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  1. 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...
  2. AKSkeeter

    Why I love labs

    I started in the 1980s with a Visla, then English Setter, then I fell in love with labs. I've owned at least 2 labs since the early 1990s. I love their speed and biddability: I love their endurance: I love their toughness and ability to track cripples through gnarly landscapes: I love...
  3. AKSkeeter

    Winter Scouting

    I am blessed to live in an area with so many potential spots (Montana). Spent yesterday looking at some new areas I had not yet hunted. Good exercise for me and the dog. I covered 8 miles, the lab probably 25 miles. Flushed some cattail roosters and also found some new spots for waterfowl hunting.
  4. AKSkeeter

    Six Principles of Training

    I thought this would be a fantastic book for anyone with their first dog. Advanced trainers might find this book too elemental because they learned these six principles years ago. I found this short book ($9 on Amazon) an easy read. There were not many specific examples, but the reader can...
  5. AKSkeeter

    Drought

    We need snow! I took the pup yesterday and was in a short sleeve t-shirt.
  6. AKSkeeter

    Cold Winter Nights

    One of the benefits of a real cold snap in interior Alaska is seeing the northern lights.
  7. AKSkeeter

    Winter Indoor Training Retrievers

    It is too icy at our place to train outdoors. So I train 1-year old pup inside in our carpeted living room. We run hunt tests and field trials in the summer, so train for these events: 1) Multiple marking mechanics where I teach pup to return with perfect spinal alignment in relation to my foot...
  8. AKSkeeter

    Heath Clearances?

    A puppy is typically a 10-15 year investment. What health clearances should the breeder document before even breeding? With labs 3 most common are 1) Exercised Induced Collapse (EIC), 2) Hip Displasia 3) Centronuclear myopathies (CNM) https://thelabradorclub.com/health-issues/
  9. AKSkeeter

    Montana Snowpack Jan 2024

  10. AKSkeeter

    Glass bedding over-under shotguns

    I have a friend who specializes in building fine stocks. He always glass-beds over unders. Last year I met up with him in eastern Montana for our annual hunt. He looked at my 40 year old Citori and told me I should have it bedded. I did not. The next month I slipped on ice and cracked the stock...
  11. AKSkeeter

    Lost birds

    Got to hunt my pup 46 times, starting in September on MT grouse in the high country, then mostly wild MT roosters and ending with MThuns. One thing I strive for is minimal loss of cripples. 2023 was a great year for me...zero lost birds, and many memorable retrieves.
  12. AKSkeeter

    Gear That Lasted At Least A Decade?

    I have many items that I purchased in the 1980s/1990s that I still use today. These have passed the "test of time", most from big game hunting in Alaska: 1) Helly Hansen Commercial Rain Gear 2) MSR Whisperlite stove 3) Leupold Scopes 4) Dana Design Arcflex backpack (company is now Mystery Ranch)...
  13. AKSkeeter

    solo hunting

    I enjoy solo hunting. Just me and the dog. Quiet. Flexible. My favorite is roosters in cattails. Usually quick-stepping to get in front of the lab crashing path. I've been lucky to be in the right place at the right time more often than not.
  14. AKSkeeter

    LED collars

    I found these LED collars handy when airing my black labs in the back pasture during these dark Montana nights. $8 each on Amazon. Easy to customize fit with a pair of scissors. Novkin 2-Pack LED Dog Collar, Light Up Dog Collars,Rechargeable USB, LED
  15. AKSkeeter

    Change in Weather

    Quite the contrast in weather. Hunting huns with my older lab early morning before it got hot. Well hot for an Alaskan, I was in a T-shirt by 10am. Then this morning, with my 10-month old and our first Montana snow!
  16. AKSkeeter

    Montana Excitement

    Hunting hungarian partridge in Montana with my 9-month old pup. Pup caught 2 birds...very strange since each flew about 200 yards first. First was a hun that flushed and flew low in front of her so I could not shoot safely. I think it was a late hatch bird as the area I hunt does not get much...
  17. AKSkeeter

    Wild Huns

    First morning out hunting with my pup after our 2500 mile migration from Alaska to our winter home in Montana. I was surprised the huns were flushing as soon as we crested a rise at 200 yards. Large coveys in an area I have never seen another hunter. The last day of the season in December I had...
  18. AKSkeeter

    Praise as a Verbal Marker

    Praise should not be overused as a cheerleading "Good Boy,Good Boy,Good Boy,Good Boy," The reason is because the dog is not likely to associate praise with any instant in time in terms of dog behavior, rather cheerleading praise becomes background music. Or cheerleading praise could be timed...
  19. AKSkeeter

    Hunting With A Backpack

    I hunt upland with a pack instead of a vest. I like a big multi-day pack, easier on my lower back and I like to carry lots of water and lots of gear. Granite Gear 60 liter pack weighing 2.2 pounds. I've used the pack to take out antler sheds, even an injured dog. Been shooting shotguns with a...
  20. AKSkeeter

    Inexpensive camera shots

    My hunting partner is a professional photographer and takes awesome photos. I have only cheap cameras but sometimes I get lucky. This grouse was taken with a 20 year old digital camera from our upper deck, I was lucky as the grouse was only 5 feet away. And this grouse was drumming in our...
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