First dove hunt with dog!

Matt Rochester

Matt Rochester

Joined
Nov 28, 2014
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1,864
So, I carried my Yellow Lab on his first dove hunt Saturday. This dog is wide open and all over the place. I have been working with him around the house with decoys and some whole frozen dove I keep for training. I didn't know how it was going to go being that it's hard for him to focus if it's anything other than the two of us. Anyway, it went great. He sat right beside me and was focused like a laser beam. I was blown away. He retrieved the first bird a buddy of mine shot that was about 50 yards away. All in all he had 9 retrieves and it was awesome to see the hard work pay off. Not sure how many fellow hunter we have but I just wanted to share this. Wish I had taken more pictures but this is all I have.
 
How were the doves out there this year? We had a good hunt on opening day, came home with a hard-fought 14 in the bag. Compared to last year though, the skies are relatively empty.
 
Very cool! I am an avid outdoorsmen and enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities. With that being said, my favorite is watching my lab work. When Saturday morning comes it hard to tell who is more excited me or the dog. Good times...

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I grew up with labs, who my dad trained to hunt quail, pheasants, doves, and chukkers. We went chukker hunting one day on the Columbia River and spent all day chasing them from the top of the gorge down to the river (about 1500' elevation change and 1 1/2 miles) and back up to the top. The chukkers refused to fly so we never got a shot. When we got back to the top of the gorge, Casi, the golden lab, flopped down and said "hey boss, this has been a lot of fun but if you ever want to hunt chukkers again, count me out!! You might be able to sucker a lab once, but not twice.
 
We shot 140 or so on opening day between 8 or 9 guys. The above was the following Saturday and shot 9 in an hour. I love most all bird hunting just wish we had more quail and pheasant .
 
As far as I'm personally aware, Colorado pheasant are a myth:mad:. I only got two days with doves this year, I was hoping to get up to the hills to do a Blue Grouse day, but time is running short with pronghorn and elk coming up in the next three weeks. I'm taking my shotgun on the elk hunt, if I get really lucky and score early in the week, I'll be after the grouse for the rest of the hunt.
 
I have a Black (Lab) that pretty much cut her teeth hunting doves. While I mostly hunt waterfowl
I use her to hunt just about everything. I've trained dogs off and on for most of my life- some robots,
some "just dogs". One of the things Ruby does that no other Lab I've had did is she will pick up animals
Rabbits, Squirrels, whatever I shoot. She will also bring back two doves in one trip if I happen to shoot
a double. A bunch of the above shenanigans are no-no's for duck dogs but its just not a big deal for me
anymore
Ken.
 
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