92xj Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 PSA = Public Service Announcemnt. Here is a little story that happened to me this past weekend while duck hunting. I do not have a boat nor a dog, so I retrieve all my own birds by walking in the water in waders. I hunt the bank of the mighty Columbia river and have a water depth of 1-2' for 150 yards out then it drops off to anywhere from 5-100'. On Sunday, I dropped two widgeon from a group and went after them, both dead and not crippled. I was able to reach the first bird. As I was walking slowly for the second one, I found the drop off. Luckily for me the guy hunting down from me had a dog and asked if I wanted it. I shouted sure as I was walking back to the dog. Once the dog started to come, I shot so he was able to see the splash and get the duck for me. I walked back to as close to the drop off as I could to get as close to the bird as possible. When I had about 10 feet to go, I stepped off the ledge. I went under, head and all. The water is 34 degrees and it instantly took the breath away from me. I have never done this before but luckily I was able to save my own life. The first thing I did was kick as hard as possible. I knew I had to get my head up and get one last breath in order to find my way back to the ledge. I was able to get air with one strong kick and then it was game on to get to the bottom and walk my way out. I felt the waders fill as fast as you putting a bucket under water. Within a second or two they were completely full and I gained about 100 pounds. What saved me was my ability to not panic. I had a clear head and knew the danger I was in. After a few seconds I found the ledge and was able to get my feet under me, gun in hand, and stand up and take a good long breath of fresh air. By this time the dog had my bird and was swimming around me waiting for me to take it. The guy was coming as fast as he could to help me, but he was nowhere close to help. I was all alone. I slowly walked back to the shore and immediately took my waders off and emptied the water. At this point I had two options, stay or get in the truck and get warm. I opted to stay and hunt and the only reason I did this was for some odd reason we are having a warm spell right now. The air temp was high 40s and I was able to put on some dry clothes which got wet but not soaking when I put my waders back on. I was able to finish the hunt and head home without an issue. The thing that saved my life was keeping cool. I have played this scene out in my head for the past 5 years knowing it was going to happen at some point. You have to breath, you have to keep your cool and do not panic! The water will take your breath away, focus at this point and get another deep breathe as soon as you can. Once you do, calm down, let teh water do what its going to do and do not fight it. You will be able to save yourself with a cool head. If the temps were normal the outcome might have been different but I was lucky to do this on a warm day even though the water was as cold. Stay calm, dont panic, take in air, get out of the water, get out of your wet clothes and get warm. Hopefully this will help someone and I will be glad to answer any questions you guys might have. It was quite the experience and something I will never forget. I am just glad that I was as prepared as I could have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse8953 Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Glad to hear you are o.k. My brother and his waterfowl buddies all had near death calls.Just waiting for my turn.[hope it never happens] waterfowl hunting is a dangous sport.,but it is also very addictive and fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Glad to hear you are o.k. My brother and his waterfowl buddies all had near death calls.Just waiting for my turn.[hope it never happens] waterfowl hunting is a dangous sport.,but it is also very addictive and fun! It is addictive and fun and this accident will not keep me off the waters. It has made me aware of what my body will do and gave me more knowledge than I had before of what to do incase the unthinkable happens. I dont think its a matter of "if" but "when". Just be prepared, scope out your surroundings every time you are out there and have a game plan if something does happen. When I go out with a partner, we always go through a worst case scenario and only one of us retreives birds at a time. In a case like this, there is no point in having two out there flopping around. You will have to save yourself, period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTF Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Man that story freaks me out. Holly crap ! Glad you survived. If I where you I'd put some buoys out there to mark the drop off and I also would be wearing a PFD while hunting that area like the ones that inflate when under water. They do come in camo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Wow..you are very lucky to have walked yours self through it before it happened..Im sure that alone saved your life right there!! You reminded me of the Armistic Day Blizzard that happened..link below; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 That blizzard was crazy! I am just glad we were in a heat wave last weekend. If this would have happened the week of Thanksgiving, I believe the outcome would have been a little bit different. That we I went out hunting it was -6 degrees when we got out to our spot and only got to a high of 0. The water was freezing faster than we could keep it open and once out of the water, it froze our waders instantly. Here are pics from that day. I thank God I did not go under then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3seasons Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 You are blessed to be around for sure. Glad your ok. You may want to get you a lab now so you wont have to mess with the retrieving part of the hunt . Its a lot more fun and safe. I’ve gone under more times than i care to remember. The worst was on a day we were breaking ice. Me and a friend had moved back into the timber to check on another hole, while wadding in water about waist deep i ran up on a log about thigh high and my momentum caused me to fall forward. Well with the log being thigh high it was high enough for me not to be able to reach the bottom with my hands and my feet were floating because of my waders. My whole body was just below the water line, and like you said 33deg water will take your breath away. I stayed somewhat calm and managed to stick my gun in the mud and push myself up out of the water. I wear a lot of wool and even soaking wet it still retains a lot of heat. I was able to finish the hunt but every time i moved you could hear the ice breaking on the outside layer of clothing. Its funny now but was a bad deal at the time it happened. I wear neoprene waders and a belt just to make it as water tight as possible for that very reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 I am thinking about a dog, but right now money is tight so that is not an option. I will get one at some point but for now, me fetching my own birds is not a problem. When I cant reach them, which is very few, I have on heck of a cast and have snagged them all with my fishing pole. But a dog and a boat is in the works, hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterfowler Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Glad to hear you are o.k. My brother and his waterfowl buddies all had near death calls.Just waiting for my turn.[hope it never happens] waterfowl hunting is a dangous sport.,but it is also very addictive and fun!uncle jesse even i have had close calls. as long as you keep your balance and know how deep the water is you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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