Jerk Cord / Dog safety

P

Patrick Enright

Active member
So I'm planning on using a jerk cord for the first time this year. I've never used one before and the area I'm hunting is VERY thick with weed and lily pads. I know it's not rocket science but I'm mostly concerned with the safety of my dog.
Any advice/tips would be appreciated as I don't want my best hunting partner put in jeopardy by becoming entangled.
 
Give the line extra slack, tie a weight to middle of line. Before releasing dog to retrieve, let out slack. Weight should be heavy enough to drop line below dogs draft.
 
If you dog is not steady to shot then they will get tangled in the jerk string at some point. When it has happened to us the dog will pull the string out into the decoys Potentially tangling with other anchor lines. The cord is #90 tared twine and the dogs have never been tangled in it. We have a small piece of wood on the end of the cord so we have to go out and get it when that happens. How it should work is we will hold up the line for the dog to go under if they need to once we release the dog. Sometimes in the excitement that does not happen.
 
I don't have a solution to the dog entanglement problem, but I might suggest an alternative for the string itself. Pat, living in CT as do I, I'm guessing you may have or be able to get ahold of an old saltwater-sized conventional reel. Fill it with 100-150 lb test mono, you can sometimes get old line free at one of the saltwater fishing stores after they dump it from a reel being respooled. Nothing easier than simply reeling in at the end of the day, keep a large snap at the decoy end. Another benefit is that ducks don't seem to see mono any better than fish.
 
I used to use those yellow plastic tent pegs to keep the line pinned down to the mud. Only really works when the spot is shallow enough to use em and stiff enough to hold em...

I could even run the string in a zig zag and use 2 groups of ducks... It was pretty sweet actually and no one or dog would ever tangle it up.
 
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