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Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:25 pm

So does any body else hunt for Brant? The season here is only 10 days, 2 birds a day. Here's our birds from this morning. Got them quick and easy today. Brant are a kind of cross between a duck and a goose, and are my favorite eating water fowl. Image

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:15 am

Haven't done Brant yet, definitely on my to do list though!

Here's my shorthair, trained to the versatile standards (As the Germans meant them to be) He's FF'd and for the most part just fine for Western Washington duck hunting.
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Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:31 am

My grandfather and my uncle, about 1955, looks like quail and grouse this time around - he loved pheasant as well.

He bred, raised, and trained all of his dogs - all English Setters. One house dog, all the rest kennel raised.

He also tied all his own flies, and was a great Atlantic salmon fly fisherman.

He taught me everything that would stick to a kid about guns, hunting, and fishing.

He had a wood fired kitchen stove as the only heating and cooking source in the house well into the sixties.

That's when he went modern, and put in - an oil fred kitchen stove that did all the cooking and heating.

He bred prize winning mink for women's coats when it was cool, raised silver fox as well.

I miss him, even though he has been gone for 30 years.

Seems like yesterday he was cutting us some willow poles to tie up with line, split shot, hooks and worms to go after brook trout to toss fresh into the fry pan when we got back home.

Wet dog, wood smoke, butter and trout in a cast iron fry pan on a cold rainy day - heaven on earth.
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Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:54 am

@badclam that's awesome I have never got a brant tho I wish I was there looks like a great area and a ton of fun to boot

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:55 am

Here's a shot of the spoils after a solid day's work in Yakima a couple years ago (I never seem to take pictures anymore):

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10-20% of those birds would not have been recovered without the dog.

Quail are my favorite birds to hunt, hands down. Tons of action where we go, and when it slows down in the middle of the day, there are always lots of ground squirrels around to ventilate. :snipersmilie:

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Mon Oct 10, 2016 6:50 am

Went to Yakima this past weekend to hunt upland birds and came away with a full bag (24 Saturday, 43 Sunday). Didn't see any chukars or huns this time, but the quail numbers were strong everywhere we went. Capped quite a few ground squirrels, too. The rain and wind really sucked yesterday, but it didn't seem to affect the bird behavior one bit. :thumbsup2:

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Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:29 pm

So we whacked them again today. Goose opened this weekend, and here in S.W. WA is only open weekends and Wednesday. We've gone twice this week and limited out both times. My dog is a rock star retriever and is what really makes it so fun. Him and all the birds :-)

So are Guns4Liberty, Constructeur and myself the only serious killers on this forum? Are we the only ones with working bird dogs?
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Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:53 pm

badclam wrote:
So are Guns4Liberty, Constructeur and myself the only serious killers on this forum? Are we the only ones with working bird dogs?


No. Not even close.

There are lots of us (so-called "killers") on this forum. Personally, I am not a bird dog hunter (sometimes I wish that I were, but my dogs are all working breeds). Plenty of deer/elk hunters here.

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:52 am

pdrake wrote:
badclam wrote:
So are Guns4Liberty, Constructeur and myself the only serious killers on this forum? Are we the only ones with working bird dogs?


No. Not even close.

There are lots of us (so-called "killers") on this forum. Personally, I am not a bird dog hunter (sometimes I wish that I were, but my dogs are all working breeds). Plenty of deer/elk hunters here.


My other dogs are "working breeds", Anatolian Shepherd and Australian Shepherd. I used to have an Australian Shepherd that was a decent retriever before I got this Golden Retriever. The Golden is much better at retrieving, but is also a fair cattle dog, as he was worked with some cattle dogs when he was young.

My point about other "killers" is that this is a gun centered forum that has very little chatter about hunting. I kill an elk and hundreds of birds every year to eat. I also shoot deer and bear to eat. I shoot sand rats and coyotes for fun too. I am trying to smoke out other serious hunters. Serious being defined as skilled and active hunters.

Don't get me wrong, I've got more than my fair share of guns that are just ammo eating toys with no real world applications. I also shoot more recreational rounds than 9 out of ten people on this forum. It's my opinion that not many people are suited to be good hunters. Not many people can, or want to, do what it takes to consistently harvest both large and small game.

I'm better than most at hunting because of where I live. I have an abundance of game surrounding me to hunt in season, and study all year long. I'm also a very good shot, especially with open sight long guns. I'm willing to share what I know, and would like to learn what ever I can from others.

Who are you, and lets talk hunting. :cheers2:

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Tue Nov 01, 2016 6:11 am

Haven't hunted waterfowl since I was 18. Raised an trained my own dog too.
After my stint in the Army, the area's that I used to hunt closed up any any areas that were readily available, had too many other hunters.

I wouldn't mind get back into it one of these days, but would probably go into walking rivers and puddle jumping them.

My dogs now are Basset Hounds, they don't do water well at all. But...the younger one I'm picking up in a couple weeks is going to get trained on grouse. To me it's more fun to jump grouse in the woods, than on the road!

I'm full on big game now, predominantly Elk. But hunt the hard hills on West side of White Pass so it's always hit an miss on weather and animals. You really have to work for an elk where we hunt. Figure I've got maybe 5-10 left in the legs and back before I need to find something flatter to hunt, going on 53 and I don't mountain goat as fast as I used to.
Bear an cougar as they appear.

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:58 pm

I'm 53 also and kill and elk every year with a muzzle loader. I have an advantage living in an area surrounded by elk all year, but we almost always have long packs to get them out. I find myself wondering how many more years I can hunt the way I do now.

We have great duck and goose hunting, but no other bird hunting besides pheasant release sights. I would love to trade some quality guided waterfowl hunting here, for some upland bird, or inland waterfowl hunting somewhere else? I would like to try my young duck dog at flushing birds.

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:51 pm

I am just getting started with ducks/geese. I've been a shooter most of my life, but have very minimal hunting experience. I've focused most of my time outdoors with fishing and have become a very accomplished and skilled angler. I'm really trying to get serious about hunting. I have a fishing buddy that is also an avid waterfowler. He's going to take me with him this season and show me the ropes. We're going out this weekend after ducks and honkers. (He has a yellow lab that's trained to retrieve birds). I've spent the last few months practicing at the trap & skeet range and am fairly confident that I can hit a flying duck or goose. I'm really excited to learn all I can about bird hunting. I'll be sure to post up some pics if successful this weekend.

Maybe as I get more experience, I can join some of you in the field sometime.

Re: GoPro view of retriever getting ducks.

Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:12 pm

So I'm just getting started figuring out the camera and how to mount it to my dog. This was this morning before work. He is just under 200 retrieves so far this season.
https://youtu.be/fRfXU5_zfWc

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:24 pm

That opening line... :thumbsup2:

Re: Bird hunting talk and pictures.

Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:51 pm

dreadi wrote:That opening line... :thumbsup2:


Ha Ha, my hunting partner takes it personal when we're trying to get ducks into the decoys. You see all of us, including the dog, react when they came in range!
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