It was a very cold January day, 19 degrees to be exact, when my good friend Lance Fudicker and I decided to take our chances on a morning duck hunt.  I met Lance at his house in Frogmore at about 5:30 am.  We pondered our chances on making it to the blind because it had been raining so much the past few days that the ground was saturated.  Even with a four wheel drive truck, we knew our chances would be difficult at best.   Lucky for us, the ground had frozen solid the night before and our travling woes proved to be non-existent.     I managed to leave my chest waders at home, so Lance got the honors of breaking the 3/4" ice and putting out the decoys.  Expecting lots of birds and shooting, I had brought my camera along to snap some photos and have evidence ready to back up the "sure to come" bragging.  As Lance was doing all of the work, I noticed what a beautiful sunrise it was and thought that it would make a pretty picture.  I climbed out of the blind and positioned Lance in the far right-hand side of my camera in an attempt to silhouette him against as much of the sky as possible.

     I took two photos of Lance that day and they turned out to be better than I ever thought.  I am very thankful for these pictures because the anticipated bragging would never come.  We never fired a shot.  This picture is seven years old and it still reminds me that you don't have to kill something to have a successful hunt.  Just being with friends in the outdoors is good enough.