Elettras first retrieve

I don’t think anything can light a fire under a pup quite like their first retrieve. After Elettra brought in her first duck today she was running, bouncing, twirling, spinning, chomping at the air, you name it.

Before duck hunting I wanted to get Elettra on some Pheasants.

I had scheduled Sophie for two therapy visits this morning so the fact that it was too cold to hunt (-17 degrees) was irrelevant. Sophie did some good work and was rewarded with deep fried chicken strips. After lunch I loaded Elettra into the truck and off we went.

Another nice point.

Our first stop was at the local Wildlife Management Area to get her on some Pheasants. I primarily wanted her to stretch out her legs a little since we’d been duck hunting as of late, and didn’t want her to become rusty on her other skills. Rusty is the last thing she is, judging from the way she held some really nice points for me.

Elettra is still sharp on her pointing.

After the refresher training on Pheasants, we turned to ducks. The last time Elettra and Mia hunted together, Elettra told me she was ready to begin retrieving and I really wanted to give her the opportunity. She would have had some retrieves the last time out if I could have hit anything, but today was different. We flushed several ducks but I was unable to get a shot, then we came on a couple of little diving ducks. I was afforded only one shot but I made it count.

Elettra getting ready to enter the water.

Elettra makes her first attempt at retrieving the duck.

I was really hoping that Elettra would retrieve it because I didn’t want to wade out myself, and didn’t want to walk all the way back to the truck for my waders. The first time I sent her out, she nosed the duck and returned empty-handed. I gave her some encouragement and tossed a little stick at the duck, and sent her out again. This time she nosed the duck, pushed it around a little, then picked it up and brought it back like a pro.

Her second attempt is successful.

Got it!

Elettra’s first retrieve.

We hunted a little longer before calling it quits, as the sun was starting to set. The temperature was a warm 13 degrees when we began hunting and on our return was fluctuating between 2 and -1. Still, even considering the wind chill, it was rather pleasant and didn’t seem all that cold.

Elettra posing with her duck as the sun sets.

A brace and a bird

Elettra on point with the Pheasant that I would shoot moments later. 10-26-12

Man, what a pleasure it is to hunt behind Mia and Elettra as a brace. I took them out for an afternoon Pheasant hunt today and while I got one bird, I had other opportunities in what was really perfect hunting conditions: a light breeze, cloudy and cool.

A little over an hour after starting out, with Mia ranging out ahead of us and Elettra hunting close by, Elettra hit a solid point right in front of me. I’ve spent enough time training her to know it was a “there’s a bird right here” point. Still I wasn’t quite convinced, given that Mia had come through moments before. So I snapped a picture of Elettra on point with my cell phone and was sticking it back in my pocket when a rooster blew out of a bush not more than a dozen feet away.

Mia retrieves the Pheasant flawlessly, 10-26-12

It was an easy straightaway shot and I dropped it then Elettra after it. By then Mia had returned so I sent her out to retrieve it, after it was evident that Elettra wouldn’t – no big surprise since I’ve never really worked with her on retrieving. Mia retrieved it to hand flawlessly, waiting for my “drop it” command before releasing it. So I was feeling pretty darn good about the guys as we moved on.

Over the next couple of hours we ran into three more roosters but they were flushing some 50 to 75 yards out, long before the guys ever scented them. Mia looks for any excuse to dive into the cattails and hunt them, which doesn’t generally pay off because the birds hear her coming and flush before she’s aware of them. In doing so, she flushed another rooster well out of range, but then I flushed one and had a chance as it angled away, but missed the shot.

Mia and Elettra pointing whatever it is that dogs point when there’s nothing to point. 10-26-12

I ran into a fellow who was hunting with his Large Munsterlander and we visited for a little while. It was his first time hunting the WMA and he was scouting it out, planning on bringing his daughter out the next day for some Pheasant hunting.

So with about an hour of daylight left, I started back to the truck, figuring that it would take about an hour to hunt my way back. We flushed a rooster that was on the other side of a drain ditch we were hunting but I held my shot; it would have been a long shot at best, but realistically the bird was probably out of range.

I gave the bird to Doc when we returned home and unlike the duck, he didn’t hesitate. The moment I set the bird on the floor, he grabbed it and was off running through the house with it in his mouth. He then lay patiently at my feet while I cleaned it; meanwhile Carrie was brushing and bathing Mia and Elettra. After a big well-earned dinner they went straight to their crates, ready for an early bedtime.

Elettra and Mia with the Pheasant, 10-26-12