Tricks for keeping your mouth from drying out while hunting

Yes, it is that time of year. The Pussy Wiilow’s then the tree pollen. I take some over the counter remedies that address both the allergy and the nasal drip. I have constant issues where my vocal cords need to be cleared so I want to cough to clear them or emit a guttural tone to move the congested material away. Doing that while hunting does not bode well for noises that wild game can hear in the woods, that is,  if you ever see any game with such noises of constantly clearing your throat.

Sucking on lozenges can help but some tart lozenges can put an odor in the air that may alert game. Be sure to bring liquids to drink but the best thing I have found to keep from coughing is to bring tart apples with you, like a granny Smith but any apple will do in a pinch. Take a bite and tuck it in your cheeks like chewing tobacco.The tart pectin will bath your vocal cords and thin out any salivary congestion.  Slice some and put it in a baggie or just keep the whole apple and bite a hunk off every now and again.

So what if you do not have an apple?

You can chew green white pine needles or fresh fir tips, I have and it works and you get some vitamin c too (spit out the chewed needles). You can also chew tea-berry leaves and tea-berries as I called them as a boy, you find here in NH called Wintergreen.

http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Edible_Plants_Ramer_Silver_Weizmann/Pages/spp_page_wintergreen.html

 

Note: Wintergreen is said to have medicinal properties like aspirin. I often chew and suck on the leaves which have a mint taste. Little did I know that I was tasting wild medicine.

Once you study up on wild edible things that the forest offers you will be a better woodsman and hunter. I have eaten “common clover” which has a lemon taste and can aid in soothing your throat. See the web site below for plant Identification.

http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Edible_Plants_Ramer_Silver_Weizmann/Pages/spp_page_clover_common.html

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About Ed Hale

I am an avid hunter with rifle and Bow and have been hunting for more than 50 years. I have taken big game such as whitetail deer, red deer, elk, Moose and African Plains game such as Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, and Impala and wrote an ebook entitled African Safari -Rifle and Bow and Arrow on how to prepare for a first safari. Ed is a serious cartridge reloader and ballistics student. He has earned two degrees in science and has written hundreds of outdoor article on hunting with both bow and rifle.