Wood Ducks on Barkley Lake - 9-24-11

[roadrunner]

I can imagine what a surprise that was. Well everything turned out good, however this could have been serious. I have never waded with waders but I would think it is not a good thing to have them fill with water.

[artcarney_agr]

I can imagine what a surprise that was. Well everything turned out good, however this could have been serious. I have never waded with waders but I would think it is not a good thing to have them fill with water.

They are the thick neoprene waders, which actually help float you if you do go into water over your head. Kind of like a wet suit. The thin rubber ones are a different story.

[Moveon]

They are the thick neoprene waders, which actually help float you if you do go into water over your head. Kind of like a wet suit. The thin rubber ones are a different story.

Good story Art. Reminded me of the time I went to Hovey's Lake and tripped over a submerged fence at Pero Slough while walking though some flood waters wearing some old hip waders with a hole in them. I borrowed them from my next door neighbor hunting buddies. He gave me the one's with the hole in them. LOL I was looking down to see if the water level was getting up nearer to the hole when I tripped and fell down. I got soaking wet that day and it was freezing cold. I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life.

Later in life I got a pair of neopreme 3mm waders for fishing in the trout streams in the Smokey Mountains. Those mountain streams are cold for the better parts of the year as the water coming down out of the mountains at 6000 ft high. And the rocks in the stream are covered with algae and very slick. It's easy to fall down when walking on those rocks. But I bought a pair of wading shoes that had felts soles and that helps with traction while in the streams. The water's so clear that you can see down pretty deep so it makes it hard to tell just how deep the water is. Luckyily I fished the year that they had a drought and the water levels were very low in all the streams that summer.

I can remember my first duck hunt as we entered this farmers field in the bottom lands down by the Ohio River in Union Township Vanderburght County IN. There was this slew that had filled up with rainwater to a depth of about 2 ft deep. My neighbor took me with him that day for the first time duck hunting. I thought that we had to build a blind to hide but it was so foggy that morning that the ducks didn't see us. But they knew that the water was there and as sunrise or a little before that time they flew in and landing as we were putting our gear down on the ground. We quickly shot a few wood ducks and the day was over. So I know what you are talking about when you say they flew into your setup right away. I was totally surprised that they would land in that small water. It was only about 30 yard wide by about 50 yards long and 2 ft deep at the most. But it was about 500 yards away from the nearest road/house and at the end of a small area with old trees. We hunted that area with trees for rabbits a few times. My neighbor knew the farmers son as they went to school together with me. I knew that kid who lived there from school but never had hunted on his farm before that. We ended up doing alot of hunting on that farm over the years.

[artcarney_agr]

I was totally surprised that they would land in that small water. It was only about 30 yard wide by about 50 yards long and 2 ft deep at the most. But it was about 500 yards away from the nearest road/house and at the end of a small area with old trees.

I've seen wood ducks in some of the smallest puddles of water, in the most remote locations.

I set up one time in some really thick buck brush that had just a little spot of open water that was maybe 15 ft x 30 ft...it was way back into some thick woods, and a beaver had a built a dam that flooded the entire woods. I'm telling you, I saw 100s of wood ducks pile into that little hole one evening, all about 10 ft from where I was standing in the brush...it was tough to even want to shoot because I wanted to keep watching them pile in there. I shot my limit, and even got a couple bonus geese that day...and that was the toughest walk I've ever made out of a hunting hole, packing all those those birds and trying to navigate my way out of there in the dark, stumbling on beaver runs and stumps the whole way...it was about an hour walk out, and I pretty well collapsed when I finally made it to the truck. I was sore for about a week, but it was well worth what I saw and did.