I hate fog!

[AtItAgain]

Until last night I usually enjoyed hunting in the fog. There is something kind of peaceful about it.

So, I decide to take my 5 and 7 year old kids out for an afternoon duck hunt yesterday. We hit the Willy a little after noon. There was no problem with visiblilty at that time. We made the half hour boat ride to the spot I wanted to hunt and as we pulled up 8 mallards get up off the water. I am sure it is going to be a good afternoon with the kids. As I am getting set up I see quite a few ducks flying, but as soon as I finish and get in the blind it just dies.

I figure it should pick up again the last hour of shooting light. That does not happen. I pick up the decoys without firing a shot.

This is when things got fun. I pull out onto the main river and since the sun just dropped the fog came in so thick I could not see 5 feet in front of the boat. I pulled out the GPS and started the trip back, very slowly. Unfortuantly, I have never had a need for my GPS in the past and I had no way points for the trip back, just the loaded map software.

Over the next 4 hours, I beached the boat twice and had to quickly backup multiple times. I was a very stressful trip back, trying to make sure the kids were ok and watch the GPS, depth finder and see what I could in front of me. We finally got back to the lauch a little after 9 pm.

By the time we got home and got the kids fed and to bed it was after 10 pm. Not good for a school night.

If it had just been me I probably would have just spent the night on the river, but I did not have the necessary supplies to do that with the kids. I will, however, mark way points up and down the river next time I go out.

Needless to say, my wife was a little freaked out by the whole experience.

[canes_venatici]

I'm surprised the waypoints aren't already loaded in your GPS. I would have marked them on the map as soon as I got home and then moved them over to my GPS. I find that the mapping software will get you pretty dern close.

Glad to hear you made it back ok. Fog can be nasty stuff.

[Smoked Salmon]

Well, I bet your next trip starts with a little exercise in marking way points.

Amirite?

[Hunt'nFish]

Well that bites Mike.......nothing spookier than thick fog. Even when the GPS shows the way.
Live and learn.

So did the kids still enjoy their hot cocco, soup & grilled cheese sandwhiches?
Better luck next time.
Hunt'nFish

[Teton]

On my GPS (I have a backup too), I run all the routes I usually hunt with tracking on, that way, I have a precise route for getting there, and getting home.

On most GPS units, you can leave the tracking feature on all the time, or off. I leave mine off unless I'm laying down a track for a specific route to a hunting area. That way, I don't fill all the memory with needless tracks.

Waypoints work okay in bigger water, but a precise track does the trick for me.

I re-run the tracks every year where shoaling and channel bed changes occur too. Marking deadheads with waypoints.

Takes a LOT of the heartburn out of running in the dark and in the fog.

[Old Guys Rule]

Always go downstream in the dark. At least the river was pretty clear of debris Sunday. There were still quite a few logs floating on Saturday...

I have mental checkpoints as I switch from one side to the other and idle when I cross through the debris fields. 35 years of running the river and it stil spooks me at times. Glad you made it back safe.

[AtItAgain]

Originally Posted by Hunt'nFish

So did the kids still enjoy their hot cocco, soup & grilled cheese sandwhiches?

Hunt'nFish

They enjoyed their left over Halloween candy and watching a cormarant swim around the decoys. Those things really showed up in numbers within the last week or so.

[AtItAgain]

Originally Posted by Teton

On my GPS (I have a backup too), I run all the routes I usually hunt with tracking on, that way, I have a precise route for getting there, and getting home.

On most GPS units, you can leave the tracking feature on all the time, or off. I leave mine off unless I'm laying down a track for a specific route to a hunting area. That way, I don't fill all the memory with needless tracks.

Waypoints work okay in bigger water, but a precise track does the trick for me.

I re-run the tracks every year where shoaling and channel bed changes occur too. Marking deadheads with waypoints.

Takes a LOT of the heartburn out of running in the dark and in the fog.

Thanks for the tip. I think that will work much better then waypoints.

I will give that a try.

[jnicholson]

The thick fog killed our morning Saturday goose hunt. Sunday I went in the afternoon and it worked out a lot better.

At least your getting out there!

John and Bucky

[Teton]

Originally Posted by AtItAgain

Thanks for the tip. I think that will work much better then waypoints.

I will give that a try.

Well, at least then you will have a reliable route to follow. Floating debris and new dead heads seem to show up in the darndest places at the darndest times. Same goes with new sand bars. Just go slow and use your searchlight (and headlights), and stay out of the shipping channels. If you must cross a shipping channel, get on Channel 16 and hail any ships near your location. They will see you on their radar, but if your VHF is not on, they cannot communicate with you.

Don't ask me why I know these things.

[Threemuch]

Yikes! Glad that you guys made it back safe!

[stlhdr1]

Monday morning we hunted the valley and I launched my boat at about 5:15 having to run about 10 minutes typically. Well once we left the shore there were no more lights where we were at to give you some bit of a bearing. The FOG was so thick that I couldn't tell where the hell I was going, it actually gave me a vertigo feeling, first time ever.... It was funny as heck because even though we thought we were going straight I ended up back near the boat ramp................

Keith