Hunting Stories

Zeke and Maggie get the Call

I had been out a few times this season but came up short. The birds were just not flying when I was able to get out. I did not bring home a single duck. This time last year I had a freezer full. Work had taken priority but now work had slowed down and December was here. This I knew would change.

Zeke, a Navesink River Hunting Retriever Club member and good friend, had asked me awhile back if I would take him out duck hunting. I said yes. I told him I would give him a call a day or so before to make plans, so be ready. Zeke upland hunts quite a bit but had never gone out for ducks. He and Maggie, his 6-year-old female Golden, are avid pheasant hunters and he thought he would like to give duck hunting a try.

I made the call Friday night and told Zeke I had an open blind for Saturday morning. Zeke replied, “Count me in, I’ll be there”. 5 am came early and Zeke and Maggie were on time. When I met them at the house I knew it would be a good day. The temperature had dropped to the mid 20’s and the wind was out of the N.West about 10 to 15 miles/hr. The small lake where I hunt is just 1½ miles off the mouth of the Raritan River in NJ. Around 85 years ago, industry had dammed up a small brook to give Dupont, Hercules, and National Lead process water for their plants. Now, fishermen and duck hunters enjoy its use.

When we arrived it didn’t take much time to get the boat, a 12 ft Stealth, loaded up with the dekes, guns and gear. Then I noticed we had some work ahead of us. With the temperature around 25 degrees the lake had formed a thin layer of ice in the coves. This was good and bad. The good part was that the ice keeps the ducks from landing in the coves and forces them out to the middle of the lake where the channel is clear of ice. The bad part is that we had to break the ice for about 75 yds on the way out. Breaking the ice, at 5:30 in the morning, is no picnic but once out of the cove the ice was gone. We still had about a ¼ mile to the blind but it was smooth paddling.

In front of the blind I set up a V –spread with the dekes facing S. East. I also placed 2 lone geese decoys out about 30 yds from the spread. Geese were in season too. I always bring the geese decoys with me. This lake has geese roosting on it in the morning. The geese decoys seem to relax the ducks. I have actually had ducks come in closer to the geese decoys than the ducks decoys. So I use them.

After I finished putting the dekes out we quickly got into the blind and settled in. You could tell Maggie was getting excited. This wasn’t upland hunting but she knew it was hunting. At first light you could see the ducks start to work and so did Maggie. She started watching the sky with intense concentration. The first ducks to come in were mallards. It was now shooting time and it didn’t take long before the first duck fell. It was a nice greenhead mallard that fell just outside and to the left of the dekes. Now it was Maggie’s turn to show her stuff. Zeke released her and she was off. She marked it well but when she hit the water something surprised her. ICE!

A layer of ice had formed around the left side of the blind. Maggie tried to make the retrieve but the ice was stopping her. Given time, Maggie would have broken the ice to the duck but more ducks were working. Zeke called her back in. More mallards were on the way. With the familiar command “take-em” we now had two more greenheads down out in front of the blind. Before Maggie had a chance to finish retrieving the second bird, woodies had circled us for a second time. That was all it took. After a volley of shots we now had a beautiful drake woodie in the dekes. Maggie was on it. She was having fun. We had a few minutes before the next wave of birds came in. With a little calling some mergansers came in for a look. They came in low and fast. With a quick eye and a good lead of the barrel we dropped a nice hooded merganser. Again, Maggie took charge and the bird was in hand.

As the morning went on it started to quiet down a bit. It was time for the coffee thermos to be opened. Happy Hour was coming to a close. It was a good morning. We had taken 3- drake mallards, 1- drake woodie (my favorite), and 1- female hooded merganser. Both Zeke and Maggie were hooked. After awhile it was time to load up and head for the diner. Breakfast would taste good this morning. Maggie and Zeke’s first time was a good one. I remember Zeke saying, “You can call me anytime. We’ll be there”.

Zeke- Paul Zurka Maplewood NJ

Maggie- SR Trifecta’s Jersey Girl, CDX,JH,WC

By Mark Mulhollem

A Day Away

Every day is an adventure in the life of a Handler and his Dog. We work very hard training for those bands and ribbons. Just when you think you have it, you don’t. Then, when you think she has no idea, she does. Being human, I can only pretend to know and understand what my four legged friend thinks or feels. But there are something’s I do know. I know that she is a good dog. She loves to retrieve. She’s smart. (for a dog) She loves ice cubes and beer (not together) and she loves to hunt as much as I do.

So, we go on! Back to the basics. If it was up to me, I would have giving up but she loves the game. So, I have to remember that it is just that, a game. The real test is how we do during the hunting season. How many birds we bring back. Right? So,

for now “it is what it is”, fun, exciting, disappointing, rewarding, frustrating and a day away from the real world. We have a good time together and that’s what counts. It is a great opportunity to enjoy life.

Mark Mulhollem

JerseyGold Retrievers

There have been a lot of posts lately about how we teach our dawgs what we want them to learn. What kind of tools we use and do we use force or use attrition? The tools and methods we use (when we train), communicate to our dawgs, what we want, when we want it and how we want it done.

So, let us say that when we go out to “train” we are going out to “communicate”. If this statement is true then we should learn how dawgs communicate to each other so we can transfer our information in a way that our dawgs will best understand us.

I like to watch those nature programs on TV and I always look for the ones with anything to do with dawgs in the wild. You know the ones, the wolves in Alaska or the wild dawgs in Africa. It’s neat how they can take a wolf pup at 6 weeks of age and put them with a family and they will grow up as if they were a domestic dawg. I also pay close attention to the way they communicate to one another. It seems that once the pack order is established they do not use any real “force” to get their point across to each another. They use “body language”. They may show their teeth and growl. The way they stand. The position of their tail. The position of their ears and the fur on their backside. Staring down another dawg, etc.

We have taken a few of these and use them to our advantage. Such as stopping an aggressive pup by turning him over on its back and grabbing him by the throat. There is no real force but it does show the pup who is the head of the pack.

I have also noticed when I watch some pros run their dawgs that they use a lot of body language. They way they walk to the line, the way they look or not look at their dawgs, their stance and posture, their tone, volume and definition of their voices.

So, I guess I have come to my question(s).

1. What type of body language do you use to communicate(train) your dawg.

2. What do you look for in your dawg that tells you that he understands what you wanted? (reading your dawg)

Jerseydog- I wish dawgs could talk……or can they?

This site was last updated 09/05/08