Steadfast Partner---

Al Hansen

Al Hansen

Well-known member
It was only 6:10AM and the two of us were back in the blind. Chip always helps when I set out decoys. He will occasionally sniff one or two but mostly he likes investigating when I'm out setting out the decoys. As I looked by the aid of my head lamp things looked good and I gave a soft whistle. That was all that was needed as he walked by my side as I pulled back the empty sled to the shore line. I bent down and flipped it over. I then went back up the steep incline of the dike area to settle in.

First thing I did was pour a hot cup of coffee and begin to survey all that was in the blind. Plenty of shells in my jacket pockets, my stool, extra piece of burlap camo in case it was needed and this time I remembered to bring the camera. My shotgun was still cased and I thought I would leave it there until almost shooting time which was still 40 minutes away.

I love getting to a marsh very early because so much happens when the world begins to wake up. First thing that happened on Thursday was a ghost flew in and actually hovered about 6 feet above my head. This marked the first time in my life that I ever had a great horned owl do this. Chip, too, was looking and I said, "That is a great horned owl duck." As the subtle grays of the morning began to become more dominating in the eastern sky, my radar screen perked up again as a marsh hawk flew by. "That is a marsh hawk duck, Chip," I said. He is still young and sorting out those that count from those that he is now learning to not pay so much attention to. I love watching dogs learn and it is amazing what they have to categorize.

This morning was one in which he learned how to sit and stay for hours. It was 6:10AM when we started to sit and the first ducks didn't fly in until 8:20AM. That is a very long time even for my weathered body and mind but to a young pup I would think it as an eternity. However, it was steadfast that he held his ground and constantly scoped the cloudy skies.

There were 4 mallards that flew across the pond area and after they gave my set up a once over decided to continue on. I then hit a few soft lonesome hen calls and when that didn't work gave them a come back call. That was all it took. The duck on the far right hand side began making a wide sweeping right hand turn to come back with the other three following him. My eyes never left that greenhead and his movements. In he came, then set his wings to begin a glide down and finally I saw him begin to back pedal. That is when I went into action and my #7 steel shot dove load put him down for the count.

It was my faithful blind partner who now was in full command of the situation. He had him all lined out and made quick work of getting there. In one swooping motion he had the mallard in his mouth and was doing a 180 to come back to the blind. What an athlete he really is. I was astounded how graceful he really was in all these fluid motions that I was watching. My buddy brought the duck into the blind and that is when I reached into my jacket pocket and grabbed a large milk bone to give to him. He made quick work of that for sure.

It was once again time to begin looking and looking but all seemed to be so much in vain. Another wait of 55 minutes without the sighting of a duck. I glanced at my cell phone and was about to call it a morning when a lone hen woodie made her appearance. She, too, saw the decoys and evidently liked what she saw. As she swung in I put her down. This time I grabbed my camera and captured my partner in action.

It was a wonderful day. One of learning, one of things that had never happened before and in my book, it was another great day of duck hunting. By the way, I have never had a bad day of duck hunting!


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Chip made me proud. Funny how seeing just five ducks can make a guy feel so darn good.
Al



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Al: Always enjoy your stories over a cup of good coffee, can't wait for our L.I., NY season to begin. Enjoy your season.
 
Al, as you outline, a good retriever can not only provide companionship, but also help make a "thin" day an enjoyable and full experience!

We had a good forecast, with a large low pressure cell rolling across the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula Wednesday into Thursday. After sitting most of the day on Wednesday, we had some mallards relocate in the driving rain and sleet to close out the day.

On Thursday, we had a long "sit" while waiting for the wind shift to occur as the low cell rolled "out" of the area. After the wind shift, there still was very little bird movement on the building northwest blow and heavy rain/sleet. I had a group of seventeen canadas swing the outside edge of the decoys about five feet of the water a little after eleven. As I watched them work in along the shoreline to the north and land, I heard more geese coming. A couple of quick honks later and a slooow spin back to the southwest put three birds in front of me with the feet down. I took a pair, but didn't kill either bird outright with the Hevi Shot #4, 2 3/4" loads I had loaded for flight mallards and redheads. I sent Kane when it became apparent one of them was headed into heavy cover inshore from the boat. He closed-in on him while still in deep water where he had to swim. The bird spun around, then my heart really started going! In three tries at grabbing him by the base of the neck in the face-off Kane got beat-up pretty badly. I was out of the boat by then headed in to them after anchoring the other goose. Luckily, they had slowly worked into shallow enough water where the dog could stand, so I wasn't as concerned about his safety. At this point I was kicking myself for not anchoring both birds and THEN sending the dog for the retrieves. The bird started to turn and swim away again as Kane moved left in a quarter-circle. I sure would not have gone in after taking that much punishment, but instinct kicked-in and he lunged-in and grabbed the goose by the base of the neck/shoulder. The only thing I could think to do was to keep telling him to HOLD as I closed the last yards to them.

We picked-up a pintail, some mallards and a hybrid black/mallard during the remainder of the day, with Kane making the retrieves but being pretty tentative on any birds that were still moving around on the water. We closed-out around 2:30 when I pulled the set and made the drive home in the heavy rain. The dog slept the entire hour drive in the back seat dog sling. It was still raining when I arrived back at the house, so I unhooked the boat and got out of my hunting clothes and waited for a window where I could clean birds on the tailgate. When the rain fell off, I popped the tailgate down and went inside the garage to hook-up the shop vacuum to handle loose feathers. I looked back out at the truck and there was Kane, guarding his "haul"! I grabbed the camera and took a couple of quick shots-not much on photo composition,but they convey, as you state: Steadfast Partner!

 
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We had live goose retrieve redux Sunday...only this time Kane's master anchored the bird with a second round to drop its head. The bird was still very much alive and flapping when the dog arrived to make the retrieve,this time from the back side at the base of his neck. I was amazed when I took the bird from him when he came in. Biggest giant canada I have ever killed! We also had a track-meet retrieve on a hen mallard in some heavy phragmites sp.-a lot of quacking mallard and crashing dog sounds as the three of us ping-ponged around in the heavy vegetation, before Kane caught-up with the bird.

The goose weighed just under 18lbs on a digital scale...wish we had a local taxidermist who could mount birds.
 
Thanks for adding that very nice photo, Bob. It was a day for hen woodies. By the way, the hen woodie is one of the most beautiful birds God has ever created.
Al
 
Thank you, Dave. I wish you all the success for your upcoming season. Enjoy those moments.
Al
 
Hey Pete. Just being there is the key to success. One never knows what to expect since in our sport, it covers such a wide scope of events. One of them, the most important, has nothing to do with ducks. That is you have that chance to be out and about in Mother Nature's back yard.
Al
 
Boy, was that ever an experience for Kane. Thankfully he did make those retrieves on the ducks you were fortunate to get. Congratulations by the way, Rick. That made quite a day.

As for Kane, it will be interesting what his reaction is the next time you go goose hunting.

Thanks so much for adding the picture. How old is Kane? A very good looking boy. Has he recovered? Does he give chase to a tennis ball or stick just like he always has in the past? Sometimes that helps.
Al
 
Rick, that is one HUGE bird. Glad to hear that you had no problems with Kane going after it. I was interested on his approach and that he did learn from that first experience. Sounds to me like you have a mighty fine blind partner, who excels in the learning curve and knows how to go back for more!

I was visualizing that hen mallard, hearing those quacks, and of course the chase that ensued. Hopefully there was a scratch behind the ear when Kane got back with that bird.

Rick, I hope the rest of your season is fulfilling.
Al
 
18#?! Dammnnnnnn, that is a giant for sure!

Sounds like your Pup has a lot of heart and drive, give that doggie a milkbone!
 
Al, Kane is 2 years, four months old. His first full season last year was cut short by a foot infection. He did get five retrieves in on geese, two of them cripples. His retrieve training for the last six months has been focused on marking and steadiness, with about a third of the thrown birds denials now. Having hunted with dogs who would drive over or through anyone or anything to get out of the boat and retrieve a bird, I prefer a retriever that is a little more "dialed back", both in the boat and the blind, one of the reasons our last four dogs have been English labs.

I checked the digital scale with a 25lb dumb bell, it weighs 1.2lbs heavy, so that canada was 16.7lbs. When we left the water and I had to fully support its weight, I fully realized that it was a really big bird. Over the last three years the MDNR has shifted the Zone 1 goose opener to an earlier date to increase the proportion of giants for hunters in the northern portion of the State and take some of the hunting pressure off of declining MVP birds as they come through. In the late 1980's there were back-to-back cannon netting programs directed at removal of nuisance giant canadas from the lake district in Oakland county. Those birds were released at several sites in the U.P. Over the years, the Bays de Noc flock and Indian Lake flock have grown to over 700 birds each. We also see a large pulse of non-mating giants that spend the summer in southern Ontario, moving through the U.P. from early September through late October in a weather front dependent fashion. MVP birds usually show-up around the first week of October.

This male had a small thumb-size area of white neck feathers about three inches below his cheek patch. The largest giant I have killed prior this weighed a little over 14lbs. Most mature birds are in the 11-12lb range in our bag.

Kane now thinks that the tailgate of my truck is some kind of shrine.
 
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