Columnist Dan Geddings: You can sleep in July

We were tired and weary. Up well before dawn, for many days in a row. Long days in the big swamp. Hunting, scouting, then homeward bound for a little while, only to repeat day after day, as long as work or wives didn't interfere.

Of course, the weather and the water levels were the main factors. I prayed for freezing temperatures and bright, clear, windy days. I saved my vacation days for the right conditions and used a few sick days when I had to.

They came in on the cold wind from the north country. They were only here for a short time. We had to get out there when they were here.

We hunted the public land, the lake and the swamp. Our usual routine was to leave around midnight. At the landings, we saw others launching, and we hurried. There were cold boat rides across the lake or up the river. We had a place in mind and usually a backup, in case someone beat us to the spot.

My hunting partners and I would try to get to a good spot and hold it. Sometimes we would go ahead and put out decoys, but we usually just sat there in the boat with our spotlight shining on the treetops or across the open water. It let other hunters know we were there. Then before daylight, we would pull the boats out of the way and find a good spot to stand and wait on first light.

In the dark, we would hear the whisper of wings overhead, and we knew it would be a good day. We wore chest waders and could feel the cold of the water through the boots. We shivered from the cold and the anticipation of the hunt. It was not unusual to trip on a snag and take a plunge or get a hole ripped in the boots. But it never ended the hunt. It was endured.

We knew the swamp from Pack's to Broadwater and beyond. It changed with the water levels. Sometimes the lake would be low but the swamp would be high. Heavy rain waters would flow from the river into the swamp, then in a few days be down again because the lake was usually low in the winter.

In low water, you were restricted to the creeks and some of the cypress flats, but in high water conditions, you could go anywhere. Much of Pine Island was always dry. The ducks seemed to favor the Pine Island area if there was enough water there.

We usually hunted the lake early in the season, from Jacks Creek to Hickory Top. A few times we went to the other side, around Sixteen Island and Bass Island. We had a few good hunts over there. Hunting pressure was usually heavy in those areas because of easier access. When there was grass in the lake we had some good hunts out in front of Elliot's.

I repainted brand-new decoys because they were never right, and we learned to use a jerk string from hunts in Arkansas. Spinning wing decoys were not yet invented. We all learned to call and were very good at it. I told my friends that I could make a duck change his mind. And I was right.

I hunted some by myself, with my brother Matt and brother-in-law Johnny Harrington. I hunted with Monty Hicks. Johnny and I hunted with Phil Mixon and Wesley Gainey. We hunted with a group that included Jimmy Jackson, Cody Palmer and a few others.

On our trips to Arkansas, we would get up early enough to be at the landing by 4 a.m., hunt 'til noon, then head back to the motel or cabin to eat, clean ducks and get ready for the hunt the next day. If we could get a few hours of sleep, we were lucky. Some of the guys complained about the lack of sleep, and I told them, "Let's hunt; you can sleep in July."

I don't run that schedule anymore, but I know some of you do. You've got to hunt when the birds are here. The duck season is here now; good hunting.

Email Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.