I Promise never to Go Again!

So if you read my last post you know that I went duck hunting with Sean Yesterday.  Kelsey commented on how hard core I was because of how cold it was yesterday morning but after she reads this post she might just want to retract that statement.

Get ready...this is a long one..

Sean and I traveled three hours north to my Mother's Family's Christmas dinner on Saturday night and we had a wonderful time!  I finally finished the WWII scrapbook for my Grandfather and he was just in awe of it and it made me so happy that he loved it!!  I guess I was in such a good mood on the drive home that I agreed to go Hunting with Sean so I could take some photos of them hunting.  Now last time I went Duck Hunting I was horribly cold the entire time and swore I'd never go again.  Sean assured me it wouldn't be so cold this time and that they would actually see some ducks as opposed to last time when we saw like two.

Sean was very wrong my friends.  Very wrong.

See we left North Arkansas at 8 pm and got back home at 11pm.  We gathered our clothes and drove another hour and a half to duck camp.. making our arrival time around 1:30 am.  The alarm jerked me awake at 4:30 am and I wanted to shoot it, except that no shot gun was in reaching distance.  So going on three restless hours of sleep...oh and I had to crawl in bed with Sean's brother because all the other beds were taken...at least I didn't have to sleep on the floor like Sean did.  So anyway going on three restless hours of sleep and zero food and drink, we loaded up and got on all the many layers of clothes and waders and drove out to a duck hole on the Bayou Meto in Stuttgart, Duck capitol of the US.

Let me just insert here that I'm a little bit moody when I only get three hours of sleep and have no food or drink...and there's a good reason for the no food or drink rule.  Last time I went I had to pee so bad that I almost fainted and Had to hold it for FOUR hours.  It's not possible to pee when you're in the woods in waist deep water in waders...not possible.  But even though I was moody, hungry, and thirsty, I was optimistic about this hunt!  I just knew I would fall in love with hunting as Sean has and we could go hunting as a couple next duck season and hold hands as we shoot ducks out of the sky.... I was very very wrong.

Within 20 minutes My toes went numb and I couldn't feel my face.  Sean told me to move around a bit so I walked in circles which wasn't easy in waste deep water and heavy waders on.  Finally the sun rose and we could hear other hunters shooting away, it sounded like bombs exploding all around us.  But um...why were we not seeing any ducks to shoot?

After the sun rose high enough for me to get good pictures I started taking photos which ended my boredom and got my mind off my cold feet until I took so many pictures it got boring again and we still weren't seeing any ducks.  I was so cold by this point that I thought my feet were going to fall off and I started praying that this miserable cold would disappear.

Sleepiness started to creep in at this point also, so I walked a good 200 yards to the boat, flung myself over the side and layed down for a good hour nap.  When I awoke, I could no longer feel my legs, my hands, or my face.  That's when the whining set in.  I wanted to cry.  I was hungry, sleepy, bored, and the coldest I'd ever been in my life.  My feet were burning they were so cold and I'm pretty sure that there was zero blood flow to them at this point.  I told Sean that if he took me back to the truck now I promise that I will never come again, that I had hypothermia and I am about to cry.  I'm sure his Dad and brother were annoyed but honestly I was so miserable I didn't care at this point.

Thankfully the hunt was dying down and an Hour later I was in the warmth of a heater and I still today cannot feel my toes.  I think I might have frost bite, which I delirously called freezer burn as we were leaving the bayou.  I also feel as if I'd been hit by a truck because in an effort to stay warm I did lunges, squats, ran in circles, toe rises, leg lifts, and any other excersize I could think of to stay warm.  It did not help me stay warm but it did help tone my muscles, which will be the only exercise I will do for the rest of this month because of how sore I am today.

After leaving the Mouse House we went to Mack's Prarie Wings, which is much like a bass pro shop except geared more towards water fowl hunting.  It was fun and we stayed there and looked around for awhile and spent too much money.

I got a few good photos, I'll be showing throughout the week. Here are my favorites of me, sean, and Banjo.

I don't know why but I really like this picture of Sean,  he looks so cute!!  I like Men in Camo!

Notice Sean's face paint, that is so when you look up at the ducks they won't see your shining white face.  He put some on me too but because I was so cold and had a face warmer over my entire face all day, it rubbed off a little.  This photo below is probably my favorite of me.  Sean took it on the boat ride out of there.  I was delirious, miserable, cold, half covered in face paint, and happy to know that a heater was just minutes away.

I love this photo of Banjo looking to the sky for ducks.  He looks so innocent and sweet, which he is!

So Totally needless to say the duck hunt was horrible.  We left the hole with two ducks and a promise that I would NEVER go hunting again, NEVER...unless it was hot outside, which is like saying when Hell freezes over. 

Hope you enjoyed my extra long post about me being a whiny baby.  And for the record my toes are still tingling and very much in pain from freezer burn.


Never Duck Hunting Again,