Hypothermia, considered the number one killer of outdoor recreationalists, represents the progressive mental and physical collapse that occurs with the cooling of the inner core of the body. Most hypothermia cases develop in air temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees simply because people can't believe such temperatures can be dangerous and don't take proper precautions.

 The human body typically operates most efficiently with a core body temperature of 98.6 degrees. If exposed to frigid temperatures without adequate protection, body temperature plummets rapidly by the loss of heat through five ways. The act of breathing, or respiration, brings cold air deep into the body and accounts for 10-30% of the body's heat loss in cold temperatures. Another route of heat loss, evaporation, occurs when perspiration or water is present on the skin. Heat is lost by conduction when sitting or sleeping on the ground, touching cold equipment, and when the skin's exposed to snow and rain. Radiation describes the loss of heat from uncovered skin, particularly the head, neck, and hands. And lastly, convection heat loss occurs when wind carries away the layer of warm air next to your skin.

 The process of hypothermia actually has two distinct steps, exposure and exhaustion. Just being out in the cold doesn't necessarily result in exposure. With proper precautions to avoid the five ways heat is lost from the body, a person can remain in the frigid outdoors quite comfortably for great lengths of time. Exposure occurs when the body begins to lose heat faster than it can produce it.

 Mother Nature can sometimes be quite unpredictable and even the most prepared person can sometimes be caught off guard by the fierceness of her fury. Understanding hypothermia and learning to identify the symptoms are crucial to every outdoor recreationalist.

 When exposure occurs (heat is being lost faster than it can be produced) the body takes steps to try to correct the problem and preserve normal temperature in the vital organs. There is a desire to move around. This movement of muscles creates warmth in the body. If this isn't enough to compensate for the loss of heat, shivering starts. This is another of the body's attempts to create additional warmth in the body by moving muscles. Persistent shivering is a clear warning you are on the verge of hypothermia.

 The body also releases hormones to restrict the flow of blood to the skin in order to preserve the inner warmth of the body. Alcohol dilates blood vessels, thus interfering with the body's ability to protect itself in this manner. When alcohol is present, the body temperature may be 2-3 degrees lower.

 In mild hypothermia it's also not unusual to notice some grogginess and slurred speech. Don't delay. Find some shelter and a warm drink, if possible. Assess the situation to discover how your body is losing heat and take action to reduce that loss. Cover your mouth and nose area with wool or a bandana, change into dry clothes, put gloves and a hat on, zip up your coat, get out of the wind, or add another layer of clothes. Whatever it takes, do it!

  Beware of continuous strenuous exercise in cold conditions. Exercising may be the only thing preventing you from going into hypothermia. If exhaustion forces you to stop, your rate of body heat production instantly drops by 50% or more. Violent, incapacitating shivering may begin immediately to try to compensate for the change in heat production. You may slip into hypothermia in a matter of minutes.

 If exposure and the resulting heat loss continues, shivering becomes violent. The body quickly begins to run out of the energy stores necessary to keep up this strenuous motion. Often the person is unable to think and pay attention. Good judgement and reasoning dissipate as the brain begins to cool. The respiratory and cardiac centers of the brain experience a cold-induced depression. Breathing becomes slow and shallow, the pulse slow and weak. Control of the hands are lost. The body no longer has the energy stores left to shiver. There is an over-whelming feeling of drowsiness and the inability to get up after a rest. Finally, the exhaustion of energy stores and the falling body temperature lead to stupor, collapse and death.

 Hypothermia is a medical emergency requiring core rewarming. One of the ways this is done is by inhalation rewarming which gives heat directly to the core of the body via the lungs. If you try to warm up the outside of the body first you may circulate cold extremity blood to the body's core and inadvertently make the person more hypothermic. Seek professional help whenever possible.

  Most importantly, be able to admit when it's time to seek shelter. So you miss out on half a day's hunt because you slipped in the creek and went back to camp to change to dry clothes. As long as you're alive, there can always be another hunt. Hypothermia kills - don't allow yourself to become one of its statistics. Until next time...Maggie B.

 There are fishermen and then there are men, women and children who like to fish. If you don't know how to make a set up consisting of a 3/16 ounce weight set 10 inches below a 1/0 hook rigged with a 2- inch Riverside Wooly Hawg Tail or a finesse worm, or whether that even pertains to saltwater fishing (it doesn't), but you like to fish, this article is for you. This article is about how to book a party boat trip, what to bring and what you will likely catch. For some, it will be detailed and for others, not detailed enough. However, for the casual but serious fishermen (read "fisherpeople") the author hopes this article is at least informative.

 The best part of a party boat trip is the quantity of different species caught by all the passengers. The bad news is that not all fish caught are "keepers". If you want to see and catch a variety of fish, a party boat is the place to be. Most boats are rated to carry 40+ persons and with that many lines in the water, a lot of interesting fish show up. At the outset, most party boat trips are limited to bay fishing as opposed to Gulf fishing. This means the water is calmer and for the most part the wind is less strong. Because the author lives in deep south Texas, this article will concern itself more with South Padre Island and the Laguna Madre. However the number of fish caught, species and general concepts are the same along the Texas coast regardless of whether you are fishing Port Isabel or near Corpus Christi.

 A party boat is nothing more than a meduim size fishing boat that will carry a lot of passengers for a short destination to fish. The boats are not exceptionally spacious, meaning there is not enough room to lie on the deck and get a suntan, but there is room to bring a cooler and the boats usually have seats or benches where you may rest or eat snacks or drink your favorite beverages. There is usually a restroom (a must, since the boats are usually out for 3 to 4 hours at a time). The boats go out fishing two times a day and usually once a night and there must usually be seven or eight passengers on board for it to be profitable to the owner to fish.

 This means you can book a trip if you have a large family, vacation with friends or simply want to fish alone with a number of people who have a like interest. It is not necessary to call in advance for reservations but, it is nice to let the owner know in advance if you are interested in fishing so that he can give you some idea if the boat is, in fact, going out (i.e., they have the 7 or 8 people to make it profitable to the owner to go out).

 A party boat is equipped with life vests and meets ridged Coast Guard specifications as a passenger carrying vessel. The captains are trained, licensed and experienced. Most boats have a fish finder. There are usually one or more deckhands that will assist you in untangling lines, removing fish from hooks, supplying bait and making sure you have a good time. Tipping the deckhand is customary if you've been well served. After the trip, the deckhand will fillet your fish and bag it for you for a nominal price. You will need to bring a small cooler with ice to take the fish home with you. What does all this cost? Usually, about $25.00 per person if you don't have your own tackle, and $20.00 per person if you have your own tackle not including the tip. Specials are sometimes available in the off season that further reduces the price.

 You do not need to bring your own fishing tackle, but you may if you want and many do. The boat will have a rod and reel for you and the deckhand will provide you with a stringer for your fish. A stringer is a nylon "string" where the fish are attached and left in the water so as to keep fresh. Be careful, however, because your fish might get stolen by a porpoise or pelican, both of which been known to stay within striking distance and looking for an easy meal.

 The bait supplied is usually previously frozen shrimp, but you are not limited to the boat's bait. You may want to bring along a small bag of squid or you may want to use "cut bait" which is nothing more than undesirable fish cut up and used as bait. There is always plenty of bait so you don't have to worry about running out. If you have a hard time keeping the bait on the hook (i.e., the fish keep stealing your bait) you may want to try squid.

 Trolling is not usually allowed and fishing is only done once the engine to the boat is off and the boat anchored. Generally, it will take at least 30 minutes to get to your fishing destination. The deckhand will show you how to bait the hook and fish. You will be told to take the shrimp and bait the hook by starting at the shrimp's tail and sliding the hook through the body to the shrimp's head so that the shrimp wraps around the hook. The entire hook will be "lined" with the shrimp. The reel is then disengaged and the line dropped into the water. You will keep your thumb on the reel to gently release the line (so as to avoid getting a "bird's nest") and let the hook go to the bottom of the bay. The depth of the bay will vary but could be as shallow as six feet or as much as forty feet. You will probably use a baitcast reel with approximately 40 pound test line for fishing, but in reality, any good fishing rod, reel and line combination will work. When the hook has reached the bottom, you will engage the reel and rewind until the hook is 6 inches or so off the bottom of the bay. When the fish strikes, you set the hook by giving it a jerk and reel your fish in. The fish you will be fishing for are usually bottom feeders; hence, leaving your baited hook at the bottom of the bay will catch more fish.

Next month in Part 2, Jason describes some of the species of fish you can catch on the Laguna Madre.

ANSWER TO BACKWOODS TRIVIA:   U.S. Admiral David Farragut uttered those immortal words at the battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864 during the American Civil War after one of his ships hit a mine and sank.