WaterfowlForum.Net

We have struck....
We had our annual group get together dove hunt this morning... It was foggy early and there weren't many doves flying but it picked up after about an hour, and we finish with 186... My dog Trigger had a big time and so did I it was a nice morning...

Rick there were two youngsters in the group, and they hunted by this tree...

An excellent choice!

I hunted this afternoon with my dog Moe, our goal was to work on drop... Drop has been an issue with him in the past, he will not let go... Our work this spring has paid off, he dropped all eight of them nearly perfect... He surprised me... It was 90°a little too hot but hopefully cooler weather is on the way... It sure is great to be back hunting...

Very nice! Good work Moe!

If push comes to shove, you might try swapping a piece of Milkbone or kibble for birds. I stupidly induced a case of "freezing" on retrieves in my second Chessie by reading him the riot act after what turned out a fumbled hand-off (that resulted in my thinking a bird dropped in the pit had been allowed to escape), and trying that swap proved a very quick fix before it became habitual.

Thanks for the info Rick... He's my first bird dog, and my standards have been very low... Up until now my thoughts have been I'd rather have him hold it for dear life, rather than drop it here there or over yonder....I think we've turned the corner we'll see... I'm as rough as he is around the edges, so we're just figuring this out together...
PS. He just barely eats dog food, it would have to be a ribeye steak treat for him to trade...

I like duck, but I'd probably take the ribeye, too.

He would probably trade for duck... One of the other issues we've had is deer chasing, he loves to chase deer.... We may have turned the corner on that issue also.. on our last quail hunt last year there was a couple deer that took off about 150 yards in front of us... I saw the deer before Moe and was able to watch his reaction, he spots the deer and automatically turns and starts heading back to me.. I told him good boy and just quartered a little and started hunting in another direction... We're making progress....

Hunted the afternoon of September 16th with a buddy of mine... I didn't have the heart to leave Moe at home and thought it would be a fiasco with two dogs.... In the end it actually turned out just fine.... Think we had 25, it was warm around 92°...

September 18th we were getting close to our (what has turned out to be our annual) prairie grouse hunt... Trigger doesn't get much action on that trip so I left Moe at home... We managed to get our 15, it was another hot afternoon above 90... We usually find some shade to sit in. I freeze a half a gallon of water in a gallon jug and feel the remainder with tap water before we leave the house... It seems to keep the dogs cooler...

I'll try to do a little more catching up..
This is the second year of our prairie grouse hunting trip.. Moe and I do enjoy this trip so it will probably be annual from now on... Last year we drove on Sunday and started hunting Monday.. The weather this year was forecasted to be hot Sunday Monday and Tuesday, so we drove on Monday and only had to hunt in warm weather on Tuesday.. Monday night at the motel below...

Help...
What lie do you have to tell to get the dogs in?
I met thee guys that told Habib that their huge black lab male weighed 22 pounds.

Tuesday the 20th, first hunting day of the trip... After we killed our three birds, on the way back to the truck we stop by this tank, Moe tuck full advantage of it..

Tailgate picture of the day...

Ricky Spanish wrote:Help...
What lie do you have to tell to get the dogs in?
I met thee guys that told Habib that their huge black lab male weighed 22 pounds.

No lies, all the motels I stay at are dog friendly...

they pose for picture nice ,good looking doggies

Pennydog1 wrote:they pose for picture nice ,good looking doggies

Thank you very much... We take several photos to get one good one...
They know the drill, but they don't like it...

Nice start to the trip 5 stand!

Duck Engr wrote:Nice start to the trip 5 stand!

I appreciate the comment, buddy...

Wednesday the 21st, our coolest morning of the trip it was 44°when we started hunting 57° when we finished... The birds were really spooky this day for some reason, but we managed to get three within barrel stretching range as Rick would call it.. We had to put in the miles (for us) Moe had 28.2 Miles and I 6.7 for the day..

On the way back to the truck we ran into this guy, I almost stepped on him and he spooked me pretty bad (thought about him the rest of the trip)...

Where we hunt there are sharptail grouse and prairie chickens, the limit is three of each so you don't have to identify in the air.. This isn't a very good photo but it's the best I have, and I'll try to explain the difference between the two the best I can.. The birds on the ends are sharptail grouse, the bird in the middle is a prairie chicken... The grouse on the ends have what I call laced feathers, the brown laces the white... The bird in the middle prairie chicken has barred feathers, the the bars go straight across, like a barred Rock chicken.. prairie chickens have brownish yellow feathers on their yellowish feet... Grouse have light gray feather on light grayish feet...

Here's a better picture from last year, I had forgot about this picture, prairie chicken on the left...

Thursday the 22nd third day of our hunting trip..
It was our lucky day, I didn't think so at the beginning but it turned out that way.. We had five fly off right off the bat and it was hilly where we were at so we did not see them go down... But headed in that general direction, probably 15 minutes later Moe bumped 2.. He watched them fly off, without chasing, and looked back at me (and if I could read his mind, he was thinking boy I screwed that up)... but I didn't cut him any slack, told him he was a bad boy.. Had some water and headed over the next Hill on the other side not more than 250 yd from where he bumped the two, he redeemed himself... He locked three down good, and I made a good shot and we had two in the vest...
Hunted probably another 45 minutes and Moe tracked one for probably 150 yards and then pointed it (his best track and point of his career)... Turned out to be the highlight day of the trip...

Really enjoyed reading that last one. Thank you!

Thank you very much for the comment, it'll keep me going...
I'm really self-conscious about my writing skills (or lack thereof)... I made d's in English because the teacher felt sorry for me, I'm sure... It wasn't because I earned it...

Friday the 23rd, fourth day of our hunting trip...
I decided to go back to the property we hunted the first day.. Started off a little slow then Moe found some in some grass. We were pushing them and trailing them just fine, and Moe got a little too close and bump them, he looked back at me with that surprised look again, he did a little chasing this time and I think he was surprised I didn't shoot.. They were close enough but I decided not to... Told him he was a bad boy several times, and we moved on.. Crossed the next fence and it was heavily grazed not very tall grass, Moe was winding some more birds and trailing a little.. We proceeded on trailing for probably 200 yards and I looked up to the next fence and there's this sharptail sitting on the top wire of the fence, surprised the heck out of me first time I'd seen that.. Proceeded on figured there were more close by, sure enough there were about 20? But we didn't get within 200 yards of them and they flew off, but there's always a straggler so we kind of hot footed it up there.. Taller grass on the other side of the fence so I figured the straggler would be in there, if there was one.. Not very far into the taller grass Moe starts trailing I'm thinking all right here we go, we got one and we did Moe locked it down and pointed it (perfect).. I went in to flush it and when it flushed it stayed right on the grass line I pulled down on it and almost pulled the trigger, but it was the wrong flavor a hen pheasant.. Grouse and prairie chickens like to gain quite a bit of altitude at first flight... While we're messing around with the hen pheasant and telling Moe he's a good boy... Our straggler gets up across the fence out in the wide open and flies across the nearby pond... Dang bad luck again... We move on... The first group we bumped, I got to, kind of, sort of, watch down so we headed in their direction... They were also in heavily grazed grass, and they bugged out early on us.. Hoping for a straggler we hot-footed it up there, but none to be found.. On we go to some taller grass, and where we had found birds before.. Push through quite a bit of taller grass, and Moe found one (not a good point, they won't hold still for him in that tall grass) but I managed to kill it... And we're on the board, a long ways from the truck.. running low on water we push on to a tank that has a barry hydrant, fill up with water.. I decide to push on farther because I'm not sure we'll find two on the way back to the truck.. At the next fence line I bump a bird and kill it.. Finally we're on our way back to the truck.. Wind has picked up quite a bit since we left the truck, and getting warm.. We have to go back by the tank so we fill up with water again.. Probably go three quarters of a mile, in what I consider perfect grass for Moe to nail them down in.. He winds what turns out to be two, and locks them down pretty good and I kill one... Was a pretty good feeling to have 12, last year we ended up with 9 total.. Told Moe he was a good boy and headed towards the truck..

Making me miss my pointing dogs and uplands bigger than woodcock covers. Thanks for taking us along.

Thank you very much for the comment.. Rick

Moe is a fun little dog to hunt with, he ain't perfect, but has a ton of heart and tries hard for me.. These pictures don't do him Justice...

5 stand wrote:...These pictures don't do him Justice...

I've no trouble, whatsoever, visualizing (mostly) white dogs flowing through cover. Even above eavesdropping on a covey's quiet gossip on my "favorite things" list.

Reads like a good time for you and your dogs 5 Stand
Congrats on several limit days afield!!!!!!