Please, dkhunter, I'm not picking on you! I'm concerned about the safety of a fellow sportsman I've never even met. And remember the comments I made to crow were to crow when he quoted me.
As far as my high income life, it's not. I'm retired on a fixed income, working a part time job to pay for my shotgun shells and fish'n bait. I mentioned my son to agree that I am a father, so it's in my job description to be fatherly.
Be safe and best of luck getting your Gold back. Jim

i thought of something. what about the guys in the army when they do basic training
it's it's been raining on their stomachs with thier guns getting muddy and water down the barrel
wouldn't that ruin it too?

Don't listen to others and give up on this gun. You can even wait until spring when the ice is gone if the current in that area isn't fast.

My father has lost the same Browning A-5 in the Mississippi river TWICE. He got it back both times. Once the boat sunk and they went back later with a drag net and got his gun and some other stuff.

Another time it was found by a friend in the summer after the river went down. The butt was sticking up out of the water and the barrel was stuck in the sand. The gun had fallen out of the boat during duck season and no one noticed it until they got back to the landing so they knew the route it was on but not exactly WHERE along the 3 mile route it would be.

My point. This same gun has ZERO bluing left on the barrel, it's as shiny as nickel. The outside of the barrel is pitted. The stock and forearm are new,other than that,he didn't have to replace a single part. If you find the gun, and dissassemble, dry, and oil it well, you probably won't have to do much other than re-blue it, if you want, and replace the stock and forearm. I would also like to add that this particular A-5 I talked about is without a doubt one of the sweetest shooting duck guns we use. We like it much better than the newer and new looking A-5 we got long after this gun was recovered the second time.

Good luck and don't give up.

Holy cow, this much be heart breaking. Your real only option is get someone with a wetsuit. I bet somewhere there is a diver near you that would help you. Maybe visit some divers pages in WI.

Another option possibly is to fashion you own oyaster tongs out of yard rakes Might have to be creative.

But, I know your probably temped just to jump in after it and be out quick. But man it ain't worth it.

Two big sections of pvc pipe glued up and a manure fork bent so you can lift straight up. I bet you can find it and rake it right back up.. Maybe anyway! I hope the bottom is sand or stone and not muck.!

Unless it's a piece of crap a couple days in the water ain't gonna kill it. Might take a little muscle work but it will clean right up. Drop it in the salt water behind my house however and you will be able to watch it rust.

Be careful out there!! Waters getting awful cold to be spending to much time in it!

The bottom that the gun fell in was a sand bottom, luckily its not mud or anything like that. What is an Oyster rake you guys keep talking about?

call in a navy seal.. it's what they use to get up oysters with

You know I thought of an silly idea. Get two old yard rakes. The ridgid kind. Bolt them together to be like tong. Take some PVC and extend the handles to 12ft. Now you need to be able to hold onto the gun. i was thinking you could take some eye bolts and put towards the end of the rakes and put a rope thru it. Use it to grab onto the gun Then pull up on both sides of the rope to tighten. And pull up. I would give it a try.

http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/captions/mod007-02.html

here are some oyster tongs

post hole diggers extended