Saturday was the Mid Zone waterfowl opener in Michigan. Hubby and Thunder left a bit before dawn to head for the river for some wood duck hunting. They had to hike through some heavy cover to get to there.
Normally the ducks start flying at first light when they leave their roosts in the trees. This day was no exception and the ducks started moving a bit before shooting hours. Finally it was light enough to shoot and Thunder’s first retrieve for the season was a double. He missed all of last season with a leg injury, but he didn’t forget his job. He retrieved both ducks in no time. One more and they would be at the daily limit which in Michigan is three wood ducks.
Unfortunately it started to thunder and lightning so they had to call it a morning. Still, Thunder was in his glory and it was a good way to start the season.
Hubby took Freighter out in the evening to try their luck. Typically he hasn’t had luck at that time of day. It was a good opportunity to work on Freighter sitting still.
It was also a good chance to get some pictures since the morning lightening made it impossible to stop and take any in the morning. I was anxious for hubby to try out our new waterproof camera, (more on that on Friday).
They could hear the ducks, but they weren’t coming into the decoys so eventually they packed up and scouted for another area. As they were walking, Freighter flushed three grouse and a woodcock. Of course since they were scouting, the gun was not loaded. Still, it was nice that Freighter got some flushes. Hopefully one of these days he will get a retrieve too. 🙂
Hubby didn’t want to burn out the area since the birds seemed to be wise to him, so he did not hunt it at all on Sunday. Instead he took Storm out to do a bit of grouse hunting. She flushed three woodcock and a small rabbit. Good job Storm!
The South Zone opens up this weekend, but we will be spending some time at the cabin for more wood duck and grouse hunting. I have posts scheduled for the rest of this week.
Tomorrow come back to see what Storm was doing on Saturday while Thunder and Freighter were hunting. This ‘N That Thursday is a product review of the brown dawgs’ favorite snack. Friday I will tell you a bit more about the new camera.
They all look like they are having so much fun. Such beautiful dogs you have. Seems like your hubby is getting quite a workout with all three of them. Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.
love that last picture of freighter 🙂
Well done Thunder and glad Freighter got some flushes. Pity about the lightning. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly
Sounds like they had a nice time and at least got a few birds. If you need help with the wabbits, call me…I can flush them out no problem 🙂
LOL Emma. I am sure Storm would love to get wabbits with you!
How exciting! Opening day is coming soon out west. Unfortunately the Sundogs won’t get to go nor me the photographer. But I get to wait for the feast (hopefully). Beautiful brown dogs.
Hope your hunter gets some ducks!
Well DONE! My doggy dad enjoyed so much hunting. It’s EXCITING! Can’t wait to see your post for tomorrow. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
I bet the dogs are just so happy to be out doing their jobs, they don’t care whether they hit their limit or not. (You don’t suppose they KNOW whether they got their limit, do you?) Freighter will get there, I bet he’ll be excited too.
I can’t wait to hear your review of the camera, I’ve been using mine and so far I love it, but I’m sure you’ve found lots more things to do with it then I have. 😀
Glad you like the camera. I have not had time to mess with it much. I saw a lot of settings, but that is about it…lol. The pictures of the river and Freighter were all taken with it.
I bet they may not understand what a limit is so therefore would not be concerned whether they reached it or not, however, I am sure they can count and know how many they got and are just interested in getting more. Call me a dreamer.
Here’s hoping next weekend is even better! Super cute photo of Freighter at the end!
I really enjoy reading about your dogs at work. Having a retriever myself, I can really appreciate all the hard work you put into your dogs. And I can see they really love training and going on an actual hunt. Looking forward to hearing more about the season.
Wow, they all did great, didn’t they? The photos really came out great too, so I can’t wait to hear more about your camera. Enjoy your time at the cabin!
Great job guys and gal! Fall is the season for most of the kinds of hunting you do, right?
It’s great to see the Brown Dawgs put all that training and skill to use in the “real world”…Have a great week at the cabin
Good job Thunder! Two out of three ducks and bad at all, especially when mother nature intervenes. And nice job on the flushes Freighter and Storm.
Oooohhhh….a new toy! Looking forward to hearing about the camera!
Oooo! I bet they taste better than the dove we get here in the desert! Hmmm, gonna have to talk to Mom and Dad about hunting ducks…they look tasty!
Good job Thunder, a good hunter never forgets his duties. Have a wonderful time at the cabin!
Great job, Brown Dawgs! Sounds like they had a really successful weekend even despite the stormy weather. Always get to see the great action shots when they’re training. Nice to see some sweet still shots, too.
Looking forward to hearing about the new camera – I still have a really old point & shoot and have no idea where to begin with buying a new (better) camera… too many to choose from and I’m not knowledgeable enough.
Nice pictures. Too bad the ducks weren’t cooperating but a couple of ducks makes a meal. We don’t have many wood ducks here so it always sounds strange to hear about ducks in trees.