First hunt with my dog

SurferGuy08

Six Pointer
I took my dog on his first duck hunt since he has come home from training. It was definitely a learning experience for the both of us.

- We had the motion decoy going during the hunt. While it was dark, he could hear it but could not see it. So, he started to whine and want to go get it because he could hear it splashing. Maybe we won't use that particular decoy next time.

- We were able to see ducks fly past us, but we could not shoot at them due to distance. That seemed how it was going to be all day. Eventually we had some fly past us, but we did not get to connect. I was watching him and making sure he didn't break, and the other hunter missed. Not a big deal. The good news is that he did not break when the dog heard the shots in the blind and further away. He was definitely bored though due to the lack of ducks coming through.


I plan on taking him out again this weekend. I am thinking about using a different motion decoy that won't make splashing noises in the water. I need to figure out a way to keep him from getting bored while we sit and not see anything. He started chewing sticks that were in the blind.

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Gus

Six Pointer
Take a dummy and train while you hunt. Buddy misses- throw the dummy and let the pup work. Things get real slow shoot, toss and train some more. Can't make it really great without dead birds but you can make it a fun, exciting training experience that the pup will look forward to doing again rather than a frustrating, boring deal.
Good looking dog.
 

SurferGuy08

Six Pointer
Take a dummy and train while you hunt. Buddy misses- throw the dummy and let the pup work. Things get real slow shoot, toss and train some more. Can't make it really great without dead birds but you can make it a fun, exciting training experience that the pup will look forward to doing again rather than a frustrating, boring deal.
Good looking dog.
I don't know why I didn't think of bringing a bumper. And thank you for the compliment.
 

ducknut

Eight Pointer
If you do the training while hunting please do it while not near another group. Nothing worse than having someone throwing bumpers, blowing whistle, and yelling at the dog while trying to hunt. I bet if you introduce him to the splashing decoy while not hunting, he'll ignore it. Good luck and have patience, it's a monumental task getting to a finished retriever, but there's nothing that compares to it. Post some pictures when he gets on some birds
 

SurferGuy08

Six Pointer
If you do the training while hunting please do it while not near another group. Nothing worse than having someone throwing bumpers, blowing whistle, and yelling at the dog while trying to hunt. I bet if you introduce him to the splashing decoy while not hunting, he'll ignore it. Good luck and have patience, it's a monumental task getting to a finished retriever, but there's nothing that compares to it. Post some pictures when he gets on some birds
I could imagine. Where I hunt we can be hunt different ponds to where we won’t interfere with each. I can’t wait for him to get his first bird with me. I just gotta shoot better.
 

ducknut

Eight Pointer
I could imagine. Where I hunt we can be hunt different ponds to where we won’t interfere with each. I can’t wait for him to get his first bird with me. I just gotta shoot better.
It's hard shoot well when you are so focused on the dog. It'll happen. Good luck
 

SurferGuy08

Six Pointer
Update -

Took him out last weekend. He was able to get his first retrieve this weekend. He marked it, went when commanded to do so, and brought it back to hand. We found out shortly after the duck was still alive. He was so happy and all of us were too. We definitely didn't want to go into the briers to find it. Unfortunately, I did not have my phone with me and was unable to get a picture or video.
 
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