Soooooo……..I had the most interesting duck hunt this morning. Matt met me at the house at 3:55am and we picked Austin up at 4:20. Got to the ramp and set the boat. Matt said lets leave the front hooked in case the motor won’t crank.

Back it down, water rolls up the motor, and we get set to hit the key. Uhrrrrrrrr, uhrrrrrrrr, uhrrrrrrrrr, uhrrrrrrrrrr vrooooooommmmmmmm. Sputter sputter die. Uhrrrrrr, uhrrrrrrr, uhrrrrrrrrr vrooooooooommmmmmm…..leave the throttle up and let the motor warm up a bit. Truck and trailer rolls out and another backs down. I start drifting back and go to turn the wheel and NOTHING happens! No turning, no steering, nothing. Finally make it to the ramp and tell the others we have no steering! Austin and Matt load up and we figure run the motor slow and steer with the trolling motor. Matt drops the trolling motor in, nothing, raises it up and it spins. Puts it back in the water and its dead. Luckily the motor is stuck straight. Matt starts to paddle as the boat drifts, then fire it up and go, paddle back straight, repeat.

Finally make it to the blind and get decoys set right as shooting light comes about. We had a pair of baffle heads land in the decoys, a group of geese swim just out of range and as we are picking up decoys two wood ducks scream by at Mach two. Austin fires off the only round we shoot all day.

We get back in the boat and the steering turns! Apparently where it was 14 degrees and water splashed up on the motor, it froze instantly. Same with the trolling motor.

Load the boat and head to Priest to look for ducks. In at Fate and head upriver. Nothing. Run over to a spot that holds water and run up on the bank to walk over. Apparently there were rocks below water line and when we run up we slid over them. Trying to get out was a fiasco! None of us wore waders as we were just looking and it was a pain trying to get back out with the wind. Run downriver and still no ducks.

All in all I didn’t shoot, bent the sceg and was worried to death I was going to have to fix my motor, but it was DEFINITELY worth it!