Irrelevant
Well-known member
So I got a wild hair that with all the mild temps we're been having I wanted to take the canoe out for ducks. Despite that I've heard ducks are effectively non-existent on public lands around here right now.
I bailed on Option A 1/2 hr into the drive. Too far. I pulled into the boat ramp for Option B to meet a steady 10-15 mph headwind. The pickup that pulled in behind me, rolled his window down and asked if I was going to launch, I say "yeah", he shook his head and said, "Good luck, don't die."
20 minutes of hard paddling later I was maybe 100 yards off the boat ramp. But when I turned to assess that progress the wind caught me and put me sideways and all the way back to the ramp in about 30 seconds.
Not to be one to give up easily, I unraveled the roped woven front seat of the canoe and used it to line the canoe up the shore. Walking along the former basalt talus, now damp and covered in slime (water was down about 6 feet), pretty much constantly is a state of "fall".
You really need two ropes to effectively line a canoe, so I had to salvage a willow branch to fend the canoe off the rocks as I pulled.
I jumped a goose halfway down the lake, we didn't hear/see each other until we were a handshaking distance. Not sure who jumped more. Unfortunately the gun was in the canoe and by the time I brought in and swung the gun up all I could do was pepper his back with some farewell pellets.
3/4 of the way down the lake and I realize that there is actually a raft of mallards on the other side across from me, if I can just get upwind of them, and paddle like hell I might actually get a shot or two. But it wasn't meant to be, they must be able to read minds as they jumped seconds later. Oh well, I kept walking. 1 3/4 miles later I was finally to the fall side of the lake and ready to launch, with the wind and try to drift into a flock of drivers that were still hanging around.
Unfortunately I wasn't three stokes in and the damn wind laid down... I was out of time to put any decoys out (not that I saw a single bird in the air). So I got to paddle back to the ramp without the tailwind I'd been hoping for.
It's times like this I really question WTF I did to piss off the hunting Gods. 100% Type 2 fun.
No birds were harmed in the making of this adventure.
I bailed on Option A 1/2 hr into the drive. Too far. I pulled into the boat ramp for Option B to meet a steady 10-15 mph headwind. The pickup that pulled in behind me, rolled his window down and asked if I was going to launch, I say "yeah", he shook his head and said, "Good luck, don't die."
20 minutes of hard paddling later I was maybe 100 yards off the boat ramp. But when I turned to assess that progress the wind caught me and put me sideways and all the way back to the ramp in about 30 seconds.
Not to be one to give up easily, I unraveled the roped woven front seat of the canoe and used it to line the canoe up the shore. Walking along the former basalt talus, now damp and covered in slime (water was down about 6 feet), pretty much constantly is a state of "fall".
You really need two ropes to effectively line a canoe, so I had to salvage a willow branch to fend the canoe off the rocks as I pulled.
I jumped a goose halfway down the lake, we didn't hear/see each other until we were a handshaking distance. Not sure who jumped more. Unfortunately the gun was in the canoe and by the time I brought in and swung the gun up all I could do was pepper his back with some farewell pellets.
3/4 of the way down the lake and I realize that there is actually a raft of mallards on the other side across from me, if I can just get upwind of them, and paddle like hell I might actually get a shot or two. But it wasn't meant to be, they must be able to read minds as they jumped seconds later. Oh well, I kept walking. 1 3/4 miles later I was finally to the fall side of the lake and ready to launch, with the wind and try to drift into a flock of drivers that were still hanging around.
Unfortunately I wasn't three stokes in and the damn wind laid down... I was out of time to put any decoys out (not that I saw a single bird in the air). So I got to paddle back to the ramp without the tailwind I'd been hoping for.
It's times like this I really question WTF I did to piss off the hunting Gods. 100% Type 2 fun.
No birds were harmed in the making of this adventure.
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