dawsonscreek

Thanks! I am really hoping to hunt waterfowl with him but he struggles with retrieving right now. Tied some “trained retrieve” sold over the summer but didn’t make much progress. He will fetch bumpers all day but struggles with birds, especially pheasants.

I have had a great time chasing the Pheasants around this year with my Brittany. I took him as much as I could last year without any real training on birds and we still managed to kick up a few. I Worked on pigeons and Chukar over the summer with him and the improvement he has made is impressive. He is 18 months old and learning more each time. He has a had a few fantastic points on pheasant and Woodcock. Dudley is my first birddog, and I don't think now that I will ever not have a birddog, it's so enjoyable to watch them wok and figure it out!

Weekend weather looks decent, a bit of a cool down. I supposed I'll try and fill the second tag, I have one nice gobbler hanging around by the house I have a good chance at, just need to figure him out. He's been one step ahead of me every encounter.

You can’t eat the beard, right?!

Hard work finally paid off. I put over 150 miles on the boots this year, 22 days hunted and I scored on a tasty jake! I had a very close call in my lease earlier in the morning, just couldn’t move my gun to get on the big tom without him busting me. So I ventured to some nearby state land, I called in a very talkative hen with was encouraging and after she moved off it was 11:30 so I figured I’d just sit in that area and call. I moved forward on the ridge about 200 yards and let out a call that was immediately answered by a whole bunch of gobbles. I knew I was dealing with jakes at this point and was not about to pass on an opportunity at this point in my season. I sat down and called a couple more times before I heard the footsteps coming. The second one to poke his little head over the ridge got a face full! My first public land bird to boot!

Absolutely. Temporarily “working from home”, I have been able to hunt every morning, this is the most time I’ve ever spent hunting and it’s neat to see different things each day I wouldn’t have if at work. The woods is a very peaceful and healing place. In this crazy time I have my health, my job, friends and family! Thanks for the Kind words.

After 16 days of hard hunting, usually till 12:00 most days, and with very little luck. I'd only had birds in range twice and wasnt able to shoot either time. I thought today was the day. I was on birds right off the roost, could even see them in the tree. Due to being in very open woods and able to see the birds on the limb wasn't able to get the decoy placed for fear of being seen. Watched 3 birds (at least one gobbler) fly down and made a few calls to let them know I was there. A few minutes after fly down I heard him gobbling coming my way. Soon after I saw him slowly coming my way. At about 30 yards I had a good view of his head and neck and thought I better try the shot rather than let an opportunity pass. Long story short (maybe short story long ) the shot didn't connect. I hate missing birds, it means that I did everything right except the final step. Oh well, spit happens, right? Maybe had I waited he would of come in for a closer shot. Super frustrating to hunt so hard for one chance and blow it, but quitters never win. Still have 13 days to get it done. Good luck all, thanks for reading!

Been very quiet for me in 8T. Hearing a few off the roost but not much. Got setup on some birds sunday on state land at 11:00 worked them and had to move a few times, then the clock struck noon so I unloaded and just sat quietly seeing if they would come wandering in. Shortly after noon I hear a slate call and the birds are hammering to it. This is then followed by a mouth call and more gobbles. I saw where this was going and hung tight to see the honesty of the other hunter. A few more gobbles and the birds are close to me and I see the other hunter sprinting down the pipeline to head off these birds, that was enough for me. I was not about to let this kid kill one of these birds after noon so I stood up and walked his way, surely spooking the birds. I get a "oh, sorry about that" when he sees me, an pointing at my phone I reply "doesn't matter to me, you know its after 12:00 right?" He replies "yeah" and tucks tail and picks up his pace walking away from me as he unloads his gun. No back tag visible and his truck was from PA, for all I know he had no NY license. Being brought up the way I was, obeying the rules and laws was just engrained in me from a young age. I'm always annoyed to hear stories of people breaking the rules, they're there for a reason so follow them!

Correct, don’t know where I got 18th from. Must have been thinking PA ducks. This has been a super rough “late” season for me. It started off great, looked like it was gonna be cold, then spring sprung? This weather is terrible. My rivers are blown out and ducks are gone, the geese are around but have been in a leased field for 4 weeks and nobody hunts them so they have no reason to leave that field. Finally found some PA geese that were haunting me and got denied permission on the feed. Sad to say, but I am glad duck season ends tomorrow. I am defeated. Here’s to hoping I can find some honkers!

No late goose this year. South Zone ends January 18. March season is likely gone for a few years if not permanently

that looks awesome, love cooking my breasts skin on, definitely gonna try and make that glaze next time!

I know what you mean, I’ve only been out for deer three days this season, unheard of for me. But watching the dog run around and have a great time has been fun! I could definitely see myself doing lots of bird hunting especially once he’s “finished”. I hope to get out west someday too! Good luck!

I’ll keep that in mind. Once can never have too many shotguns, despite what my better half says.

I really hope he will do waterfowl, it’s what I hunt most often! Right now he is struggling with retrieving, I had him staying steady for a dummy and releasing to fetch on my command but for some reason he quit, lost interest or something. I will certainly work on him for that though, a versatile hunting dog is what I’m after in him.

It is a Stevens 555 20 gauge. Made by Savage. Light to carry and only around $500 so I don’t feel bad getting it dinged up!

In July I finally caved into the Mrs. wanting a dog and settled that it had to be something I can hunt. By chance, a buddy had a litter of Brittanys and we fell in love with one (how can you not love a puppy). Dudley, aka dudders the pup, is now 6 months old and so smart and well behaved (for the most part). I have been working as much as I can to get him trained in hunting but more focused on manners and obedience. The last couple weeks I have been taking advantage of some nearby stocked pheasants and having a blast. It’s fun to see him learn each time out. He has yet to point a live bird but he is definitely figuring out how to find them. He even tracked/recovered a downed bird that we would have not found without a dog! Excited to get him some more training and see how next season goes!

I love saving up the legs and slow cooking them. Shred the meat off the bone and use for pulled pork style sandwiches with BBQ!

We finished out the last day of the March Goose season with a hard earned 4 man limit. We took a chance and slept in, not expecting the birds to fly first thing. The gamble was a bad choice and when we got to the field at 8:00 it was loaded, all we could do was watch from the road as small groups trickled in. Figuring the sudden change in weather might make the birds feed twice we came back around 11:30 and there was only about 10 birds left. Good sign! As we set up birds worked the field; we were feeling hopeful. Finished set up around 1:00 and waited. At about 4:00 they started to trickle in. We enjoyed a few pairs and singles to get started. As the evening continued some bigger volleys were had and around 6:30 the last goose of our limit hit the snow! My buddy’s young dog got a lot of practice out there and was loving it!

I was fortunate enough to have a good hunt yesterday and get my first band! A single came in as we were standing out side of the blind and I took on shot at him and crushed him! We ended up with 18 geese and 4 bands. Mine was 8+ year old and banded near Sudbury, Ontario. The rest of the bands were local, but each came from a different flock.

Finally on the board. A solo drake mallard made my day on a tough hunt Saturday in PA. Experimenting with my 20 gauge O/U this year for early season and liking it!

PA opener was a bust for me. I wasn't on the X and birds did not decoy for me. Missed a few passing shots and one gimme on a teal that swam into the dekes.

That is arrow arum (Peltandra virginica). Ducks love it! I have found the seeds in bear scat as well.