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The best part of hunting with a gundog is seeing one of those retrieves where breeding, training, talent, and drive all come together.
Myself, I can never get enough of hearing about great gundog work, so post up your good ones.
My 5.5 year old Josie made another of her long run of remarkable blinds on Sunday morning. We were pass shooting a saddle between two sloughs, with one side knee-waist high CRP. I hit a drake mallard a good 50 yards up (farther than I usually shoot, but the shot really felt right...).
It was flying but losing altitude, so went down in the CRP on the other side of the hill, a good 200+ yards away, as it turned out very much alive but unable to fly. Because of the canes we were in and the CRP, neither of my dogs were able to mark the fall.
I got Josie out of the canes so she could see my casts, lined her up, and sent her on about as blind of retrieve as there is. There was a good breeze so I purposely gave her a line downwind of where I thought the bird had landed. It took two casts to get her where I wanted, then she disappeared over the hill and the blind was all her's.
In less time than it takes to write this, she was on her way back with the drake. As it turned out he was pretty well centered in the pattern, but those darn steel 4's at that range lacked the weight/velocity to penetrate to the vitals.
Once again a bird was recovered that would not have been, had I not had a good, well trained gundog...
Myself, I can never get enough of hearing about great gundog work, so post up your good ones.
My 5.5 year old Josie made another of her long run of remarkable blinds on Sunday morning. We were pass shooting a saddle between two sloughs, with one side knee-waist high CRP. I hit a drake mallard a good 50 yards up (farther than I usually shoot, but the shot really felt right...).
It was flying but losing altitude, so went down in the CRP on the other side of the hill, a good 200+ yards away, as it turned out very much alive but unable to fly. Because of the canes we were in and the CRP, neither of my dogs were able to mark the fall.
I got Josie out of the canes so she could see my casts, lined her up, and sent her on about as blind of retrieve as there is. There was a good breeze so I purposely gave her a line downwind of where I thought the bird had landed. It took two casts to get her where I wanted, then she disappeared over the hill and the blind was all her's.
In less time than it takes to write this, she was on her way back with the drake. As it turned out he was pretty well centered in the pattern, but those darn steel 4's at that range lacked the weight/velocity to penetrate to the vitals.
Once again a bird was recovered that would not have been, had I not had a good, well trained gundog...