Garrett's duck hound puts it together (photo dump)

Garrett and I took Mon and Tues off to start teal season out right. His new chessie Cody got to go on his first duck hunts. We hunted with our full group Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday and Tuesday was dog training "only." Well pretty much.

Saturday opener was a little slow, our 6 man group only shot 4, the birds were sucking into a pothole out in the middle of the rice. I did catch a couple of pix. Here is Garrett, Cody, and some teal flying.



I'm honestly not even sure who is on the right in this picture in the foreground, I think it might be Marc. That's Bill (duckboy007) in the background chasing down a bird. The decoys in the picture are his hand carved foamers.




Sunday we shot a 6 man limit but my camera was acting up and I didn't get any good pictures at all.

What can I say, when things get slow I take pictures of dragonflys on my gun rib smiling at me.



We threw some birds for Cody to retrieve. He hadn't made marked retrieves yet, but he got in a little water time.

Finally on Tuesday, with just Garrett and I, everything clicked for Cody. The first bird that came in I shot about 10 yards out. Cody saw it drop. When Garrett sent him, the bird was flapping just a bit and Cody went straight to it and retrieved to hand.








Garrett was all smiles. I have seen that boy very happy before but this was a totally new kind of happy.




It was 25 minutes from legal until we finished our 2 man limit at 7:07, but we're not sure when we actually got going (late) or when the last bird, which was a long blind was actually shot. It didn't seem super fast, I took pictures along the way, but it was fast action obviously. We shot our 8 birds out of 7 flocks and Cody made the marks and retrieved to hand on about 5-6 of them and had to be led to 2 he didn't see. One was totally not his fault. I shot a double and he only saw the first one drop. My bad. We were purposefully only shooting one duck at a time for the dog but I got excited on a big wad









Watching Cody click was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It's definitely in my top 3 or 4 duck hunts. Thanks for letting me share that with you, Garrett.

Pretty cool how the dog worked on the first hunt. Sounds like a plan well executed.

He is only going to get better

watching the dogs work is one of the best things about duck hunting!

I'll show him how a real bird dog does it. "two dog" style.

And CBR's hate having their picture taken. They think it will steal their soul.

great lookin pup

NICE... I think I need to start charging for my parking spot

I really wanted to be there Garret. Especially now since your pup was there and burning up the duck pond. I just could not take off. It is just starting so we will get going.

Good looking chocolate curly haired lab G!




Seriously, congrats!

x2

great looking pup, congrats on the successful outing

Great pics. Garrett congrats on your dog.

We tried to take you with us!

Sounds like yall had a good time. Nice pup

Very nice!

Well done.

Sweetness

Thats awesome

Looks like Tuesday it all came together for the new pup, congrats Garrett! Not sure I have ever seen Garrett smiling that much, and good job Dave capturing the memories with photos.

Awesome, congrats Cody and Garrett!
You should be proud.


I've seen my dog go through that first hunt where it took a while for it to click. I think Garrett and Marc were there too.

I know how good it feels when they figure it out. I think the fact that it is dark the first time is what get them. Later when you get up early in the morning they know they are going hunting and don't have any trouble finding the birds at dawn.

it was a great way to spend 4 days, I got back to work today and I just feel like my battery has been recharged and I have not even gotten grumpy yet today.

those pics turned out great Dave, thanks again.

Congrats Garret. Took my pup on her first hunt Sunday and she was pretty clueless till the end when we dropped two teal in the pond right in front of her. She actually saw them in the sky and hit the water. That made all the difference. It was on after that

Cody learns fast, Garrett I'm not so sure...........
Always nice to hear how the pups are doing.... Nice Job Garrett, now don't screw it up.

Yeah Dave that was me in that pic with my face mask.

Good hunts...Saturday's hunt was very slow...We did shoot 4 and I'm pretty sure I didn't shoot any of those that day. Like Dave I took a picture while I was bored in the blind.

We did not really have a blind for this hunt we just laid down in all these plants on the edge of the water...I kept hearing buzzing then noticed we were in their space...they were going to work on all these flowers.



But the real story on Saturday was not the hunt it was my buddy Butler. Many of us have changed our ways and I don't think any of us got too carried away with the drinking except for Butler. I went to bed around 11 and he was still at the Bar down the street. Not sure when he came in but it was difficult waking him up at 4 am and to be honest if it was not for being in his truck he would have been left....which as it turns out would have been best. We make a long 45 minute drive to our spot...we unload and there are several other groups. As he is getting ready he lets his dog out....the dog proceeds to run away with other hunters. I wait and wait but can't even find him so we go to our spot which he does not know where it its. I later hear a truck in that back ground sound like it was getting stuck. Around 8...I knew our hunt was pretty much over...we were getting no action so I tell the guys I want to look for Butler. Of course I'd called him but he left his phone at the hotel. Anyway I found him sleeping in a truck with his dog....the truck was very much stuck. So ole LostdogStucktruck as I named him missed the hunt. We were lucky that Dave had a tow strap and Bill was able to get him out...it took many attempts as Butlers truck is a diesel.
I drank about 4 beers while watching and rehooking the tow strap a few times. Thankfully we all learned that Garrett was a Certified Rigger...he did not give us his blessing on any of this. (Dave didn't you get some pics of the stuck truck??)

Sundays hunt was uneventful....we worked but got a six man limit. I many ways limit hunts were you have to work for them are more fun.


Butler and his dog...who this time did not run away...she actually ok during the hunt.


With all teal hunting bugs are always a problem...We kept them at bay fairly well with our thurmacells and bug sprays...but even once in the truck some of them suckers were not ready to quit.

Do these Canvas Back Decoys work for Teal?

I'm not sure they worked or didn't work on the teal...we actually pulled them and did not use them on Sunday's hunt. But really teal don't seem to be all that discriminating. So really I don't know...going forward I'd just say you are better off with more brown than white on your decoys for teal.

Ok, I thought maybe the white so they could see them at a longer distance. Kind of like a mojo. Thanks just wondering...

We pulled them 2/3 of the way through Saturday's hunts because we had 2 or 3 groups flare off us hard-- we pulled the white out of the spread.

Then Sunday we didn't run them.

Was it the decoys flaring the birds? We'll never know. They didn't start committing after we pulled them. Mostly because we were competing with tons of live ducks in a different pothole in the rice by then.

So what was flaring the ducks? Could have been the 6 guys in dark camo and 2 dogs sitting in neon green vegetation on the edge of the pond that was only 20 yards wide anyway. It could have been the road immediately behind the hole or the power lines right behind us, the teal would be facing the power lines on their approach.

Good way to put it dave...yes...there are so many variables it's hard to know...we did pull them but it did not really change the results that morning. I think all those other things factored in more.

I'm glad you got a couple pictures from Sunday, Marc, that one with Butler and his dog sniffing the birds is cool.

surprised Butlers's the dog showed up for that picture

Getting stuck and drinking too much, this thread has a certain pattern.....

Good looking blocks.

But hey at least his dog made some retrieves without him having to walk the dog to the birds. He needs to just lease that dog and then steak her when we get to the blind.

Great story on that new CBR, and his first hunt.
Gotta love working those dogs work in the field. Priceless.

Dave, great pics. But that plate has me .

Garrett and Cody, Congrats and it will only get better from here.





Boys, if you didn't know what a moment looked like, there's one in the pic above.

and I wasn't even involved! I thought I was the one with the bad juju

ttt

good thread...this dog was diagnosed with lymphoma couple months ago, and I am not sure he is going to make it to the end of the year.

Sorry to hear that bud.