Recent content by drdrewdog

Thank you. I'm getting consistent answers so I'll get a program going. Duck hunting? I've never done it. She is a monster water dog and terrific about retrieving bumpers from the water. But I do believe that you and KEO are right about non-bird objects being a key problem.

Thank you VERY much. I will find the time to do this. I've been told to just get a second dog and be sure THAT one tracks crips, but my lab is a good one and has a few years left. I do plan to get a hunting cocker in the next few years as I hunt almost exclusively solo in smaller defined spots...

She was not, as far as I know. I got her at 9 months and she'd been retrieving pigeons, was gun-shy-proofed, etc. FF is certainly an option even now.

I know: probably the first time that tag has been posted in the history of the world. I have a 6 year old female black lab who found and retrieved pheasants before she was a year old, then gradually slipped to the point where she no longer really looks for downed birds, let alone pick them up...

You are telling my story. At thirteen I shot my first pheasant with a magnum 20 gauge from about 12 feet and turned it into soup.

I used to try to keep up when the dog took off after a runner. I don't do that anymore; I just watch.

I know this sounds New Agey, but tell him to believe he's going to hit the bird. I have been out twice this year and have snapped off shots without really seeing the bird and doing what I need to do. I grew up hunting ruffed grouse and shooting really quick is a habit that's hard to break. The...

I have a sxs Uggy 16 that my dad gave me--he couldn't get the two triggers figured out. I love it.

My dad (up in MN) is 81 with AFib as well. He got a membership at a club 40 miles away and scratch hunts there almost every week in the fall. But his walks are down to 1-2 hours. He did do partridge Saturday but only 1/2 day. Still helps out an X-Country Ski team but has quit going down big...

I went out for just an hour Sunday on a heavily-hunted WMA. Just wanted to get the dog out and shake off the rust. She flushed a rooster too far to hit and and a hen. Talked to a guy there who said he'd seen birds both days and gotten one. A little moisture would sure help the dogs work but the...

I was not along on this trip, but my dad and uncle were in Iowa. They heard a terrible ruckus in an unpicked cornfield--like a slasher movie. Our Brittany came out dragging a small pig he'd just killed. They got him in the car and left in a hurry. And this isn't pheasant-related, but my dad's...

I want a dog that listens to me and doesn't hunt for herself/himself. We've had dogs that go to find birds as if they are on their own, not as if they are working with me. Those dogs (referring to when I was growing up) nearly all were kenneled--"livestock" more than pets. My experience with my...

I really, really appreciate this thread. This season saw me getting out more than I ever have. My lab is coming along nicely. If I'd have not had two bad streaks of shooting I'd have been bringing home birds almost every trip. I hunt alone or with one of my adult sons who just walk. I've had a...

I was not along on this trip. But we had a Brittany that killed a pig out in a cornfield and dragged it back to the truck. My dad and uncle loaded up and left. Farley Mowatt's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be is a treasury of hunting stories.

Don't shoot till you see horns. Don't sit till you see paper.