Labs
Active member
Last hunt of the the year yesterday. Mild weather, great dog work, lots of birds flushed (I would guess on to 150 for the day) and a couple nice roosters in the bag. I took one of my 870s for this hunt as an 870, frozen lakes/sloughs with cattails, labs, and roosters is about as classic as it gets. I nearly always hunt solo mission but this was one of those where I wished there were one or two more shooters, if so I'm confident all would have limited out. By the time I took this pic of the Wrecking Crew, we had walked a good 5, maybe 6 miles of cattails, and everyone was ready to relax for the rest of the day. Harley (the yellow male and my best hunter) did another of his trademark jaw dropping cripple retrieves in heavy cover, and Jetta (green ecollar, possibly my best pure retriever) did a 70 yard mark into heavy cattails. It was a great retrieve, one of those that almost brings a tear to a guy's eye that he is blessed to hunt with such a talented dog. Even 14 year old Betty (blue ecollar) got a bunch of tight sitting hen flushes. At the end of the day I let her retrieve a rooster a couple times, as this may well be her last hunt of an incredible waterfowl & upland career. We finished our season with 44 roosters, 3 sharps, and 1 hun, pretty darned good considering very little crop was harvested around here...
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