Dogs and Cripples

Phil Nowack

Phil Nowack

Well-known member
I shot TERRIBLE yesterday... got 3 birds (should have my limit and home long before I was) Kodi got my three... and 4 others that had been shot/crippled and not found other days. WTH! Do other hunters not look for their downed birds or not use dogs????




 
Hard to know Phil but I have seen guys on the Mississippi gunning from shore without a boat. Most do have a dog but without a boat you are going to lose some. I remember one day back in the early 80's I think, I was back to camp (Goose Island) by noon with my limit and never fired a shot. I had a chessie back then also and she dug all those cripples out of the grass.
 
Very recent story- Last weekend I missed a grouse clean. While reloading I looked up to see Booker returning with my "missed" grouse in his mouth. Hunting with a dog has allowed me to shoot more birds of all kinds without worrying about where they will drop. I could count on one hand the bird I have dropped and lost since getting my first Lab some 20 years ago. Truly a trained retriever is a conservation tool, I don't remember who said it but it sure is true. AND are they ever fun to watch work!!!!
 
The other guys probably had LABS,









Yes I know, but being the chesapeake owner type personality I have, I could not help myself!

;)
 
Phil,
I hope that people are making honest attempts at finding downed birds. It's not always easy. On opening day I hunted a swampy area for woodies and we had a great hunt. We shot 8 as a group but only three were returned by the dog. Three of us sloshed thru the knee deep muck and weeds for at least 35 minutes before going back to hunting. Every time a bird went down, we ALL went back out and worked the area hard. Sometimes we could see the feathers floating in the currentless/windless water where it had landed.......and nothing! We ended up finding 4 of the 5 that went down. Many of them were 50 yards down from where they hit. I think they dove and actually got caught up in the vegetation. It was us walking thru that broke them loose and allowed us or the dog to find them. It was a lot of work, but we had two young hunters with us and I insisted to the other adults that we are setting an example of how to hunt. I wont stand to see someone shooting at birds when they don't have a way of retrieving them. I ran a guy off of a rocky point one time when I came across him hunting for divers. I was walking to a different spot and as I was going by he shot at some passing buffies. I asked if he had a dog, a boat, a fishing pole....ANYTHING and he said he didn't. I asked how he hoped to retrieve them with the current taking them quickly away from his area and he just shrugged. I started to walk away but then stopped and told him he had 5 minutes to pack up before I called the warden on him. He left...............


dc
 
Very recent story- Last weekend I missed a grouse clean. While reloading I looked up to see Booker returning with my "missed" grouse in his mouth. Hunting with a dog has allowed me to shoot more birds of all kinds without worrying about where they will drop. I could count on one hand the bird I have dropped and lost since getting my first Lab some 20 years ago. Truly a trained retriever is a conservation tool, I don't remember who said it but it sure is true. AND are they ever fun to watch work!!!!
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My dogs find "missed" birds every year.

I learned that with my first one. (statute of limitations expired decades ago ) Went to a wood duck spot opening day. shot the first bird, down it went - dog retrieved. Shot both barrels at the second one, never dropped a feather, never flinched. Shot the third bird over, dog retrieved and we packed up (two woodie limit)

on the way out, the dog was walking behind me, made a quick detour and returned to walking at heel, with a drake wood duck in his mouth. no one else on the private property.

I had a chance to go out years later (another dog) with a champion caller who did not want a dog around having had poorly trained ones break and flare the birds. The next time I saw him was at the put-in spot, and I had my golden with me. He said might as well hunt together. early in the hunt he dropped a drake in the edge of the cattails and went to get it on his own. After several minutes he asked if the dog could find it. She went to the spot it had gone down, sniffed around for a bit and took off down the edge of the cattails and picked up the cripple.

After that, the phone would ring and he'd ask if the dog could go hunting in the morning. I guess I was the third wheel.
 
I shot at and missed a grouse clean a week ago. I went in where it flushed to work for it or another bird in the same area. Shortly after that Bella ran into some thick cover and out she comes with a very alive grouse that I apparently "missed" . Its not the first she has found I missed and it wont be the last. Grouse hunting cover does not lend itself well to seeing a bird go down. A good dog is priceless!

As to what others do... I watched a group with a dog drop birds a little over a week ago and not make an effort to retrieve the hard marks. Dog did the easy birds but anything dropped out a ways the dog was not sent. It was cover where even the best dogs have trouble and I have had dogs that would not go in when they were young. We didn't shoot far birds and when we did hit a sailing bird we went out ourselves. I shot my limit and left fairly quickly and when I got back to the launch and had cell coverage I debated calling it in. Still mixed about not calling.
 
Heck, I saw a grouse bounce off the side of car this morning, and fly into a bush. Pretty sure it would have been there when I got there and I even though about stopping to get it with my dog, but no hunting on sunday... :)
 
How is Kodi's sister doing?
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Phil, she has really come into her own this season. always been a decent hunting dog but man it just clicked this year. she is the one that fetched up that grouse and she has been making short work of cripples with no direction needed. maybe its the young pup I added to the family last year. either way she is doing great. food aggression is still an issue and always will be but I have learned to manage it. the younger pup has none of it which sure is nice.

hard to believe her and Cody are litter mates she is still 52lbs
 
One day in january (without a dog or a boat) my hunting partner stripped down to his boxers and swam across a creek to retrieve a crippled wood duck. He found it and it and was so proud of he got his first duck ever. He was super proud.
-Erik
 
Many of them were 50 yards down from where they hit. I think they dove and actually got caught up in the vegetation. It was us walking thru that broke them loose and allowed us or the dog to find them.

dc
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Dave,

That's what the places Steve and I hunt predominately in FL consist of. Thick vegetation that when/if the bird dives good luck finding him. We chased a teal all over and got to a spot where Mike was on one side of the duck, I was on another, Steve was opposite me and we KNEW that teal was in that vegetation but we couldn't find it. Mind you this spot was perhaps 8 feet wide. Too thick to swim through. Eventually after looking long and hard we were able to pick out her head sticking up with just the bill on top of the water. Once we saw that, we still had another several attempts at retrieving her to go before we got her. It can be very challenging that's for sure.

Dani
 
Years ago when I was a lot younger me and my Chessie went to a public marsh the Monday after season opening. By the time I had laid out the dekes I was almost twice over the daily limit. Moose had been going around and picking them up, one was still alive. Here's the catch, at shooting time a GW came up to "see" how we were doing. I told him of the situation, he started to give me a hard time, he laughed and said he had been watching us and said Moose was a gem and wished he had one. I had a litter at home and he got one. BUT, he took the birds Moose had picked up, giving me some dressed birds at a later time. The avatar is Moose the son of Chip.
 
A true hunter/conservationist would at least make an effort to retrieve crippled birds. Sure some get lost due to inaccessible places like dense brush or cattails. But a lot of people don't want to get off their lazy rears and even try or expend a minimal effort because they are afraid they might spook the next in coming flight of ducks. Another problem I see is people taking way too long a shot at ducks instead of being patient. As I'm sure you know a wounded duck with a pellet or two in it can fly an amazingly long ways before dropping.................Incidently, are those photos or paintings of your dog? Neat looking images!
 
Years ago when the limits were 3-4 ducks, and I had a very good Black Lab by the name of Molly she would find my limit, or darn close to it, without me firing a shot. If the birds were fresh I had no choice but to dispatch them, and take them home. I felt it was all part of being a responsible hunter, and being blessed with a Dog that loved to find and retrieve birds. From years of experience I do believe that many, if not most Wood ducks, are shot and not found, due to the dense cover they prefer. That's why when they increased the limit to 3, I just shook my head.

Cripples happen at any range, and a bird dropped ten yards in front of you, can be lost like the ones that sail 100 yards, or much more. No matter, it is always disheartening to loose birds.
 
I don't know if it's my computer or what but your photos look like a painting on my screen. I would love to have a photo of my dog look like that, framed and hanging on the wall in my den......Thanks for sharing.
 
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