Arkansas Duck Hunt

[Harry Collins]

Drove down to Deleplaine, Arkansas to hunt duck Monday thru Wednesday morning. All the rivers were out of their banks and over the levy's and into the rice fields. They had a tremendous amount of rain over Christmas and most fields and blinds were flooded. The fields that did not have a river keeping the water moving were iced. We jerked a boat off the trailer and motored out to the woods bordering a rice field and slipped over the side into crotch deep water. I found anouther use for a sling. Hang the gun on a tree so you can call. I held a DH 12 gauge all day Monday and borrowed a Browning from the guide for the rest of the hunt just so I could hang it on a tree. Boys, I got cold. Deep down to the core cold with blue fingers even with a Jon-e-hand warmer. Those duck we shot were empty with nothing in their craw, but the week before we were told they had been full of rice.