You never know what a dog will do

John Augustine

Well-known member
All this cold water talk goit me to thinking about a day a few years ago.
I hunt frequently where I have to block a jogging path on a state park to put my boat in the water. It was verry cold with ice
making when I returned to take out. I was met by an elderly woman who was interested in my ducks(I usually hide them) and she
asked if I HADE my dog go into that cold water! I told her I did not, at that second I heard a splash and My guy Jeb had jumped into
the bay and was just swimming around. That was the same dog who just a couple hours earlier had been sent on a bird that sailed
100 yards before it died. The line from the blind took him close to our boat. He took a great line to the boat,sat in it,and looked back
at me. I went out,started the boat and took him to the bird. He knew I never shoot that far!!
He's not a chessie but he loves cold water, MOST OF THE TIME!! John
 
Sometimes they love it just as much as we do. Who would've thunk it!!


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That's a funny story John. I often throw bumpers for Molly in a touristy village on one of the Finger Lakes, right on through the late duck season. Lots of people will stop and watch, then they ask if she minds the cold water. I just tell them "That's what she lives for." It's also funny how the cold days hunting are when she often decides to go out and play in the water.

Pete: I like the hat. Who made it?
 
John,

I trapped the beaver that went into the hat and had a local fur buyer send it out to have it made. I don't know where he sent it - could have been Freeport, IL as I think there is a company there that works with fur. It's so warm that I can't wear it unless the temp is below 15 degrees. I've had that hat for 20-25 years and at the time it was $65 to have it made.
 
Cool. Our local furbuyer has a similar beaver hat for sale, with a quilted inside lining. He's asking $65 for it, I thought it was a good deal.
 
I trapped the beaver that went into the hat and had a local fur buyer send it out to have it made.


Pete,

That is pretty cool but I can imagine what Dave Parks would have done.

He would have laid in wait for that beaver and stunned him with a light blow up side his noggin. While the beaver was in a stupor, ol Dave would have then hog tied the beaver and proceeded to wear the beaver for a hat that day. All the while the beaver, cause he is still living, is pumping heat right onto the top of ol Dave's head. At the end of the day, Dave would have gently released that beaver so he could repeat the process next time it got cold enough to warrant it.

That's how ol Dave Parks would have done it alright.
 
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Sounds like a great deal. Mine has a quilted lining also. Does the $65 include your beaver or exchange? I've looked at the prices of hats on line and most are at least double that.
 
That price is for a finished hat that he has right there in the store. No need to supply any fur. I think he had a bunch of them made from USA Foxx.

For other reasons, he's no longer dealing with Foxx.

Sorry John for getting off on a tangent.
 
Very good story, John. Was the elderly gal wide eyed when Jeb took a swim? Even Chili used to like the cold water. She happens to be a long haired type lab and I'm sure it never bothered her or at least she never showed that it did. I just didn't like her in all that ice that the Rio Grande will once in a while have.

As for the beaver hat, Pete, it looks very warm and just right.
Al
 
John
It's a good thing our dogs are smarter than us at times. Cool hat Pete and how much for that S/S? :)
wis boz
 
Shame on you for treating your dog like that, making him go swim in that cold water while you loaded the boat. :)
 
Ya AL ,
It was late december and the ducks were prime and beautiful but she screamed when she heard Jeb's splash.
Wish I took pictures. I have all the pictures locked in my head but that doesn't help here.
I just thought Pete was having a bad hair day!! John
 
Its funny this discussion ended up talking about the beaver fur hat. The other thread had a post in it to the effect of dogs being similar to us in cold water and air. For some reason it just seemed like a strange comment to me. Animals are so much different in the cold they you and I are. Since I have a chessie with the oil and undercoat that is so well suited to the cold I thought man we better tell the beavers and otters to stay out of the cold water to.. I mean heck they are not that much different then you and I in cold water or air.. Just funny to me the discussion came around to how warm that beaver fur hat was.

I too have had similar experiances to my dog taking a swim when you would think they would want anything else other then going onto the water. As soon as the ice starts to break up in late April early May Bella will be out swimming in circles in the 10 feet of open water between shore and the ice.


John,
Do you hide your birds to avoid conflict with the bunny huggers?
 
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