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  1. drdrewdog

    Lab Won't Retrieve Birds

    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.
  2. drdrewdog

    Lab Won't Retrieve Birds

    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...
  3. drdrewdog

    Lab Won't Retrieve Birds

    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.
  4. drdrewdog

    Lab Won't Retrieve Birds

    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...
  5. drdrewdog

    A thought on shooting technique

    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.
  6. drdrewdog

    Runners

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

    Nephew

    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...
  8. drdrewdog

    Looking into my first double gun!

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

    Sun Setting on My Hunting Career

    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...
  10. drdrewdog

    Opener

    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...
  11. drdrewdog

    Stuff That Happens

    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...
  12. drdrewdog

    How to judge a good bird dog?

    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...
  13. drdrewdog

    Various observations....

    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...
  14. drdrewdog

    How About The Weirdest, Strangest Thing you've Seen/Experienced While Hunting?

    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.
  15. drdrewdog

    Deuce etiquette

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

    Shooting percentage

    Your first line is what I'm missing right now. With a rifle I believe I can do it. Wingshooting not at all. I am on a terrible missing streak because I've gotten back to the snapshooting of my youth (which you gotta do with ruffed grouse). Kobe told a WNBA player that there are no streaks--just...
  17. drdrewdog

    Average drive time to hunt

    I have private spots an hour or two away. Public land is available 10-20 minutes from me.
  18. drdrewdog

    Howdy

    I grew up in Minnesota hunting grouse and pheasant. Spent 20 years down in Texas doing no bird hunting at all. Moved to Boone 4+ years ago and got right back into chasing pheasants (and deer). Bonnie is a 4 year old Lab; Ricky is a Texas terrier who likes to go along. The 16 ga is an Uggy that...
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