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With spring rains and rising temperatures, the riparian expanses in Texas and elsewhere return to their verdant glory and beckon us afield with promises of nature's treasures. With renewed opportunities for spectacular collecting come renewed opportunities for dangerous encounters and serious maladies. Let's review a few: Insects A fossil buddy swung by my house one night last week after a whirlwind, one day road trip. We hung out for a while and traded a few fossils. A couple days later, he started showing me pics of strange rashes and finally went to urgent care, and then the hospital. It turns out that he has contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This is a very serious deal. This could happen to any of us. A few precautions that I take include liberal application of potent bug spray, and choosing a course to minimize brush busting. Before entering the field, I pull up cuffs of pants and spray my ankles, shins and calves. Also, I pull up my shirt and spray the waistline. After spraying hands and shirt (I wear long sun block shirts) I spray my neck, then block my eyes, hold my breath, and spray my whole head. So far I've been lucky. Snakes The upswing in temps has brought a marked increase in my encounters with various snakes, mostly water mocassins, often coiled with mouth open and head shaking. Although I generally carry a licensed firearm, considering human reaction time and distance of snake encounters, it is best to walk with a stick or similar to knock a snake out of the way if needed. In my experience, they aren't very aggressive unless I haplessly stomp inside of their comfort zone. I've never had to kill a water mocassin and try to stay in areas open enough to see for at least 10 feet. That way I tend to see them with time and distance to reroute without even having to take a swing. Poison Ivy, Oak, etc. Best bet for highly allergic people like me is to not walk through the stuff. Through great suffering and reflection, I have learned to be constantly aware of what type of vegetation I'm walking through. I try not to touch any plant unnecessarily. Tecnu is a great topical protective barrier, but I saw a Youtube video of perhaps an even more useful idea. A guy explained an informal study he conducted and his most useful suggestion post contact was to get down in the creek and scour the contact area with handfuls of wet sand without delay. He felt that the mild abrasive action of sand administered in a timely fashion was effective at lifting urushiol from the skin before it could set up and do its nasty deed. I have employed this technique and not had serious outbreaks in several years. But my first line of defense is avoidance of contact. Be safe and have fun!