So what do you do when you're 15 miles up a log filled river and....

WDR65

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you're spotlight dies. This winter on a duck hunting trip on the Cape Fear and Black Rivers near Wilmington, NC I got to find out. It was around three in the morning and the river was jammed with logs from a recent flood as well as it just being a slack tide. It was also foggy. My spotlight went from bright white to to yellow to really yellow in a matter of minutes. Looking back at my friend who had told me " I just charged that battery yesterday", I just shook my head. We were already running behind because of the debris in the river and this was a serious setback.
Luckily being a good flashaholic I started rummaging through my ditty bag. I first tried my Streamlight TL-3 which worked alright, but I couldn't see very far in the misty fog so we were just making headway. Then I remembered that I had put my Streamlight Survivor LED in my bag for some odd reason that morning and decided to give it a try. I wasn't expecting much but it worked suprisingly well reflecting back off the logs just enough for us to pick up some speed. With my friend using the TL-3 for area light in front of the boat and me spotlighting logs fairly far in the front of us with the Survivor we made it just on time although a thirty minute boat ride turned into almost a two hour one. I was very impressed with the Survivor and plan to throw it in the boat from now on as a just in case light.
We weren't in any danger as we could have always just pulled up on the bank and waited for the sun to rise, but it was nice to know that in a pinch I had the right tools for the job. Though in hindsight I should have just carried a spare marine battery.
 
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benchmade_boy

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not far enough away
this is going to sound stupid but, why were you hunting after a flood? i am an avid hunter but i dont think i would risk my life just for some hunting. i mean you could have had a log go through your boat and capsized on the river, middle of winter, dark out, things could have gone pretty bad.

oh well at least you had a light that worked to save the day. thanks for sharing the story.
 

BIGIRON

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Hindsight is always 20/20.

Sounds like you were pretty well prepared - a charged spotlight (your partner thought) and several other light sources.

A few years ago, I would (and have) done what you did. Today, I would have found a good place to go aground, got out a MRE, called my wife on the cellfone and taken a nap.
 

WDR65

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We had no idea the river that particular morning would be that full of logs. It was an odd occurence that I had never seen before, at least not on that scale. We were fairly careful and hitting one at only a couple of miles an hour would probably not damage the hull of the boat, just possibly damage the prop on the motor. I will be more attentive to the tides and the possible conditions, but I would go again in a heartbeat just might put in above where we were going to hunt next time if there are similar conditions. I've been in a lot worse situations on the water and have tried to take a bit from each experience about what not to do next time. I'm thinking a rechargable HID spotlight next as another backup.

To be honest BIGIRON, I felt like doing that. A few extra hours of sleep would probably have been better and maybe I'll wise up one day.
 
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