Selecting a Waterfowl Hunting Coat

We were tied up to the bog on Buckeye Lake in my old 14 foot craftsman boat adorned with duck boat paint. Randy and I were shooting ducks on opening day in October. I shot a wood duck which fell onto a branch hanging over the water. Randy said, "I'll get it!" We untied the boat and rowed about 15 feet downwind. He stepped out onto a large branch and reached up and grabbed my duck. He stood there with one foot on the bow and one foot on the branch. I said, "Uh...Randy" "What a beautiful bird." As he stood there admiring the fully plumed drake. He totally ignored me. Before I could get his attention with more urgency, the boat moved out away from the log! Unable to do the splits, he quickly leaped out to the branch on which he had been standing. The water was ten feet deep straight down off the bog. He was in trouble. I rowed over to him with a couple of quick strokes as he climbed his wet behind into my boat. It wasn't real cold out, but a little too cold to be soaking wet! I mentioned to him that It might be a good idea to buy a float coat like to one I have. That winter he did just that.

The next fall we hunting over different spreads of decoys about 80 yards apart. His group did not have a dog, so when randy shot his first teal of the day he walked out of the cattails to retrieve it. I saw him suddenly sink to his arm pits. He splashed around, grabbed the duck and headed to shore. When he got to shore I saw him empty the water out of his gun barrel. I yelled over, "I saved your life!" He did not know it, but the State of Ohio had dredged a channel through there! He was in over his head again, but this time he had a float coat to keep him up. A similar thing happened to me about 5 years after that. The bottom had been dredged down 10 feet, and I forgot. The good news is that my Stearns floatation parka held me up! I was eternally grateful to have it on let me tell you!

I have done some research for my son and friends since then. It does not appear that Stearns makes a full length camouflaged float coat any longer. They do make a jacket however. Mustang makes a full length float parka, but it doesn't appear to come with a hood. It may have a hood that hides in a zipper compartment. I had a Mustang years ago, but I made the mistake of putting it in the dryer! Bad mistake! They make a good coat, and so does Stearns. I bought my son the Onyx coat. It was reasonably priced, warm and he likes it. The bottom line is, I can't see EVER going waterfowl hunting, over water, without a float coat!