I'm letting the cat out of the bag a little early! I talked to a buddy who is flat out MURDERING ducks right now in Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron, MI) and got the invite to bring the pup up for a hunt. I'm taking off Weds afternoon and hunting Thurs/Fri/Sat and then headed home. Taking a camper and roughing it for those days which I'm sure will smell pleasant considering I will have myself and a wet dog in it but hey that's what its all about!
When I got Sarge I vowed to myself I would put the priority of him in front of deer hunting (which has been my whole life) and make sure I trained him to his full capacity. I thought this would be a GREAT experience for Sarge to be able to hunt big water birds and learn tactics of hunting larger water as well. To say I'm proud of what I've accomplished with this 11 month old pup would be an understatement. I'm a little hard on him at times due to my competitive nature but I truly want what's best for him and sometimes I find myself needing to step back a few steps and chill out or reteach topics. With dogs it is a crawl, walk, run theory, nothing happens overnight! We had a few issues with cripples the first two days which blew my mind bc with teal he flat out goes 110% at them, but this mallard drake gave him a run for his money the other day and I got down hard on him for acting up about it. After talking to the trainer I learned it was mainly MY fault for not making sure the duck was dead and sending an 11 month old pup to a bird that was still able to fly a little bit (5 yards).
I also want to say THANKS to everyone who has been supportive during this entire process with Sarge. We've had some ups and downs, but everyone has stuck by our side and helped us through a lot! So THANK YOU guys/gals!!!! I almost feel like Sarge and Betty (Jims pup) being the same age have become the younger face of TOO and feel blessed to have sooooo many great people to share these memories with. I hope throughout this season many of you get the chance to hunt with us and get to know us first hand.
I will take plenty of pictures, and try to capture our first out of state journey to the best of my ability. I wont have access to a computer while I'm up there so more than likely after tomorrow it will be Sunday before I'm back on here. Here is a cell phone picture of Sarge and his first duck opener a couple of days ago.... I'm taking the DSLR up to MI with me so I will have a lot better pics and story to tell when we get back!
Once again thanks everyone for following us and allowing us to be apart of a great TOO family!
When I got Sarge I vowed to myself I would put the priority of him in front of deer hunting (which has been my whole life) and make sure I trained him to his full capacity. I thought this would be a GREAT experience for Sarge to be able to hunt big water birds and learn tactics of hunting larger water as well. To say I'm proud of what I've accomplished with this 11 month old pup would be an understatement. I'm a little hard on him at times due to my competitive nature but I truly want what's best for him and sometimes I find myself needing to step back a few steps and chill out or reteach topics. With dogs it is a crawl, walk, run theory, nothing happens overnight! We had a few issues with cripples the first two days which blew my mind bc with teal he flat out goes 110% at them, but this mallard drake gave him a run for his money the other day and I got down hard on him for acting up about it. After talking to the trainer I learned it was mainly MY fault for not making sure the duck was dead and sending an 11 month old pup to a bird that was still able to fly a little bit (5 yards).
I also want to say THANKS to everyone who has been supportive during this entire process with Sarge. We've had some ups and downs, but everyone has stuck by our side and helped us through a lot! So THANK YOU guys/gals!!!! I almost feel like Sarge and Betty (Jims pup) being the same age have become the younger face of TOO and feel blessed to have sooooo many great people to share these memories with. I hope throughout this season many of you get the chance to hunt with us and get to know us first hand.
I will take plenty of pictures, and try to capture our first out of state journey to the best of my ability. I wont have access to a computer while I'm up there so more than likely after tomorrow it will be Sunday before I'm back on here. Here is a cell phone picture of Sarge and his first duck opener a couple of days ago.... I'm taking the DSLR up to MI with me so I will have a lot better pics and story to tell when we get back!
Once again thanks everyone for following us and allowing us to be apart of a great TOO family!
