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Thread: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

  1. #11
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    Dec 2008
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by mastercaster View Post
    I would have to think the biggest factor in terms of whether it was safe or not would be if water was involved. If it was a field shoot there wouldn't be any sheet water at all,,,,it would all be frozen as opposed to an over the water shoot where the dogs need to go into water for almost every downed bird, and then their fur would get frozen from the extreme cold and wind chill.

    I'm not particularly worried about temps down to -6 or so,,,,,it's those temps. down to -15 when there is a wind making it feel like it's -25.
    If your only hunting fields, I wouldn’t be at all concerned, with any hunting type dog no matter what the temps went down too.....especially in the lower mainland.

    Seriously, you boys down there are living in a fantasy land compared to the “real” world.
    "Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donel fat"

  2. #12
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    Oct 2010
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by labguy View Post
    If your only hunting fields, I wouldn’t be at all concerned, with any hunting type dog no matter what the temps went down too.....especially in the lower mainland.

    Seriously, you boys down there are living in a fantasy land compared to the “real” world.
    Haha,,,,yup, pretty much. I'm not concerned about the field hunting at all, it's the water retrieves in the -14 weather combined with a 15+ km. wind that has me questioning how my house living, bare belly griff would do. LOL

  3. #13
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    Nov 2013
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    180

    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by mastercaster View Post
    Haha,,,,yup, pretty much. I'm not concerned about the field hunting at all, it's the water retrieves in the -14 weather combined with a 15+ km. wind that has me questioning how my house living, bare belly griff would do. LOL
    For what it's worth, I think this cold snap should be gone by the weekend. Supposed to see highs of 10 degrees. Much nicer than the -10 it was this morning!

  4. #14
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    Nov 2014
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    Sunshine Coast
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    It's been my experience living in the eastern Fraser Valley when we had weather like this the birds weren't in the fields, they were in the creeks and ditches in the lee of the out flow eastern wind blowing 30-40km. If you could brave the wind you could always pick up a few birds. It wasn't the-10 that was bad, it was the wind and snow drifts. I don't care where you live -10 with 30-40km wind isn't comfortable. And you really have to keep a close eye on your dog.

  5. #15
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    Dec 2009
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    langley
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Never mind the dog you gotta love shitty tasting ducks to be out !!!

  6. #16
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    Mar 2006
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    I think Labguy is right on the money. Know your own dog and judge accordingly.

    My pup loves being wet, loves the water, loves being muddy, loves retreiving but she has a pretty pampered life at home, lives inside and her kennel is 15 ft from a wood stove. She is fit, lean and doesnt have a heavy coat. Its rarely colder than -2 here so pretty mild conditions for Dec/Jan waterfowl hunting. Seeing her shiver at all is rare. That said, its near -10 and windy here today and there is lots of open water as I hunt the salt marsh. But I would be hesitant to bring her out if it were to get any colder.

    She wears a neoprene vest and Id be toweling her off between retrieves and making sure she had some sort of wind break. If its slow, Id let her out of the blind to move around every now and then and Id be watching her shivering and attitude like a hawk and the hunt would be over if I felt she was too cold or appearing to be " sucky" as we like to call it. She gets like that when shes bored or uncomfortable and I can see it immediately when her demeanor changes. Her safety and enjoyment are more important to me than any single hunt.
    Last edited by Ron.C; 01-14-2020 at 01:17 PM.

  7. #17
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    ^^^^ Good post! ^^^^

  8. #18
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by pnbrock View Post
    Never mind the dog you gotta love shitty tasting ducks to be out !!!
    Well, I hope they make decent pepperoni because I have about 25-30 lbs. worth already of F.V. snow geese and ducks to make smokies and pepperoni out of. LOL

  9. #19
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    Nov 2014
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by pnbrock View Post
    Never mind the dog you gotta love shitty tasting ducks to be out !!!
    The only shitty tasting ducks I'v had from the valley came from the Harrison River, the Mallards just loved those big spring carcasses. The ones that we got from fields, creeks and ditches were mostly good. One time when I picking up some deer Pepperoni from Sumas meats Kurt gave me a small sample of some Kielbasa he had made from duck breasts that some guys from Abbotsford had brought in, it was excellent.

  10. #20
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    Mar 2006
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    Re: How cold is too cold for hunting waterfowl?

    Quote Originally Posted by mastercaster View Post
    Well, I hope they make decent pepperoni because I have about 25-30 lbs. worth already of F.V. snow geese and ducks to make smokies and pepperoni out of. LOL
    yes, duck makes excellent pepperoni !

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