. If the source is low-intensity sound—such as the ticking of a wristwatch—nerves attached to these cilia conduct the stimuli to the auditory lobes of the brain, where they're deciphered as a tick tick tick. But if the noise is more intense, such as a shotgun blast, researchers speculate that the vibrations are so violent that they can, in effect, fell the affected cilia like an earthquake does trees.

The physiological cause for conditions such as tinnitus and recruitment are not as well understood, but both are frequently devastating phenomena. Though most tinnitus sufferers, for example, eventually come to accept their condition, Tweed says he has had patients for whom it is "just so unremittingly bothersome they can't stand it." In rare cases, some have even elected to have their inner ears surgically destroyed to stop the buzzing.

MUFFLE IT

Although scientists are experimenting with potential treatments, no one realistically expects a cure anytime soon. "For now, the key to stopping hearing loss is prevention," Tweed says. "Even if you're just shooting a .22, one thing's certain: You can't expose yourself to these high noise levels without incurring some damage."

The good news is that you don't have to eliminate the sounds of gunshots—you just need to reduce them to safe levels (approximately 80 decibels). A good way to do that is to use custom-fitted earplugs, which can cut the sound of virtually any gun to manageable levels. (Consult an audiologist, who will take an impression of your ear canals to create plugs tailor-made for your anatomy.) Earmuffs work better than plugs because they provide significantly more physical mass to attenuate the sound. If you're shooting a particularly high-powered firearm or find yourself on a range surrounded by other target shooters, experts recommend doubling up for the best protection.

Petzal is one of many guys whose extensive hearing loss dates back to an era when few understood how important it was to protect their ears. Today, there's no such excuse for inaction. If you have kids learning to shoot, he says, do not let them fire so much as a .22 without adequate protection.

"Losing your hearing doesn't sound as catastrophic as other physical injuries," he explains. "But it's like being confined to a wheelchair the rest of your life. You are truly handicapped. It informs everything you do, every day you live. It affects your personality and your relationships with people—invariably for the worse. If you haven't screwed your hearing up yet, don't. Believe me, the price is very high."

A SOUND INVESTMENT

•FIELD & STREAM deputy editor David Petzal recommends using serious ear protection every time you shoot a gun. Peltor's Bull's Eye Ultimate 10 earmuffs ($20 from Cabela's; 800-237-4444; www. cabelas.com) employ a dual-shell construction and compressed foam to dampen sound resonance and boast the highest accredited noise-reduction rating on the market. —J.T.

"It only takes a couple of days to permanently damage your hearing."

Listen Up (If You Can)

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 04:05:00 -0500

Take the roar of a motorcycle running full-throttle for 40 hours straight, condense it into a split second, and you've got a good approximation of the sound energy generated by an average gunshot. Now multiply that millions of times for each of the pistol, rifle, shotgun, AK-47, and innumerable other deafening rounds he's been exposed to over the past 50 years, and it's a wonder David Petzal can hear anything at all. Petzal, a longtime Field & Stream editor who prefers to be identified as "a cranky old deaf bastard," first started shooting when he was 14. By 1956, he was shooting .22s in competition; in 1960, he bought his first .44 magnum revolver.

"That thing would make a joyful noise unto the Lord," Petzal recalls, somewhat ruefully. "Your ears would ring and you'd go deaf temporarily, but nobody paid much attention. We weren't aware at the time that with every single shot, we were getting slightly but permanently deafer."

Now Hear This
Petzal joined the Army in 1963, and the assault on his ears continued thanks to regular blasting sessions with M-1s and M-14s interspersed with occasional grenade detonations. The closest he or any of his fellow soldiers came to wearing ear protection was stuffing "squirrel tampons" (cigarette filters) into their ears. "This was worthless," says Petzal. "The truth was nobody ever wore hearing protection, ever, under any circumstances, and if you did, you were looked at as exceedingly odd." Shortly after Petzal left the military in 1969, the Army began issuing ear protection to the ranks, but it was too late for Petzal.

"I went to a doctor in 1970," he recalls, "and told him a lot of people seemed to be mumbling. He told me I'd already damaged my hearing and what I'd lost wouldn't be coming back." The doctor also diagnosed Petzal with early-stage tinnitus, a persistent ringing that's been known to drive some victims to distraction. Even more bothersome for Petzal was a third symptom known as recruitment, a phenomenon in which the brain attempts to compensate for growing deafness by amplifying external sounds. "If a normal person hears a fire engine go by on the street, it doesn't bother him much. But it drives me to my knees. When you get something loud, it's unbearable."

Though Petzal's exposure to gunfire over the decades has been extreme, scientists now know it doesn't take nearly so much sonic trauma to cause permanent damage. In a recent study titled "Recreational Firearms Use and Hearing Loss" published in Archives of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin researchers assessed the hearing capabilities of 1,538 Wisconsin men, ages 48 to 92. Three-quarters of these guys were hunters, and one in seven were also target shooters. After adjusting for other forms of noise exposure, including snowmobile use or the operation of heavy equipment, the researchers determined that for every five years of recreational hunting a subject had completed, the risk of high-frequency hearing loss climbed by 7 percent.

[NEXT "Story Continued..."] "It's pretty well known," says David Nondahl, M.S., one of the authors of the study, "that on an individual basis, some hunters and target shooters can have their hearing affected. But I was surprised that we were able to demonstrate a widespread association in such a large population."

The study also found that men who had engaged in target shooting in the past year were twice as likely to suffer hearing problems as those who hadn't. Nondahl suspects that the reason the activity is associated with more inner ear damage than hunting is a matter of exposure: Target shooters not only expend vast numbers of rounds but are surrounded by others doing the same thing. Hunters, by comparison, can spend hours in a deer stand before firing off a single shot. More than 95 percent of hunters in the study reported never wearing hearing protection. And in the target shooting group, a whoing 38 percent admitted they never protected their ears.

To University of Wisconsin audiologist Ted Tweed, such disregard for aural hygiene is tragic. "It doesn't take long to cause permanent hearing loss, especially if you're a trap shooter or high-powered-rifle competitor," he says. "If you're out there without protection, it may only take a couple of days. And at this point in our science, once your hearing is gone, it's gone."

Big Bang Theory
To understand what is actually happening inside an ear, consider the cochlea, a fluid-filled, snail shellÂ¿Â¿Â¿shaped organ buried deep in the inner ear. Sound travels through the air as pressure waves that are funneled down the ear canal to the eardrum, which vibrates likeÂ¿Â¿Â¿a tiny drum. Its slight movements are relayed via three miniature bones (the hammer, stirrup, and anvil) to another membrane that covers the opening of the cochlea. When this membrane begins to dance, the vibrations are transmitted inside the cochlea's fluid center, which is lined with minuscule hairlike projections called cilia. Cilia in one area, the so-called basal turn, are set to jiggling by high-frequency sounds. If the source is low-intensity sound-such as the ticking of a wristwatch-nerves attached to these cilia conduct the stimuli to the auditory lobes of the brain, where they're deciphered as a tick tick tick. But if the noise is more intense, such as a shotgun blast, researchers speculate that the vibrations are so violent that they can, in effect, fell the affected cilia like an earthquake does trees.

[NEXT "Story Continued..."] The physiological cause for conditions such as tinnitus and recruitment are not as well understood, but both are frequently devastating phenomena. Though most tinnitus sufferers, for example, eventually come to accept their condition, Tweed says he has had patients for whom it is "just so unremittingly bothersome they can't stand it." In rare cases, some have even elected to have their inner ears surgically destroyed to stop the buzzing.

Muffle It
Although scientists are experimenting with potential treatments, no one realistically expects a cure anytime soon. "For now, the key to stopping hearing loss is prevention," Tweed says. "Even if you're just shooting a .22, one thing's certain: You can't expose yourself to these high noise levels without incurring some damage."

The good news is that you don't have to eliminate the sounds of gunshots-you just need to reduce them to safe levels (approximately 80 decibels). A good way to do that is to use custom-fitted earplugs, which can cut the sound of virtually any gun to manageable levels. (Consult an audiologist, who will take an impression of your ear canals to create plugs tailor-made for your anatomy.) Earmuffs work better than plugs because they provide significantly more physical mass to attenuate the sound. If you're shooting a particularly high-powered firearm or find yourself on a range surrounded by other target shooters, experts recommend doubling up for the best protection.

Petzal is one of many guys whose extensive hearing loss dates back to an era when few understood how important it was to protect their ears. Today, there's no such excuse for inaction. If you have kids learning to shoot, he says, do not let them fire so much as a .22 without adequate protection.

"Losing your hearing doesn't sound as catastrophic as other physical injuries," he explains. "But it's like being confined to a wheelchair the rest of your life. You are truly handicapped. It informs everything you do, every day you live. It affects your personality and your relationships with people-invariably for the worse. If you haven't screwed your hearing up yet, don't. Believe me, the price is very high."

A Sound Investment
Field & Stream deputy editor David Petzal recommends using serious ear protection every time you shoot a gun. Peltor's Bull's Eye Ultimate 10 earmuffs ($20 from Cabela's; 800-237-4444; www.cabelas.com) employ a dual-shell construction and compressed foam to dampen sound resonance and boast the highest accredited noise-reduction rating on the market. u shoot a gun. Peltor's Bull's Eye Ultimate 10 earmuffs ($20 from Cabela's; 800-237-4444; www.cabelas.com) employ a dual-shell construction and compressed foam to dampen sound resonance and boast the highest accredited noise-reduction rating on the market.