So I got a little dilemma.....

Spence

Spence

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Heading out for a 4 day hunting trip on Friday... got a guy coming with us that wants to bring his 1 1/2 year old lab out. After duck hunting with this guy this past weekend, I've got a pretty good feeling he hasn't worked with his dog much at all. He didn't bring his pup Saturday, probably for good reason.

I figure his dog was 6 months old at the start of the season last year. So he tells me he got his dog out 3 times last year..... I've got a feeling its going to be a mess. Especially hunting for 4 days.



What would you do?
 
If he's a friend you want to keep, maybe you may just want to grin and bear it. I have a friend I've hunted with in IA. Has a Brittany that is totally useless, not trained, gets out going in a straight line and flushing birds as it goes. Last time out his son finally got tired of it, too and yelled at him to leave the #@^@# dog in the truck. I purposely didn't go with them to IA again this year because it would have been the only dog in the group and it's no fun. But I'm not going too ruin our friendship by saying something. I'll just pick and choose my spots. I think all of us have hunted with useless dogs that haven't been trained. Maybe your buddies dog will be so out of shape that it will have to be left behind after a short period.
 
Well honestly... I played softball with the guy, and we got to talking about hunting a little over the summer, and he kept hinting at wanting to come opening wkend with me. So finally I put out the invite. Might have got a little ahead of myself, but i figured it can't be that bad right? Well after one Saturday Duck hunt with the guy I'm a little annoyed with him.

So really I could care less to keep this guy as a friend, because we really haven't been good friends by any means before this. More or less an aquaintance.

Since I put this group together I really don't want to bring the guy that makes the whole group a little angry.

he called me the other day and says "Why don't you pick up a walk-in map so we can find some places to hunt! " I just said, yeah I got it covered. ?? This isn't my first rodeo, and I've already got this mapped out. Just seems to new to this game for me I guess, which everyone has to start somewhere, but this is what I was tryin to get away from by starting my own group for the opener.

Just see it going downhill fairly quick, and being more of a pain than anything else.
 
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Maybe you end up putting up with it this year and next year he's not invited.
 
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Spense-

If he's a good freind or a good person-

I have a freind in southern Minnesota- his pup was older than mine-
he was fun to visit, let me stay in his spare bedroom

I would go up and hunt with him twice a year-

His pup was supposed to be ready-
1st time out- wouldn't point, wouldn't back, wouldn't retrieve, liked to chew on birds, wouldn't load up-

still had fun hunting with him- usually let him do the shooting over mine

next time I came up- he had a shock collar on- and a beeper
still some issues- but heck- mine was solid and didn't seem to care-
chuckle though- mine refused to pick up a bird his chewed

I caught on- he would coment- how come you always seem to be quite a ways away

I stopped going up and hunting with him a couple years ago- he shot a rabbit his pointed, he dressed it out at the vehicle- next day mine pointed a rabbit-

we don't mess with fur

decision- you might want to let him take his dog out and leave yours in the dog box- hunt hard- then when worn out- take yours and leave his in the dog box- everybody wins- no hard feelings
 
Spense- sorry- I was posting and didn't see your coment

you put the group together- they might not like this invite- your decision-

back when I was hunting with a group- everyone had input- and no new comers were invited- specially not opening
 
if it was just him and I going on this trip I could make this work... but being the fact that there are going to be 10 other guys there, I'm not real sure.

We will have may lab, a buddy from Montana is bringing his 6 year old brit. Solid dog
 
Right... so what do you tell the guy?
 
And forgot to mention this...

while we were headed out duckhunting the other day he says " Yeah maybe next week we can go to a spot my buddy took me duck hunting last year, its my spot now to since he took me there"

WTF.... really? Who does that? Got a hard time bringing him along to hunt my spots after hearing things like that.

Like i said at this point being Tuesday night, I feel bad calling and telling him, sorry bud but I don't think you can come.
 
Pretty hard to uninvite someone. I would just let him know that there are rules with a group this size. Tell him the rules are if a dog screws up a hunt, the dog gets benched plain and simple. I do this quite often with new guys, explain it ahead of time and if/when the dog screws up the hunt it gets benched. I don't bench for something small but if it runs way ahead and flushes a bunch of birds out of range that is a benching offense. Some guys aren't happy with it but you can't ruin a hunt. I have other rules as well, shoot a hen 1.75 of Jack Daniels, sure makes guys look and ID birds before pulling trigger, haven't seen a hen shot in years, same goes on the dog, if a dog catches a hen, dogs owner owes a 1.75 of JD, dog catches a hen and the owner lies about and gets caught, 12 year old bottle of Jameson, usually when the snow gets deep we get some of these. Most dogs the Hen can fly away afterword but not always.
 
well thats my issue.... uninviting someone at this point would be rough.

But when he says things like once someone takes me to a place, then its my spot as well???

Can't stand guys like that.
 
I posted before I saw the MY SPOT thing. I don't envy your position. Is it private or public land? Pretty hard to control public ground but private on the other hand is pretty easy to explain I have permission but so and so won't give permission to anybody else type of thing and I have to be with or they get PO and than I can't hunt here anymore. Either way good luck with your hunt and hope it all works out.
 
That is a tough one. It looks like the best thing would be to uninvite him but as mentioned that is easier said than done. I have a very hard time being around someone that has the mentality that anywhere they have ever hunted with some one else is suddenly "their" place to now hunt. That drives me crazy and will only happen once to me.

If the uninvite just can't be pulled off then I think the best thing to do is have a long conversation ASAP about the ground rules with your group including dogs and expected behaviour. Who knows, maybe if you do it early enough he will decide on his own that maybe it is not a good idea to go and excuse himself from the group. (Longshot at best but who knows??)

Make sure to update us on how you handle it and how the hunt goes.

Oh yeah, no matter what happens good luck and have a great hunt.

Matt D
 
Thanks guys.... Regardless I'll have a great hunt, thats just what I do! lol

But I'm thinking putting out the fire before it starts is my best option here. Gonna give him a call tonight and work things out. We'll see how it goes, and I'll let you knwo what comes out of it.
 
Well the fire got put out.... Talked with him about all these things, and he seemed as if he almost saw it coming.

I actually started the convo with talking about how I we (the group) didn't feel real comfortable having his dog out there, and the whole 'it's my spot now too" thing... and it kinda turned into well maybe I shouldn't go this time kinda thing.

So he's out for this weekend. Little burden off my chest anyway...
 
Tough Call but hopefully your weekend will be more enjoyable now that you don't have to worry about your good huntin buddies being upset with you for bringin in the new guy.
 
Tell him upfront if his dog ruins hunts he stays in truck. I would never invite a so so friend to opening day, maybe late season see what he's all about.
 
yeah I went out on a limb on this one... before I got all the details. And even then the details I got at the time seemed to change as it got closer. So honestly I don't feel as bad as if he was completely up front about everything to begin with.
 
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