- 39,146
- 274
A few days ago Jessica's father Jim got permission to hunt waterfowl on a 10 acre lake that was once a gravel pit. I picked up Travis (nephew - 15 years old) met Jim (Jessicas Dad) at 5am and we all headed out to the lake. The gate was locked so we pulled along the highway and dumped the 8 bags of deeks and my kayak over the guard rail and carried it over the state fence to the private lake. I threw the deeks out and then hopped in the Kayak to go set them in the right positions. legal light found us with ducks landing in groups of 4-8 in the deeks. We killed one and had one cripple that dove and never came back up. Things slacked off around 9 and the birds quit flying in, we had some coffee brought out by Jims wife and things were good. I with my FIL, Travis with his uncle and grandpa, everyone enjoying the hunt despite the cold wind and rain which made for a beautiful duck hunt. We figured the birds would fly again once they were finished feeding and came to the lake to loaf around.
About 11 we were contemplating on packing it in as a big storm would be there in about 2 hours but decided to hang out until weather ran us off. About then we had two ring necked ducks come zipping in and we hit one that glided off to the other end of the lake and crashed into the water. I hopped in the kayak and went to pick him up. There was ice around the edges of the lake that went out about 15 feet out that was about a half inch thick. Earlier in the morning I had busted up the area in front of our hide to set the deeks. I paddled out to retrieve the bird and took my gun to water swat it if it decided to dive. As i was paddling out a bird flew over and circled to go land in the deeks. As the bird came over me from my 10:00 position I raised and fired as he was almost overhead.
That's when everything went bad. When I fired I turned to see if I hit the bird. A combination of me turning to look and the gun still shouldered I rolled the Kayak 150 yards from shore. I instantly got my legs out of it and tried to roll it back over. I got it rolled over but it was full of water and about 90% under water. I held on the the gun well and tried to pull myself up on top of it to to just sit on it and float. It wasn't buoyant enough and I didn't have the power to get on top of it. I went in wearing fleece lined tights, fleece pajama pants, scent block pants, and insulated bibs, On my torso I had a base layer, fleece hoodie, redhead windproof fleece, and a waterproof scent block shell, I was also wearing my 1,200 gram thinsulate Lacrosse alpha burleys. I had too many clothes on to get the power to get up on the kayak. I yelled back to Travis and Jim that I needed help, and fast. I hung on the kayak and tried to swim to shore. There was no way i could free swim it with all those clothes on, but dragging a half sunk kayak with all those clothes on was slow and hard.
The landowner had a small aluminum rowboat around the lake under a pavilion. Jim ran to get the rowboat but couldn't find a paddle. By the grace of God Jim brought a paddle made for duck hunting that has a hook in the paddle edge for hooking decoy lines. Earlier that morning in the shop he asked if I wanted to bring it, I told him I would be fine with my kayak paddle. Luckily he brought it anyway. The pavilion was on the other end of the 10 acre lake from where I was, about 300 yards away. I had a life jacket behind the seat of the kayak and could see it. I reached for it and tried to pull it out but it was hung on something. By now my fingers couldn't work well enough to get it untangled. Jim was paddling the rowboat like a canoe as hard as he could to get to me but it was slow despite his extraordinary effort. I was swimming with everything I had and yelled at travis to get a roll of 550 cord out of the decoy bag. I was still 100 yards from shore only going 50 yards since I went in.
I managed to get in the kayak but it was not remotely buoyant with all my weight. The back end has a removable dry box and wasn't buoyant as I had removed it to throw decoys on the flat spot where the box sat. The front end had a dry box and offered some buoyancy. I ended up getting my foot against the seat and my other knee on the floor. The kayak was at about a 70 degree angle almost straight up with only about two foot of the bow sticking out and 10 foot under water, but it allowed me to get high enough that my shoulders were out of the water. The kayak wanted to roll so every paddle with my arms, I had to make sure my strokes were even and try to balance. I turned to jim who was still 100 yards away and said "I need you to hurry Jim" But I could tell by his face he was giving it his all. I was now about 50 yards from shore having covered about 100 yards. I couldn't let go of the kayak and swim, I had too many clothes on, but it severely slowed me down dragging that mostly sunk piece of shit through the water. I needed it, but it was killing me.
I kept swimming and looking back for Jim. Travis was on the bank unraveling the 550 cord. Jim finally caught up to me and I grabbed the side of the row boat. I told Jim to get on the other side of the boat and tried to pull myself in. I managed to get my ribs over the gunwell but couldn't drag myself the rest of the way. Jim grabbed my bib straps and hauled me in. I fell out on the floor of the boat and started to try and get my clothes off. I was out of danger from drowning but hypothermia was my next fight. I had been in the water for over 15 minutes. 15 long minutes in near freezing water. Now that I had quit kicking, quit paddling, my extremities quickly became useless. About that time a couple that saw what was going on had stopped up on the highway and hopped the guardrail and was running down the highway embankment. Jim had to paddle around the ice to a small gap and he hit the shore. Travis grabbed the bow of the boat and drug it up on shore. I was flat on my back in the boat and grabbed the edges to lift myself out. I managed to lunge up and forward but my legs didn't work and I fell face forward in the bow. Jim grabbed one arm and travis the other and drug me up on the shore. I was telling them "We've got to get my clothes off" We've got to get my clothes off. About then the couple had jumped the state fence and were beside me helping. I was telling them how to undress me as that many layers with zippers, buckles, snaps, isn't easy. They got my boots off, jacket, bibs, two fleeces, and my pants all the way to the base layer bottom I was wearing. Everyone started stripping clothes and bundling me up. Jim and travis's outer layers were soaked so they had to strip down to get dry clothes.
The woman got behind me and had me leaning back between her legs with her arms around my chest. I remember when my shirt came off it felt warm. The 40 degree temperature, misty rain and wind was warm. they covered me and the woman in blankets and she was breathing down my neck. I remember her breath down my chest was hot and mine was luke warm. The guy said "You're a lucky man as you're the only naked man I would let my wife hop under the covers with. I replied don't worry bud my dick is about to fall of. My balls and dick was hurting so bad it was almost unbearable. I cupped my hand over my junk and pissed myself to warm them and my groin up. About this time Vicky, (jims wife)
arrived from the house with the ford excursion but was stopped by the landowners locked gate. She rammed the gate knocking it off it's hinges and drove back to us. I could hear the big diesel rev and hit the gate and then pull up a few moments later. Everyone helped me up and in the back of it where she had laid all the seats down and thrown every blanket in the house in there. 45 minutes since exposure I was in the truck on the way to the ER. Travis was in the truck with me and I told him that I need him to crawl in the blankets with me. He tried but the poor kid was soaked himself from the waist down where he waded in to grab the boat and pull it on shore. I told him to strip to his underwear, but about that time with my head out the blanket I could feel a heater vent blowing. I wiggled myself towards the vent and threw a blanket over myself and the vent where I stayed until we pulled up at the ER. I got out of the truck wrapped in a blanket and into a waiting wheelchair. I started telling the nurse. (I was in the water for 15 minutes, 1 hour since exposure, I can feel my extremities except my finger tips and toes, the whole while they're taking me to a room. I got on the bed and they piled on warm blankets. I was still giving the nurse my status, heart rate feels elevated, etc. She was hooking me up to the heart monitor, taking my temp, etc. My pulse was 125 and my temp was 97.2. which is 1.4 degrees below normal 45 minutes after getting out of the water. I laid in the ER for about an hour as they monitored my vitals and my heart rate and temp returned to normal. After about 2 hours I was fine except for some loss of feeling in the very tips of my fingers that has about 95% returned this morning.
About 11 we were contemplating on packing it in as a big storm would be there in about 2 hours but decided to hang out until weather ran us off. About then we had two ring necked ducks come zipping in and we hit one that glided off to the other end of the lake and crashed into the water. I hopped in the kayak and went to pick him up. There was ice around the edges of the lake that went out about 15 feet out that was about a half inch thick. Earlier in the morning I had busted up the area in front of our hide to set the deeks. I paddled out to retrieve the bird and took my gun to water swat it if it decided to dive. As i was paddling out a bird flew over and circled to go land in the deeks. As the bird came over me from my 10:00 position I raised and fired as he was almost overhead.
That's when everything went bad. When I fired I turned to see if I hit the bird. A combination of me turning to look and the gun still shouldered I rolled the Kayak 150 yards from shore. I instantly got my legs out of it and tried to roll it back over. I got it rolled over but it was full of water and about 90% under water. I held on the the gun well and tried to pull myself up on top of it to to just sit on it and float. It wasn't buoyant enough and I didn't have the power to get on top of it. I went in wearing fleece lined tights, fleece pajama pants, scent block pants, and insulated bibs, On my torso I had a base layer, fleece hoodie, redhead windproof fleece, and a waterproof scent block shell, I was also wearing my 1,200 gram thinsulate Lacrosse alpha burleys. I had too many clothes on to get the power to get up on the kayak. I yelled back to Travis and Jim that I needed help, and fast. I hung on the kayak and tried to swim to shore. There was no way i could free swim it with all those clothes on, but dragging a half sunk kayak with all those clothes on was slow and hard.
The landowner had a small aluminum rowboat around the lake under a pavilion. Jim ran to get the rowboat but couldn't find a paddle. By the grace of God Jim brought a paddle made for duck hunting that has a hook in the paddle edge for hooking decoy lines. Earlier that morning in the shop he asked if I wanted to bring it, I told him I would be fine with my kayak paddle. Luckily he brought it anyway. The pavilion was on the other end of the 10 acre lake from where I was, about 300 yards away. I had a life jacket behind the seat of the kayak and could see it. I reached for it and tried to pull it out but it was hung on something. By now my fingers couldn't work well enough to get it untangled. Jim was paddling the rowboat like a canoe as hard as he could to get to me but it was slow despite his extraordinary effort. I was swimming with everything I had and yelled at travis to get a roll of 550 cord out of the decoy bag. I was still 100 yards from shore only going 50 yards since I went in.
I managed to get in the kayak but it was not remotely buoyant with all my weight. The back end has a removable dry box and wasn't buoyant as I had removed it to throw decoys on the flat spot where the box sat. The front end had a dry box and offered some buoyancy. I ended up getting my foot against the seat and my other knee on the floor. The kayak was at about a 70 degree angle almost straight up with only about two foot of the bow sticking out and 10 foot under water, but it allowed me to get high enough that my shoulders were out of the water. The kayak wanted to roll so every paddle with my arms, I had to make sure my strokes were even and try to balance. I turned to jim who was still 100 yards away and said "I need you to hurry Jim" But I could tell by his face he was giving it his all. I was now about 50 yards from shore having covered about 100 yards. I couldn't let go of the kayak and swim, I had too many clothes on, but it severely slowed me down dragging that mostly sunk piece of shit through the water. I needed it, but it was killing me.
I kept swimming and looking back for Jim. Travis was on the bank unraveling the 550 cord. Jim finally caught up to me and I grabbed the side of the row boat. I told Jim to get on the other side of the boat and tried to pull myself in. I managed to get my ribs over the gunwell but couldn't drag myself the rest of the way. Jim grabbed my bib straps and hauled me in. I fell out on the floor of the boat and started to try and get my clothes off. I was out of danger from drowning but hypothermia was my next fight. I had been in the water for over 15 minutes. 15 long minutes in near freezing water. Now that I had quit kicking, quit paddling, my extremities quickly became useless. About that time a couple that saw what was going on had stopped up on the highway and hopped the guardrail and was running down the highway embankment. Jim had to paddle around the ice to a small gap and he hit the shore. Travis grabbed the bow of the boat and drug it up on shore. I was flat on my back in the boat and grabbed the edges to lift myself out. I managed to lunge up and forward but my legs didn't work and I fell face forward in the bow. Jim grabbed one arm and travis the other and drug me up on the shore. I was telling them "We've got to get my clothes off" We've got to get my clothes off. About then the couple had jumped the state fence and were beside me helping. I was telling them how to undress me as that many layers with zippers, buckles, snaps, isn't easy. They got my boots off, jacket, bibs, two fleeces, and my pants all the way to the base layer bottom I was wearing. Everyone started stripping clothes and bundling me up. Jim and travis's outer layers were soaked so they had to strip down to get dry clothes.
The woman got behind me and had me leaning back between her legs with her arms around my chest. I remember when my shirt came off it felt warm. The 40 degree temperature, misty rain and wind was warm. they covered me and the woman in blankets and she was breathing down my neck. I remember her breath down my chest was hot and mine was luke warm. The guy said "You're a lucky man as you're the only naked man I would let my wife hop under the covers with. I replied don't worry bud my dick is about to fall of. My balls and dick was hurting so bad it was almost unbearable. I cupped my hand over my junk and pissed myself to warm them and my groin up. About this time Vicky, (jims wife)
arrived from the house with the ford excursion but was stopped by the landowners locked gate. She rammed the gate knocking it off it's hinges and drove back to us. I could hear the big diesel rev and hit the gate and then pull up a few moments later. Everyone helped me up and in the back of it where she had laid all the seats down and thrown every blanket in the house in there. 45 minutes since exposure I was in the truck on the way to the ER. Travis was in the truck with me and I told him that I need him to crawl in the blankets with me. He tried but the poor kid was soaked himself from the waist down where he waded in to grab the boat and pull it on shore. I told him to strip to his underwear, but about that time with my head out the blanket I could feel a heater vent blowing. I wiggled myself towards the vent and threw a blanket over myself and the vent where I stayed until we pulled up at the ER. I got out of the truck wrapped in a blanket and into a waiting wheelchair. I started telling the nurse. (I was in the water for 15 minutes, 1 hour since exposure, I can feel my extremities except my finger tips and toes, the whole while they're taking me to a room. I got on the bed and they piled on warm blankets. I was still giving the nurse my status, heart rate feels elevated, etc. She was hooking me up to the heart monitor, taking my temp, etc. My pulse was 125 and my temp was 97.2. which is 1.4 degrees below normal 45 minutes after getting out of the water. I laid in the ER for about an hour as they monitored my vitals and my heart rate and temp returned to normal. After about 2 hours I was fine except for some loss of feeling in the very tips of my fingers that has about 95% returned this morning.
