- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Louie as a young puppy in a too big for him insulated vest!
a bit older and in training
All grown up 5 years later
Cat
a bit older and in training
All grown up 5 years later
Cat
Hunting Dogs!!! Post your pics & stories!!!
- Thread starter Jay
- Start date
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Thanks, he's a great dog, totally trained by my son, his first crack at training, and he did really well!l!
He's too big for that vest now LOL!
Cat
He's too big for that vest now LOL!
Cat
Sorry, no action photos this time. Last day of pheasant season today - all I've got is the post-hunt nap! 6 months old and she's all about the pheasants. No question of her nose and prey drive. The work over the off season will be to contain her energy and skills into a useful hunting machine! 
....and while the little one is in-training, I've been killing rooster like crazy over my favourite redhead, "Ginger", who is 5 years old and in the prime of her pheasant hunting career. It's been thanks to this fine dog and her generous owner that I've been able to still have a good pheasant season even though my old gal Ruby died this past April. When he calls, I clear my schedule!
With only a couple days left in our season, I'm feeling a bit bad that our little pup INDIA is going to have to wait another 8 months before duck season comes back around!
So I've been trying to get her out as much as I can these past few days....and what a fantastic outing we had this week!
Driving into the unbelievably beautiful and duck-prolific property we've been privileged to have permission to hunt, she knew right away where we were going and as we left the highway and crossed the first cattle gate in the dark of the early morning, she started to tremble and whine.
When we parked the car, the ducks were falling from the sky to settle into a small creek that's miraculously open all year, staging for the small leap required to hit the grain fields where the cattle graze. We've been hunting them pretty hard the past few weeks, and have had to take steps to hide the car and approach our couple of overwatch spots with the utmost stealth.
After heeling all the way to to our spot, the final moments of waiting for legal light were almost too much to take. I could feel my little pup, pressed hard up against me and trembling violently with excitement and alternated between staring hard (retriever style) at the ducks continuing to rain from the sky into the creek, and looking at me with incomprehensible incredulity of why the gun was not getting some serious action. But then my phone alarm signalled that we were good to go, and I sent India with a whispered "hunt-em-up!".
She stalked up to the edge of the creek kind of like a cat, then pounced into action for the last few yards, leaping off the edge of the raised bank into a maelstrom of ducks that exploded off the water in a thick cloud-like ribbon.
I always have trouble picking just one duck out of the cloud, but managed to find an outlier off the edge of the cloud and I gave it both barrels (as I often do when hunting in the thick pines) to ensure an easy recovery for our first duck of the morning.
As the duck fell, India cleared the bank of the creek and immediately sat, looking back towards me for permission to retrieve. Sending her I could not help but feel deeply grateful and very rich for the new type of companionship India and I have forged these past few months while learning to hunt ducks and geese together.
She was quickly back by my side with our duck, and we watched the duck cloud circle higher and set out towards the river. As previously mentioned, we've been hunting these ducks pretty hard the past few months. This is both bad and good....the bad news is they are now super-sensitive, and leave with the slightest pressure. The good news is we've been walking around enough that we've got a pretty good handle on where they go!
The creek we've been hunting has many forks and side channels, and it outflows into a river that's been exceptionally active the past few springs; consequently there are multiple channels, many of which have been partially dammed up with large conifer debris that form small pools of almost still water that moves enough not to freeze.
The ducks favour several of these pools - India and I have spent considerable time hiking through the pines along the edges and figuring out how to get into gun range undetected.
So we set off towards a couple of these pools. Each time we approached one, we employed the tactic of getting close enough to confirm that the ducks were in a particular pool by blowing once or twice on a duck call and listening for a response. If we heard ducks answer, we'd continue to creep up through the various depressions of dry channels or thick brush, and once in position I'd send India to flush the ducks off the river.
I am fascinated to watch her flush the ducks....she knows they are there and listens very intently, often despite not being able to see them through the bush or terrain (I have a visual advantage as I stand quite a bit taller!). She's very aware of the terrain, and as soon as she gets a sight line on them she freezes for a bit, trembles, and then stalks like a cat for a bit before bursting forward to flush them off the water.
Hunting like this we managed to take another 3 ducks throughout the course of the morning, each time taking only a single duck at a time for as we were deep in the thick trees I was employing my both-barrels-per-duck philosophy to make sure we did not have to look very hard for fallen ducks. This technique also has the added benefit of forcing me to swing through, although sometimes the resulting dead ducks do have a lot of holes in them!
At the last pond, there was a large eagle perched in a tree overlooking the ducks. As India flushed them off the water and I shot our single duck, the eagle leapt from the tree into the air and fell through the rising cloud of ducks, piercing one then pinning it to the snowy shore, wings outstretched, in a Mexican standoff of sorts with the India who had to run by the eagle to get our duck.
Not really wanting my dog to scrap it up with a bald eagle (hello vet bills!), we made a quick retreat back towards the car. Walking back, the creek by the car had filled back up with ducks, and I used my camera instead of my gun to try and get a shot of them lifting off the creek as we walked by, filling the air with the thunder of their wings.
I'll try to get out once more with India before the season ends, and as my pup is now sprawled in front of the gas fireplace while she snores and makes strange puppy gurgles, whines, and subdued little yips, I wonder if she's dreaming of the fantastic day we spent together.
I know that when my head hits the pillow this evening, that's what I'll be dreaming of!
Cheers, and happy hunting these few remaining days!
Brobee
So I've been trying to get her out as much as I can these past few days....and what a fantastic outing we had this week!
Driving into the unbelievably beautiful and duck-prolific property we've been privileged to have permission to hunt, she knew right away where we were going and as we left the highway and crossed the first cattle gate in the dark of the early morning, she started to tremble and whine.
When we parked the car, the ducks were falling from the sky to settle into a small creek that's miraculously open all year, staging for the small leap required to hit the grain fields where the cattle graze. We've been hunting them pretty hard the past few weeks, and have had to take steps to hide the car and approach our couple of overwatch spots with the utmost stealth.
After heeling all the way to to our spot, the final moments of waiting for legal light were almost too much to take. I could feel my little pup, pressed hard up against me and trembling violently with excitement and alternated between staring hard (retriever style) at the ducks continuing to rain from the sky into the creek, and looking at me with incomprehensible incredulity of why the gun was not getting some serious action. But then my phone alarm signalled that we were good to go, and I sent India with a whispered "hunt-em-up!".
She stalked up to the edge of the creek kind of like a cat, then pounced into action for the last few yards, leaping off the edge of the raised bank into a maelstrom of ducks that exploded off the water in a thick cloud-like ribbon.
I always have trouble picking just one duck out of the cloud, but managed to find an outlier off the edge of the cloud and I gave it both barrels (as I often do when hunting in the thick pines) to ensure an easy recovery for our first duck of the morning.
As the duck fell, India cleared the bank of the creek and immediately sat, looking back towards me for permission to retrieve. Sending her I could not help but feel deeply grateful and very rich for the new type of companionship India and I have forged these past few months while learning to hunt ducks and geese together.
She was quickly back by my side with our duck, and we watched the duck cloud circle higher and set out towards the river. As previously mentioned, we've been hunting these ducks pretty hard the past few months. This is both bad and good....the bad news is they are now super-sensitive, and leave with the slightest pressure. The good news is we've been walking around enough that we've got a pretty good handle on where they go!
The creek we've been hunting has many forks and side channels, and it outflows into a river that's been exceptionally active the past few springs; consequently there are multiple channels, many of which have been partially dammed up with large conifer debris that form small pools of almost still water that moves enough not to freeze.
The ducks favour several of these pools - India and I have spent considerable time hiking through the pines along the edges and figuring out how to get into gun range undetected.
So we set off towards a couple of these pools. Each time we approached one, we employed the tactic of getting close enough to confirm that the ducks were in a particular pool by blowing once or twice on a duck call and listening for a response. If we heard ducks answer, we'd continue to creep up through the various depressions of dry channels or thick brush, and once in position I'd send India to flush the ducks off the river.
I am fascinated to watch her flush the ducks....she knows they are there and listens very intently, often despite not being able to see them through the bush or terrain (I have a visual advantage as I stand quite a bit taller!). She's very aware of the terrain, and as soon as she gets a sight line on them she freezes for a bit, trembles, and then stalks like a cat for a bit before bursting forward to flush them off the water.
Hunting like this we managed to take another 3 ducks throughout the course of the morning, each time taking only a single duck at a time for as we were deep in the thick trees I was employing my both-barrels-per-duck philosophy to make sure we did not have to look very hard for fallen ducks. This technique also has the added benefit of forcing me to swing through, although sometimes the resulting dead ducks do have a lot of holes in them!
At the last pond, there was a large eagle perched in a tree overlooking the ducks. As India flushed them off the water and I shot our single duck, the eagle leapt from the tree into the air and fell through the rising cloud of ducks, piercing one then pinning it to the snowy shore, wings outstretched, in a Mexican standoff of sorts with the India who had to run by the eagle to get our duck.
Not really wanting my dog to scrap it up with a bald eagle (hello vet bills!), we made a quick retreat back towards the car. Walking back, the creek by the car had filled back up with ducks, and I used my camera instead of my gun to try and get a shot of them lifting off the creek as we walked by, filling the air with the thunder of their wings.
I'll try to get out once more with India before the season ends, and as my pup is now sprawled in front of the gas fireplace while she snores and makes strange puppy gurgles, whines, and subdued little yips, I wonder if she's dreaming of the fantastic day we spent together.
I know that when my head hits the pillow this evening, that's what I'll be dreaming of!
Cheers, and happy hunting these few remaining days!
Brobee
Harley
Harley: Will be four in March. A very intelligent hunter and very good on the retrieve. We still have some discussion on giving me the bird as he would like to keep them.
On point.
Showing the intelligence of a hunting dog.
Heading down the lake, first mate on point.
Harley unfortunately has seizures. Not a congenital type but most likely the result of a head trauma as near as the vet can tell. First seizure was two days after I got him. My vet said send him back, but could you do that? From a practical point of view the vet was correct in every regard. It has had a negative impact on our hunting as they come in bunches (clusters). I rest him when this happens. The meds will have a negative impact on his longevity. Being retired and living in the bush we spend all day together. Pretty idyllic existence for both of us.
Harley: Will be four in March. A very intelligent hunter and very good on the retrieve. We still have some discussion on giving me the bird as he would like to keep them.
On point.
Showing the intelligence of a hunting dog.
Heading down the lake, first mate on point.
Harley unfortunately has seizures. Not a congenital type but most likely the result of a head trauma as near as the vet can tell. First seizure was two days after I got him. My vet said send him back, but could you do that? From a practical point of view the vet was correct in every regard. It has had a negative impact on our hunting as they come in bunches (clusters). I rest him when this happens. The meds will have a negative impact on his longevity. Being retired and living in the bush we spend all day together. Pretty idyllic existence for both of us.
Beautiful dogs guys. Sorry to hear about Harley's condition Bland. Nice to see you guys can still get out n hunt. Maggie won't be able to do any actual hunting for about nine months but when we do get out we're gonna kick some grouse ass!
I haven't been onto this forum before and feel quite silly with how much I love my lab and all hunting dogs. On December 27th last year we had to put down our girl Hannah (Spleen cancer). After a shorter time than anticipated we decided that the feet were missing from the house. A search North America wide led us to our new family member "Rorie". At 8 months she is alternately a genius and a fool (some days I'm not sure which one she excels at more sometimes). She's coming along with her training and is a the most loving family pet ever.
....and while the little one is in-training, I've been killing rooster like crazy over my favourite redhead, "Ginger", who is 5 years old and in the prime of her pheasant hunting career. It's been thanks to this fine dog and her generous owner that I've been able to still have a good pheasant season even though my old gal Ruby died this past April. When he calls, I clear my schedule!
Looks like Burwash to me...
