Pickleville Philosophy

Fears

By Jim Stone, The Pickleville Philosopher

I had a great day hunting ducks. Some of the marshes are starting to freeze up.  It’s gonna get sub zero before we know it.  I was trying to think of a funny story to share. This is kinda a fun story.

Just off the Great Salt Lake in Utah, there is a lot of brackish water that’s a little more resistant to freezing temperatures, the water stays open water longer than up in Bear Lake where it’s all fresh water that freezes a lot faster.

Well, I was guiding a fellow from Alaska whose family owned an oil drilling plant there. His name was Teddy. He loved to hunt ducks even though he made shot gun bullet companies a lot of money! He shot a lot of bullets; he could load his gun so fast he was like an old time western movie when the army brought in a Gatling Gun to ward off their enemy.  This man could shoot a 100 bullets and still have no birds on the ground.

I found a big mass of ducks in the middle of a huge bay off the Great Salt Lake. The problem was it was open water way too far out to try to hide a boat or hunt from the boat. There was a solid three miles long and a mile wide of water fowl of every species.  It was looking like a world class hunt. I had some old wooden chests, so I put a ten gallon bucket in one than sat in it.  If I ducked down I would be hidden in the box.  I wrapped the boxes in heavy plastic wrap and “ka boom”  I had a place to hide in, so I loaded up my home made sink boxes onto the boat and went to install them in the middle of the water where all these birds were.  I wanted to get my client into a world class shoot and a life time memory.  It obviously was because this was about 20 years ago.

Time flies. Life passes by.

I took the homemade sink boxes out and I dug a hole under the water so I could sink the box low enough to hide and also hide Teddy.

There were so many birds I figured I’d just leave him ten boxes of shells and a backup gun just in case he melted the barrel of the first gun.   This guy could maybe do it.  I’ve seen him shoot and shoot and shoot.

I took the boxes out; I filled them with water and cinder blocks. When I had them where I wanted them to hide Mister Gatling Gun, I dropped lumber boards down, then attached them to the sink boxes with a clamp that would hold the boxes in place. It was a ton of work but when there’s that many birds and you got a client that need to do a lot of shooting, I guess that’s just what a guide does. I got the sink box in place and bailed it out to where it was pretty dry. I picked up Teddy early in the morning. He was a little scared of water and he didn’t know how to swim. I had an inside smile, but, I said, “I got a life jacket if you want to take it but you will be fine.”

 I told him that I’d be close watching from the sink box next to him.

We got out there and blew a huge mass of birds out.  I threw out the decoys from the boat. The water was only 12 inches deep with a hard pan bottom. Kinda remember that you guys.

Teddy stepped from the boat into the sink box. I told him that I’d be close buy so that after he got his limit I could pick him and his birds up.  “The sink box is safe, just don’t touch the clamps holding it in place or you might be floating in the middle of the Great Salt Lake without a paddle.”

I’m chuckling at this point. Then I went to a sink box about 100 yards from him.  I had 2 long ropes 200 yards each.  I tied them to the nose of the boat and let the boat go a drift to, got it far enough away to not keep the birds from coming in.   It worked great until you had to reel the big heavy boat back in.

Teddy stepped out of the boat into the sink box.  The birds were already coming in by the hundreds. They had nowhere to go. I left Teddy and went to watch his hunt.  The limit was seven ducks and three geese. Piece of cake.  Teddy shot and shot and shot and again shot.  He had three ducks and a goose down.

Suddenly I saw him flapping his arms and like doing jumping jacks in the middle of the big bay of water and he was yelling.

“Help, help, I’m  gonna go under!  I don’t wanna drown! Help! I can’t swim. Help, help, help!

Did you guys remember that the water was only 12 inches deep?  Teddy from Alaska was pretty concerned. When I got there he was frantic. I jumped out of the boat.  

The water wasn’t even up to my knees. 

Teddy said, “That’s the bottom? I thought I was gonna capsize and drown.”  He had his bright red life jacket on.

It was so funny. It kinda hit home with me that rich or poor, we all have our fears. But if you put your best thoughts and faith in someone who you know you can trust to be there for you, then just make a great memory with them and they will know that they mean the same to you.

Well I saved Teddy from sinking in his sink box in knee deep water in the middle of like an ocean of ducks. But hey, he did get three ducks and a goose.

We became lifelong friends after our day drowning in 12 inches of water.

To me all people, family and true friends are united. We all care and love each other never letting harm come in our way.  That’s how I felt about Teddy, I would never put his safety in jeopardy.

I guess that’s what not only guides do, but also just what good people do.