I spent the last 2 weekends hunting over on the eastside. The first was with a good friend over towards pullman for some ducks and pheasants. My buddy has 2 pointers that work very well with my lab. Talk about a ball! By the time the pheasant hunt was into the 3rd bird Sage (my lab) clued into the pointer flusher concept. It had been almost 3 years since these dogs had worked together and after only 20 minutes they rekindled the mastery of the point-flush-retrieve. His dogs would go on point and Sage would get on the trail and pop the bird for the shot. We missed a couple but got to shoot plenty of birds. In the moring we had hunted ducks only to have them disappear 2 days before we got there. We did end up with a couple of bonus geese that helped fill the freezer. I did some pretty lousy shooting for the ducks conf: , but I also hadn't shot at one for more than 2 years either. The shooting went much better with the pheasants thank god. here's some pics from that weekend.The duck retrieve is at the bottom of the post (oops).
The second weekend went awesome for me. I went back home to the tri-cities and was able to do some scouting on the old stomping grounds. My 3 year old daughter had been hounding me for over a month to go out and get some ducks with Sage. I finally gave in and hooked her up with some clothes, and with the weather supposedly looking great I made the long drive from Oly. The only problem with this hunt was that it was 12 degrees colder than it was supposed to be and it was Rose's first time out. Talk about an eye opener for her. She had trouble walking with all of her stuff but she pressed on like a little trooper. I got the dekes set and waited for my first bird of the morning. She had also never heard a gun before so I told her to cover her ears whenever I grabbed the gun. She never missed a beat. 2 minutes after shooting time I chalked up the first bird of the day. Rose wasn't to sure about the gun so i had to pic my shots carefully. After 1 hour of hunting I chalked up 3 drake blues, 1 drake can, and my first ever drake redhead!! I have been chasing the drake redhead for years and have always come up empty. Well no more says I!! The hunt sould have literally ended in less than 20 minutes but I had to be picky about taking the best shoots to help break in my daughter to guns. By the time the hour was over Rose was cold and I had shot plenty for a good stew anyway. I got blown off the water with a surprising wind coming completely out of the wrong direction but that's duckin. Here's some pics of this weekend and the end of my story. I had a ball and was very happy to spend the final one with Rose. It was a lot of work but well worth it. She's even bugging me now for another hunt some time. I'll wait until it's a bit warmer.
The second weekend went awesome for me. I went back home to the tri-cities and was able to do some scouting on the old stomping grounds. My 3 year old daughter had been hounding me for over a month to go out and get some ducks with Sage. I finally gave in and hooked her up with some clothes, and with the weather supposedly looking great I made the long drive from Oly. The only problem with this hunt was that it was 12 degrees colder than it was supposed to be and it was Rose's first time out. Talk about an eye opener for her. She had trouble walking with all of her stuff but she pressed on like a little trooper. I got the dekes set and waited for my first bird of the morning. She had also never heard a gun before so I told her to cover her ears whenever I grabbed the gun. She never missed a beat. 2 minutes after shooting time I chalked up the first bird of the day. Rose wasn't to sure about the gun so i had to pic my shots carefully. After 1 hour of hunting I chalked up 3 drake blues, 1 drake can, and my first ever drake redhead!! I have been chasing the drake redhead for years and have always come up empty. Well no more says I!! The hunt sould have literally ended in less than 20 minutes but I had to be picky about taking the best shoots to help break in my daughter to guns. By the time the hour was over Rose was cold and I had shot plenty for a good stew anyway. I got blown off the water with a surprising wind coming completely out of the wrong direction but that's duckin. Here's some pics of this weekend and the end of my story. I had a ball and was very happy to spend the final one with Rose. It was a lot of work but well worth it. She's even bugging me now for another hunt some time. I'll wait until it's a bit warmer.
