TimJ
Well-known member
Deuce and I headed up to Minnesota for their pheasant opener and waterfowl re-opener.
He was happy to be headed over there.
Saturday morning I didn't shoot well but the others did. It gave Deuce his first chance at retrieving geese. They were some big birds but he was able to pick these two up and bring them back.
(That's his 'Don't mess with my geese' look)
He needed to relax a little after that and catch a few rays.
We walked some ground for pheasants after that but only found a couple hens. Later in the afternoon my nephew and I decided to walk a large public area near some ponds. We only saw one rooster that flushed well ahead of us.
About 20 minutes before sunset 4 geese flew over too low and I shot the end one. It had a lot of momentum and I didn't kill it with the shot so it sailed to the other side of the pond that we were walking along. We quickly walked back 150 yards to get around the pond to see if we could find it. We could see it hit in the cattails 100 yards away but that was a very wide ring around the pond. With my nephew's help I got lined up close and sent Deuce in. He circled out to the water and back to me without seeming to smell anything. I told him "Find It" again and he circled out a little to my left and almost immediately started crashing through the cattails. I was in mud and blinded by all the reeds so I asked my nephew if he could see him. He couldn't but could hear the same things as I was. Pretty soon I hear him yell "Goose!" and then "Good boy Deuce!" The goose was still very alive and Deuce had to run it down while it was trying to fly. I guess he then got beat by the wings until he could get on top of it and grab it's neck. When I got to him he was proud as can be and was not going to let that wild bird get the better of him. I really didn't think we had much of a chance and am sure we would never have found it without a dog. I was impressed with my pup doing this on only his third goose.
That was enough for one day.
Sunday morning started out looking promising for ducks and geese but once the wind came up and shooting time hit the ducks just never appeared.
Deuce never gave up.
He was only resting his eyes.
"A pillow would be nice"
In the end his 'faith' was rewarded. I shot better and he got to retrieve a mallard, a pigeon(his favorite) and another big goose.
I was already pleased with the weekend but it was about to get better.
We went out to the same big chunk of public as we had the day before to walk for pheasants. We could see some better cover that was a long walk to get there.
On the walk into it Deuce got birdy and crested a hill and went out of sight. When I got there he was on point. I kicked some brush with no success. Deuce started working down wind and kept flash pointing and moving back to relocate. No doubt this bird was running. After several times and me pushing the bird enough it flushed. I saw the red on its sides and 'Rooster!' was all I could think. One shot from my grandfather's model 12 and Deuce was off on his first pheasant retrieve. I've been worried about how hard he would be on pheasants and while he wasn't gentle he also wasn't chewing them up bad. We've been working on that and most of the time it seems to be helping. He brought it to hand and I was as proud as a peacock. It was a very young rooster but it was first.
We ended up getting 4 over him, should have been 5. A couple of them were text book points and beautiful flushes. He retrieved all but one to hand. That one was only winged and he pointed it again. My nephew's young brittany dove on it, that was good to see too.
This is my first MN limit over him.
We hunted a little this morning before I had to head back. He pointed a couple hens but most of the birds were running hard and flushed wild long before we got close. Oh well I was happy and he was starting to get worn out. That was a lot of work for a 9 month old.
I can not tell you how happy I am with him. Yeah it wasn't all perfect but there are those glimmers of what can be. He is picking stuff up so fast right now I hope I can just keep him on birds. SD opener this coming weekend.
Tim
He was happy to be headed over there.
Saturday morning I didn't shoot well but the others did. It gave Deuce his first chance at retrieving geese. They were some big birds but he was able to pick these two up and bring them back.
(That's his 'Don't mess with my geese' look)
He needed to relax a little after that and catch a few rays.
We walked some ground for pheasants after that but only found a couple hens. Later in the afternoon my nephew and I decided to walk a large public area near some ponds. We only saw one rooster that flushed well ahead of us.
About 20 minutes before sunset 4 geese flew over too low and I shot the end one. It had a lot of momentum and I didn't kill it with the shot so it sailed to the other side of the pond that we were walking along. We quickly walked back 150 yards to get around the pond to see if we could find it. We could see it hit in the cattails 100 yards away but that was a very wide ring around the pond. With my nephew's help I got lined up close and sent Deuce in. He circled out to the water and back to me without seeming to smell anything. I told him "Find It" again and he circled out a little to my left and almost immediately started crashing through the cattails. I was in mud and blinded by all the reeds so I asked my nephew if he could see him. He couldn't but could hear the same things as I was. Pretty soon I hear him yell "Goose!" and then "Good boy Deuce!" The goose was still very alive and Deuce had to run it down while it was trying to fly. I guess he then got beat by the wings until he could get on top of it and grab it's neck. When I got to him he was proud as can be and was not going to let that wild bird get the better of him. I really didn't think we had much of a chance and am sure we would never have found it without a dog. I was impressed with my pup doing this on only his third goose.
That was enough for one day.
Sunday morning started out looking promising for ducks and geese but once the wind came up and shooting time hit the ducks just never appeared.
Deuce never gave up.
He was only resting his eyes.
"A pillow would be nice"
In the end his 'faith' was rewarded. I shot better and he got to retrieve a mallard, a pigeon(his favorite) and another big goose.
I was already pleased with the weekend but it was about to get better.
We went out to the same big chunk of public as we had the day before to walk for pheasants. We could see some better cover that was a long walk to get there.
On the walk into it Deuce got birdy and crested a hill and went out of sight. When I got there he was on point. I kicked some brush with no success. Deuce started working down wind and kept flash pointing and moving back to relocate. No doubt this bird was running. After several times and me pushing the bird enough it flushed. I saw the red on its sides and 'Rooster!' was all I could think. One shot from my grandfather's model 12 and Deuce was off on his first pheasant retrieve. I've been worried about how hard he would be on pheasants and while he wasn't gentle he also wasn't chewing them up bad. We've been working on that and most of the time it seems to be helping. He brought it to hand and I was as proud as a peacock. It was a very young rooster but it was first.
We ended up getting 4 over him, should have been 5. A couple of them were text book points and beautiful flushes. He retrieved all but one to hand. That one was only winged and he pointed it again. My nephew's young brittany dove on it, that was good to see too.
This is my first MN limit over him.
We hunted a little this morning before I had to head back. He pointed a couple hens but most of the birds were running hard and flushed wild long before we got close. Oh well I was happy and he was starting to get worn out. That was a lot of work for a 9 month old.
I can not tell you how happy I am with him. Yeah it wasn't all perfect but there are those glimmers of what can be. He is picking stuff up so fast right now I hope I can just keep him on birds. SD opener this coming weekend.
Tim
