It’s Follow-up Friday.  The blog hop that:

Let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Thank you to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog and co-host Emma from My GBGV Life for hosting the hop!  It gives me an opportunity to answer reader questions from this past week.

Monday Mischief–Watching And Waiting

Sand Spring Chesapeakes asked:  Didn’t know they hunted a place where there is a draw. Do they only hunt there or do they have private or public places to hunt. Was this the clubs property or was this draw through the dnr? We don’t have that here.

They were hunting the managed area.  At this particular area they have two draws a day, 7 days a week during the season.  Friday and Saturday they hunted the managed area.  Sunday they hunted on state land along the edge of the bay.  It is not managed though so no draw.  They don’t really hunt waterfowl on private land.  Hubby will be hunting a different place tomorrow, (more on that later).

snoopys@snoopysdogblog asked: You’re a very patient doggie!! Ever thought about bringing a good book whilst you wait?

LOL Snoopy.  Freighter is much too preoccupied with watching the sky for that.

Sue at Talking Dogs asked:  Questions, Linda – How long a time are you/dogs/your husband out there … waiting… ? Do the dogs get antsy? Give in to boredom and take a nap?

My husband says that they are out there 4-5 hours. Normally the best hunting is early morning or just before dark, but that is not always true. They get the morning spots until noon and the afternoon people come in at 1pm. It can be a lot of sitting around if there are no ducks flying. Then again, if you have a really good day and get your limit, you can be done very quickly. Yes the dogs get impatient. Freighter got very impatient. He is still young. Thunder and Storm have more experience and are better at sitting still. All our dogs like to watch the sky. Not all dogs do.

Miss Harper Lee asked:  Looks like perfect duck hunting weather (the more miserable, the better!), so I wonder where the birds were?

I am told that the birds were on the opposite side of where the hunters were set up.  As I said they did not get a good draw so the prime spots went to others.

Gizmo asked:  Are you still in the DNR managed area? If I understand it then, each day the hunters draw for which blind they’ll be using, is that right? Freighter looks so focused and patient on his stand…maybe next weekend will be better

They hunted the managed area Friday and Saturday.  They hold a lottery to pick the areas.  Not all areas have blinds.  Sometimes they are just set up in corn rows.  Hubby is going to another area this weekend which will hopefully be better.  We have had some really nasty weather and it is turning cold.  That tends to push the birds out to head south.

Jan K asked:  Do they always stay that attentive….or do they ever just try to lay down and take a nap? Is that a dumb question?

Not a dumb question.  Yes some dogs nap.  I am told Freighter is a bit too ADD for that though.

Training Steady

Anna asked:  I spy a heeling stick too, I have tried to find videos on how to use those but they are few and far between.

I don’t have video either, but we used the heeling stick mostly as an extension of the handler’s arm to help keep the dog in the correct position. Also, when the dog is coming into heel, ours like to circle around the back of the handler, so the heeling stick is used to block the dog’s way from circling around.

Freighter and Storm are the biggest offenders with wanting to circle when returning.  But after being consistent with requiring them to come back correctly, they seem to be getting with the program.  I think it is something that we will be constantly reinforcing though.

This ‘N That Thursday

Sand Spring Chesapeakes asked:  Congrats to Muddy for the cool trophy, is this a traveling trophy that gets passes around each year or does she keep it?

Yes it is a traveling trophy, but it doesn’t travel very far because Muddy’s human has won it the last three years.  The first year Muddy’s human was part of hubby’s team that won it.  The tournament is a club event where members all get out on one day and hunt then meet up for lunch.  It is all in fun and everyone whose participates has a good time, ducks or no.

This was the winning team the first year 2010.

Old Reliable

Hubby is going to try his luck in a completely different spot this weekend.  He will be hunting on Harsens Island which is at the mouth of the St. Clair River.  You have to take a car ferry to reach it and most people use a boat to hunt whether they are hunting the managed hunting area or the waters around the island.

This is a video about the Harsens Island managed area.  It explains how the draw works and that this managed area encourages the use of retrievers.  There are zones set aside for hunters with dogs.  In the past hubby has been able to get a decent spot in one of these zones because he hunts with a dog.  The video also goes into some detail about how the crops work as part of the managed hunting area.

If the video doesn’t play, try here.

Hubby is going with a friend he hasn’t hunted with in a couple of years.  Their schedules just have not worked out.  His friend has been having a hard time getting his birds and was hoping to hunt with a dog this weekend.  But which dog to take?

As I said, they have to use a boat.  Freighter has not had any real experience in a boat and since he is still young and excited, hubby decided that now is not the time to work on his boat manners.  Storm is not that keen on cold water hunting.  Thunder has been riding in boats since he was a puppy.  If you send Thunder to find a bird, he rarely comes back without one.  He has had a lot of hunting experience and is an excellent waterfowl dog.  So lucky Thunder gets to go again!

But don’t feel too sad for Freighter and Storm.  We have a couple pheasant hunts booked for the upcoming weeks.

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks again to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog and co-host Emma from My GBGV Life for hosting the hop!

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