you know every so often things just go wrong. i'm sure everybody has had those days, but usually its not a hunting day. usually.
its opening day and the lake i hunt has a large bay on the far end, and behind the bay there is a nice pothole. Just what duck love. Now i have this beautiful little strip cedar double ended boat, but it is a pull to row it across the whole lake. I had been looking for one of those old 3 hp johnsons for a long time and i finally found a real beaut. Didn't really have a motor mount so i kinda made one and clamped it to the gunnal. It worked slick, i was across the lake in mean time. Heading through the bay there was about 200' of tall rushes to pole through. No problem with this little boat. I put the nose in the rushes, grabbed the push pole and started in. About 1/3 of the way in the rushes started to get really thick & i had to really push my tailbone off. Then during one good hard push, the pole broke in half. Of course i was standing on the edge of the boat, and kersplash, into the drink i went. Now the water wasn't really deep, but the muck was. enough so that after getting ahold of the boat and standing up,l i sunk in to above the boot line of course. Well, hell, that duck hunting. So i grabbed an oar and kept going. Finally getting to the pothole i found a good spot on the back end and set up. Wasn't long before a lone woodie came over. He decoyed right in and i let him have it. The duck kinda went poof in a cloud of feathers. Didn't need to rush out & pick it up cause it could go anywhere. Didn't take to long before a small flock of teal came my way. Low over the rushes the swooped behind me. But, there was somebody standing on shore. Blam, he shoots at the teal, and yowie I got hit in the back of the head. He was to far away to cause damage, but it sure made me call out his name, maybe not his actual name,but close enough. I could just see two guys hightailing it up the hill. That was about the end of the flight. Sitting around with a sore head, wet and cold to the bone it was time to leave. Back through the rushes pushing with the oar. An oar just doesn't make it as a push pole. Anyway i got out and into the bay. Rowed out in the deep water and reached back to start the motor. That little johnson fired right up first pull, but unfortunately my little homemade motor mount clamp wasn't quite up to the task. The last i saw of the little johnson was bubbles as it sank into the depths. Back to the oars. exercise classes hell, all those people need is to go duck hunting They can have my spot

But it was so much fun.......

Thanks for the laugh. I need to do more write-ups, so you all can laugh at my crappy days, too.

Yowie! Ha ha.

Enjoyed that thoroughly, but mostly because it reaffirms my personal contention that I'm not the only donkey um, unlucky fellah out there punishing himself more than the average mortal soul should be allowed to while chasing ducks.

Good sheet, and thanks for the smiles.

Geez, and I thought I had a bad day when we went out without firing a shot.