Recent content by AKSkeeter

  1. AKSkeeter

    Blind Retrieve

    Labs may be the easiest of all breeds to train. All I need is 2 bumpers and I can get a lot accomplished.
  2. AKSkeeter

    protection while hunting

    I use a custom-fit ear mold that you can custom-fit with hot water: percusive ear molds I like these because they are relatively inexpensive, they are custom-fit to your ears, they are not affected by high winds, they do not require batteries, and they allow normal hearing until a shot triggers...
  3. AKSkeeter

    Blind Retrieve

    My pup's first hunting blind retrieve last October on a hun hunt in Montana. . . she recovered the mallard after about 10 minutes of swimming.
  4. AKSkeeter

    Blind Retrieve

    My labs routinely do 300 yard blind retrieves in competition. My most memorable blind hunting was less than 5 yards. Shot a pair of huns on a cut bank. The first fell in the stream and drifted lodged 30 yards below my feet by the current on a cliff cutbank. Lab marked and easily retrieved the...
  5. AKSkeeter

    Favorite steel

    I've shot steel exclusively for over a decade. I like relatively light loads for roosters and waterfowl. In 12-gauge 1 1/8 oz Steel 3s, in 20 gauge 1 oz Steel 4s. Early season hun hunts when that is all that is legal in western MT, I shoot 20 gauge 1oz steel 6s.
  6. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    I'd rather have dog that excels in locating antler sheds than one that tracks fur (rabbits, voles, deer). I want a versatile dog that can hunt silently at 200 yards, obediently at heel jump shooting, seeks the thickest sea cattails, and patiently waiting in the goose pit or dove field. I want...
  7. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    So if a rooster, sharptail, or hun flushes wild, you do not shoot at that bird?
  8. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    So your hunting solo, your dog goes on point in a sea of cattails, what do you do? I used to hunt Vislas and English Setters and if I walk into the cattails the rooster would hear me coming and run, and it would take me quite some time to get to the pointer in a thick sea of cattails.
  9. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    For most of December I solo hunt wild Montana roosters in a sea of cattails where a pointer would not work very well.
  10. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    Most of my December hunts are in a sea of cattails, so I don't have much use for a pointing lab. I like a flusher that tracks in dense cattails while I silently move into position and the late season rooster flushes towards me.
  11. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    There is a wide variety in styles ranging from big blocky labs(first photo) that excel in cold waterfowl hunts to labs bred for upland hunting (second photo)
  12. AKSkeeter

    Why I love labs

    I also love labs because they are happy and energetic, but easy to control.
  13. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    Yes I whistle sit them at 200 yards as soon as I see they are starting to get birdy...that is for open country hunting where I want a dog that ranges far...rock ptarmigan in Alaska, huns and sharptails in Montana. This type of country:
  14. AKSkeeter

    Lab puppy

    I use an aquarium thermometer and the combined temperature of water and air should exceed 130. I can find that in interior Alaska late in the afternoons. So 70 degree air temperature, 60 degree water temperature for example. Most pups don't have the thick, oily coat they will have as an adult. I...
  15. AKSkeeter

    Lab guys sorry but....

    I started with English Setters and a Visla. They were excellent on quail and huns. There were a couple things I did not like: 1) if the dog went on point in a sea of cattails, as a solo hunter I would have difficulty getting a flush and shot 2) if the birds (rock ptarmigan or chukars) walked...
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