Let the Withdrawal Begin,,,,,duck season is at an end!

[mastercaster]

Hunted with a buddy the last day of the season this past Friday. Boy, the ducks are educated at this time of the year but we still managed to decoy enough in that we ended the day just one short of a limit. That being said, the majority of them were anything but close. Because it was the last day of the season, we weren't in any hurry to leave, despite the pouring rain. We basically hunted sun up to sun down.

We were positive we'd get the last bird once the night flight came but we didn't see another bird the last hour or more that we were out. No night flight at all,,,,very strange, not a single bird!

My griff, Sako, made some awesome retrieves today! I think she probably only saw three of our total hit the ground. The rest were blind retrieves,,,,, a couple into some very thick blackberry bramble where she had to belly crawl in and then out with the bird. And another past the bramble, across a good channel of water, and into the next field. My buddy thought those were going to be lost birds for sure because we had no idea exactly where they went down ourselves. It's retrieves like those that you remember for a good long time.

https://i.imgur.com/IgJwGzp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lgFpH8S.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bYsmPxn.jpg

All in all, it was a good way to end the season. Let the withdrawal begin!

[HarryToolips]

Heck ya that looks like a great time, awesome dog you have, do you turn them all into sausage or do you also do the traditional roast duck?

[mastercaster]

Heck ya that looks like a great time, awesome dog you have, do you turn them all into sausage or do you also do the traditional roast duck?

I've got about 40-45 pounds saved up so I'm having half made into pepperoni and the other half made into cheese /jalapeno smokies. I can't seem to get myself into the whole rigamarole of cleaning, plucking it, and getting all the pin feathers out in order to roast it. LOL

[Farmer]

I figure it takes about 5 minuts to pluck a mallard and there should be no pin feathers at this time of year.
But we also breast most of them and make sausage also.

[silveragent]

awesome report and pics. Duck depression is setting in :(

[mastercaster]

I figure it takes about 5 minuts to pluck a mallard and there should be no pin feathers at this time of year.
But we also breast most of them and make sausage also.

What kind of sausage do you have made?

One of the guys I hunt with does the roast duck dinner quite often. To be honest I haven't done it since I've only gotten back into waterfowl hunting since I got my griff (2 seasons worth) and thought I'd go the sausage route since I rarely turn any of the deer or moose I get into sausage since I shoot for table quality as opposed to size.

Plucked the odd pheasant back in the 80s but even then all I usually do with all the birds I've harvest in the past is just breast them out. Wish all the game birds were as easy as grouse where you just need to step on the wings and pull. Haha

[Dutch]

You can just step on pheasants as well been doing it for 10 years ...

[Dutch]

https://i.imgur.com/rKxtGTF.jpg Last day before the thaw just set 6 floaters out in some open water no robo they poured in , 8 in 20 minutes just right time ..silly widgeon

[Ron.C]

Nice work mastercaster. Looks like Sako has got it figured out

[mastercaster]

https://i.imgur.com/rKxtGTF.jpg Last day before the thaw just set 6 floaters out in some open water no robo they poured in , 8 in 20 minutes just right time ..silly widgeon

I had one day fairly close like that but because there was 3 of us it took just over an hour. It's happened a number of times for my buddy, too, but he says he doesn't really care for days like that. He'd say "I got up 1/1/2 hours before the crack of dawn, lugged by gear out to the field, set up, and it was all over in 20 minutes!" haha

We talked about this scenario this past Friday. Both of us thought that it's more enjoyable when you get ones, doubles, or triples coming in over several hours just so you can extend your hunt.

Reminds me of cutting my mule deer tag this year. Saw a 2 point less that five minutes into hunting once I walked up the hill. Thought about not shooting for about 10 seconds and then shot it. Kind of anti climatic after waiting so long for opening day to come around. LOL Good thing I still had whitetail and moose hunting trips coming up.

I did get to tag along with my son the next day so he could get his, and then my daughter the day after. Just walked from behind with my griff on her leash. It was still a lot of fun. I didn't even have to help pack out any meat because we loaded all the deer meat in my son's pack and the next day my daughter and her husband had their horses to pack hers out.

[mastercaster]

Nice work mastercaster. Looks like Sako has got it figured out

We still have work to do, Ron. I know i don't have to worry about the recovery part because I took the time to force fetch her so she know it's her job to find and bring the birds back. Still have to work on steadiness in the blind because there's the odd time she'll but out before being sent. She knows my cracker shot buddy is not going to miss so there should be a bird out there to retrieve.

The other thing is her speed coming back with the bird. She gets out there lickity split but she takes what seems like a long time getting the bird back to the blind,,,,and it's not like she isn't taking a straight line. When she retrieves bumpers and dockers she gets them back much quicker.

Maybe it's the weight of the birds slowing her down but at 48 pounds she seems strong enough to me. I guess I should be happy that she's getting them all back to me. I doubt that we lost more than a couple cripples this entire season,,,,birds that ended up going down a country mile away from us in thick marsh grass.

[Ron.C]

Sounds like both our pups are experiencing the same things. I need to work on Jessie's steadiness as well. She was doing awesome, but then I hunted out of my layout and when I popped up, she would break. So I stopped hunting out of the layout and she is now again pretty steady, but needs work. Im going to continue on her steadiness this year and include some layout blind setups. I have built 3 remote control wingers so I can replicate some realistic setups.

Jess also flies out to the bird, but seems to take her time coming back. Im not that concerned about that, unless I am missing something. Im more concerned that she returns the bird to hand then how fast she gets it done. But again like Sako, she is allot faster when training then hunting.

Was my first year hunting with a dog and the only birds I lost were from eagles taking advantage of an easy meal.

I am super happy with Jessies patience in the blind. Sits for long periods and scans the sky , picks up birds coming in and very eager.

[labguy]

We still have work to do, Ron. I know i don't have to worry about the recovery part because I took the time to force fetch her so she know it's her job to find and bring the birds back. Still have to work on steadiness in the blind because there's the odd time she'll but out before being sent. She knows my cracker shot buddy is not going to miss so there should be a bird out there to retrieve.

The other thing is her speed coming back with the bird. She gets out there lickity split but she takes what seems like a long time getting the bird back to the blind,,,,and it's not like she isn't taking a straight line. When she retrieves bumpers and dockers she gets them back much quicker.

Maybe it's the weight of the birds slowing her down but at 48 pounds she seems strong enough to me. I guess I should be happy that she's getting them all back to me. I doubt that we lost more than a couple cripples this entire season,,,,birds that ended up going down a country mile away from us in thick marsh grass.

I know you didn’t ask but...... :razz:

If she’s been collar conditioned to “ here” it’s an easy fix. If she hasn’t been, then maybe it’s time to complete basics.

A slow return is often the precursor to stickiness on birds and other bad habits like possessiveness and hard mouth. Once those habits get ingrained it’s a whole other, more difficult, issue to deal with.

If she’s farting around on the return (without seeing the dog) I’d be 99.9% certain there’s a hole it two in her basic training.

Don’t feel bad. Most people gloss over fundamentals and it usually comes back to bite them. There are roughly 52 separate stages in a dogs development to have a solid foundation as a gun dog /retriever.......before you actually start hunting.

Again, sorry for the hijack. I know you didn’t ask but maybe others will get something useful out of this.:idea::-o

PS. If your interested let me know and I’ll shoot you my phone number. Much easier to discuss these issues that way than back and forth via public forum or texting.

[mastercaster]

^^^ Thanks, LG,,,,I'll shoot you a PM. Sako definitely does not keep birds away from me or has a hard mouth and doesn't take detours. She's just tardy, especially when coming back in cold, unswimmable water that's about a foot deep. Sako is collar conditioned so maybe i'll have to stim her when she's slow getting the bird back and also to keep her steady after the shot.

Who knows? Maybe the next time I go visit my kids in Kelowna I'll take a run up your way. Got another grand child on the way in February. Might be a good time. I like killing two birds with one stone!

Cheers~

[BowsUp]

Dog work will help with the DT's of withdrawal. No dog right now so it is going to be re-painting duck decoys and working on my calling. October is a long ways away.

[Dutch]

I never stop working on the lab and breaking and he's had 3 years of field trials before I got him.It is in their DNA and he's good most of the time but still have to keep the remind button on.Great year for Yankee this year only lost 2 that I was sure on so that is a plus and there were some great moments in there as well.

[mastercaster]

https://i.imgur.com/szs2YUo.jpg

[Farmer]

What kind of sausage do you have made?

One of the guys I hunt with does the roast duck dinner quite often. To be honest I haven't done it since I've only gotten back into waterfowl hunting since I got my griff (2 seasons worth) and thought I'd go the sausage route since I rarely turn any of the deer or moose I get into sausage since I shoot for table quality as opposed to size.

Plucked the odd pheasant back in the 80s but even then all I usually do with all the birds I've harvest in the past is just breast them out. Wish all the game birds were as easy as grouse where you just need to step on the wings and pull. Haha

We make pepperoni, smokies, some farmer sausage , and tried some salami this year. It hasn't been hanging long enough to try yet.