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As a kid, I loved the snow, the winter, not so much anymore, especially this year where in N.E Nebraska we’ve had two storms that dumped at least ten inches a couple of times.

I remember one bad winter where the snow was so deep, that I couldn’t walk along the creek where I was hunting deer.

The first time I went out, it was almost impossible to get through the snow and on my last deer hunt, the woods were full of pheasant’s, there weren’t any deer there, with the creek full of pheasants.

The next time I went out, thinking I figured it out, I wore my snow-shoes, actually it was the first time I’d used them, donned my snow camo and carried my shotgun, was pretty sure I’d have a good opportunity bringing some pheasants home for supper.

When the landowner saw me making my way down to the creek, he later told me I looked like one of the German WW2 snipers.

One side of the creek had so muchbrush,evenwithsnowshoes, I wouldn’t be able to get through it, soIcrossedthefrozencreek,thinking I could make good time there.

The first few steps, with the snow-shoes really worked well, until I placed my right shoe onto a tall mound of snow.

That was when I realized it wasn’t a mound of snow, it was a snow-coveredplumthicket,andas I put pressure on my right showshoe, down I went, with one shoe ontopof thegroundwiththeother about three feet below in a thicket.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get out of the thicket, I tried rolling over, having both shoes in the thicket, I was tangled up, putting my shot gun off to the side so I could grab the snow-shoe hoping to pull myself back on ground.

What next, not only was I stuck in a plumb thicket, when I was hunting deer, all I saw were pheasants, andwhenhuntingpheasants, I saw deer.

All of my attempts to get free, I created quite a ruckus, and after several attempts, a nice buck with two does erupted from the cover, heading east, sliding across the ice-covered creek.

It looked like I’d have to somehow get my right snow-shoe unbuckled, which meant, I’d have to reach down to the plum thicket to attempt to get unbuckled.

When I was younger that wouldn’t be a problem, now, I wasn’t so sure I could bend over that far to get out of thesnow-shoe.

It must have been quite a sight, my left snow-shoe setting up on top with my butt up in the air as I attempted to free myself.

It took almost a half hour, to get my boot off of the snow-shoe and once that was done, used it to dig my way out of the thicket.

I’vehadindividualsaskmehow I get into these predicaments, I told them, no I’m not an accident ready to happen, since I’m in the outdoorsalot,throughouttheyear they just happen.

Wait till you read one of my upcoming columns where I was thrown out of my deer stand by a couple of beaver?

Gary Howey is an award-winning writer, producer, broadcaster, former tournament angler, fishing and hunting guide and in 2017 inducted into the “National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame”.

He developed and was the Producer- Hostfor23yearsof hisaward winning gary Howey’s Outdoorsmen Adventures television series, the host of the award-winning Outdoor Adventures radio show. If you’re looking for more outdoor on the outdoors, check out www. garyHowey’soutdoors.com, with moreinformationontheseFacebook pages, Gary Howey, Gary E Howey, and Outdoor Adventures radio.