Going down
In past years we have been driving on the ice as early as the first of December during the commercial fishing season. These days that season has been closed in an attempt to bring the white fish levels to a more sustainable quantity and possibly reopen the commercial harvest. Time will tell the story and we will indeed discover if our biologists were correct in their theories. Without cold weather in November and some of the creeks not being frozen over or frozen long enough makes it awkward to access areas we like to hunt. Last year on one of our hunting expeditions we were taking several clients out into the woods via ATVs. I had one fellow with me and Mike had two fellows with him stacked up on the quad, not light people either. Well, I crossed the creek with Dave on the back and we waited on the other side for Mike to come along. He arrived at the bank of the creek and seeing us on the other side, he just fi gured he would drive across without unloading the guys, so he proceeded down the bank onto the ice. In a split second the ice gave way and the back end of the bike fell into the water, with the ice holding up the front. Mike climbed over the front of the bike not even getting his feet wet, while Joe rolled off the side becoming completely immersed in the water and trying desperately to hang onto his rifle, he managed to scramble onto the bank. Now Mark thinking he was doomed, started yelling “help, help, I’m going down, I’m going down, help me.” To give you an idea what this picture looked like, the bike is sitting on an angle half in and half out of the water, with Mark sitting on the very back up to his waist in water. Joe is telling Mark to grab the gun, Mike is telling him to stand up, while Dave and I are trying desperately not to laugh. Finally, Mark realizes he is not going down and will live to see another day. He manages to stand up and then climb over the bike to safety totally soaked including his gun. It was a fairly cold day and both Joe and Mark’s clothing started to freeze over quite rapidly; by the time we got the bike out and headed back to the truck, their clothing was as stiff as a board. They thawed out on the way back to camp, really none the worse for wear, so we got changed and headed right back out. That evening everyone in camp heard the story of Mark going down in the creek, so the following morning when they came in for breakfast there were life jackets on the backs of their chairs – just to add a little humour to the situation. I suppose the whole situation could have been worse, but it wasn’t, the boys took it all in stride and this year we stayed away from the creek. |
