no comment

The right thing to do would be to count any downed bird towards your limit. I can’t remember the last time I lost a downed bird since I’ve had my dogs Kimber and Rally.

Dove hunting it would be more likely, you dust some and they fly way off. It’s hard to know if they would live. I’m probably guilty of only counting the dove in my bag towards my limit and probably have mortally wounded dove that flew away.

Interesting article about how many ducks crippled ducks we lose.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/deep-dives/waterfowl-crippling-rates-hunting/

He’s read a handful of studies and talked to biologists (mostly off the record) from all across the country and says that the consensus is about a 30 percent waterfowl crippling rate. In other words, three out of every 10 ducks that are downed by hunters are not recovered. If you apply that rate to the 9.72 million ducks taken by hunters in the 2019-2020 season, you end up with 2.92 million lost ducks. Add lost geese into the equation, and you’re well over Kjos’ estimate.

I would say I find that number to be way too high, but I've seen lots of folks on big public water skyblasting away, no dogs, and no plan to retrieve the ones that sail.

I agree 30% on waterfowl is pretty high, but I could see 10% pretty easily.

Dove on the other hand, I can easily see 30% and even more if your not hunting with a good dog and or your hunting thicker stuff like sunflowers, milo or corn. Dove are pretty easy to find in wheat stubble. But get in knee high sunflowers, milo or corn and without a dog you can lose them pretty easily.

Your buddy is correct. Bag limit and possession limit are two entirely different things.