Sumter outdoors columnist Dan Geddings: It's cold outside

It's cloudy and windy and cold outside, and there was a time when that didn't matter to me. I welcomed the cold. Cold weather and freezing temperatures would push the ducks down from the north. Winter rains would flood the swamps and sometimes even the lake.

A low in the twenties and a strong north wind were ideal. Mallards poured into the Santee refuge seemingly overnight. Then they flew out daily to the Pocotaligo Swamp or Sparkleberry. There was a lot of hunting pressure, but it didn't seem to matter.

I shot my first mallard in Pocotaligo when I was eight years old. We kept a small wooden boat stashed on the bank downstream from the Twelve Bridges Road. Thousands of mallard ducks cruised the swamp after daylight. We hunted in the standing timber and never had any disturbance from other hunters that shot from the tram roads or hunted the cut downs. The cold never mattered.

There was a strong current through the timber, and the water never froze no matter how cold it got. The flats out in the cut-over areas would sometimes freeze. We ignored the wood ducks and focused on the mallards. We used a dozen decoys and the old Olt black plastic duck calls. I called some with just my youthful voice, and it worked.

Access to Pocalla got to be a problem, and we eventually switched over to Sparkleberry and the lake. My first trip into Sparkleberry was a predawn hike into Broughton's Mound. We walked the old road and crossed the creeks on the dilapidated wooden bridges. We only had knee boots and got wet feet in the freezing weather. The only duck we got was a ringneck drake.

Later trips were made in a boat from the old Sparkleberry Landing. We had to drive through a cow pasture, and somebody had to get out and shut the gate. There wasn't much room to park, and there was only a hard sand landing. But the ducks were there. Mallards by the thousands. We hunted Sandy Ford and Pine Island and Little Creek.

On one hunt, we broke ice that was two or three inches thick all the way from the landing to Otter Flat. I don't remember if we got any ducks; all I can remember was how cold it was. On one hunt, we went up the river to Broadwater. Our guns were not cased, and the fine spray from the boat ride froze in the guns. The automatics would not cycle, had to be worked by hand and would only shoot once. That's when I vowed to switch to a pump gun.

One time we hunted in the snow up on Mill Creek and did pretty good with the ducks. On the way home, my brother-in-law drove too fast in his jeep, and we slid off the road into a swampy area. The ground was frozen so hard it didn't matter, and he drove right out through the woods into a field and then back onto the icy road.

On the lake, we hunted Hickory Top when the ducks were in the big flat. One year the weather was warm and there were few ducks. I had just about given up then drove down one afternoon after a heavy rain just to look. The wind was whipping, and it had turned bitter cold. I stopped about halfway down the old dirt road and got out. I was astounded! There were thousands of mallard ducks pouring into the big flat and no hunters around.

The next morning my brother Matt and I waded out into the flat before daylight. There were flocks of mallards fighting the wind and coming in to our calls at dawn. We shot a few before Matt fell in and got soaking wet. We left and went home to get him some dry clothes. I called a buddy, and he and his brother agreed to meet us at Hickory Top Road. We turned around and went right back.

The wind was still howling, and it seemed even colder, but the ducks were still there. We didn't even have to hide. Just stood out in the open, called and watched them come in. Matt eventually fell in again and walked back to the road. He built a huge bonfire, and we could see it from the flat. It didn't bother the ducks. It was one of the best hunts I ever had, and of course the cold didn't matter.

We don't get the ducks anymore, so yes, the cold matters now.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.