Getting wet.......

[Hunter07]

Pheasant hunting again.

About 8 of us went pheasant hunting late one fall. The ground was covered in snow and ponds were froze over. The temps earlier in the week had warmed up some, but this day, it was colder than hell with a winter storm blowing in.

We were down by the Flying Goose campground near Fairmont MN and had shot several birds so far that day.

We spotted a bunch of pheasants on the edge of a wooded area next to a small lake, so we decided to split up and try to get them. Half of us went to the far side of the lake while the other half went towards them, through the woods.

The group that went through the woods managed to get a couple birds, but the rest flew towards us. Unfortunately, they dropped into the tall reeds on the edge of the lake, so we went after them.

While tromping through the snow and reeds, I heard the ice crack under my feet and thought to myself, "Uh oh! This ain't good!".......as the ice under me broke and down I went.

There I was, in freezing cold water up to just below my crotch. My 'Mickey Mouse boots' filled with water and my Carhartt bib's were soaked.......along with my long johns, socks and jeans... Thankfully, the water wasn't deep!

My son was about 20' off to my right when I went through, so I hollered at him to stay where he was as I unloaded my shotgun. After putting the shells in my jacket pocket, I tossed the shotgun to him and managed to climb out.

Boy was I cold!

I made my way over to my son and got my shotgun back, reloaded it and we continued on. My son and I each bagged a bird.

As my clothing froze and my feet warmed up, I started to warm up. I did ok, but since I had gotten wet and it was almost sundown by then anyways, once we got back to the vehicles, we called it quits for the day.

In the truck on the way home, my clothes started thawing out. By the time we got home, I was colder than hell.

I headed straight for the bathroom and took a long hot shower. After that, I was fine.

While I was in the shower, the other guys showed up. They must've felt bad for me because the wife told me to look out on the porch at the freezer. There was a 'pile' of roosters sitting on the top of the chest freezer.

We ended up cleaning 9 birds that evening.

[Desert Rat]

Boy, I hadn't even thought of pheasants being that far north for some reason. We had a few in the area of NM where I grew up and I desperately wanted to bag some but never saw one of the devils during hunting season.

I reckon you had some good eating.

[10 Bears]

North and South Dakota have a heck of a pheasant population.
We have 'em here in central Idaho also.
There's a pair nesting about 200 feet from the house, on my neighbors place.
A few days ago there were three roostess just beyond my back yard, by the old shop.

I have pair of Canada Geese nesting in the first crotch of my target tree, out back.
Don't know what the heck I'm going to do about them either.
Today I popped off my .357 TC barrel at the tree and one came flying out of the nest.
Don't want to scare 'em off, I enjoy watching 'em fly around, close to the house.

[Desert Rat]

That's the trouble of living with the critters, 10B. I was a mad dog killer of anything that moved until I started living in the country. Soon fell in love with almost everything out there. You wouldn't believe how goofy I got. I wouldn't even kill a wasp unless he got into the house.


I've hardly hunted since those days. Unless it was for skunks and rattlers. They are still on "the death list."

[10 Bears]

I kill paper wasps where ever I find 'em.
WD-40 works great, on all insects.

[Rick in NY]

I do regular "search and destroy" missions around the house for wasps and yellow jacket nests. Something about my wife being allergic to their stings.

Hauling this thread back on topic, I fell through the ice on my parent's pond once, thankfully only to about mid-thigh. Walked the half mile back home, jeans and carhartts froze to my legs. Had to get in the shower to melt everything loose.

Next morning I woke up and my legs were purple! Where it froze (frostbite) the ice crystals made my skin into one big bruise. I was sore for quite a few days until it healed.