You guys know anybody that drowned or almost drowned while wading?

[bill cooksey]

Years ago while wading through a foot of mud and about a foot of water my boot got caught in the roots of a stump and I fell forward locking it in. While trying to keep my face out of the water and freeing myself, my dog thought it was a game and kept jumping on my back.

I saw a similar scene in a TK and Mike video.

 

[Quackerattacker]

Trout fishing once in a pair of my neoprene hunting waders, I got knocked off my rock by a woman who couldn’t control her kayak. The rushing water instantly filled my waders and turned me into a drift sock. I lost all gear, but eventually made it back to shore after bouncing off seemingly every rock on the bottom for what seemed to be 1/4 mile. Thought I was a goner that day, coughed up water for several minutes after my feet was on solid ground. I couldn’t get the waders off due to them suctioning to my legs when they filled. At least the dumb woman said “Sorry” as she nearly killed me. But the whole group continued to paddle down river as I nearly died.

 

[WHUP ! Hen]

I have had problems with waders most of my life, I’ve filled them up so many times I cant remember. I hated the damn things. When my son got old enough that I did’nt have to put the decoys I got hip waders and have worn them for over 30 years.

 

[Lip Shooter]

I actually dealt with this yesterday morning while on a hunt. Took my two boys out with my neighbor. I went out to open a pocket in our spread a little more, about ten minutes into legal light. Wouldn’t ya know it, here come four mallards off the lake. So I tucked up in the buck brush and called, while my neighbor and my oldest waited to shoot. Neighbor shot once, dropped a drake that was very lively. He took off out the blind to go get it, and my ten year old thought he’d help apparently. As I go back to moving decoys, I hear in pure 100% fear…. “DAD!!!!DAD!!!” My oldest, still in the blind says, “Dad!! H***on fell!!” As I throw my decoys and take off running through the water towards him, thinking he got tripped up around the ankles, I remember the creek channel that runs behind the blind. When I turn the corner, I see him standing up, but hunched over, and I see my neighbor trying to get his gloves and coat off of him. There they both stand, right at the edge of the creek. Neighbor Paul says that when my son started yelling in fear, he turned around to look and all he could see what my sons head. He told me he threw his gun down and ran over to the side to grab him, slipping in himself, but yet tall enough to where he could still get a foot down along the side of the bank to get them both back to the edge. I ripped into my son immediately about trying to cross the creek, then realized he’s only ten, and that overreacting at that point in time wasn’t what he needed as his emotions and adrenaline were both gonna be high. We took off back to the truck where I called my wife along the way. She hopped in the car and drove the 45 minutes to pick him up from me. My oldest son and Paul stayed in the blind and hunted in the mean time. I got him to the truck and stripped him completely naked, found a hoodie on my backseat and put him in it, wrapped him up in a fleece blanket and cranked the heat while we waited for my wife. I flipped the center console up on my front bench to be able to pull him closer to me, and pretty much bear hugged him as tight as I could til my wife arrived. I started thinking about how fast our lives can change and how devastated I would have been if Paul wasn’t right there and I couldn’t have gotten to him in time. His eyes started to well up with tears at one point and I asked “what’s wrong buddy?” He didn’t talk for thirty seconds or so, and then had a total meltdown…. “That’s the most scared I’ve ever been in my whole life…. I thought I was gonna die.” Then once I got him calmed back down again, all the emotions hit me. I enjoy shooting ducks and geese just as much as the next guy, but the thought of me not being able to bring my boy back home from a hunt okayed head games with me all night last night. So men, I know it’s not always possible, but when you can, duck hunt with a buddy. It’s nice being able to get away from the stresses of everyday life to clear your head and enjoy some time alone, but you never know when you’re gonna need a helping hand. It just may save your life. View attachment 366161

Dauam. What a story happy about the outcome and life lesson.

 

[Holesinthesky]

I have had problems with waders most of my life, I’ve filled them up so many times I cant remember. I hated the damn things. When my son got old enough that I did’nt have to put the decoys I got hip waders and have worn them for over 30 years.

That is what my senior hunting partner did.
Once I started launching my boat, throwing all decoys, etc…
He gave up his waders and went to hip boots.
A couple years ago, I told him……
all he had to do was walk from truck to boat and step in.
Once at the blind, step out of the boat into the blind.
He wears muck boots now, and I wear the waders ( unless I get a younger guy to go, then tell him to bring the waders)
————————————
IN my instance earlier….. my neoprenes filled, but was still able to negotiate back to shore.Temp that day was 28.
Thankfully, I usually throw a change of clothes into a dry bag, and leave in the truck. That day, I brought the dry bag with, because the temp was supposed to drop, and hard rain was moving in. So had extra coat in the dry bag also.

One year, we had to jockey the floating blind (28ft pontoon blind).
I had one foot on the blind and one foot on the boat, trying to unstick the spud pole. Big wind gust came and blew the boat away from the blind as I was bent over trying to lift spud pole…… yep in the water I went wearing neoprenes. It was about 10ft deep, and I went down.
I propelled myself to the surface and grabbed the bow of the boat, my buddy reached over and grabbed me by the suspenders, and got me to the side of the boat.
I probably looked like a beached whale trying to get into the boat. Thankfully it was Oct. And not brutally cold.

For both of those reasons.
I now wear a life vest when I get out of the truck, get in the boat.
If I leave the blind to Wade into the decoys. I put the vest on.

 

[wetlander]

Was fishing in the Sandusky river decades ago. Back then the thin
cheap Lacrosse waders were all you could buy. Waded out from the end of an island over my waist. (now know when the water is that deep you should be fishing there not wading). On the way back in, walked into a large round bolder that caused me to fall forward and fill my waders. Thought I was dead. Managed to stand up and head back in to shore ASAP. As I got into shallower water I realized that waders full of water weigh a lot out of the water. Ended up crawling out on the shoreline as the boots drained.

 

[me&mylab]

2 years ago New Years Day, snowed north of us, (all we got was a ton of rain) hoped it pushed some ducks down. Hunted the mouth of a creek that dumps into the river. Creek normally only waist deep, but the river was massively up and ugly (full trees were rushing down it), so had to set the dekes from the boat.

An hour or so into the hunt, a barge came down the river. Barges pull a ton of water and all the decoys headed for the river channel. I waded out to try and grab them before the hit the channel and disappeared forever, while my son (17 at the time) ran for the boat hidden about 75 yards away.

I was being careful, advancing 1 foot at a time to make sure I didn't step off into the 30 ft deep channel, when suddenly the current took my feet out from under me and threw me out in the deep water.

Yes, neoprene waders float, in fact they try to flip you upside-down. I'm a poor swimmer, but fighting full waders and incredible current I was improving quickly, trying desperately to get out of the channel and tiring fast.

My son rescued me, pulling up to me in the boat, I clung to the side (can't lift waders full of water, and I'm exhausted) he took me to shore, tossed me the dry bag, picked up all our gear, got back to me by the time I got dry clothes on, and hauled me the 7 miles back to the ramp.

 

[me&mylab]

Things I learned:
Yes, neoprene floats, but it's tough to keep your head out of the water. I bought an auto-inflating vest the next day. (We always wear standard vests in the boat, but took it off to shoot)

Shooting ducks isn't worth your life, we had no business on the river that day.

My son now has a free pass, hard to discipline someone who has saved your life!

 

[cootmeurer]

Floated a hat in neoprenes a couple times and bobbed like an apple.

But there was this one time I swear something died in my waders.

 

[negooseman]

Nope, but I got really wet for the first time ever last fall.