2023 - 2024. Season

[5 stand]

Duck season started today... 6. Gadwalls

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[PorkChop]

Sweet!!

[Rick]

Canard gris.

[Duck Engr]

Hot start!! So That’s where all of Darren’s gray ducks went

[5 stand]

We had a sunrise for about 10 minutes, then it was cloudy most of the morning...

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I appreciate the comments guys thank you...

[5 stand]

Trigger and I hunted this morning, 6 Gadwalls...

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The last two that I shot Trigger retrieved the first bird and started heading to the second bird and I usually call her off but I thought what the heck let her play it's half her hunt... I figured she'd nudge it around for a second and then come on but she got them both in her mouth... I may let her try more often now?

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[Duck Engr]

Trigger started adding up all of the retrieves he was going to have to make if this pace keeps up and he made a business decision!

[5 stand]

[PorkChop]

Congrats on another successful hunt! What kind of boat is that you have?

[Rick]

The last two that I shot Trigger retrieved the first bird and started heading to the second bird and I usually call her off but I thought what the heck let her play it's half her hunt... I figured she'd nudge it around for a second and then come on but she got them both in her mouth... I may let her try more often now?

Trigger knows efficiency is the name of the hunting game.

[5 stand]

Thank you Rick, will you actually work on it with young call?
I know you've always said, oh it was handy and I just never discouraged it... But I'm pretty sure Marsh has picked up more than three( I don't want to quote any numbers), and I don't think they do that by accident?

[5 stand]

Congrats on another successful hunt! What kind of boat is that you have?

It is a weldbilt 1756 they build them in Southern Arkansas, somewhat custom I could order seat pedestals, benches, and decks... Has a 60 horsepower 4-stroke Mercury... It'll push Trigger and I along at a pretty good clip, especially in cold weather...

[Deltaman]

Nice start to your duck season

[Darren]

My dog has not had much success grabbing/dragging two birds in at once but would save him some trips out into the pond. Of course, if he's not picked up on that trick by now........

[5 stand]

The first 4 years of Triggers life she shared retrieves with her mother (I didn't have the heart to leave one of them at home), so there wasn't any chance for practicing multiple birds in one retrieve... If someone says you can't put two 70 lb dogs in a MOMarch dog blind I would disagree... Trigger is on the left, Teal is on the right...
I'm going to let her try, new part of the game we may both enjoy it?

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[Rick]

Great keepsake photo, that.

[5 stand]

Trigger and I hunted this morning...
5-gadwall 1 green Wing teal...

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The second pair Trigger retrieved both of them at the same time again, she only nudged it one time and then got it the second attempt...

[5 stand]

Trigger and I hunted this morning...
4 Gadwalls. 2 Greater bill mallards...

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[Rick]

Got the grays number.

[5 stand]

The heard is getting pretty thin, "we'll see" how long it lasts...

[PorkChop]

Move over Phil there’s a new Duck Commander in town

[5 stand]

Trigger and I hunted this morning...
6 gadwalls, on a strap had to walk in to get to them...

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Used two decoys...

[5 stand]

After reading about Marsh's retirement, it got me to thinking about how much fun I have with little Trigger... I haven't mentioned it before but she has a chip bone and bone spurs in her driver side hawk, been fighting it for 3 years...With medication she can hunt, but for how long?
This year the vet has been experimenting with an off-label equine medicine that lubricates the joint and it seems to be helping quite a bit... But previcox is the main workhorse...

Scratch them behind the ear and tell them they're a good pup, because they don't last long...

[Rick]

My fist Chessie, Bud, worked 10 1/2 big white spread seasons after being diagnosed with mild dysplasia in one hip and got some relief from adiquen (sp) when it became bad enough to retire him.

[5 stand]

Thank you very much Rick...

The main reason I brought it up about Trigger, is that it's been somewhat of a shock to hear (for me) about Marsh's condition and his retirement... I know you said you mentioned it last fall at the end of season and I guess I just blew it off, didn't comprehend well enough, or overlooked it...
The previcox really works wonders, she is at the weight where she is borderline 1/2 pill or a whole pill, and we've been making it just fine with 1/2 pill, so we still have the option of doubling her dose in the future...

[Rick]

Sounds a lot handier than adequin injections.

[5 stand]

Trigger and I hunted this morning...
4 Gadwalls, 1 mallard...

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Couldn't get my lazy butt out of bed yesterday so we didn't hunt...

[5 stand]

We lost a bird this morning... It was cloudy and early the second bird that I shot at, came in low right on the water... I didn't watch it long, just got up and shot... I end up killing the bird that I was shooting at and wound another(it surprised me)... I don't know if there was two in the air(one that I didn't see) or one sitting on the water?
The way that it acted I only hit it in the wing, it flapped a couple times as it was squirting away like they do, dove never to be seen again... I looked for it through the binoculars for a minute or so but I never could see it... Sent Trigger to retrieve the bird that I killed, and kept looking...
Before we left after the hunt, Trigger spent 20 minutes combing the bank trying to find it but I don't think she ever smelled it, just disappeared on us...

[Rick]

Hate to think of them having a lingering death, but no question something out there needs that bird a lot worse than you do.

[5 stand]

So true Rick...
I was just sitting around the house thinking about it... If I'm going to document the ones that I kill, I'm going to document the ones that get away... Part of the game that I play, always trying to get better...