Your post reminded me of a thought I had the other night as I was watching Man Vs Wild (Ok, it was a slow night and I didn't have anything better to do.) Bear was "lost" in the mountains and advised viewers to move down hill, find a stream and follow it.

As I got to thinking about the time I have spent in the wilds of south Georgia, south Alabama, north Florida, it came to me that that bit of "conventional wisdom" is totally backwards for this part of the world. If you go down hill and downstream, you are just going to get lost farther back in the swamps. If you remember the old black and white Tarzan movies, many of the jungle scenes were filmed in north Florida. Unless you know the area, down hill, following a stream probably ain't where you want to be.

DEET is an item that I do not see in a lot of kits from other areas, but it is an important item in my day pack. The most dangerous animials in this part of the country have either 6 or 8 legs.

On the other hand, it wasn't until I spent some time in the dry air at Yellowstone that I began to really appreciate chap stick.