Back in 1973 I did it all the time... Probably stopped doing it around 1979. I would drink right out of a stream when I was Grouse hunting....However more and more reports of people getting sick from fecal matter in water...I started to carry a small amount of water in a HIP FLASK in my small game pocket. Lucky that I never got sick... You never know if there is a decomposing dead deer up stream from the stream your drinking. Most times the water was from the Local water supply..Especially when I was a teenager and hunting around all of the watersheds in NEPA.. Fecal Matter? Just think of all of the old TVs you use to see discarded out in the woods...The TVs with all the old components that were linked to be cancer causing agents..
what causes me pain is when I see families picking black berries along the interstates and country roads...First off...They Penndot use chemicals in deicers to keep the roads clear in the winter time..Come Spring all these chemicals could go into the edible plants and berries along the road. Also Penndot uses that chemical to kill the weeds along the road in the Summer time...Yep again the poor souls picking berries along the road could be exposing their entire family to cancer causing agents...best to go into the woods a bit to pick any edible item..Don't do it along the major roads.....
