grooveyguru1
29-09-07, 08:25 PM
Hi everyone. I just finished my week of hunting and thought that I would share it with everyone. It was not all that sucessful and we had a few problems along the way. Firstly I bent my new side steps on my ute, I only had them a week or two, when i managed to get the old girl beached on a whale of a rock. The pigs were about but between the cattle, wind and ducks we were doing things pretty tuff. The worse part of the trip happened on the second last day. We had hunted up along a watercourse which was quite wide and decided to head for home . Due to laziness we decided it would be quicker to cross over and go back the other side as the trip would be shorter. We found the narrowest part and prepared for the crossing. In to the water we went with me leading the way, bow and gear belt held high. We were both fairly happy at that stage and thought that it was still a good idea.
About 25 meters in, the water had risen to neck level but being full of ourselves we kept going, starting to swim. This is when things took a turn for the worse. It was only about another 25 or 30 meters to the bank but we both started to feel the strain of all our gear. My bow and belt came down into the water and started to drag me under. My long pants and shirt and shoes were impeding my swimming and I was in all sorts of trouble. I could see my mate struggling too and in between going under and kicking off the bottom I could see him going under too. I was in a real panick at that stage and it only got worse from there.
The last 10 meters or so was full of water lilys, reeds and weed. It was almost inpenertrable and was tangling around our legs and dragging us down as we splashed and squirmed our way in. Fighting for a breath when ever I could manage one i finally got to where I could touch again. My mate was still in real trouble as I yelled out to him. He ended up dropping all his gear just to stay afloat. we dragged our sorry butts up onto the bank exhausted. Lyall had lost his bow out in the lagoon. Well we got it back eventually but only after we spent the next 2 hours diving around for it. As for me I lost one arrow and all my electronic gear was wet. My GPS, digital camera, range finder and binos have all had it. I think the binos will dry out but all the other stuff is a write off.
So the lesson to be learnt here is a longer walk is a better option then a short swim. I am quite a good swimer but with all my gear it is a different story and be aware of how water lilys and weeds can drag you under.
I hope everyone else had a more productive trip then we did!
About 25 meters in, the water had risen to neck level but being full of ourselves we kept going, starting to swim. This is when things took a turn for the worse. It was only about another 25 or 30 meters to the bank but we both started to feel the strain of all our gear. My bow and belt came down into the water and started to drag me under. My long pants and shirt and shoes were impeding my swimming and I was in all sorts of trouble. I could see my mate struggling too and in between going under and kicking off the bottom I could see him going under too. I was in a real panick at that stage and it only got worse from there.
The last 10 meters or so was full of water lilys, reeds and weed. It was almost inpenertrable and was tangling around our legs and dragging us down as we splashed and squirmed our way in. Fighting for a breath when ever I could manage one i finally got to where I could touch again. My mate was still in real trouble as I yelled out to him. He ended up dropping all his gear just to stay afloat. we dragged our sorry butts up onto the bank exhausted. Lyall had lost his bow out in the lagoon. Well we got it back eventually but only after we spent the next 2 hours diving around for it. As for me I lost one arrow and all my electronic gear was wet. My GPS, digital camera, range finder and binos have all had it. I think the binos will dry out but all the other stuff is a write off.
So the lesson to be learnt here is a longer walk is a better option then a short swim. I am quite a good swimer but with all my gear it is a different story and be aware of how water lilys and weeds can drag you under.
I hope everyone else had a more productive trip then we did!