Published: December 24, 2008 11:24 am      

Breaking the ice at the wrong time

Outdoors

Duck hunting, especially in below freezing temperatures, is not for the faint of heart. Of course, our cold days down here are warm ones for the guys who hunt in Minnesota, North Dakota and other northern states. Ice and snow are their constant companions.

Monday, University of Texas swim coach and the USA Olympic coach Eddie Reese and I hunted a lake near Austin. The temperature was well below freezing due to the Arctic cold front that blew in Sunday.

The sharp north wind was still howling.

It was the weather we had been wanting. Ducks can’t set still with a strong Arctic front blowing. They have to fly.

Eddie and I, along with my son-in-law Bill Paschall, broke the ice around the blind, got our decoys out, beefed-up the blind a little and loaded our guns just a few seconds before legal shooting time. As the eastern horizon got a little brighter we could see scores of ducks piling into a cove at the front of the lake.

“One of us needs to grab a few decoys and go to the front where those ducks are wanting to land,” I said.

Bill volunteered. In a few seconds he was gone.

Several pairs of gadwalls came into our decoys and the two of us didn’t let them escape. But most of the ducks were flaring away from our blind.

“Let’s move some of the decoys back behind,” suggested Eddie.

“I think it’ll help,” I replied.

Eddie left his gun in the blind but I put mine under my arm as we began to move decoys. In the midst of the work, I looked up and two pintails were descending toward the decoys with wings cupped.

I picked out the drake and squeezed the trigger.

The big bird hesitated, shook and kept flying. I knew he was hit. My second shot missed as he passed over my head. With my feet stuck in the mud, I made a three-quarter twist and fired as he was leaving.

I saw the bird go down as the recoil of the Browning kicked me back into the icy water from my awkward position. As I fell, I unconsciously switched the shotgun to my left hand and broke my fall with the right arm.

What a mess! Instead of wearing my neoprene waders, I had donned hip boots. I started hunting ducks in hip boots when I was a teenager. I still prefer them to waders when the water is not too deep. But today it was a big mistake.

Both boots filled with water and the right side of my upper torso went under water. Only my left upper quadrant was dry. To say the least, I didn’t stay underwater very long. I came up like a jack-in-the-box.

Eddie got back into the blind as I headed for shore. After emptying both boots, I twisted the water out of my wool socks. Now very cold, I headed for the truck.

By the time I arrived my duck calls were frozen, water that had splashed on the gun froze, my shell vest turned to ice and my clothing got stiff with an icy coat.

After warming the truck and thawing out a little, I headed back to the lake. I knew the pintail was not dead so Lady and I came around the back side of the cove.

The duck had disappeared but Lady picked up his scent. She trailed him across a fence, down another fence and then into some thick grass. She then disappeared. A few seconds later she came trotting to me with the pintail in her mouth.

I waded across the cove and got back into the blind with Eddie. We nailed a couple more ducks and I began to get really cold.

Bill showed up proudly displaying his limit of five ducks. He was really happy. His shooting is usually not too good, but he knew he shot that limit by himself. He even got two with one shot.

Eddie and I needed one more bird for our two limits. “Eddie, I’m getting real cold. Let’s have mercy on that last duck and get out of here,” I pled.

“Good idea,” he said.

The dog leash that was tied to the blind was frozen stiff. I couldn’t untie it with my cold hands. I just cut it with the pocket knife.

With decoys soon in the bag, we were back in our warm trucks.

My situation was not too serious since we were near our vehicles. But if I had been far back in a marsh, hypothermia could happen. You can get in trouble very quick.

The greatest danger in duck hunting is when a boat is involved. To ride in a boat in the dark with hip boots or waders on without a life preserver is asking to die. Duck hunters drown every year from overloaded boats capsizing in frigid waters. Even if you reach shore you can still quickly freeze to death.

Next hunt, I plan to wear my neoprene waders. Only my arm and shoulder would have been wet if I had worn them.

Hopefully, that’s my last icy bath for the season.