Well the good news is I found a place to hunt and I found birds on it. The bad news is I couldn't connect and I had to go for a swim. First of all I drove around the area looking for good cover. I drove past a marshy creek bottom and lo and behold there on the edge were two roosters and a hen. So I flipped it around and stopped at the nearest house, talked to the very nice older couple that lived there. I found out it wass their property and had no problem whatsoever with me hunting in there. I was off to a pretty good start. I did get a shot off at one of the roosters, but after that it was nothing more than a glimpse of a runner here and there and distant cackles. The creek that ran through the area was just big enough I couldnt jump it and deep enough i coulnt wade it. The snow was about knee deep and had a crust on top that never held me, occassionally held the dogs, and always held the birds. There was also enough ice for the birds to cross the creek but we were stuck. Anyways on our way out we were trying to locate the s.o.b. that was cackling at us and the dogs decided to cross the creek on the ice. My cocker, ruger, had no problems. My golden, Midas was fine if he hurried. He didnt. Hhis hind end fell through and the bank was pretty steep and he couldn't get a footing to pull himself up. When Ruger came over to investigate he fell through to. ruger being much smaller and not the strongest swimmer anyway was almost immediately pulled downstream. So guess who had to jump in and help out? The water was about waist deep and quite a bit colder than I imagined. Luckily from that side of the creek i was only about 100 yards from the car. Nonetheless my pants were frozen solid by the time I got there. So, birds 1; me, 0. If I can get off work on thursday, closing day, I think I'll try again, but I believe I'll take my chest waders with me. All this for a bird with a brain the size of a pea!
