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kiwi · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:09 am Post subject: last week of ducks.......

well our two month season is coming to an end Crying or Very sad

not a very good one for us, weathers been terrible and only now is the winter weather making it self known, oh well the dogs have enjoyed many days out in duck blinds and swampland, didn't even crack a hundred ducks so they will have to make it up on geese and pheasants.
few random pics anyway.

nz paradise ducks.

flooded paddocks make for good evening shoots

the results

sunset over the swamp

i've been taking sika out alot the last week or so, sweep must be having a second puppyhood at the moment as we are having a few issues Confused

nearly time for the dogs and i to swap shotgun for rifle Wink

BenB · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:16 pm Post subject:

Brilliant pics. 2 months seems a tad tight!
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Helen S · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject:

Yeah. No sooner do you get into it than it's all over. I guess it is something to do with having a relatively short winter - would that be right Kiwi? We have just had the shortest day but only just now getting winter weather hence Kiwi's comments.

Helen S

kiwi · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:27 pm Post subject:

i think global warming has abit to do with weather, we don't seem to get the long winters anymore......huge icebergs floating past the south island from antartica is a bit of a worry Shocked

two months is about right in our area, the ducks here are not migrate birds from other countries so with the change of the weather patterns and ducks breeding longer and earlier a change in the start time from the first weekend in may might be needed.
we still have geese and upland birds to chase for another two months so the dogs will still get plenty of work, til the deer start coming out on the spring grass Wink

mick · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject:

Nice work Kiwi. THe weather has certainly been great for the ducks in the last week. Supposed to continue till the weekend to. Cool

Greyghost · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

Gordon Ramsey just did a super starter recipe for duck Very Happy

. Some nice plump birds there Kiwi Wink

.

Wish we had short winters here. Even our summers are disappointing. You'll be pleased to hear it is picking up now Helen, just in time for your visit. Wink

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Helen S · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:31 am Post subject:

Yes, I timed my visit to be after duck shooting!!! (not true but convenient).

We went out yesterday in the rain and wind and shot a few ducks off the stream and then a few more from a duck pond on private land which hasn't been shot yet this season. Liesel did a reasonable job of retrieving after fiddling and faffing with the first injured duck. Funnily enough she's better retrieving them in the water, she doesn't have time to fiddle with them when she's swimming.

Helen S

kiwi · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:02 am Post subject:

the kuri's and i returned to the same paddocks the other day as we had a good dump of rain, the place was one big lake and we ended up with the best shooting of the season, getting our limit within a few hours,was a bit of a handful handling two dogs and shooting at the same time as keeping one dog in and while the other done the retrieving was hard with a duck call in ya mouth. despite a few misunderstandings all ducks put down were picked up and both dogs had plenty of work.

chasing a clipped duck

sweep after a few too many fat drakes ended up modifying his hold to keep up with the pace....something to work on Confused

shoveller hen

she may never win any dog show, but she'll do me Wink

BritAnnie · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:00 pm Post subject:

I see you had both dogs off lead after a winger - I presume they don't tear them to bits by arguing over who shoul;d bring it back so how did you train that in? Or is it a question of the Alpha dog being allowed to bring back regardless of which picked it?
Apologies if this is a stupid question, still very much a learner and never have two dogs out training anyway.
BA
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kiwi · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject:

sika has a season more experience on sweep for wingers so i prefer her to teach sweep the finer points on catching them,the few issues i had with sweep was him stealing sika's birds, hence why i was hunting sika alone to give her a break.
within ear shot i can tell the offending dog to leave it but as i don't use a whistle it can get a bit frustrating when you see the pup charge in and grab a tail feather or the whole bird as sika has a soft mouth, 90% of the time it's not an issue as i can send one dog at a time, things get a bit pear shaped when there are multi birds down and they both marked the same bird Rolling Eyes

but they don't play tug of war with game, but i will train the thieving out of sweep, at the moment it's just not honouring another dogs retrieve so something to work on.