My brothers and I, plus some of the nephews had come together to float and fish the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. This is a designed wilderness river. The area we were floating would take five or six days to canoe. During that time we would see no signs of civilization. It was early in the year, and we had the river to ourselves. Our family is scattered across the country, from the Allegheny Mountains to the Rockies. It promised to be a great time to spend some quality time together. We would be fishing to supplement our food supply. In fact, fish would made up the majority of our meals.

On the second day out my brother  and I were in a canoe together. We were busy fishing and had lost sight of the rest of the gang. The smallmouth bass were biting, the weather was perfect. We were…