Golden Retrievers allowable hunting temps

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
I've noticed over the years, it's never too cold for the goldens I'm lucky enough to follow. It can be 10 degrees out, I find a spring creek flowing and the dog will lay in it to cool off. And once me and the dog fell through the ice in a slough, it was around 30 degrees out. I figured she would be done. What did I know. We were walking back and she never slowed down and was hunting 100%. So before we got to the truck I just kept walking the marsh and she was fine. Duck hunting is different, because the dog is stationary. Once in below freezing temps, the dog was soaked and sitting in water and was shivering, then we pulled the plug and went back to the garage in ND with the old woodstove and thawed out. A lot of good memories in that garage around the woodstove. Lastly, there was a weekend it was just me and Skye at the cabin in Southern MN. It was between Christmas and New Years, and the temps were below zero the entire time by a good margin, I'm talking 20 below zero. We stayed in and watched movies or better yet logs crackling in the fireplace. I'd bundle up like an eskimo and take her for a walk on the frozen lake once or twice a day. Finally on the last day she was getting stir crazy. Things had warmed up to -10° not accounting for wind. I took her out for two short walks with the gun. My fingers were numb but somehow I managed to drop one in 7 foot cattails thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. She leapt into the subarctic swamp at full throttle and came back with our last rooster of the year. I was worried about getting her back in the truck to warm up, but she sat there with icicles on her muzzle cool as a cucumber. That's when I realized, when it comes to hunting in the cold, I'd be the one who couldn't make it well before the dog ever couldn't. 20220101_201745.jpg
 
Bob Peters said:
I've noticed over the years, it's never too cold for the goldens I'm lucky enough to follow. It can be 10 degrees out, I find a spring creek flowing and the dog will lay in it to cool off. And once me and the dog fell through the ice in a slough, it was around 30 degrees out. I figured she would be done. What did I know. We were walking back and she never slowed down and was hunting 100%. So before we got to the truck I just kept walking the marsh and she was fine. Duck hunting is different, because the dog is stationary. Once in below freezing temps, the dog was soaked and sitting in water and was shivering, then we pulled the plug and went back to the garage in ND with the old woodstove and thawed out. A lot of good memories in that garage around the woodstove. Lastly, there was a weekend it was just me and Skye at the cabin in Southern MN. It was between Christmas and New Years, and the temps were below zero the entire time by a good margin, I'm talking 20 below zero. We stayed in and watched movies or better yet logs crackling in the fireplace. I'd bundle up like an eskimo and take her for a walk on the frozen lake once or twice a day. Finally on the last day she was getting stir crazy. Things had warmed up to -10° not accounting for wind. I took her out for two short walks with the gun. My fingers were numb but somehow I managed to drop one in 7 foot cattails thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. She leapt into the subarctic swamp at full throttle and came back with our last rooster of the year. I was worried about getting her back in the truck to warm up, but she sat there with icicles on her muzzle cool as a cucumber. That's when I realized, when it comes to hunting in the cold, I'd be the one who couldn't make it well before the dog ever couldn't. View attachment 10215
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Good times and good memories.

It reminds me of bundling up one day, when it was -20 actual temp, and taking my newfoundland Ben out squirrel hunting. I was dressed head to toe in warm clothing. He was in his birthday suit and loving it.

For a period of time, we had Ben, the newfoundland, Ace, the Springer, and Sugar, the lab (she's 14 and still with us, albeit retired). They would lie out on a level of our back deck we could see from a window in the stairwell that leads upstairs. When it would snow, Ace would have a little bit of snow on him, but it was mostly melting. Sugar would have a pretty good layer on her, but a little melt. The snow on Ben never had any melt. He was the most insulated dog I've seen.

Your photo of Skye on that frosty day brings back some fond memories.
 
Oh we touched it.
The land owner brings his kids out. It’s great to see kids out there hunting and enjoying the dogs. It’s saved for deer hunting. We get on there once a year. There’s grass, cattails ,trees and a food plot. It’s a quarter so it’s hard to say how many are in there. We moved probably 200 birds. The birds were running. Extremely skittish. The kids got 6. We try to put the kids in the best situations for success. We hunt that for the kids and dogs. We also hunted on other CRP he owns that was really good too.
 
I had to laugh, never seen Newfie and squirrel hunting in the same sentence. There is a short movie titled “Super Dogs”. Newfies are used for water rescue off the coast of Italy. You will watch it more than once. It is fascinating. Enjoy
 
Wind River said:
I had to laugh, never seen Newfie and squirrel hunting in the same sentence. There is a short movie titled “Super Dogs”. Newfies are used for water rescue off the coast of Italy. You will watch it more than once. It is fascinating. Enjoy
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Big Ben was a great squirrel hunting buddy. When I would sit down to wait for the tree rats to come out, he'd lie down and stay quiet. He'd even grab them for me if he saw them fall.

This is the only hunting photo I have. No smart phones back then. He was about 6 months old here.

IMG-20250108-WA0001.jpg
 
After 25 years hunting pheasants, I have almost no interest in doing it anymore in warmer temps. Its hard on my dog and its hard on me.

Give me 15 degrees and a frozen landscape every time over 65 degrees.

Unfortunately, the trend is not moving in the direction I want it, and the DNR keeps opening the season in early October because its how they've always done it.

I went once this past season when it was -1. But there was no wind and it was bright sunshine. As long as I can keep my fingers warm enough to function...
 
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