Labs
Active member
With only a couple weeks left in the season and October weather continuing in western ND, we are earning every rooster. Went out Sunday, put on 4 miles or so. The Crew put up lots of hens but wild flushes were the rule for roosters. I mean a cough or crunching catttails was enough to wild flush birds a couple hundred yards away.
Still, the Crew managed to hold and flush one within 20 yards. I body hit it, it flew a good 200 yards then folded up & went down in chest high CRP. This is where the Crew really earns their keep. All saw the rooster fold but because of the height of the cover couldn't actually see the fall. True to his name (Northern Prairie's X Marks The Spot), Harley marked within about 20 yards, Jetta who is almost as good, marked within 30, but both were upwind of where I marked the bird. I just had to cast them downwind, in a few moments Harley delivered the rooster to hand.
Later in the morning we were hunting cattails and having no joy because of the wild flushing. Finally, Harley locks up over some knee high, fettuccine thick stuff on the edge of the cattails. Jetta and Boogie join him, locked up in a triangle over this spot. They aren't pointing labs so I know when I see this their nose is practically on a bird. I step in and start kicking the crud, all that happens is they start moving around slightly, telling me that whatever is in there is moving to avoid me. I figure a bird in the hand is worth one that won't flush, so I gave a command that I rarely do "fetch".
For those who don't run retrievers or force fetch their dog, the "F Word" is the most powerful command in the retriever world. It is the command taught during force fetch and it means "grab whatever is in front of your nose, right fetching now"! Once FF is finished, it is only used when a dog refuses a retrieve, or to initiate action in a situation like this.
In a flash, all three dive into that crud and Harley comes up with a rooster so small and young it looks like a hen. He delivers it to hand unharmed. Hell if I know guys, it was a unquestionably a rooster but so young I had to look close to find the beginnings of color.
I figured if he had made it to this point of the season and had the nerves of steel to sit tight while three labs and a hunter tried to get him to flush, he had earned a shot to make through winter. When I tossed him up and he flew away, you wouldn't believe the looks the Crew gave me.
That is what conservation is all about...
Still, the Crew managed to hold and flush one within 20 yards. I body hit it, it flew a good 200 yards then folded up & went down in chest high CRP. This is where the Crew really earns their keep. All saw the rooster fold but because of the height of the cover couldn't actually see the fall. True to his name (Northern Prairie's X Marks The Spot), Harley marked within about 20 yards, Jetta who is almost as good, marked within 30, but both were upwind of where I marked the bird. I just had to cast them downwind, in a few moments Harley delivered the rooster to hand.
Later in the morning we were hunting cattails and having no joy because of the wild flushing. Finally, Harley locks up over some knee high, fettuccine thick stuff on the edge of the cattails. Jetta and Boogie join him, locked up in a triangle over this spot. They aren't pointing labs so I know when I see this their nose is practically on a bird. I step in and start kicking the crud, all that happens is they start moving around slightly, telling me that whatever is in there is moving to avoid me. I figure a bird in the hand is worth one that won't flush, so I gave a command that I rarely do "fetch".
For those who don't run retrievers or force fetch their dog, the "F Word" is the most powerful command in the retriever world. It is the command taught during force fetch and it means "grab whatever is in front of your nose, right fetching now"! Once FF is finished, it is only used when a dog refuses a retrieve, or to initiate action in a situation like this.
In a flash, all three dive into that crud and Harley comes up with a rooster so small and young it looks like a hen. He delivers it to hand unharmed. Hell if I know guys, it was a unquestionably a rooster but so young I had to look close to find the beginnings of color.
I figured if he had made it to this point of the season and had the nerves of steel to sit tight while three labs and a hunter tried to get him to flush, he had earned a shot to make through winter. When I tossed him up and he flew away, you wouldn't believe the looks the Crew gave me.
That is what conservation is all about...
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