Basic Survival Skills Every Hunter Should Have

Residing in College Station, TX, Dr. Anthony Amoroso is a board-certified emergency physician in a level II trauma center that serves 55,000-60,000 patients per year. Aside from his professional responsibilities, Dr. Anthony Amoroso enjoys hobbies including fishing, travel, cooking, exercising, and hunting. 

Hunting can pose a variety of hazards for even the most experienced outdoorsman. Every hunter should have basic survival skills including those discussed below.

Knowing how to locate clean water is a key survival skill for hunters. Obtaining water to drink from sources of precipitation such as rain, snow, and dew are ideal when water sources cannot be purified. One way to collect water is to press a cloth such as bandanna against grass or other plants covered in dew and then wring it into a container. 

Finding food is an essential skill for hunters should they become stranded. Raw sources of easily obtainable food may include brown grasshoppers, crickets, earthworms, and grubs. Another option for securing food is to make a small spear from a tree sapling to use it for catching fish and small animals.

Every hunter should know how to make a shelter as a fundamental survival skill. An insulated shelter can be constructed using tree branches. Two smaller branches of equal size and measuring approximately three to four feet long can be fit together and leaned against a longer branch several feet in length. A large sheet of plastic can then be draped over the branches to create a waterproof shelter. To provide insulation from the cold ground, moss, ferns, and dried leaves should be spread around inside the shelter.

Increasing Casting Distance When Fishing

Emergency physician Anthony Amoroso, MD, practices with U.S. Acute Care Solutions and serves as the owner of College Station, Texas-based Brazos Valley Charting, which he founded in 2007. Outside of work, Dr. Anthony Amoroso enjoys numerous hobbies, including fishing.

Perhaps one of the most basic factors affecting casting distance is the rod and reel. Anglers must use a rod that is a comfortable weight for them. When the rod is too light, they will often cast their bait too far. By contrast, anglers run the risk of not casting far enough when their rod is too heavy. Meanwhile, the spool should be cleaned and lubed so that it causes less friction as the line moves.

Speaking of the line, it, too, plays a role in casting distance. Lighter line always lets anglers increase the distance of their cast since it has a smaller diameter. When the diameter is smaller, the line causes less friction as it moves through the air, thus allowing it to fly farther. Casting distance is affected by diameter differences of as little as 0.10 millimeter.

As line ages, it also develops memory of being on the spool. This creates curls that cause resistance as it moves during a cast. Newer line does not have this memory and is capable of flying farther.

Finally, anglers can enjoy farther casting distances when they stop moving their rod forward once the rod is just past its highest vertical point. Stopping before this point causes the bait to move upwards instead of forwards. Conversely, continuing the forward movement of a rod before release causes the cast to be too low and results in the bait hitting the water before it reaches its maximum distance.