Hunting's for the dogs.

[mvarley84]

I have a Lab/Shepard cross. He loves duck and goose hunting. I remember his first hunt, he was about 4 years old (I started hunting after I had the dog), and he had his retrieves down pat. It was -5, no wind...a waterfowlers morning. We headed out to the blind and I waded out to set up the decoys. I threw the first decoy out, and heard a reall loud splash...well here's dumbass swimming out to "retrieve" my decoy for me. Well the weight got caught on a rock, so now dumbass is trying to pull it free...I'm shouting at him calling him an idiot, finally he lets go and heads for shore...Now he is soaking wet, its -5, and its still an hour til legal light...so numb nuts (I'm sure they were numb at this point) is shivering laying on the rocks. I had to take off my jacket and wrap him up so he wouldnt be completely useless when the shooting started. So now I'm freezing, walking around trying to keep warm.

Finally legal light comes, that first flock comes in, and there was no turning back. I went 2/3 on the first group, the dog marks them, retrieves them, and his tail didn't stop wagging for the next two hours. Most memorable hunt of my life, best dog a man could ever ask for.

 

[Dominion Link]

If anyone is looking for a Plott pup, a friend of mine has 3 gyps for sale right now. They are in W.Virginia and are well bred from Pocahontas bloodlines. I can pass along contact info if anyone is interested.

 

[CROWCA]

Toiling Dogs or Rolling dogs?

 

[albertaal]

Tollers, of course.

Ipad2 spell check takes some getting used too.

 

[canadianbear]

Got our first Beagle about 5years ago as a 3month old pup in Feburary, thought hot damn going to give it to the rabbits the next fall.So take the pup out during the spring and summer and tried to teach her some manners. Season opens and out we go, she treed a few squirrels and then takes off in a voice I'd never heard from her before. Well what ever she was running was'nt a cottontail and she would not come off when called to. After about 15 minutes I hear her coming back talking all the way. I think I've got me a good little hound till I see her force a big Tom Turkey to wing as they clear a patch of red willow. Turns out she like to run turkeys and deer, not little bitty rabbits!!!

 

[RoscoeT]

Got our first Beagle about 5years ago as a 3month old pup in Feburary, thought hot damn going to give it to the rabbits the next fall.So take the pup out during the spring and summer and tried to teach her some manners. Season opens and out we go, she treed a few squirrels and then takes off in a voice I'd never heard from her before. Well what ever she was running was'nt a cottontail and she would not come off when called to. After about 15 minutes I hear her coming back talking all the way. I think I've got me a good little hound till I see her force a big Tom Turkey to wing as they clear a patch of red willow. Turns out she like to run turkeys and deer, not little bitty rabbits!!!

You may need to get her started on rabbit chasing. I'm a bird dog guy myself but we use frozen birds. You may need to use a rabbit skin with fresh scent or something to get her to understand what you want.

If she will chase then that's half the battle in my amateur opinion.

 

[happykal]

How do you find they are with geese? I've been looking for a good dog to retrieve birds. From what I hear the tollers are great, but they struggle with the size of some geese. Do you find this to be the case?

Her first retrieve of a goose she was 10 months. I called them to the blind. We took 4 out of the pass. I didn't even know where the big one went. Disappeared into the cattails. I just told Tikka, "find the bird" and she come swimming out with a goose bigger then she was lol. She retrieved 4 snow geese, a sharptail and a lesser canada. Yeah mixed bag, but I'm not going to complain. She seems to have no problem with geese. Friends of mine hunt geese with their Tollers and they say they have no problem retrieving a wounded bird.

I encourage you to do as much research as you can on the breed because they are a great dog. Smart, lots of drive, great with kids, easy to train and from my experience they can be a laid back house dog as well. Tikka will mirror the situation. If we're at home she'll be laid back, if we're in the blind she'll sit calm, but impatiently waiting for the retrieve. If we're in the field she'll work hard and close to the gun.

 

[GAboy]

Boo is my seven year old black lab, seen in the avatar pic with some of his work. He brought his first duck off the water at 6 months. I bought him from a friend and he out works and performs many dogs that we hunt with that were way more pedigreed and priced than he was. He does upland and waterfowl, partridge to cranes. Last year 5 of us limited on snow geese (100 birds) and he was the only dog. He didn't retrieve all of them but he made more retrieves that day than some dogs do in a lifetime. He is a great hunting partner and a great friend and he is not for sale.

 

[dreamwaters]

I hunt birds over a yellow lab. I remember all of her "firsts" as clearly as if they were yesterday...

8 months old - we sneak out for a few hours after work into a poplar thicket. I stay on the trail and she makes timid loops into the poplars. WRRRRRRRRRRRR- up goes a grouse and I drop it as it clears the top of the poplars. The bird nearly drops on her and she picks it up and comes out pleased as punch carrying it. I can still see her wiggly puppy body as she wagged so hard she was nearly falling over!

9 months old - her first duck. We were walkign out on a dyke along the Bay of Fundy when a black duck came rocketing overhead. My buddy made a decent pass-shot at it but the momentum carried it down on a broken wing way out into the long marsh-grass. I looked around for the dog and she was GONE. Somehow, despite the early stages of her training at the hands of an new gun-dog handler (me), she marked it, made the long retrieve and brought me the crippled duck.

10 months old - our first rooster. After putting one up the day before out of range I brought her back for a second try, keeping her at heel until we got to the cover. In a rare twist of good fortune, a rooster came up out of the same ditch and I dropped him. This time it was me who was wiggling from nose to tail - so excited to get my first pheasant!

18 months old, I was set up for ducks on the Bay of Fundy when a couple of geese flew right over. I dropped one and if fell, crippled, with a huge splash out in the bay. It was the first goose I'd ever shot and I could not believe the size of the damned thing! I was so impressed that this little dog could wrangle this big and lively bird and still make the swim back to shore across the tide. Here as well, you can tell that I was a liiiiitle excited!


Now, counting the sleeps left until our 7th season together. Although I don't get so feverishly excited at every retrieve as I used to, I'm still puffed with pride when it all comes together... There's nothing like it.
-DW