I went duck hunting this morning — opening day here in Arkansas. Apparently, not enough ducks have made it down from the North yet…because I only saw one flock anywhere near shooting range. Well, they were out of shooting range by just a bit, and they flat out refused to be called in.

I might have been the only one out there who was “unlucky.” Apparenlty, if I had a boat, I would have been shooting a lot. I heard a bunch of shots in the distance, over toward the main lake in the Wildlife Management Area I was on — Henry Gray Hurricane Lake outside of Bald Knob, AR. Someone was getting some ducks. There just weren’t any in my area.

When I got back, I checked the Mallard Satellite Tracking Program, and it looks like there are still a lot of ducks in the North. Hopefully they’ll hurry down.

On a related note, I got some waders so that I don’t get hypothermia and die. No boat, but I can walk in the water. I didn’t get the neoprene-style waders, mainly because I needed two pairs (one for me and one for my oldest kid), and my wife would have chewed me out for spending $200 on waders. So I spent $80 and got two pairs of Hodgman’s heavy-duty rubber chest waders. These are the kind that have the steel-shank boots on them. Picked up mine at Wal-Mart. Here’s what they look like: Rubber Chest Waders.

If you get these, or something like them, make sure that you wear enough warm stuff. These waders are not insulated at all. I had on thermal underwear, bdu pants, a pair of running socks, and then my thermal boot socks. My legs were OK, but my toes got cold. Of course, I was standing in ice water. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try putting one of those pocket warmers in the toe of each boot. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Keep an eye out for those ducks! And I need to get a boat…