Meet Rico!

Al Hansen

Well-known member
I know how lucky I was when I found out about duckboat.net. It was a long time ago that I first crossed paths with Doug Bowman. I know he was originally from New Jersey and shooting ducks. Then I remember his voyage west to a duck factory in northeastern Montana where he and Nancy decided to begin a new life out. We have always kept track and it was earlier this summer that I asked him if he might have a chocolate male pup. He told me about the two that he had and it was right then that I made a decision to go up and see them and pick up some new blood for our kennel.

Doug and Nancy's kennel is called Sweetgrass Labradors and they have some great hunting dogs. Back on July 31st I took off early on that Thursday morning and headed almost straight north. I do know that this is the farthest that I have ever driven to pick up a pup. From our house to theirs was 1,226 miles. Basically it was from a little bit north of Mexico to a little bit south of Canada. All I can say is that Rico was worth every mile. I brought my yellow female, Belize, along to keep the new pup company. They bonded easily and my trip went very well.

So today when that Cooper's Hawk darn near caught that quail that lost her life when she hit our kitchen door, things quickly changed. I knew that Rico liked tennis balls but had never had a warm body to toss to see what he would do. All I can say is that there were lots of sore facial muscles from me smiling too much!

Here is Rico, who sat when I asked him and held onto this bird. Not only that when I put my hand down to take the bird it was not a struggle to get it. I will enjoy this fall.
Al





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I think Rico likes quail alot more than tennis balls! He looks like a Natural, but better looking than Robert Redford, once he grows into those long legs!
 
Greg, I am betting that you looked at his big feet, just like my wife did. He reminds me of a gangly teenager.
Al
 
Hey John, you zeroed in on something. It will be fun to watch him continue with his retrieving.
Al
 
Sandy, I, too, am wondering how long those legs will be. That is a trait that I happen to like in the American variety.
Al
 
Thank you for those kind words, Cory. Right now the little bugger is sound asleep draped over my feet.
Al
 
How's Dougie doing? He used to come by our cabin during duck season when he was still in Fortescue. Is he living the dream or what?
 
Hi Al

Rico is looking great! its nice to see him off to a great start with the quail. I know he will get a lot of ducks to retrieve with you.
Hope to see him with some ducks in his mouth this season. It was nice having you up here that morning.
His brother went down to Big timber to a guy who will hunt him on the Yellowstone river.

Thank you

Doug
 
greg setter said:
How's Dougie doing? He used to come by our cabin during duck season when he was still in Fortescue. Is he living the dream or what?

Hi greg

Living large out here, best move I ever made.

Hows life at the shack.


Doug
 
Good morning, Greg,
It was good to hear from you. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had making that short trip, only 1, 226 miles from Socorro, NM, to see Doug and Nancy and pick out a male chocolate pup to take home with me. From what I saw, Greg, they are doing great and to answer your question---Yes, they live in a spot that would inspire me to make that same move, if I had the time left in life to do so. That 40 acre parcel that they own is special and surrounded by some great ranch countryside. They are doing just fine.

We finally got a big rain last night and I will be out and about looking for a possible place to hunt teal.

I wish you well this fall when your season opens, Greg.
Al
 
Hi Doug,
Great to hear from you. I hope all is well up in God's country with Nancy and you.

We are happy beyond words with the way Rico is learning. His love for retrieving is phenomenal. He will play an important part in our breeding program, also when that time comes. In the meantime, I will try my hardest to get him out in January of 2020, for that last month of our duck season. He is such a quick learner. But please know that I will play that game one day at a time and make sure when I do take him, it will be right for Rico! We will train him by using Chip and Habi as good examples. We think Habi is pregnant so will have to wait to see if she will be ready for that last month of hunting. I might end up just using Chip.

I will look forward to hearing all about your hunting season this fall and winter. Good luck, Doug.
Al

Here is another shot of Rico bringing t hat quail back to me. You just have to love those expressive eyes of his. I will look forward to sharing lots of time with him. You should see the love he has for going on rides with me on the Mule.



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Great looking pup! ]
Nice to see you posting again, always enjoy seeing your dogs at play & at work.
 
Hi Carl,
Since our teal season is on, I took Chip with me this morning to see if I might be able to give him some work. We had a wonderful rain last night and I was sure there would be a puddle or two that I could or might find some bwt/cinnamons hanging around. Not so. No puddles consequently no ducks. This was our 2nd good rain since the last half of March and the one before that was the first week in October last year. It is really dry around here.

I was monitoring the Rio Grande when we had some good rain in the area about 4 days ago. In 20 minutes, the Rio Grande went from 0.1cfs to 800cfs. Glad I was not out on the river when that happened. I just went to check on the Rio Grande this morning and it is so muddy I don't think teal would land in it.

Good luck this fall when your duck season opens.
Al

I just finished working with Chip on his retrieving skills. He was tuckered out and of course was thirsty so we headed home which is just a couple of miles. In the one picture of the dry pond area the x marks about where I put my blind when there is water. In the past 4 years, only last year was there water here.



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Al, I bet you did have a good time making that trip. I just did 1500 miles round trip to take my daughter to college, so I am recently familiar with long drives. Out west you can really enjoy a road trip. Anbd the scenery never looks too bad where you are.

Doug, great to hear from you. You wouldn't recognize the place. It's now up on stilts, completely remodeled inside with oak paneling, full kitchen,lots of dogs. New heat and AC. We never designed it to be rustic.
 


Knowing you greg I bet it made the cover of Better Homes and Garden, Lets see some pictures.
 
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What a good looking pup! My better half and I have been talking adding another pup to the family. My 3 yo BLF went to my buddy's kennel a couple weeks ago and she'll be there until my return - the last weekend of the 2nd split of NC's season. Besides obviously missing my two legged family above most - I didnt know how much I would miss hunting and training Lucy.
 
Hey Greg, what you had to say about making that trip with your daughter going to college, quickly brought back a memory long ago stored away in the dusty archives of my brain. When my son was a sophomore in high school, it happened to be a couple of days prior to Spring break for him, which meant just over a week to be home. Well, it just so happened that it was snowing back home in northcentral Wisconsin where we lived. At the supper table I looked at him and asked how long it would take for him to gather the clothes that he needed and of course his golf clubs? I told him to be ready the following morning so that we could get in my Dodge mini van (back in the 80s) because we were going on a golfing vacation. So we headed south towards St. Louis and stopped when the thermometer said 65F. My gosh did we have fun.

Now years later, with my son living in San Jose', CA and being 45 years old, the family structure has changed and Bev and I have four-legged critters who sure seem to be family to us. Like I said before, I have never driven 2,452 miles (round trip) to pick up a particular lab for our kennel before. Our not so little 14 week old chocolate lab, Rico, is doing just fine. I have to tell you that he also likes being a lap dog and now Bev is wondering how large he will have to get before I can't take it anymore. So far so good. He is very special. I sure am glad that I have kept in touch with Doug and his Sweetgrass kennel.
Al

First picture is of the lap dog, Rico. Then the following shots were taken by our pond. Most mornings, Bev and I will head over to the pond where our swing is and have our coffee there while watching birds eating the food we provide them. Presently we are feeding a couple of hundred Gambel's quail each morning and evening. There signal happens to be our barking dogs when it comes time to eat. The quail recognize that barking dogs with knowing food will be spread out for them, also. Bev does take the time to water several of her plants that she has. We enjoy this special time we have with our dogs as we bring over Rico, Belize and Bev's yellow female, Casa. What is amazing is that the quail are only 15 to 20 feet from us and under a mesquite tree, eating to their heart's content and they know that our dogs or us will not bother them. One day this past summer we had 18 broods of quail come in for some food. This ranged in size of youngsters from just born fuzz balls to some that seemed almost the same size as their parents. The largest brood was 24, which included mom and dad to the smallest which was mom, dad and just one youngster.



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