Ways To Retreive Ducks From Water Without A Dog

[trapshooter]

This smay be a dumb thread but here it goes.
What sre some ways you guys retreive ducks from the water without a dog?

1. I use a expandable golf ball retreiver with a hooked taped on the end

2. Fishing rod with big spoon on the end

[swifthunter]

chest waders, but usually the fishing rod works. Have had to swim for a couple of birds, not a lot of fun. I usually try not to shoot them on the water if it isnt a windy day and they wont blow in.

[Pixel Shooter]

ummmm hunt with someone who has a dog Happy to help you

Fishing rod, not with spoon but a big plug as the float and you can manouever to exactly where you want it. They also sell those retriever sticks, think you can get 25 ft out of it. Still to smaller water,

waders always work good, use a good stick walking out in water you dont know well, again best mallard sloughs are typical 6 inches deep and about 1-2 ft of mud LOL, hence the dog

[nick0danger]

a boat of sorts, i like to use a canoe.

[RLG]

This is embarrasing to admit, but a piece of nylon rope with a spark plug on the end toss it out over the duck and pull it back! Have a lab now and actually trained her myself, I still laugh when I see the rope in the garage!!

[gramps73]

Get a girlfriend that can swim..

[Rockymtnx]

I seen a fellow AO member use a fishing rod with a big treble hook once.

[Alberta Bigbore]

some interesting ideas.


Might get me motivated to hunt waterfowl this year. I have no dog . I did think of trying to hunt in a field .. just dont have the experience

[catnthehat]

The old guy I trapped with shot one when we were in the back country one day .
it was in the middle of a beaver pond.
He cut a big poplar branch and started swatting the water with it, and pulling it to him like a concrete rake.
it didn't take too long for the duck to drift over to him!
Cat

[Ryry4]

I've got a expandable hook that is supposed to be used for retrieving floating decoys, but it works good on downed ducks also. My investment in hip waders was a great idea too.

[densa44]

Guys be very very careful with the wader or canoe solution! I stepped of a shelf in lake Erie with waders on in November and that was 40 years ago and I've had a dog ever since.

You'll love the dog and she will love you. You'll get all your ducks and those of the guys with no dogs.

There was no mention of cripples in the post but given that one day last fall before I fired a shot the dog had 6!

Not to preach without a dog you will not get all the birds that you shoot and some non dog retrieving methods are very dangerous.

Bye the way just about any breed will do the job for most hunters. The dogs are better bred than we are!

[7rem mag]

What happens when the bird falls 1-200 yards out? Better get real good at casting or have a real long extendable Poplar switch...................as mentioned before, GET A DOG!!!!!!!!!

It just angers me to no end when guys hunt water, especially big water like Namaka Lake and other DU projects with no dog! If you don't have one or cannot get one for whatever reason, then hunt with someone who does; otherwise, you're going to end up losing a lot of birds especially those that end up the cattails.............better off hunting fields if you do not have a trained retriever.

[Okotokian]

You can use all those things, but personally I would suggest not hunting over water if you don't have a reliable way to recover your birds. Just park yourself in a field on the major flightpaths to the lake. Some cheap shell decoys, a little camo burlap for you hiding in the unharvested field edge, and you're good to go.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by densa44

Bye the way just about any breed will do the job for most hunters. The dogs are better bred than we are!

To a point. My Brittany is bred for upland but is a great water retriever... in September. But there is no way I can get him into the water in November. He just doesn't have the coat. I stick to fields when the mercury starts to really drop.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by trapshooter

This smay be a dumb thread but here it goes.
What sre some ways you guys retreive ducks from the water without a dog?

1. I use a expandable golf ball retreiver with a hooked taped on the end

2. Fishing rod with big spoon on the end

Forgett all that stuff.
Just call me and we can use my dog Bear.
Being serious. I dont overly even want to take a gun. I just love working the dog..
Watching a well trained dog work is one of lifes great pleasures.

Jamie

[ducky_hunter]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Forgett all that stuff.
Just call me and we can use my dog Bear.
Being serious. I dont overly even want to take a gun. I just love working the dog..
Watching a well trained dog work is one of lifes great pleasures.

Jamie

I am with Jamie on that one

[S-in-Cochrane]

Having a dog is awesome, but extremely frustrating if both of you are learning.

It was my first year hunting waterfowl, met a couple guys from the forum here who were also new to it. We went out, had some fun. Got a few birds. It is tough enough to try and figure out how to get the birds to come into the decoys, how to even set up your decoys etc while you are trying to keep a chocolate tornado happy and entertained.

This was my situation with Trapper last year. He's 1 year now, we've been working on the total retriever training program I got from Pixel Shooter. Should have a better fall!

Good luck!

__
S

[shakeyleg02]

I have used a belly boat before that works fairly well still a pain in the you know what but id rather that then trying to pull your feet out of that thick sludge at the bottom of the duck pond ..but doesnt matter for me anymore because i also have a lab now

[KegRiver]

I don't hunt ducks over water. But I do use a collapsible fishing rod for retrieving Beaver.
As others do, I use a wooden plug and a large treble hook. I make the plug myself, out of wooden dowel. Simply cut off to the desired length, drill a small hole down the centre, round the ends and thread a brass wire through for line and hook to attach to.

Have to watch for floating logs. Other then that it works like a charm.
I was brought up using the branch technique. It works okay but is only useful if your catch is close to shore.

[wwbirds]

Just don't follow the way I was introduced in northern Ontario many years ago when 2 customers who knew I hunted big game offered to take me into some of their favorite beaver ponds to hunt black ducks and mallards.
I only brought one box of shells (you were only allowed 6 ducks at the time so it seemed adequate). Probably took me 15 shots to hit my first duck and then the two northern Ontario guys (hard rock miners) start striping down to go fetch all the ducks. Now the water in a pond is not particularly cold in September but a beaver poind is always a black hole of gumbo l00n chit.

I ordered my first of a never ending supply of retrievers after that weekend almost 40 years ago and have never been without a dog since

[6gunner]

Originally Posted by gramps73

Get a girlfriend that can swim..

Baah haw haww

[Ken07AOVette]

It is my favorite way to hunt birds now.

[theduke]

Nuttin better then having a good dog beside you. But when we first started we feild hunted ducks mostly or hunted the shallow stuff and waded out

[Canadian Bacon]

I started hunting fowl last year because I have a perfectly healthy black lab who just turned 3. I only got him out once last year because we were testing out my friend's labs first. Needless to say, an untrained or hyper dog is worse than not having one, especially when they whine and give away your posistion.

It takes a lot of patience and time to train a dog, and you have to start training a few months before season. You also have to asks yourself if you are willing to put up with a dog the rest of the year. So obviously don't get a dog just for hunting because that's cruel.

On the other hand, when I have hunted with a dog that would not retrieve, I had to do it myself (my partner was too lazy). It sucks the big one, and takes a lot out of you, but I say, don't hunt unless you are willing to put in the effort. As long as the bird was dead, or mostly dead, I had no problem either walking out or taking the canoe out to get the bird. As mentioned before, the problem comes with the cipples which happens too often with this steel shot. Never lost a cripple with a dog.


So "trained" dogs are greatly beneficial. Weigh the pros and cons, but it is definately unethical to lose a cripple if you can avoid it, and dogs help avoid it.

[densa44]

Here in Alberta we are very fortunate to have a large number of very good trainers. Both for retrievers and versatile dogs.

For the rookies, we were all one once, and even after 40 years the dog teaches me something every year.

Join a club. You will gets lots of help, and see what a trained dog can and should be able to do. You won't loose any more cripples!

I know of at least 6 clubs in Alberta for retrievers, one for versatile dogs and some for pointers.

Bye the way it is not too early to star training man's best friend right now. We are doing sight blinds (lining) and double retrieves plus a 4 mile walk every day (that is for my benefit).

If you can knock the bird down your dog will get it!

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

It is my favorite way to hunt birds now.

How were able to hide that C6.R engine in there?

[220swifty]

I had a squid hook tied to a length of decoy cord. It worked decent enough the few times I had to use it.

[7rem mag]

Instead of those "Lucky Strike" lures that we see, now we'll have to market "Dead Duck" lures.........