Recent content by Jawilor

I'm in the same boat. I hunt with flushers and prefer they do a controlled chase after the flush. The sooner they get on downed birds, the better.

I started by black lab on Dasuquin a couple of weeks ago and the results so far have been amazing. He's around 90# and in good shape, but would be very stiff and sore after several hours of hunting. We went out for about 3 hours last Friday thru some pretty heavy stuff and he showed very...

It sounds like she doesn't really know what "hold" means. I would postpone any retrieving sessions and focus on reinforcing the fetch and hold commands until she is reliable. Find a retriever training program or book and follow the instructions. It takes time and patience, but will be worth...

Same. Clean, rinse well to remove blood spots, shot etc., dry with paper towels, then vacuum seal and freeze.

Just picked up some Muck Wetlands and have worn them on a couple of hunts, and they are light and comfortable. I usually wear muck-style boots until freeze up, then switch to a shorter boot.

I personally don't use a bell, but did in the past. Based on my experience, being as silent as possible yields the best results. I hunted a public area on Monday and had no issues getting close to birds. We did have someone else's dog show up while we were out there, then eventually found the...

This! I haven't hunted an opener on public earlier than 10:00 AM for many years and usually find plenty of birds. It's just not worth the hassle of dealing with other hunters and their dogs.

(y)

I run a heavy duty chain along each side of my bed which are connected to the stock anchor points with quick links. I then attach my ratchet straps to the chain, over the kennels, then to the other chain. This allows my to have multiple anchor points the entire length of my bed.

Same. I have insulated dog houses for my lab and springer, and put straw in their dog houses in the winter and they're perfectly fine. I do put them in my heated garage overnight when it's below 0, or during blizzard-like conditions, but otherwise they've never had any issues. With a heated...

Easter morning bird. 23#

Central Iowa here, Northern Polk County to be more specific. I'm not too worried about hot spotting as I rarely hunt the public ground close to me. I do have some local private ground, but if I'm hunting public I travel North and maybe West :)

We hunted private ground in Taylor county a week ago and never saw a single quail. It was prime habitat, but there just weren't any birds. The farmer said he hadn't seen many quail this Fall and he owns/farms over 1000 acres. We saw plenty of deer, and flushed 2 turkeys.

If she's solid with whistle commands, why not make her sit until you catch up? If you do this enough times she'll learn to stay close. A solid whistle sit is the first step to making her steady to wing and shot.

The dogs flushed one out of the cattails about 30 yards ahead of me that I didn't see right away due to the height of the cattails. The bird flew right towards me about 25' in the air and I never scratched a feather. It all happened in an instant and it was by far the toughest shot I've had in...