You wasted how many?

Al Hansen

Well-known member
Last night as Bev and I were walking the pups, I made the decision to take Pepper along on the last day of duck season. It has been over two years since I hunted her last and I was curious as to how she was going to do. As I had the pups get into the truck this morning, I thought I would have to put a brown paper bag over her head to keep her from hyper-ventilating. She knew what was going on and was so darn excited.
Well when we reached the ranch it seemed like everything was finally all right with her. She and Chili clambered up on the Kawasaki and got ready to go.

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I have about a mile of some winding pathways filled with branches hanging out, so I drive very slowly and always wear goggles. When we arrived at the beaver pond Pepper and Chili knew right where to go and all was well. She sat along side Chili just like this picture shows you for one hour and twenty-six minutes. That is how long it took to see the very first ducks.

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I had four mallards fly over and I was able to sweet talk two of them to come back around for another look. Nothing could have been more perfect for the set up. I took a double, set my shotgun down, and grabbed my camera. The great news is that Pepper fit right in just like I had her hunting two days ago. Hard to believe but I was so proud of her.

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Well, the pups and I then sat there for another 43 minutes with nothing. They continued to sit there like little tin soldiers and not moving a muscles. I was staring out at the pond and saw this scene in front of me, so I grabbed my camera for a picture. As I began shooting the pic I could hear the wings above my head. Since we were under the limbs of some good sized trees, I could see the bellies of two mallards coming in.

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VERY carefully I placed my camera on the carrying bag and grabbed my shotgun. This time I had to shoot three times to put both of them down. Chili stayed back with me and I watched Pepper do her thing.

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Once again we settled in for a long wait. 46 minutes passed until a lone drake baldpate came barreling in. This guy came in so fast that I'm glad I didn't miss him. He fell on the second shot. Both dogs took off after him and I knew that the alpha female would get the bird. She always does.

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What a wonderful way to end the season. When I got home Bev asked if I had brought any meat home for the table and I told her that I shot five ducks. "How many shells did you shoot?" she asked. I told her that I had shot seven shells. "You mean that you wasted two shells?" My gosh, I love her so much.
Al

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Al,
What a great last hunt for the season. That pic of both dogs with a bird each is priceless. Way to go.

My season ended nicely also. Walking down a dike heading for the truck after just hanging around after a limit of ducks I heard a new noise and looked up. Low and behold a white goose was just there, from now where. One shot and had my first snow goose ever in over 30 years of waterfolwing. And here in Canada heaven of all places.

Thanks for all the photos of your hunts.
 
That is a nice way to end the season.
The pictures with both of them bringing back a duck are special.

Tim
 
Old dogs do indeed spoil us. I think it will be more than a few years before I get spoiled with the current boys here. I remember how steady my Jack was and now that is top of Booker's training for next summer. Looks like we are going to get some more winter tonight here. BUT that means one day closer to open water and it looks like we will have plenty of that next summer. Thanks for the pics, it sure is fun to see those yellow dogs doing what they were born for.
 
Looks like a great hunt Al! Those dogs are amazing. I love that picture of Pepper staring at the camera. She is a good looking dog.
 
Great set of pics Al. The double retreive is priceless!! Congrats on a great end to the season. Jake
 
Al - That warmed up a cold day ! I was wondering about Pepper and this series certainly showed us what she can do. Wonderful close ups of the dogs !
sarge
 
Love the pictures Al. With 20" of snow being predicted I could use a duck hunt over a nice open beaver pond.
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]"You mean that you wasted two shells?"

Now that is a great line. You chose well Al.
[/font]
 
Now for the good news. Bev came into the office and asked me to make an 8x10 print of one of those shots where Chili and Pepper are each bringing back a duck. She is going to do an OIL PAINTING of that for me. It will hang in the office. When she is done, I will take a photo of it and post it on this site. This IS exciting!
Al
 
Jim,
Bev did these years ago for me when Chili was a pup (9 weeks old in May of 2003) and then began to hunt with me (10 months old in Dec. of 2003). The small white pup is that of Pepper as she began to grow. One day we took Chili and Pepper to a small man made lake for some retrieving practice and had a ball watching Pepper trying to take the bumper away from Chili. She learned to swim on that day, also. Anyway, these three pics I just took in the office.
Al

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