Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs i pick my lab up tonight

87 and 29 now!

No work again today. Glad i hunt about 3 miles from the house.
Trap all iced up from a river retrieve.
2 geese so far.

It was a little cold this morning.

He got a little bloody on this one.

4 guns and 7 geese. 36 now!

So what do you guys think?
Did i end up getting a good dog?
I think so.

Not bad. Just wait until he gets a chance to hunt some.

Got off work with enough time to hit the river before sunset.
Duck number 88, a hen gw teal.

Up to 93 now.
Maybe the cold has pushed them out? Saw very few birds.

A golden eye, a wigeon, and 3 mallard drakes.

Wife and I were heading home from town and stopped by the goose spot.
Number 94 flew up river and a load of number 2's dumped the drake wigeon.
Wife has not seen him hunt/retrieve yet. She smiled.

Took 2 of the wifes grand kids down to the river so they could shoot their bb guns, and got a gadwall, a drake wigeon, and a goose.
They got off on watching trap retrieve. The goose was a blind retrieve on the other side of the river. When i got them home, the boys couldn't wait to tell grandma, what trap did! Oh, 96 and 37 now.

104 and 88 now!

2 mergansers not pictured! Nasty things.
So what ducks are these? i take it they are divers?

And i tried to video trap retrieving the hen mallard. Course geese got flying, and one of the other guys tries his hand at calling.
Hope the video.

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v631/splattermatic/20130124_141542_zps511f5b4a.mp4

Can't figure out how to do it? ? Any help how to link it or? from photobucket?

Rig move got canceled today, and was told this weekend is gonna be busy, so it looks like today is the last day of hunting for us.
3 guns, and taking a grandson from wifes sons side. He is 17. No license, so just coming along to watch. Going to try a different spot I've only hunted once this season.
Updates later.

Great morning til work called. Sitting in the yard right now doing paperwork from the rig that was to cancel in aneth,ut.
Trap is now up to 110 ducks. We got 6 this morning, and i think the step/step grandson is gonna be a future waterfowler!
No pics. Had to get to work.

Nothing on the board for me tomorrow, sooooo, looks like one more hunt.

Raining all day so far.
Real slow. Only a few flying today.
Winged a mallard drake and watched it sail down stream and crashed into a tree. Saw it fall to the ground. Moved a little thru the brush and sent trap.
It landed on the other side of the white fence, somewhere by the big tree.

A few hand signals and i had trap over there. Couldn't see him, and next thing ya know, here he comes with it!

The goose glided in after a hit, what turned to be 2 fields up.
Went to the fence line and sent trap. Half way across the first field his nose went up and he started searching.
He crossed the next fence and disappeared thru the next brush lined fence and disappeared. A few minutes later, here he comes with the goose.
Finished our season with a drake goldeneye from the other side of the river.
We had a great season and we learned alot about each other.
He can read me and i, him.
I am so glad i bought him, and thankful lee of wind river labs, has great breeding and awesome started training.
I love my dog and best friend.

Now to get ready for the up coming akc hunt tests.
Thanks for tuning in all, hope you enjoyed our waterfowl season.
He ended up retrieving 112 ducks and 39 geese.

Cool Pix! Congrats my friend, ya sure got a keeper there in your dog and best buddy....

JOG and bighorn, here's a btt for you 2 to look at the whole thread from when i got him til now and then tell me he hasn't bonded with me and i him.
We are doing just fine.

Crickets! !!!!!
Guys and gals, a dog will bond with love!
Yeah, you don't have puppy breathe with one, or lots of other things, but go forward with the thoughts of loving a dog who has some life experiences, but make more together. They will love you and you them.

Today trap and I are going to start longer blind retrieves and some lining work.
His second 2 junior tests are the end of April.
We are starting on senior level stuff now, so he is ready come fall.

Trap and I went down to the river the other day and took the blind down.
He sat inside while i unbrushed it, and took it apart.
He kept looking at me with a quesical look when i didn't shoot when ducks flew by.

id say so!looks like a hell of a hunting partner, congrats man

Just an update for those that may be interested.
I am running longer blind retrieves with trap more now.
I am using some orange traffic cones where i set frozen ducks as a marker for him.
Trap has a mental block from training short distances at the park. He runs out about as far as i can throw a bumper and stops to look back for directions.
I have to break this by not throwing bumpers, and stretching out the distance before he looks back.
Setting frozen ducks at distance where he knows they are will get him used to going further before looking for hand signals.
Once we get too 100 yards with ease, then no more cones.
When he does 100 yard runs totally blind then ill start increasing the distances by 50 yards to get him finished.
Lining is going well, its just the popping.
He has hand signals and whistle stops down pat.
I'll have all summer to work with him to be ready for senior level next fall.
I really see no use where i hunt to take him to master level.
Distance, control, and a happy buddy is all i am seeking.