# Good surprise!



## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

I was lucky enough to be able to join my son and a friend on a pothole duck hunt this past weekend. I decided to take along my five year old Springer/English cocker cross, Max. Max is a great upland dog, but had never tried ducks or geese. 
We set up on a small transition pond on Saturday morning. We killed nine ducks and Max did a good job of retrieving seven of them. Two of the retrieves were all of fity yards, one way. I was more than happy with her performance. The only problem was getting her to stay when just about any kind of tweety bird or duck was within sight. She was so fired up that she would whine and try to move forward any time something moved in front of her. Here's the capper. We set up in basically the same location on Sunday. The birds weren't flying very well due to a gale blowing out of the south. We did manage to shoot four ducks, all of which Max retrieved. Excellent! About nine 'o clock, a lone Canada goose appeared out of the North. We all started hammering the honker calls, and the goose seemed to come in on a string. At about forty five yards, seeing no geese in our llittle spread of puddlers, the bird flared out to the left. Johnsona took the shot and dropped the bird into the water about sixty yards away on the edge of the cattails, across a small bay from our location. Max took off swimming across the bay after the goose. The bird was swimming as well, and heading for the cattails. Johnsona said he would back out, go around and try to go in on the other side. Tim and I continued to watch Max, as she followed the goose into the cattails, whining and yipping as she did so. We didn't figure she would retrieve, but at least might be able to pin the bird down. We continued to watch and wait. Three or four minutes later, from around the corner of the cattails to our immediate left comes Max.....carrying the ten pound, still very much alive, Canada goose! She had evidently picked him up and followed the edge of the cover back to our position, swimming all the way! She dropped the goose at Tim's feet as we laughed and good girl'd her to high Heaven. About this time, Johnsona busts out of the cattails on the other side and hollers "Which way did they go?" Tim held the big bird up and shouted "Max brought him back!" All Johnsona could do was shake his head and smile!
Now, I know my little dog is a fair to middlin' upland hunter. Pheasants all but surrender when she and her kennel mate show up. However, I really never expected her to do so well with waterfowl, much less retrieve a live goose, a third of her weight, to hand! You always hear stories about the heart and drive these little dogs posess, but now I truly have one for the books! Thanks for reading my brag, guys. A great season to one and all. Burl








Johnsona, Max and their goose.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

That's not a brag, it's a real good story! Wish people put up more of them. Thank you for sharing your hunt and your dog with us. :beer:


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Excellent, thanks for the story!!


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

Nice story Burl, one of lifes gifts. :thumb:


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Great story!!!!

Thanks

Ryan


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## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

good story..is it possible to hunt without dogs??


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## hunter9494 (Jan 21, 2007)

it is, but why would you want to? i have a buddy who claims to be a duck hunter and does not own or hunt with a dog. got to be ridiculous as to the number of ducks he loses every year. sad deal. if not for the dog, i probably would not go hunting, it simply makes it worthwhile.


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## Ac_EsS (Jul 3, 2007)

AMAZING story!!Its just crasy what a spaniel can do!


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Great story! Its a great feeling when they exceed your expectations like that!

On a side not I have plenty of friends who waterfowl hunt on fields exclusively so there isn't a need for a dog. It sure is nice when someone sails a honk to have one though. No doubt it gives you a lot more options and rewards to the hunt.


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## james.hunter (Sep 5, 2007)

i hope when i get my dog next year she will be as good as your that awesome.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Great story Burl- That goose probably would have been fox bait if it wasn't for your dog. Good job..........


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Great story. Its supprising what some dogs have stored up inside them. I have a springer I got for upland game and waterfowl. Training started out good but due to her owner/trainers love of bowhunting things got a bit laxed and she became more of a pet than hunter. Some medical problems didn't help. This year I am unable to bowhunt so the dog is finally seeing some action (she is now 9). I'm having the same problem that she doesn't like to sit still in the blind and will whine when the birds get close but after a few outings she IS getting better. She has also retrieved all but one bird for me this year something that suprised me cause she only has full vision in one eye and is not trained well on hand signals. Though a couple of retrieves she has been led to the area and encouraged to "find the bird". Despite her trainer she does alright as her instincts have taken over. She may not be not the best dog as she is a bit wild but is a lot better than NO dog.


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## Canuck (Nov 10, 2004)

Great story Burl. Here's mine from this past weekend. I am an upland hunter. My going on 8 year old female lab is a real good upland dog with a ton of ruffed grouse, pheasant and sharptail experience. I did not force fetch my dog but she but she has been a very reliable retriever, tracking down wounded pheasants that have run off a few hundred yards, etc.

I have never hunted waterfowl with her until my 80 year old Dad decided he wanted to have one last sharptail walk. I found a reasonably easy to walk pasture and we started out. Marley (my lab) put up a pair of sharpies within the first quater-mile and Dad got a shot but missed. We continued another few hundred yards or so and the dog put up a single and I held off shooting as I thought the bird would swing Dad's way but it passed him a little out of range and he held off. After chastising me for not shooting, Dad said the going was too rough and his arthritis was making it too hard to walk and he was "done" chicken hunting. I told Dad that I thought the first two birds had gone down on the way back to the truck. Sure enough when we got close to the truck Marley got real birdy and put up one bird, which Dad got cleanly, and then the other right in front of me. Again I held off and it swung Dad's way. It was a real long shot but again he folded it cleanly. He can still shoot! With a big smile Dad said that was it he was done with this foolishness.

Having the rest of the day to spend together we decided to set up for an afternoon goose shoot. We set up in a wheat field that the snows were hitting really hard. There was a large stone pile with with good willow cover and I had seen geese feeding all around it and passing right over with no fear over the past few days. It has such good cover that Dad set up a kitchen chair to sit on and was still really well hidden. I told Dad that he would do the shooting and I would sit nearby where the dog could see what was happening and I could keep her under control until we saw how she would react. Suprisingly she was very calm and watched the birds intently.So finally to my dog story though mine is kind of the opposite of Burly's.

The first flock of geese came right in and Dad folded two. My dog marked both birds down and raced out towards them. One started flopping around and getting a bit up into the air, which really got the dogs attention and she piled into with her chest knocking the goose flying. Once the goose was dead my dog gave it a sniff and trotted pack to the rock pile. I had warned my dad that this was likely to happen and that it was not the dog's fault. It was purely my fault for never working waterfowl into my training and hunting, and for not force fetching my dog. Dad got six geese that afternoon and the story was the same for each one. Marley raced out as if fetching a pheasant only to sniff the bird and return. Interestingly, as I was picking up the decoys a small flock of mallards, the first ducks we had seen all day, decided it was time to show up and I hollered at Dad to shoot. He stiff winged a hen that sailed about a hundred yards. Again Marley raced out, but this time she sniffed the duck and suprise, suprise... made the retrieve.

When I dropped Dad off that night he turned to me as he was getting out of the truck and said if I was smart I wouldn't get old. I told him that I hoped I did get old as it would give me more time to make my next dog a little bit better than the great dog I have. Though it was a good day I was kinda choked up on the drive home.

Canuck

PS: Can you teach an old dog new tricks?


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

Good dog work is a blessing. Time with dad is indeed priceless! 
Good on ya, Canuck!
Burl


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## Canuck (Nov 10, 2004)

Burl,

You got that right!
Thanks for the kind words. Over the years I have missed a lot of chances to hunt with Dad due to work, friends, etc, etc.

My advice to those in the same boat... do it now, don't leave it till it's too late.

Canuck.


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## Canuck (Nov 10, 2004)

Hey....that was my 100th post. Shouldn't some bells have gone off or something?
 
Canuck


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