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 Dog pictures - early season..& late last season 
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Likes to fish too..

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Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:23 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Not much going on around here right now. We got to witness 1k bird flyouts each morning this weekend but still haven't found where they are ending up. That is our mission for this week..

Despite the lack of birds using our area, we managed to get a pair of mallards on Sunday morning after a Saturday skunk due to terrible shooting. A 60 yard retrieve on the drake and a 20 yarder on the hen who came back to life when the dog got close.

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Last edited by SawyerBrowndog on Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.



Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:34 pm
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
With our season soon approaching, I think a short update is in order.

We finished out the duck and goose season of 2014/2015 with a fizzle on all accounts. The birds barely cooperated, the dog barely cooperated, and the hunter wasn't any better. On the last weekend we managed 1 drake mallard, 2 geese 3 buffleheads and 1 retrieve! I'm not sure if he was wore out, hurt, or just plain over it. Either way, he wasn't very interested, which was a big disappointment for me. So we packed our gear away and laid around the house with my wife and our new ( at the time) baby for a few weeks.

Once the water got back into the 50's we tied on a couple bucktails and went after the stripers. He fished with me 2 days a week through March, April, May and June. While we caught many fish, his tenacity and aggression towards waterfowl had be excited again. Anytime we saw a duck or goose, he was nearly out of the boat after it, and on a few occasions he was out of the boat after them. I encouraged this behavior in order to show him that is what we are after, and I think he understood. He swam, a lot.

This summer saw us riding on the tractor making food plots for deer. We trained a few nights a week in the evenings too, mostly on long blind retrieves and marking blinds. With every session, I could see little advancements in all the right areas. Trust, problem solving, maturity and effort have all been vastly improved.

Then we took a big step backwards. He's had a "funny" eye ever since he was about 12 weeks old. One eye just turned dark brown for no reason, and none of the experts could figure it out. We worked with Virginia Tech and their vet department to figure this out to no avail. In early July, I took him for a reevaluation after noticing some changes in his eye. After a lot of examination, our worst fears were realized: Cancer. On August 6th, his left eye was removed and sent to the University of Wisconsin for further evaluation. We are hopeful that the cancer is benign, but we also realize there is a high chance that it isn't and that his days are numbered. This is either a harmless cancer or a very aggressive cancer, and the latter has no effective treatment.

Our plan now is to heal up properly, for the next 4 weeks and hope for a good diagnosis. From there, we will take it one step at a time and try to re-learn how to hunt with reduced vision. I'm hopeful that we can obtain permission to a small dove field, and that we can have a few fair dove hunts to get him back into the game. I'd love to get him back up to North Dakota in October, but it will need to be a last minute decision this year. I hope he still hunts, but if not, that's ok too. I've come to realize that he is a one-in-a-million type dog and that I am extremely blessed to have him as a best friend. He'll be on the hunt with me either way, as a participant or observer. So here's to the 2015/2016 hunting season and whatever it holds for us.

Best Buds, sitting on my lap after a long day in North Dakota.
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Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:10 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Cancer:
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Post surgery, sad dog:
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Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:21 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
His first hunt, October 26, 2013. Also my wedding day. He was 14 weeks old here.

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Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:24 am
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King of Spring

Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:50 pm
Posts: 2647
Location: central Va
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. Cousin has a boykin. We Killed grouse over him last year. Super cool little dogs. Hoping for the Best!!!


Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:22 pm
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
It's been a busy fall for all the wrong reasons, but we are finally hunting. In September he had to have a large chunk of his hear removed due to an injury while chasing a goose. We don't know how it happened but he came back to the boat with a severely lacerated ear, which eventually needed removal. So we were down for a few more weeks. For a while after his eye surgery I didn't think he would hunt again. But he's come around and is even better than he was with 2 eyes.

In October we made our way to North Dakota for a week of hunting anything that flies. It was tough hunting, real tough, but we made do and had a good time together. Even if I did lose a $1000 shotgun in the process. :oops: I got to see him chase cripples and hunt dead and cripple ducks in tall grass and reeds, as well as point and flush wild pheasants. He looked like a natural in the uplands, and he LOVED it. He will run all day. By the end of the week, he was beat and rode the 30 hours home with his head on my lap.

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A mornings work in ND. He had to work for each of these ducks shown. Someone (me) was having a BAD shooting day.

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A very slow day here at home, but I liked the looks of this scene and needed a picture of it.

Hopefully we can continue to get it done this season. He's picked up 30 some ducks, a couple dozen doves and a handful of squirrels so far this fall.


Last edited by SawyerBrowndog on Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.



Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:56 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Well our season is mostly over, unless I find some geese to hunt in February. While everyone complained of the lack of ducks and the warm weather, we (me and the brown dog) made the most of it and hunted our tails off. We didn't come out with a high average of birds killed per hunt, but when you hunt 30 times and average just over 3 per, it makes a good season by any standards in this state of Virginia. Best of all, we had an excellent time doing it.

At the start of this season, I wasn't sure if he'd even hunt anymore. He always liked to hunt, but he never showed the drive that my labs have shown, which I never understood. As our season progressed though, he did start to show some fire, though he was still a lot more laid back than my labs and my buddies labs. I've come to appreciate his slow and methodical style of retrieving, and I think that's just the type of dog he is. If the duck is dead, he isn't in a hurry because he doesn't need to be. Fine by me.

It wasn't until the last week of the season when I got to see how strong his desire really is. I shot a double on drake mallards, with one splashing in the decoys and the other landing about 50 yards away on the far shoreline. He got the one in the decoys and I sent him on a line to the far shoreline for a blind attempt. He's got a great nose, so I was confident he'd find it even though I couldn't see it. As he approached the shoreline, the mallard started flapping and trying to evade him by heading down the shoreline. Sawyer had to bust ice to get to the shoreline, then the duck headed back to the water. So Sawyer broke ice heading back out to the duck, and then they played the diving game for about 5-7 minutes. Finally, the duck came up between his legs and when it dove, so did Sawyer. He was totally underwater, but came up with that mallard. It was something to see, and I think it really lit his fire. He was a totally different dog the rest of the week, working with speed and a degree of recklessness that I hadn't seen.

I was even able to talk my wife into going out with us on the last day, which resulted in 4 mallards and a black duck. She was amazed to see her "lap dog" working and chasing down ducks like that.

I wish I could tell him hunting season is over so he'd quit knocking on the bedroom door at 3:30 every morning now. :lol:

Some pics:

Icy pond hunt after work. 15 degrees!
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Busy Float. 3 ducks and 5 squirrels to pick up
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Slow float
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Cont....


Last edited by SawyerBrowndog on Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.



Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:03 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
Was expecting a load of mallards. Surprise!
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One of those gadwalls. The other is on the water behind him. Good shooting! :mrgreen:
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The other gadwall, a puff drake.
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cont.....


Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:06 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
2 hen mallards hanging with a black duck. True triple. Tough retrieve on the black duck, it made it up under a cut bank rootball and Sawyer had to dig his way in. We got it though. Nice work all around.
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The end of a ~130 yard goose retrieve. I wasn't sure he'd do it, but he did.
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Same goose, I liked this photo with the blur
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A very cold and windy hunt. That buddy heater was put to good use. Great dog work on this day
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Last edited by SawyerBrowndog on Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:05 am, edited 1 time in total.



Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:10 am
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Jake

Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:49 am
Posts: 27
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
The end of another cold, but calm hunt. 3 shots fired for 5 birds this day. 2 Scotch doubles and some excellent dog work busting ice and being tenacious
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Best buds floating the river. PFD under my waders :smt002 Pic courtesy of my wife who joined us on this day
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Over zoomed and poor light action shot of a mallard retrieve across the river. Courtesy of my wife
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Another action shot, heading back to the canoe
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Grande Finale, great day.
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Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:15 am
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Poult

Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:53 am
Posts: 2
Post Re: Dog pictures - early season..& late last season
SawyerBrowndog wrote:
Con't.

My apologies for photo quality. I am limited to a Galaxy Note 4 right now as my main camera took a swim. I really need to decide on a new one to capture these moments..

I am really happy about how this dog is turning out. He's been hunting since Dec 7 2014 and is 18 months old now. We are nearing 50 retrieves this season, 16 species. He loved flushing the many woodcock that stayed on my property this fall, and is a dove hunting machine. He still hesitates when it comes to waterfowl hunting, but he gains more confidence each hunt. I think he has poor eyesight and can't see the birds on the water when he is at water level. He's getting it though..

His species:
Black duck
Mallard
Brewers duck (mallardxgadwall)
Gadwall
Green wing teal
Blue wing teal
Shovelor
Pintail
Lesser scaup
Canvasback
meilleur crédit
Hooded merganser
Surf scoter
Canada goose
Mourning Dove
Gray squirrel
Fox squirrel

As a side note, I've committed myself to using 1 gun while hunting with him. Every animal he has picked up has been taken by a Franchi Affinity, 20 Gauge. We are hoping for some buffleheads, redheads and common mergansers to round out this season.

Hello,
Have you always used caliber 20 in other cases?


Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:19 pm
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