North to ND/An Ode to Ruark

[MNElkNut]

A great morning for a dog while duck hunting is a great morning of duck hunting in my book! Especially since it is the first hunt for Team Creed!

 

[TheGreek]

We added two blue wing teal to the bag for the evening hunt. Creed did well again.

Back at it in the morning. Weather is rolling in. Hopefully it makes the ducks move.

 

[TheGreek]

Brutal weather this morning. 40 degrees and blowing 25 to 40 mph out of the north with a spotting rain. Duck hunt was better this morning but nothing spectacular, managed another 8 birds this morning, consisting of two BWT, three gadwall, two ringbills and one hen mallard.

But the real story from this morning was Creed. He made two water retrieves on crippled birds of well over 100 yards and chased another duck that was diving on him for awhile until he finally got ahold of it. Great morning for Creed in the marsh. I was really impressed by him.

Here he is waiting for his next retrieve.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Such a thoughtful post. The pain of losing them is only surpassed by one thing, the lasting joy they bring to our lives. Take solace in the fact you gave him the best life one could have.

Great pics! Great hunt! I am looking forward to getting out there.

 

[corndog1]

Sorry about your pup.

 

[brymoore]

Death of pups tears all of us apart.

 

[NoWiser]

Your story of Ruark nearly reduced me to tears.

Something tells me that you and Creed are going to be best friends. Looks like you’re already off to a great start.

 

[TheGreek]

We snuck out for a quick sharptail hunt and got into them good yesterday. Killed a two man limit in 35 minutes. Creed did great. He is still very visual when retrieving birds, I’m sure he’ll improve at using his nose and nose one goes on and he has more bird contacts.

Evening duck hunt last night was a bust. Back at it this morning for one last duck hunt. Fingers crossed some birds play the game.

 

[TheGreek]

this morning’s duck hunt was slow. Only killed two. Gonna sneak out for a quick grouse hunt now and then start the long drive home. End of hunting camp is always a little sad.

Creed looking for ducks this morning.

 

[Ben Lamb]

And you may find yourself living in a duck blind
And you may find yourself in another coulee full of grouse
And you may find yourself chomping on the wings of a large goose
And you may find yourself in a beautiful corn field, with a beautiful rooster
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

 

[grizzly63]

And you may find yourself living in a duck blind
And you may find yourself in another coulee full of grouse
And you may find yourself chomping on the wings of a large goose
And you may find yourself in a beautiful corn field, with a beautiful rooster
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Quite the "Talking Head" I like it.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Happy to follow your thread.

So very sorry about Ruark. His time may have been short, but it was filled by you.

Glad you and Creed are building a nice partnership. I hope you share many years in the blinds and fields.

Also glad you found a few decent grouse hunts. Early ducks in ND are tough. The big flights haven’t shown up yet. If you ever get a chance to come back right before freeze up, it can be the stuff dreams are made of.

Safe travels home.

 

[TheGreek]

Managed to kill a pair of sharptails this morning that Creed flushed. One fell in heavy cover and he did a great job using his nose to find the bird. That pair was a happy memory to end the trip on.

Two happy hunters.

 

[TheGreek]

Sharptail crops. So cool to see the varied things these birds eat.

 

[El Jason]

Thought those were your appetizer plates for a minute

 

[TheGreek]

what are the whitesh looking things? Snow berries?

I think so.

 

[El Jason]

I think so.

That or Russian Olives.

 

[Slam]

I like that shotgun!

 

[Hunting Wife]

what are the whitesh looking things? Snow berries?

I think so.

Were you hunting around soybean fields? Some of those (those bottom two particularly) look like soybeans to me.

The smaller round ones do look like snowberry.

 

[TheGreek]

Were you hunting around soybean fields? Some of those (those bottom two particularly) look like soybeans to me.

The smaller round ones do look like snowberry.

there were definitely some soybean fields next to or near some of the fields we hunted. Sunflowers as well.