Weekend at the bay

[Marc]

This weekend it was time to try Cowichan Bay for birds, most ponds in the area were frozen over with the week of below zero temperatures. We had two decent shoots. The first time out Field Marshall and I both limited out on a nice mix bag of birds. We had Green wing teal, mallards, pintail, and widgeon coming into our spread. Can't get over how nice and fat these birds are this year.

This was Marshall's first water hunt this fall and he spent most of the day in the water. We ended up having him sit on one of our chairs in the blind as the water had risen to knee high. When we got home that evening he had "limp tail" or "limber tail" as it's also called. It's the swelling of the tail caused by cold water and unconditioned as they use there tails while swimming as a rudder. So in so many words he pulled a muscle in his tail and it cause it to swell which cause sever pain and discomfort to the dog.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/huntingthebay.jpg

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/duckpile.jpg

We went out today again, this time I decided to take my FatboyDP and try and set up where I've been seeing a decent concentration of pintails as I've yet to get a mature drake pintail.

I checked in with Marshall this morning but his tail was still hanging, better then yesterday but in no shape to be out again on the water and cramped up in the boat. It broke my heart to leave him home and it just wasn't the same on the marsh this morning.

Had some pretty good action first part of the morning, I had two hen mallards, hen pintail, and two widgeon on the water by 10:00am. Then things went to crap from there on in. I had several flocks of Pintails fly around me and I could see the drakes in the bunch but just wouldn't come within my comfortable shooting range.

I passed on a lot of shots today that I probably would have tried with the dog along but I didn't want to take the chance of losing birds in the water or grass so I only took high percentage shots and double shot a couple of birds that weren't falling as fast as I'd like them too to make sure they weren't going anywhere when they hit the water. Could have easily limited out on teal today but I was holding out hoping for a try at a Sprig but it never materialized.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/fatboygrassedup.jpg

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/boatwithducksonthefront.jpg

Here is a picture of my Dakota mallard decoys I recently got. I wish I had of had a few of the hen decoys in the mix as well for the pictures.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/dakotamallarddecoys.jpg

Here is a picture at the end of the Day of me, Duck Buster, and James holding both Duck Buster's and Field Marshal's limit of birds. I was told that Duck Buster would fill you in with the details of their day as we where set up in different locations.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/the_boys_and_the_birds.jpg

[Marc]

We had a lot of walkers and bird watchers over the weekend at the bay. For those of you that think you're not being watched by the public while out at the bay think again.

I had a few people stop and check out my rig but never thought anyone was taking pictures of me. If I was out of the blind and people stopped to watch me I'd give them a wave. :mrgreen:

This is a great picture of me from yesterday posted up on the Cowichan Valley Camera Club website. I don't remember anyone taking pictures of me while out ajusting the decoys but I guess there was. Nice to see that not all bird watcher / picture takers are against hunting. This would be a nice one to frame up.

From my previous post here are some of the hen decoys in with the mix,

http://www.pbase.com/cvcc/image/120268244/original

[tomahawk]

Awesome story, decoys and day of hunting Marc!! Makes me want to get back into it again!

[Duck Buster]

So here is the story of the hunt that Feild Marshal, James and I had.

We met at the bay around 0730 to see what the tide, birds, and other hunters were doing. We had intentions of heading out to an island off shore but some early shots from that direction had us thinking again. We decided on sitting on the top of a dyke with some good puddles of water around it, and many birds sighted in the area the day befor.

After a quick blind build and setting 4 1/2 doz dekes we were ready for a shoot. All that pushed in were lots of teal early and we passed on them in hopes of some bigger birds. I would love to write and say that the mallards and pins came pouring into the spread but that was not to be. We finaly started to shoot some fast flying and tricky teal. We had a blast making some very dificult shots and razzing each other on misses. James was a huge help as always and spent the morning (between naps) spotting birds, helping with the dog, and setting/moving decoys.

It took us a while but we ended up with 11 teal, 3 wigeon, and 2 pintails to fill a bag. The only birds that actualy decoyed in were, to our shock, the two pins, every other bird was a fast and furious pass shot. It was a hoot, and the teal make for some excelent table fair. Mine did not even make it to the fridge befor the fry pan. We all can't be big shots like Marc and get ourselves pictures on fancy websites but we can all have a great time afeild. Thanks again to James and Feild Marshal, good friends and good stories make long hunts that much more enjoyable. I can't wait for the goose opener........

[303Brit]

Thanks for the stories guys, Nice looking Dekes Marc.
Duck Buster nice to see people bringing the young ones out.

303

[Chessieguy]

Looks like a great hunt guys....well done with a nice mix of birds.

[5 spike]

very nice you guys looks like it was a great hunt. makes me also want to get back into it. nice pics.

[shotgunjohn]

I'd be using gloves to handle that dog for a while if I were you Marc. I hear that there limp tail stuff can be catching!

[branthunter]

I'd say that with the cold and all the time he spent in the water it was likely that Marshall was in the 1st stages of hypothermia. A droopy tail under those circumstances is a sure sign that a retriever is getting too cold . I have an old pair of neoprene waders with the legs cut off short (and one cut off entirely ) that I put over my dog's head and it tents over their entire body when this starts to happen.

[Marc]

I'd say that with the cold and all the time he spent in the water it was likely that Marshall was in the 1st stages of hypothermia.

I don't think that it was hypothermia in this case, he didn't do any shivering or show any sign of being cold while we were out there. This is a chessie with a neoprene vest on and it really wasn't overly cold that day.

This condition happened to him last fall as well on the second water hunt of the season in early October when it was so hot we were hunting pretty much in summer clothing.

I'm thinking having him sitting in a chair which didn't offer him much room for his tail to get comfortable that he strained his tail and the cold water just added to the situation.


Symptoms and Causes
A "dead" tail sticks out three or four inches, then drops straight down. It may look "clamped" to the body. Your dog may not be in excruciating pain, but he may be sore or uncomfortable. It is usually found in dogs older than six months old, but not older than nine (human) years. Males are more frequently affected, though it is not rare for a female to suddenly develop it. Though scientists and veterinarians are still researching this condition more thoroughly, it is known that the condition is associated with strenuous exercise (especially in unconditioned dogs), heavy hunting and swimming, cage transport, and cold, wet living conditions.I believe that all the water work he did that day, sitting in cramped condition, and the lack of any water work in the past 3 months(field hunting all fall) contributed to his condition.

He's been improving steadily the past 3 days to the point where his tail is pretty much back to normal. Just in time for the Dec goose opener next weekend.

[kyleklassen]

that log in the first pic had another limit on it yesterday afternoon 3 mallards 4 teal and 1 pintail.

[branthunter]

Hmmm, an interesting syndrome I've never heard of before---hope I didn't come off as a smart ass----just thought it worth mentioning. Glad he's feeling better---he's a dandy. I had a Chessy years ago out in Alberta who had a crooked tail----got caught in a heavy ski lodge swinging door and forever after had a crook in it. It was no doubt my fault for not training her properly, but she just would not retrieve any bird on land, or even in water if she could get her feet on the bottom. I wasn't into the dog training thing then so never made an effort to correct it.

[Gunner]

I had the same problem a number of years ago with Gunner,my chocolate lab.The vet said that it was a slight sprain,like a muscle strain,partly caused by the swimming and partly because he was wagging too hard at the fun of picking up 3 limits of ducks!It caused him some obvious discomfort,but he was over it with a dose of Medicam and 3 or 4 days of enforced rest,and it never reoccurred. Gunner

[Marc]

that log in the first pic had another limit on it yesterday afternoon 3 mallards 4 teal and 1 pintail.

Glad you got out and got you some.:mrgreen: Seems like a good spot to hunt. It was like a battle field on Sunday at the bay, every time I had birds circling the decoys showing some interest someone would shoot in the distance causing the birds to flair like they were being shot at over my spread. From where I was set up on Sunday I saw at least 5 trucks with boats go into the bay from the terminal road.


Hmmm, an interesting syndrome I've never heard of before---hope I didn't come off as a smart ass----just thought it worth mentioning. Glad he's feeling better---he's a dandy. I had a Chessy years ago out in Alberta who had a crooked tail----got caught in a heavy ski lodge swinging door and forever after had a crook in it. It was no doubt my fault for not training her properly, but she just would not retrieve any bird on land, or even in water if she could get her feet on the bottom. I wasn't into the dog training thing then so never made an effort to correct it.

No offense taken, I just wanted to clarify what he had as I didn't want people to think that I would intentionally make the dog suffer needlessly in the cold to the point of hypothermia just to get a limit of ducks. Some people might chuckle, or think that it's sacrilege putting a neoprene vest on a chessie but the way I look at it is this is my best friend ( besides my wife of course in case she reads this) and I want him to have fun and stay comfortable if the weather gets cold while we are out there. The problem with the symptoms (limp tail) is they don't usually show up until the end of the day when you get home.

His tail is now curling back up like it used to and he just knocked over my drink with it so I'd say he's pretty much back to normal. It's like anything else when you first use a muscle you haven't used for a while it tells you for the next couple of days but settles down and gets stronger with use again.

I have a female Lab that won't pick up dead birds and terrified of the shotgun, She's now 11 years old and only came out with me for one day of hunting and that was the last of that. She just didn't have any interest in it at all. She's been a pet ever since she was a pup and cost us more in vet bills then Nash who hunted up to the age of 9. Just the way it goes sometime. I don't think it matters on the breed there has to be a willingness to retrieve in order to have a dog to be good and enjoy retrieving


I had the same problem a number of years ago with Gunner,my chocolate lab.The vet said that it was a slight sprain,like a muscle strain,partly caused by the swimming and partly because he was wagging too hard at the fun of picking up 3 limits of ducks!It caused him some obvious discomfort,but he was over it with a dose of Medicam and 3 or 4 days of enforced rest,and it never reoccurred. Gunner

Marshall was the same way, couldn't keep him out of the water even when just going out to adjust the decoys. He didn't show any discomfort until he got home and tried to sit or lay down. Who would have know that the tail was such an important part of retrieving on water to the point that it would pull or strain a muscle.

[Spy]

Great pictures & a nice mixed bag , sounds like a good day to me .Those drake decoy's you have are really Bright,Do you like them?

[branthunter]

I'm with you on the vest---both my labs wear one after October. In addition to keeping them warm I think the flotation eases the work they have to do if they are having a busy day---and it's the best hand warmer I have yet found.

[Marc]

Great pictures & a nice mixed bag , sounds like a good day to me .Those drake decoy's you have are really Bright,Do you like them?

The two hen mallards and two widgeon I shot over them on Sunday didn't seem to mind them. They were pretty much 3 or 4 feet on top of them when I pulled the trigger. I really haven't hunted over them enough to put my hand on my heart and say that they work good or bad. The day Field Marshall and I got our limits of birds I never had them out. The only thing I don't like about them is the speculum showing. As you can see from the live bird it doesn't really get seen unless the bird has it's wings opened. Does this make a difference to the birds? I'm not sure. Hopefully by the end of the season I'll have more time in the marsh to make an accurate assumption. :mrgreen:

If you look at a live mallard when it's sunny out his green head really shines. I would also think it would draw more birds as they are easier seen from a distance in the drab brown / green terrain. Here is a picture of a live mallard for comparison.

http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/1156571-15-male-mallard-duck.jpg

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/dakotamallarddecoys.jpg

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/huntingbc/boatwithducksonthefront.jpg