[NDTerminator]

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...

 

[taddy1340]

Great story! I bet you may not even hunted an area like that w/out your dog. Those would be hard ducks to find on your own. Quality Gundogs provide a lot of opportunities and are great sources of conservation.

Thanks for sharing...

Mike

 

[USAlx50]

Good story, its a great feeling seeing all that training coming together. I got a kick out of my dog on sunday when he did a summersault while tackling a goose because he didn't slow down his speed when hitting it.

 

[ruger1]

Not to bad for a 9 year old dog. She's still got a little left in her.

 

[cgreeny]

My 8 yr old black lab Guss made a great retrieve over a hill in a stubble field and all the way down to a big slough I marked where the bird was last seen heading down toward the water, and I sent the dog and after a few minutes emerged with the bird, a great retrieve and another highlight was watching him bring back a drake black duck shot in the dekes, I should have took some pics. Next time. Hunting with a dog is the best.

 

[NDTerminator]

I bet your old gal was feeling pretty darn good about herself after that retrieve, Ruger...

 

[kevin.k]

Had a winged partridge hover above the ground for about a quarter mile and my 2 year old yellow lab stayed underneath it the whole time till it dropped and she brought it back to my hand.

 

[NDTerminator]

Josie turned in another of her trademark blinds yesterday morning.

A young co-worker of my wife's has never gotten a can and wanted a bull to mount in the worst way, so we took him out to one of our can hotspots.

Around 9:00AM he body hit a big full color bull on a 50 yard high passing shot. It covered another 200 yards before folding up and going down in that darn CRP.

I lined Josie up and sent her. Took 5 casts to get her in the position, then she nailed the bird. The number of casts were not her fault; I was purposely handling her very methodically in that grass.

It was a perfect full color bull with only one pellet hit in the body, I don't think I've ever seen a better one for mounting. When I handed that bird to the young man, he darn near cried for joy.

Josie and I were showered with thanks for the next two hours.

She also made a land/water mark of about 175 yards on a drake mallard, but that was much less remarkable as we were on a hill aways from James & Toni when James knocked it down so Josie was able to easily mark that fall...

 

[taddy1340]

Josie turned in another of her trademark blinds yesterday morning.

A young co-worker of my wife's has never gotten a can and wanted a bull to mount in the worst way, so we took him out to one of our can hotspots.

Around 9:00AM he body hit a big full color bull on a 50 yard high passing shot. It covered another 200 yards before folding up and going down in that darn CRP.

I lined Josie up and sent her. Took 5 casts to get her in the position, then she nailed the bird. The number of casts were not her fault; I was purposely handling her very methodically in that grass.

It was a perfect full color bull with only one pellet hit in the body, I don't think I've ever seen a better one for mounting. When I handed that bird to the young man, he darn near cried for joy.

Josie and I were showered with thanks for the next two hours.

She also made a land/water mark of about 175 yards on a drake mallard, but that was much less remarkable as we were on a hill aways from James & Toni when James knocked it down so Josie was able to easily mark that fall...

Thanks for sharing! Did you do your own training?

Mike

 

[taddy1340]

Well, yesterday was duck opener here in Idaho. Also, it was Maggie's first hunt out of a boat and in a large river. She was very steady and did great. On her first retrieve, I walked out about 15 yds because I wanted the first bird and to send her on the second. Wouldn't you know it...she wouldn't return to me...instead she just kept swimming downstream towards the bank. She ran the bank back to me and I sent her on the second. Again, she went downstream about 50 yds before running the bank back to me.

One the next set of retrieves, I realized the problem. It was her first time on the river and it's pretty darn swift. She was just going with the current. By the end of the day and about 20 retrieves later she pretty much mastered working that current.

My friend had his dog along as well...kind of a knothead and the owner admits to it. Anyway, we knock down two. I send Maggie on the furthest one. As she's heading to it, he released his dog on the other bird. Wouldn't you know, he takes a direct line towards Maggie's mark. My buddy says, "once he's on a bird, I can't call him off." Well Maggie was about 30 yds from it. I blew the whistle, she turned and I cast her towards the other bird. One more back cast and she was on it.

She impressed me overall and I'm glad I paid my friend to tune her up before the season...I just didn't have the time.

Here she is:

 

[NDTerminator]

Taddy, Yes I train my dogs using the Smartwork program, other than sending them down to Mark Jansma at **** River Kennels in Sac City IA for FF/CC...

 

[jkolson]

We were running my buddies lab while mine was resting out in Mott this weekend, he flushed a hen and we watched it go, then we saw a puff of feathers and the bird fell......it flew straight into a power line about 100 yards away!!!!
The dog took off, went through two fences and across a road and brought it back alive.
Damnedest thing I've ever seen.

 

[gonehuntin']

[/img]

This was in Northen ND. A cripple sailed into a field and I took Lani out to find it. I saw her hit the duck's trail and start tracking. I readied the camera and got this picture. It was the only bird we lost the entire trip.