Duck Tolling?

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Ryan j

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Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone on the board uses their dog for 'Tolling' ducks?

We have two dogs a Yellow Lab and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever...

This evening was the first time I took the Duck Toller hunting with me as he is pretty much the wifes dog.

I read about Tolling but never really tried it...pretty neat...:D

I kneeled down in the long grass/reeds and just let him go play.... 2 minutes later we had 5 green winged teal down(Lost one in the reeds after he dove under:confused:).

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Ok. I had to google "tolling".

Sounds neat! My first thought would be that the dog would scare off the birds. Afterall, canines are natural predators of ducks.

I wonder if my Golden splashing about might bring them in...
 
Ryan, I used to use my uncles Golden Retriever for it. She would play and Black Ducks would just swim in to her. Ive noticed if they are feeding they dont seem to interested and wont toll good.
 
A few years back I had the opportunity to hunt with a guy that had a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and I remember to this day saying ya right like the ducks are going to come into the blind. Well I'll be dammed they did. I have also watched others work their trollers since and as crazy as it may sound to some and I don't know what it is but the ducks swim in every time to see what the old dog is up to. Real cool. Have never seen anyone try a lab however
 
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It works anywhere! I live in Ontario, and if the ducks, especially bluebills, are rafted up too far out, I just throw something for my chessie to retrieve repeatedly. The ducks get interested, and if they haven't been heavily hunted, usually come right in. The key is that the dog stays concentrated on retrieving and doesn't pay attention to, and swim out to the birds. That said, some species , like goldeneyes, won't respond. I once had separate flocks of mallards and geese swim in from different directions and arrive at the same time. That was fun. Even mute swans come right in, often within 10 yards or so of the dog.
 
I was quite surprised how well it worked...they just came right in to him:)

The only thing I think I kind of scared him when I was shooting....he was never that close to gunfire before so he seemed a little nervous afterwards.

Have to get him a set of ear plugs for next time I guess...:p
 
eastcoastsoxfan said:
Did he retrieve them?
Click to expand...

I walked out in the water with him, picked up three and he carried one in...then we looked for the 5th until we gave up.

I couldn't believe he just stayed where he was after I shot and was kind of looking at me like WTF? just happened...he stayed closer to me than normal for the rest of the evening too.

My Lab has to be on his leash or he will burst out into the water after the first shot; really high strung...have to spend some more time with his training...:slap:
 
Ok .. I want youre shotgun and the dog... ;)

I did have a Drathar that loved to play in the water any time of year.
We were duck hunting and of coarse I'd let him fool around in the river to let out all that energy, for a few minutes while I settled in and made some half decent blind.
Next thing you know theres geese swimming up the river towards us and almost in range.
I tried getting the dog to come back in fear of him scaring them off.. Then I realized, the dog is bringing them in.. WTF.. I shot those two geese at 25 yds. :)

Tolling is good if you know what to look for in a great dog, and cooperative birds.
 
One of my first yellow labs was very reddish in colour, she could bring in geese and some diving ducks from along ways off by just letting her play in the water chasing water bugs etc. As long as she wasn't paying any attention to the birds. The ducks and geese would come up within about 30 feet of her. If she did go after them they would just move off a keep a comfortable distance from the dog. As long as we stayed well hidden and "still" in the blind the birds would come in rediculously close.

I first discovered this while taking her swimming in the park in the summer. She had differnet flocks of geese coming to her from several hundred yards off. The Nova Scotia duck tollers were bred for this type of work apparently to emulate foxes who have been observed doing this to get a meal.
 
Ryan j said:
Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone on the board uses their dog for 'Tolling' ducks?

We have two dogs a Yellow Lab and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever...

This evening was the first time I took the Duck Toller hunting with me as he is pretty much the wifes dog.

I read about Tolling but never really tried it...pretty neat...:D

I kneeled down in the long grass/reeds and just let him go play.... 2 minutes later we had 5 green winged teal down(Lost one in the reeds after he dove under:confused:).

IMG00072.jpg
Click to expand...


Nice looking Dog your wife has and the birds look great too.
Figured out how they toll now....
Thanks for sharing.
Rob
 
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Nice to see you are using the breed for what it was developed for. I hope you both have lots more fun with the method! Be careful with gun shyness though, better condition the dog to loud noises before you ruin it with more surprise shooting. Would be a shame to discover the method then ruin the dog!
 
Winnie here is 5 1/2 months and is 1/4 golden lab. She loves splashing in the water but not going in over her belly, and loves retrieving.
I am planning to try and train her a bit but she is a scaredy cat, so I doubt she will work well with the gun, but you never know.
She certainly isn't scared of bull mastiffs and other big dogs though.
supposedly the breed was developed after Europeans saw natives would wait near foxes as they played at the waters edge and lure in ducks, so they were bred to look like foxes.

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