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Surprise in the fog!

jrabq

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Joined
Jul 4, 2014
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974
Location
NM
We don't get much fog around here, and it usually results in a lousy hunt. So I was not happy this morning when I got to the foggy river, it was not in the forecast. Really wasn't expecting anything until the fog lifted and I was not being particularly vigilant. So it was dumb luck that I happened to be looking downriver right before sunrise, just 10 feet off the water, materializing out of the fog, here comes a flock ~20 Canada geese! Weird thing is they are totally silent, so if I had not seen them they would have krapped all over me. They must have been roosted downriver and just got up.
They lifted a bit just as they got over the decoys, 25 yards, talk about a slam dunk! I shot twice and killed two, should have been a great chance for a triple. But unfortunately, for some stupid reason we have a very limited season and limit (2) in this part of the state, long story.
Maggie got to fetch her first two geese, and did an OK job.
About 9AM the fog finally lifted and a few (very few) birds started flying, got a double on drakes out of a flock of 5 mallards that decoyed fairly well. Maggie made a good retrieve finding one duck that had gotten in the thick brush on the other side of the river. She still has some issues we are working on, but she has a great nose and knows when she is supposed to be using it.

Before leaving, a pair of mallards flew over and I missed, so that spoiled the perfect shooting streak I had going. But it turned out to be a good day after thinking I would get skunked..

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Do you normally not see many canada's where you are? Fog seems to be hit or miss here for geese but when it's good IT'S GOOD! You'll normally hear them before you see em and all of a sudden there in your face. Sure makes for a fun hunt if everything is just right.
 
Do you normally not see many canada's where you are?
There are a fair number around, they just have a knack for flying by when the season is not open! I would typically shoot 1 or 2 a year, but it's actually been a couple of years since I got any.

The country is overrun with geese but we are stuck with some really stupid regs, I guess for historical reasons, no one at NMGF can explain it to me. We have a ~5 week season (and that's an improvement over last year) and the limit is 2, per SEASON!! This is just in a few counties in central NM, the rest of the state is fine, 4 Canadas a day in the central flyway with a 100+ day season.
 
Good stuff! So the pup is progressing well then?

Dry land retrieves where she uses her nose, she's doing great! Way behind on hand signals but that's OK (and it's mostly my fault).

Water retrieves, she needs some work. Somehow I got a Labrador Retriever who is a little bit scared of the water, how embarrassing:rolleyes:. She loves playing in the shallow water, getting sprayed with the water hose in the back yard, and she is fine swimming, once she is in. It's the "getting in" part where she has issues. If it's a gradual bank, starting off shallow then getting deep, usually no problem. But there are lots of places along the river where there is a steep 1 to 2 foot drop-off, usually into deep water with a strong current, and that's where she hesitates. Some days I end up getting in the river and she will follow me, other days it just takes her a bit of time before she get's in. But in a swift current we don't have all day to think about it. It is just something in her disposition, I've been extremely patient with her and tried to stay positive (except for the one time I picked her up and heaved her in!). I sure hope she outgrows it, she seemed to be making progress with her confidence level mid-season, then the other day she started acting a bit spooky again. I'll take her to the lakes a lot this summer where there is no current and varying types of shoreline, hopefully that will help.
 
Hmm that's crazy if you ever want to shoot a pile of Canada's we have more than our share that's for sure!
From about 1995 to 2005 I targeted them pretty hard in eastern NM, I wouldn't say I killed a pile of them, but I shot enough to mostly get it out of my system. They were hard hunts, with long drives to get there, long drives in the boat, hunt all day sort of deals. It wore me out and I was much younger then. So now I'm OK if I shoot a couple every year or so.
 
Water retrieves, she needs some work. Somehow I got a Labrador Retriever who is a little bit scared of the water, how embarrassing:rolleyes:.
Must be a yellow female thing! Mine was same exact way. I'll admit I got a little impatient a few times and picked her up and threw her in. Hindsight that probably wasn't the best way to go about it but it worked. Although we never hunt any rivers only lakes so far.
 
Must be a yellow female thing! Mine was same exact way.

It was never an issue with my previous dog (also a female Lab). She might not have won any "dock-jumping contests" but she never hesitated when it mattered.

Couple of weeks ago Maggie did get briefly swept under an overhanging limb, which was rather scary, I was just about to try a rescue but she got loose. So that was the likely cause of the setback in her "courage". There are some hazards on the river so it is not a place for whimps, I always try to keep track of my dogs when they are doing a retrieve.
 
Dry land retrieves where she uses her nose, she's doing great! Way behind on hand signals but that's OK (and it's mostly my fault).

Water retrieves, she needs some work. Somehow I got a Labrador Retriever who is a little bit scared of the water, how embarrassing:rolleyes:. She loves playing in the shallow water, getting sprayed with the water hose in the back yard, and she is fine swimming, once she is in. It's the "getting in" part where she has issues. If it's a gradual bank, starting off shallow then getting deep, usually no problem. But there are lots of places along the river where there is a steep 1 to 2 foot drop-off, usually into deep water with a strong current, and that's where she hesitates. Some days I end up getting in the river and she will follow me, other days it just takes her a bit of time before she get's in. But in a swift current we don't have all day to think about it. It is just something in her disposition, I've been extremely patient with her and tried to stay positive (except for the one time I picked her up and heaved her in!). I sure hope she outgrows it, she seemed to be making progress with her confidence level mid-season, then the other day she started acting a bit spooky again. I'll take her to the lakes a lot this summer where there is no current and varying types of shoreline, hopefully that will help.

haha! Fortunately boomer never had that issue, his issue is keeping him out of the water at any temperature and any embankment.

I bet in the summer with better temps and in a more controlled environment, she'll get acquainted just fine!

Are you following a program? I did Lardy's and had some good success.
 
Dry land retrieves where she uses her nose, she's doing great! Way behind on hand signals but that's OK (and it's mostly my fault).

Water retrieves, she needs some work. Somehow I got a Labrador Retriever who is a little bit scared of the water, how embarrassing:rolleyes:. She loves playing in the shallow water, getting sprayed with the water hose in the back yard, and she is fine swimming, once she is in. It's the "getting in" part where she has issues. If it's a gradual bank, starting off shallow then getting deep, usually no problem. But there are lots of places along the river where there is a steep 1 to 2 foot drop-off, usually into deep water with a strong current, and that's where she hesitates. Some days I end up getting in the river and she will follow me, other days it just takes her a bit of time before she get's in. But in a swift current we don't have all day to think about it. It is just something in her disposition, I've been extremely patient with her and tried to stay positive (except for the one time I picked her up and heaved her in!). I sure hope she outgrows it, she seemed to be making progress with her confidence level mid-season, then the other day she started acting a bit spooky again. I'll take her to the lakes a lot this summer where there is no current and varying types of shoreline, hopefully that will help.

My 5 year old lab loves the water and is crazy for waterfowl and really pretty good at it. She still has trouble with this sometimes. Not sure why as a big part of her training was bailing off a dock when we practiced retrieves.

I love foggy mornings along the river around here for jump shooting. When it is really cold the steam off the river makes for waterfowl that doesn't want to fly and an easier sneak.
 
My 5 year old lab loves the water and is crazy for waterfowl and really pretty good at it. She still has trouble with this sometimes. Not sure why as a big part of her training was bailing off a dock when we practiced retrieves.

I love foggy mornings along the river around here for jump shooting. When it is really cold the steam off the river makes for waterfowl that doesn't want to fly and an easier sneak.

Thanks for the feedback, good to know I'm not totally alone.

I can see how the fog would help with jump shooting, I do some jump shooting at a lake I hunt but never had the opportunity arise when it was foggy.
 

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