Duck season is upon us and many are busy readying their jon boats with fresh reeds while others have the luxury of just wading out through a flooded pond to a blind. Regardless of whether you are shooting from a boat or standing in a flooded field or swamp a life preserver and a waders belt are paramount to your safety this season. As I was talking with close friends this past week that are gearing up I was reminded of this article I put together over ten years ago and thought it might be good to dust her off…
How well can you swim, can you swim with your waders on? How about with your long johns, your quad parker, your gloves, and your gun in your hand?
About ten years ago I caught a ride home from Clemson with a good friend of mine Ryan. It was the Thanksgiving holidays and we were both looking forward to a nice break from studying. As we ran down I385 we talked about our plans for the holiday weekend. Ryan told me about a tradition he and his father started many years ago with one of his father’s best friends and his son David that was Ryan’s age. Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving they would wake up about four am and meet up for an early breakfast.
Afterwards they would go to a friend’s private plantation up the Ashley and launch a small jon boat into one of the flooded rice fields just before daybreak. The jon boat was equipped with a GoDevil that they would use to push the boat around in the flooded grass to multiple duck blinds. Ryan went on to talk about how they would duck hunt until about 9 am, clean the birds, and return home. Later that day Ryan’s family and David’s family would get together and enjoy some fresh duck for dinner. Ryan explained how this year would be extra special as David’s dad was not able to go the year before as he was in the hospital for heart surgery.
I called Ryan on that Friday afternoon to see how they had done on the ducks, and Ryan responded, “Tim we are all just happy to be alive!” Obviously I was caught off guard: Was there a car accident? Did a gun