Another quality non-shedding duck, upland game, blood tracker, and shed hunter dog is a Pudelpointer. You might check them out as well.
Winter is here. Who’s hunting?
- Thread starter Carl
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William Reinicke
Active member
Ive actually already looked at them. I remember seeing poodles in hunt tests when I played those games. Obviously takes the right gene line as many are not hunters. I wonder how well they do with real cold though? I do think a labradoodle would have that grit to break through ice to fetch a duck.
Wyatt Russo
Member
I’m impressed with his nose and abilities with little to no training on my part.
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William Reinicke
Active member
They have no doubt the instinct, but does he jump off the shoreline full sprint in freezing water to get a bird or does he tip toe in? I know that there are no 2 dogs alike but I do question that grit in the breed. I question how smart labs are all the time, all they know is retrieve. I swear they would run through a brick wall if they had to in order to get a tennis ball. I will never forget seeing my last lab plow through a barb wire fence to get a teal. I mean no shits given, she went right through it full speed. I had to stitch up her nose, and all she did was let out a little quick bark and then got through and picked up the bird. What was weird, she just picked up another on the other side of that fence about 2 min before that one was shot. Now my little girl now has an incredible nose as well. Her predecessor didnt have the best but had a marking ability that was like none other and she could take a blind retrieve out to 200 yards pretty consistently. This one solely relies on her nose and if she gets birdy, I absolutely trust she is about to find something.
Im not much of an upland guy and have never killed anything worth eating with 4 legs. Ive fallen in love with the art of trickery. I think thats what bird hunting is for me. I love the ability to hit a 5 note and get a hen to talk right back or watch a small flock put their wings away instantly. I love doing my best to build the best decoy, that can't be bought. I love the interaction you get with the birds when it comes to waterfowl. Then of course good fun dog work. But there is nothing worse than a dog that tip toes in the water or is unsure about that go to pick it up. Thats my worry with poodles. I do believe they probably make awesome upland dogs and even blood trackers. I think I would have to hunt over a couple poodles before I bought one. And unfortunately, I am basing all my bias off seeing them in hunt tests many years ago, never the real thing.
Throw a tennis ball or bumper and off he goes full speed in cold water per FL standards. Drop a duck in front of him and he’ll look at me to see if I’m going to get it. Definitely better at upland game!!
William Reinicke
Active member
Lol he would end up a home buddy with that kind of attitude. I bet he could be trained to pick up a duck though and I have seen that breed in hunt tests have no problem with picking up the bird. Just took twice the amount of time to get to it. Have you ever had him out on upland? I feel like with a good nose, they would do great. I just have no desire to walk up birds and shoot them, I kind of feel like it takes that trickery element out of it.
I have done my fair share of doves, and they're alright but I dont even get excited for that anymore. Knew an old man who owned a dairy here just on the outskirts of the city. It was technically within the county of the city. He had a bad pigeon problem, so much so the feds came in and threatened to shut it down if he didnt get them under control. He didnt want to go the poison route so he asked if I would shoot them. I was a young kid who was a daring little soul, but I wasnt dumb. I took the documents to a lawyer first and he said there was nothing that could be done and we would win every time in court if I were be to arrested for discharging a firearm on the property. Technically it is illegal to discharge a weapon in that county. Well he supplied ammo and I shot it damn near every weekend for 8 years up to Covid. I was put in cuffs so many times and harrassed for the first few years but they never made it to the substation with me in the back seat once I showed them the documentation in the office. I did agree to go to the substation downtown and meet with the chief and explained exactly what was going on. They got pretty cool with me after that meeting.
We sat down one evening and figured I had killed ~65-70k pigeons off that property during that time. When Covid hit, dairy business got rough. He was a tough old man that wouldnt accept any help. I damn near had to wrestle him off a trencher in 95 degree weather because I was afraid he was going to die of a heat stroke. I offered help all the time because I could see him struggling, never let me. One day they found him in the office, and he gave up on life. I was so sad and even to this day wish he had accepted just a little help. The things I would do to share one more cold beer over the smell of shit on the dairy with him. He was a fantastic human being. Ever since then, just dont have the desire to chase dove or pigeon or upland really.
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