Lost birds

[AlaskaHunter]

One thing I strive for is minimal loss of cripples.
2023 was a great year for me...zero lost birds.

Got to hunt my pup 46 times, starting in September on MT grouse in the high country,
then mostly wild MT roosters and ending with huns. Lots of memorable retrieves.

 

[BZNHNTR]

Looks like you have a good dog to help with that, so essential. Just got back from duck hunting on the OR coast and we would have been 3 birds lighter without our Pudlepointer, for ducks he’s no lab but he finds the wounded birds and can finally sit in a blind at age 7…

 

[kansasdad]

Nice work @AlaskaHunter! Does he always wink when he delivers a bird to hand?

I too am at zero birds lost so far this season. But that is because my shotgun hasn’t come out of the safe this season.

 

[Bryerific]

I really appreciate it when people pride themselves in recovering their birds for reasons beyond taking a picture of a stack or limit. One of the things that turns me off of a lot of hunting buddies is their lack of interest looking for a hard to find bird. Now am I perfect? Definitely not. However, like @AlaskaHunter, I do try to have minimal loss and I remember ones I cannot find.

This year my partners and I lost a total of two doves, two ducks, and likely a goose. The dog also found two ducks that were neither ours nor still edible. That is our largest total in a few years but it used to be much higher when we goose hunted near a private property/lake that allowed no access for recovery. It would always suck to watch a goose sail for half a mile and then an hour later watch a coyote go pick it up off the ice. Those coyotes were well trained.

On youth weekend, I was proud that my little cousin didn’t give up on a challenging retrieve. We didn’t have a dog with us and he could have very easily decided to give up walking in the chest high brush and just shoot another teal, but eventually I stepped on it and he was rewarded with his first drake mallard!

 

[thusby]

I feel like we do really good to not lose any birds, but then we go diver duck hunting in big water.

 

[X13]

I feel like we do really good to not lose any birds, but then we go diver duck hunting in big water.

Gosh, I'm with you there. I think sea ducks wear body armor and have scuba gear stashed under the surface for when things get tough. I think next year I'm bringing a turkey gun with a red-dot, a tight choke, and #9 TSS in the boat for long range cripple recovery.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I feel like we do really good to not lose any birds, but then we go diver duck hunting in big water.

Divers are difficult, they dive never to be seen again.
Puddlers are different...here is my pup's first blind retrieve on a puddler which she recovered after about 10 minutes.