in Missouri. We need some duck hunting pictures on this site. Please add pictures of yours.



or add you hound picture - here is mine - 4 yr. old Chessie - Doc

That's a good looking blind. I hope it has a heater. To a Florida boy that looks very cold.

SH

Nice, I will post pics of mine after Saturday.
Those of us on the middle Susqeuhanna are really paying the price for this mild weather. some days you do not see A duck, not one.

But you still go day after day just hoping!!!
Dulcinea

Snipe hunter, Our duck hunting is just now getting fairly good. We hunt 3 people normally and usually get 7 to 10 ducks in the first couple hours.

We have to wait for pretty cold weather in order to have ducks move on down here. It has to freeze them out of Northern Missouri. Usually it is best when its about 15 degrees. We do have a heater but rarely use it. We do use those chemical hand and toe warmers a lot.

Dulcena, I look forward to seeing your blind. Its always fascinating to see how others go about setting up. For the same duck, different regions have completely different approaches so it is unique in hunting in that respect. Whereas with deer or African game they are pretty much hunted the same way from one camp to the next.

Others - jump in here - we would like to see how you do it.

Nice photos ,here in my small city everybody are hunting ducks even in radio shows are talking about the great tradition of duck hunting.Juan

Palmer: What part of missouri u from. Yup northern missouri is holding alot of duck's. We killed alot of ducks for the most part but the last few weeks were kinda slow. we needed some new duck's. Are's have been seting here for 2 months but o well season is over now. Time to kill some geese.

Juan, I want to come down and hunt ducks with you some time. What is the best month? I wonder if it would be possible to fly there to hunt ducks as someone was on the way to Africa as sort of a half way break.

Kris,
Branson. Glad to hear there are still some more ducks north of us. Our season is a little over half finished so shoo em on down here.

Our Blind, taken today.

First the floater, the water level is about at max for hunting out of it, in fact today we stayed out of it because my companion was not my regular partner.



Next the high water blind, the two are about 80 yds apart, we prefer the floater because the high blind looks into the sun and the island the floater is on.


Now the dog, Hershey, 11 yrs old and still going strong. She did not go today because I thought it was going to be to high. Should have taken her!!

We(hershey, my partner, myself and blinds) were featured in an article in the Sept 2002 issue of the DU magazine.

Hunting ducks is what we really live for, out of the 60 days someone is in the blind about 45-50 days.

This is the worst year ever due to this weird wheater pattern. Usually by now we are constantly breaking ice just to stay hunting.

Dulcinea

Here's Hershey.

By the way the turkeys were roosted in the trees behind the floater again this morning. We like to mess wtih them with the duck calls in the morning, makes em gobble like mad!!!!

Dulcina,
Those blinds give me goose bumps. Can you put a boat under the high water blind? What are the dimensions of these blinds? Are they both in the same area? A river?

Guys we also have had a strange year of duck hunting in southern Iowa. Our pond went through so many freeze/thaw cycles then it went warm and has stayed warm until now. For some strange reason all of the snow has gone either north or south of us and we still have ducks flying around here, quite unusual for Jan 1. Lots of open water and forage available but season is over. We did quite well on Gadwall's, Shoveler's, Green and Blue wing Teal, Mallards, and Ringnecks.

Palmer,
The floater is 6x9 with 10 inches of styrofam flotation. In this pic the water is mid thigh right behind the blind with some current. We would park the boat under the bent over trees to the left. About a week ago this blind was sitting just about on the ground. It is on the upstream tip of a 75 acre island. We would mov3e it to a safe place if the water got any deeper.

The high blind is about 80 yds away on a small low island, it is pallet racking on a concrete base and tied fast to the tres behind. the blind is 4x8. The water at the steps is about 6 in deep in this pic. We can hunt here until the water gets aboput a foot above the cross bar. It is usually easier to decoy ducks here but we prefer the floater due to visibility.

The weekend after Thanksgiving this blind was TOTALLY under water for a few days, the floater was in the safe place but I tied it wrong and it got flipped over and I had to rebuild the blind part.
We are about 2 miles north of Marietta on the Susquehanna river, just about in the middle of the river.

If you are going to Dallas we should get together and talk ducks!!!

Dulcinea

At the high blind in the pic the decoys are in water about 6ft deep right now!!

Dulcinea

Dulcinea,
I have never hunted in swift water. It would be interesting to see a dog work there. I bet it would take a few retreives before they could get the interception line right.

I will be in Dallas - at least on Saturday - and will be wearing an AR cap with Palmer on it.

Really nice blinds Dulcinea! Just take a picture of any big tree out in the flooded timber in Arkansas and that's my blind! I hunt like my daddy did, only I do blow a call and all he did was kick water and virtually never missed a shot. The ducks flew slow back then cause they were so stuffed with rice from supper the night before. Modern combines don't leave much rice in a field. Merg

Go back and look at the high blind, by Wednesday evening the camo part will be 2/3 under the water. IF we were still hunting we would hunt the floater at its safe place.

But now you do everything in slow motion because one slip and you are history!!!

Dulcinea

Dulcinea, why a blind ? Just paddle down the river in a canoe .I've done that here on the Delaware River for geese !!

Not a chance for me, I want a resonable chance at staying just above frigid and somewhat dry. On a mile wide river wide river jump shooting is not very practical.

D

Awesome Blind dude. I am jealous. I live in Georgia and the duck hunting down here is sparse compared to Mizzu. I just got back from hunting in New Madrid and that hunting was unreal. I don't think I've ever seen more mallards trying to land in a spread ever. If you ever want a good hunting companion, let me know. I'll bring the food and the Scotch if you provide the blind. Thanks for sharing this. It looks like it belongs on a DU calendar.

Here's a few.


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/dukxdog/taglimit1.jpg[/IMG]

Tag and me finishing his AKC Senior Hunter title

Nice looking dog.'ve had several people try to tell me that the chocolets were cull's and not worth messing with. I guess they forgot to tell "Tag". Congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by Don Fischer:
Nice looking dog.'ve had several people try to tell me that the chocolets were cull's and not worth messing with. I guess they forgot to tell "Tag". Congrats!

Tag is out of Baracuda Blue(Highest point chocolate in history) and Storms Riptide Star(only chocolate NFC in history) bloodlines. He is an athletic 77 pounds. He is OFA excellent, CNM cleared on white list and CERF clear. He is a easy handling dog who wants to please. He has sired 4 litters and everyone loves his pups. I really enjoy him. Oh yeah...he points pheasants too!

dukxdog,
Great pictures. I really like the decoys on the ice setup. It always amazes me to see ducks decoy right to the edge and sometimes onto the ice. Also am impressed that Tag was patiently waiting on the far shore as you took that picture.

Where do you hunt?

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
dukxdog,
Great pictures. I really like the decoys on the ice setup. It always amazes me to see ducks decoy right to the edge and sometimes onto the ice. Also am impressed that Tag was patiently waiting on the far shore as you took that picture.

Where do you hunt?

Hey Allen- I like those GHG Full bodies. I try to have a realistic spread. My blind is the second clump to the left if the tall trees. This was a little pothole which wasn't frozen in the lake shallows. Late in the season the ducks decoy to the outskirts of the decoys so I set them away from me. The ducks were coming in near where Tag was standing. He does what he's told an I practice having him wait for me to do what I need to do. He doesn't break either. We hunt big rivers a lot so I have to be careful not to send him in current where he might get in trouble on a retrieve. He is a very nice dog to hunt with and a GREAT companion.
I'm In Idaho Falls, ID.
Thanks for the coments!
Your set up and Chessie look great too!

A couple more photos.

dukxdog,

Nice setup, we could only dream about snow and ice this year. I agree sending a dog into the swift water can only mean trouble. Hershey is content to reach over the side of the boat and grab them if I give her the OK.

Dulcinea

ducksdog,

Your boat looks eeriely similar to mine but I have a 4 hp Suzuki 4 stroke and not the devil. But I have to ask, what is that rolled up fence looking thing? Beautiful lab by the way.

Palmer. How do you like your Chessie? I am looking into getting one and I have heard a few negatives from my friends. Some say they take awhile to catch on. Others say that they are mean. Can you give me a little info please.

coyote bait,

A Chessie is a very special dog. As you probably know, they are the only truely American breed of retriever.

They were bred in the Chesapeake Bay region by fishermen and hunters from a Spanish Water Spaniel and a Newfoundland (they think) mix and used for retrieving large numbers of waterfowl in stormy and icy waters as well as for guarding the cabin when their owner was out commercially fishing. Out of this guard duty they developed a strong sense of territory and family.

Early in the 1800's they were called the "Red Winchester" and a bit later "the Gunpowder River dog".

They will look upon your direct family members as their family and will defend them to the end but they do not usually have a high opinion of outsiders.

From my (only)one experience, I think you can train them to accommodate outsiders but they never seem to genuinely like them nor their dogs. They won't walk up to a stranger to get petted but they will retrieve their ducks with enthusiasm.

Their strong points are that they will complete retrieves that other breeds (at least the ones I have had) would give up on - especially long, big water retrieves or where they have to break through a lot of ice. They are also great guard dogs.

As to their reputation for being harder to train than Labs, I suspect they have earned it. It is often said that if a 2x4 doesn't get their attention get a bigger log.

I recently read however that researchers have discovered that rather than being stubborn they are actually very sensitive. Don't know about that. I do know that with mine I have to get him to think something is his idea before he goes along with it but once he has got it - thats it - he won't change.

Bottom line as I see it - If you hunt mostly with the same people and they do not have dogs and you are ready for a challenge then the Chessie may be for you. The reward is a great guard dog, fantastic retriever and the best dog friend you and your family will ever have.

Thank you for the information. It is greatly appreciated. Nice pic too.

My DU RD has a chessie that breaks all the conventional arguments about them. Skip is without a doubt the best behaved, friendliest dog I have ever met. He spends all week with us at the Harrisburg Outdoor show and does his part by going out into the aisle to stop people. He is always looking for a scracth or pat. KIds can do anything thing to him and he simply takes it!!
When his Dad goes for a walk at the show Skip simply watches him walk off and never leaves his post.
If the pictures are any indication he hunts hard also!!!

Palmer, I get the impression that the sensitive part is right on, the facial expression of that dog are amazing.

This being said I know others that are the meanest SOBs' that could possibly exist and still go hunting.

Dulcinea

Sweet, and thanks for posting! Beautiful dogs and a nice eye for pictures, you possess. Funny, but the other day on another thread, someone asked the classic question in the USBG forum; the 'if you could only hunt one animal for the rest of your days...' I thought to myself, and concluded immediately that if I had to choose only one type of hunting and methods, it'd be not any BG species, but waterfowling, hands down. Am I alone, I wonder?

Thanks Kamo,

Actually my son happened to take that picture of Doc launching off the rock.

I was busy cussin at the time because I took a dumb long shot and sailed one down so far from shore.

Doc has developed a habit on long retreives of leaping high. I guess he is trying to get a final fix on the duck before he splashes in. I have asked him several times why he does it but he doesn't say anything.

By the way, I am with you on waterfowl being the one hunt to go with if you had to choose .... The only problem is that as you get older it's not the easiest type of hunting to do.

Kamo, you are not alone. No second thoughts here!!!

Dulcinea

Gidday Guys,

We open the Gamebird season here in New Zealand on 5 May. The last few weeks have been spent on prep for the glorious 5th.

Here are some photos of the prep. I will post some photos of the results in a couple of weeks.

Barry taking gear to the Maimai (blind).



Opening morning will be great.


Ducks and Black swan welcoming us



The maimai



The maimai looking good




In the hour that we spent tidying things up we saw approximately 200 mallard and paradise duck fly over in range. I just hope my shooting is up to it.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

May I chime in here with a little southern addition? When we hunt here in GA it is mostly either large open water lakes or beaver pond swamps. My blind is a Triton duck boat with an Avery blind for the lakes, just wade in and embrace a tree for the beaver ponds.
Someone above mentioned a Chessie and while I have had a bit of experience with Labs and etc I have only had dealings with one Chessie, and what a character this dog was! Allow me to elaborate, please. My friend Cecil had this Chessie, Buster and he was the best retriever I have ever seen - when he wanted to be. If it suited him, he could make retrieves you could not believe. When he did not want to you could not make him pick one up at your feet. And if you went hunting with Cecil, Buster would not allow you in the boat or the blind until Cecil had smacked him a time or two - then everything was ok. Buster would share your lunch, steal your goodies, fetch your ducks and then, next trip, same thing all over again.
I'll tell you a couple of short stories and you'll see what a dog Buster really was. I knocked down a high flyer that circled about forty times and would not come on in, and Cecil sent Buster after it. This bird was down but about 125 yds or so out. Buster made a perfect find, picked up the duck and kept going to the other side of the slash water. He put the duck down and shook the water off his coat, then came back to us - without the duck! And no way was he going to go back and get it, I finally waded out and brought it back.
And he had to be able to see out of the blind. I once watched this dog chew a hole through switch canes on the blind so he could get his head out and look around. And I don’t recall ever seeing ducks that he wasn’t looking at before we saw them. I could tell you more stories but should not wish to wear out my welcome.

Chassons quelques canards!

Its very nice to see duck hunters are the same in all the world thank you for sharing with us Hamish.Juan

Gidday Guys,

14 hours 35 min untill the bird season for 2007 kicks off. Its a pity that no southerly has been forcast for tomorrow but we have a strong northeaster blowing which will hopefully keep the birds low and out of the middle of the lake.

All the gear is prepped and if I have forgotten it now its too bloody late.

The excitement has built to a fever pitch and it will definitely be a couple of stiff drinks to be able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

I will post some more pics after opening and let you know how things worked out. The fluffed shots as well as the good ones.

Good luck to all the others out tomorrow and have a great opening weekend.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Well said, Juan. A waterfowler is a special breed of madman indeed! Thanks to Hamish and Trapper. Both pics and quick tales brought smiles.