The Dog Earned His Keep Plus A Bonus..

[BIG DOG 0360]

Went out yesterday, finally got all the boys together for another day. We found some spots scouting a few days earlier that looked productive and had no sign of being previously hunted. We decide to meet up at the ramp at 0500. 0515 the dog and I are getting a little restless. 0520 another truck shows up (not the right one). Time to go, got to be in the spot first. 20 min after setting up hear a familiar boat motor. Send the boys down 100 yrds to the next pothole. Daylight comes, i notice the birds are avoiding my hole. The dog is whining and decide to walk the spread and see what was wrong. Found some shells on the other side and quite a few plugs floating just outside the spread. CRAP!! About 0800 the boys are on fire, blasting away. Stood up and watch them drop two mottleds. They had continuous action until 0915 and they gave our we're done call. (an elk bugle). pack up the decoys and stuff and hear my bro yelling to bring the dog. Get to their hole and watch them put 10 birds into the boat... 2 drake mottleds, 3 drake widgeons, 1 hen widgeon, 4 bwt, . I ask him what do you need the dog for. Bro says, "think that idiot will find two dropped birds, one dead, one wounded." I tell him lets find out. So i ask, " what kind of ducks and i hope there not in that heavy cover" bro says, "yep, their teal, one is in that s**t and the other is 50 yrs the other way in that tall grass and sticks." I just shook my head.. sent the dog in the heavy cover first for the dead one w/my bro just rassin the dog. 5 minutes go by dog still searching, my bro is cussing the dog now. I tell him to give the dog a chance.. dog comes out, teal in mouth, delivers to my hand. bro doesn't see the handoff. I yell out "lets find the next one." bro spins around, "no way!!" I flip him off, to the next spot. Send the dog, 30 sec. later he barrells through some down dead trees chasing a running drake bwt. Dog gets hung up in some branches, tears his vest, gets out and catches bird. The dog darts past us, heads straight to my boat and drops the bird. Bro yells "hot Da*n, i don't believe it" Goes and loves all over that wet, muddy dog.

Get back to the ramp, pack up the boats, head home. Stop at the local country store. Bro and boys go in. Bro comes out w/ two 12 packs and a can of alpo dog food.:confused: He throws one 12 pack in my cooler and loves on the dog again, openning the can of alpo and sits on the tailgate w/a cold beer and lets the dog eat. Dog is done, gets one more hug, and bro and the boys are off.

What a way to end a crappy day; well for me anyway.:laughing1 The dog is a chessie, he just turned 3 and is coming into his own. this is his 2nd full season. I trained him myself (my first). The traditional way, no shock collars. Made quite a few mistakes, but HE is correcting them himself.

[Randy Clark]

wow a 12 pack and dog food for the use of your dog dont sound like a bad deal. congrats on being able to show of your dog.

[BIG DOG 0360]

that's what i was thinking, i'll just take him out around 10:00 am. and find everyone's lost birds. figure i'll be able to feed the dog for the season and when the boys come to the house to clean birds, charge them $1.00 a beer. i'll make out like a bandit.

[David B]

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[Keith Yates]

It ain't very often a dogs nose can be fooled. Years ago temporarily lost my first drake pintail in some super thick stuff. I didn't do a very good job of killing him dead. We looked for a half hour or so with no luck. I was disappointed we didn't have a dog but our friends hunting near us did. After we were done we went over and picked up the dog sent him in and here he comes with that pintail. Over the years dogs have found countless ducks that would have been lost otherwise. I know there are many places we wouldn't take our dogs due to gators but any chance I get it completes the hunt to bring a dog.

[Randy Clark]

i bring my dogs with me on jessup but the retrieves arent like you see in the videos but they still have found ducks that might have been lost. out there i go with them and hold the gun.

[BIG DOG 0360]

I do the same, w/the gun. I am very picky about the spots I hunt w/him. If I see those red eyes when we pull into a hole, we are on the next. If the water temp is below 65 you usually don't have much to worry about (gator wise). I don't hunt him at all during early season due to high water temps.

That dog is great, i checked my old logs and to date, the dog has found 14 birds that we would have lost (this season so far and last year). But there is also a down side, a couple of the guys in the group are making poor decisions to shoot over heavy cover, because the dog is there. Normal comment "the dog will find it". So this year Diesel does not get sent if i think it is abusing the dog. That has pretty much stopped that crap.

He did lose is first bird this season. A smart mottled hen. She ran him in circles in a large cattail/heavy cover area. The dog was still doing circles when she came out and i couldn't whack her becase i could'nt see the dog a did want to risk a richochett hit on the dog. By the time he got back on her trail we were more than 200 yrds from the blind. The dog has the biggest heart i have ever seen and he was completely worn out by this time. That is why his name fits him so well (diesel-- not the fastest in the world but can work all day). I had to physicially pull him out of the cover and drag him back to the blind by his vest. He was so ****ed, he turned his back to me and kept whining at the direction she was at. Thank god a lonely teal was fooled by the dekes and he got a good retrieve on her. If he hadn't he would probably still be mad.:)

[Randy Clark]

hey now thats funny how they want to retrieve it so bad. capt jeff (i think) told me of a friend of his who lost a dog on a real cold morning. so dont rely on the temperature to much there like a dinasour when there hungry they are going for food. love to see them work though .

[RutnNStrutn]

Big Dog, since you don't have to buy dog food or beer any more, you can afford to rejoin UWF as a dues paying member!!!! :toothy1:

[BIG DOG 0360]

OK GUYS,

man, you guys wont get off my @&& will you. I thought david was bad.:smileinbo. I already pmed david and explained my situation. let me pay off christmas and i'll be a member by feb. I'm working w/two other guys in the group to join also. both are real go getters and will work their butts off for the ducks.:icon_thumr

[Keith Yates]

Welcome Big Dog!