I HATE being told not to pick up my bird. I don't hunt to feed hawks and otters; I hunt to feed ME. And I agree with Moose - nothing worse than discovering hours later that the bird you downed wasn't dead.

For those of you who hunt in Canada, if a guide tells you to leave a bird till later tell him to stuff it. The federal law up here now states very clearly that all birds must be retrieved "IMMEDIATELY." Tell the guide you are obeying the law going after your birds and if he doesn't smarten up you'll report his arse.

My dogs will usually break at the shot and go right for the birds. In fact, Opal has twice picked up birds I didn't see fall! I have absolutely no problem with them breaking at shot. But, of course, I hunt by myself from a fenceline not with some unknown nimrod from layout blinds.

If a bird falls close by and I can see it is dead and the dogs don't see it (i.e. usually busy picking up another bird), then I won't get too excited about picking it up right away if other birds are flying. A goose that falls a couple hundred yards away is going to be dead for certain and though there is some slight risk that a hawk or some other vermin could get to it, I will usually wait until things settle down before I go look for it. Finding it will likely take a while, even with the dogs. Almost always find those birds but if I don't, usually would not have made any difference how soon I got over to it.

Many field hunting waterfowl guides don't have dogs. Frankly, I wouldn't get in the truck with that kind of guide. Period. Those guys ARE NOT interested in getting the birds in the hand as fast as possible. Therefore, they are not interested in ensuring the birds' suffering ends as fast as possible. I pass on "hunters" like that.

Birds birds birds. Don't any of you hunt rabbits?? how about throwing us bunnie jumpers a little tidbit once in a while? Rabbits are thee #1 game animal in the USA so how about it Phil, a litle rabbit mixed in would be nice. Maybe mention Beagle and other rabbit dogs

By the way, I never shoot any more than my limit, no matter if I can find the birds or not. If a lung shot goose flies half a mile and collapses in the woods, I may wait till the flights stop before taking the dogs over to look for it. In the meantime I WILL NOT shoot any more than a limit including that bird. If I don't find it (which is extremely rare even in heavy cover), that's it, I'm still done for the day if I have limit minus one bird in possession. If I found it but something had got to it first, I'm still done. A daily bag limit of dead birds is the "limit" whether or not they all wind up in the bag. I think if some of these guides enforced that rule more strictly, their clients would be more attentive about picking up their birds on a timely basis.

RES1956,

I think if I didn't have the dawgs, I would not even load my shotgun and just hang out with my hunting friends. I could always alibi; "too far out", "Sun in my eyes", or some other lame reason for not getting my gun dirty. My buddy "Colonel Tom", a retired USMC Colonel, must be taking that tactic. I have not seen him shoot more than twice since his old Lab died a couple years ago. I think he shows up just to play with my black dawg, who tolerates him well among few others.

Sorry, my post should read "I never INTENTIONALLY shoot more than my limit ..." Brings to mind several incidents where I had one bird left to fill the bag and then brought down two in one shot. Crap! Nothing for it but to stash the extra bird, drive home, unload, and drive all the way back to get the other one. And then I have to clean one more bird too. That ruins the day! Equally frustrating when the dogs pick up someone else's bird and I already have my limit. Grrr. I make EVERY effort to avoid those situations these days. Two years ago I had a hundred geese fall into my decoys which were by necessity set very close (I could barely get them put out twenty yards as the birds were coming into them so fast ... a very unique situation that day!). The dogs just about went out of their minds watching all those big geese waltzing around right in front of us so close we could see their eyes. But I only had two birds to fill my limit of five and one shot into that mass at that range could have killed a half dozen or more. So I waited for the perfect pass shot and finally a family of seven or so floated in over me. Pffft. Fanned all three shots! The roar from the big flock taking off out of the deeks left me hard of hearing for hours! Didn't dare shoot into them though. I had to laugh at myself. Ten minutes later a very large pair sailed by about twenty yards out and I killed them both, though the second one soaked up two loads before it crumpled.

The other reason you should always immediate retrieve your bird is that the next flock of ducks always show up while your exposed in the open giving your buddies the chance to shoot over your head!

It all depends...on an active dove field with enough separation between shooters - I'll let them lie until a break in the shooting...on a volume dove hunt, be thankful for a eager and diligent bird boy...phez shoot, rule is retrieve quickly, if not immediately...used to let ducks lie in the marsh until the end of the shoot, but one year hunted from boat next to gator hole, noticed 1 or 2 dead birds would be missing at end of the morning. After that I began to pick them up sooner and use long-pole net to do it.

Just a thought. I would guess that most on this thread, and the ave. Joe duck hunter that has a retriever, doesn't have a field trial champion well trained dog. And even then down birds can be lost if they aren't retrieved right away. I have two good retrievers, and on uplands, am amazed how many times little scent is left on the ground because of dryness, and types of birds hunted. Ducks are a lot of visual, and a good dog doesn't have to have seen where a duck went down. And a mallard with still life in it?..they often dive, and grap grass, and stay under water.

Tex,

A southern lawyer friend once told me that "a vahmit is anything what will kill yore chickens."

My rule of thumb.

Deadeye, I love hunting rabbits, and I too would love to see something besides the endless parade of whitetails plastered across all my hunting mags' covers, but rabbit the No. 1 game animal? Where do you get that? Not asking to be contrary, just interested in the source, because the USFWS survey shows deer hunting to be No. 1 by a wide margin.

JohnR, what's keeping you from getting back in the saddle again? Your old lab would not want you missing out because you are missing her. Get yourself another pup. That's what your old girl would want. For you to be happy.

WAM,
I know how Col Tom feels. When I had to put down Delilah
in 2000, I had a hard time going ducking and didn't go very much. Then I decided it was time to ride the pony again and got back in the dog business, except in a much bigger way and vowed I would never be without a really good dog again.
I think that the truth is I shoot so the dogs can get to do what they were bred for and love to do so much.
John R, I have a litter that will be here the last week of July, Sire is HRCH and Dam is HR and we will get her HRCH title during the fall hunt test season. Probably be all blacks, might get a yellow, if you're interested.

Hi...

I rarely duck hunt with others, although some other hunters may be in nearby blinds...and I don't hunt with dogs.

When I down a duck, I wade or row out and retrieve is as soon as I can.

When I hunted the SE Texas prairie, you better pick up downed geese or ducks quickly. Mostly, the red tailed hawks would eat large portions or the ants would move in. Twice, I saw coyotes streak out of the brush and take off with a goose. Some years we would see bald eagles. They would grab a goose for sure.

I retrieve all my game pretty much right away, no matter how the birds are flying or the game is moving. Grant it, I don't head out on a dead run as if there was a nude Halle Barry at the end of the line, but I get over there at a respectable pase.