Well my buddy and I got out for the last day of the season. Been in the single digits out here..warmed up to 12° this morning so we headed out. Got to our hole and when we got out of the car we could here lots of ducks around. We were worried if we busted them out when working our way down to go set the decoys then we wouldn't get them to come back so we decided to wait it out until shooting light and jump shoot them. Once it was legal shooting light we worked our way closer and sure enough about 2 dozen mallards started to take off. I took a shot and dropped one. Watched it hit the water then got 2 more shots off but the rest survived. Had to run to get my waders on because the current was taking my duck downstream. I got in the water as it had moved about 30 yards from where I shot it and wasn't stopping. I left my wading stick at my buddies place and was trying to rush and tripped on a rock and hit the water. Luckily my arms broke my fall and my waders didn't take in water. I was able to get up and get my duck. It made it about 60yds from where I shot it. Thankfully the water level was lower then before and didn't take too much effort to get to it. But I was good and wet to my elbows and down to my waist. Hands were freezing and took sometime to warm up. My jacket froze up where it was wet it was so cold out. I set 2 dozen decoys out and we sat back hoping to have some birds come in. About an hr or so later a couple dudes in a boat (obviously smater then us) would eventually work their way past us scaring off the ducks that were just upstream from us. We were both cold and wet and decided to call it shortly after. Could barely move my hands after pulling the decoys..it was a learning experience for the both of us. I definitely need to invest into some better waders and cold weather gear for next season..also a boat and a dog would probably make things easier! Until next season!
