Post your Hunting/Fishing Pics

Hopefully I will leave Sunday for a week and be hunting ruffies 300 miles to the North of me. As long as the snow doesn't get too deep for the dog to run. Been a good year for the dog so far, he just turned 1 year old. Hell of a grouse hunter so far.

 

Don't do it

 

Wow! I love your dog! someday I will have mine too for hunting What breed is your?

 

Thank you Louis! He is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever or Toller for short, the smallest of the Retriever breeds. They were breed over 200 years ago in Nova Scotia to Toll or lure ducks into shooting range. I have hunted over them for 30 years now, this is my 41st season grouse hunting and my favorite breed. The older black nosed Toller in my avatar is too old to hunt now and retired from hunting. They are smart and athletic one of the few to give the border collie a run for the money in agility. They are very independent and being smart will try to train you instead of the other way around. But I like my dogs just a little bit naughty same as I like my women LOL. Great hunters and you are in a great place to pick one up



Good luck keeping them out of the beaver ponds they love the water of course.

 

@Cold Iron , I just spoke to my GF on the phone to talk her about that breed! haha She agree on it's the dog we need when we will be ready!

I had (my parents, so we had) a nice Labrador retriever a couple years ago, died to fast unfortunately... but we loved him so much! When I started duck hunting, he was already too much scared of gun shot to take him with me but he was so smart! Smartest dog we ever had and so big! around 120lbs and still able to jump a 4' fence to get his freezby haha. I miss him and I want another best friend like him later in my life. The Toller seems to be a great size to be taken in a AC taco and with retriever breed, you can't regret your choice in my opinion And my sister has a crazy border collie

here's a few pics

 

@Kemosabe your black lab was a beautiful dog, it looks like you were blessed There is nothing wrong with a lab at all! Many of my friends that hunt pheasant in SD and ducks on the Miss. flyway hunt labs. In fact most of my friends hunt labs. There are breeders out there like Robert Milner breeding smaller labs which work well for an AC cab too.

Tollers might have a harder time doing a 400 yard retrieve but if the breeding is right they will do it. And with a Toller your dog IS your decoy. They were bred to look like a red fox and ducks have a fatal attraction to a fox that runs back and forth on the bank and will swim in to get close



However once you shoot at the ducks they will not fall for that trick again any time soon LOL. At the US National Specialty for NSDTR (Tollers) this year my pup Nova was the only one to pass the Basic Retrieving and Tolling Test. Handling him I couldn't take pics but I was given several pics that others took. Here he is on the Tolling test with the bumper in the air, they are driven to retrieve and will wear you out.



I wish you the best in finding a pup for you and your girlfriend! Any questions feel free to PM me I may not have all the answers but will do what I can to help you

 

I have to ask why? I remember when Pa. had "Bear Day" and then Dr. Gary Alt turned it into a season. I have hunted bear from North Central Pa. to Washington State but now look at it and deer season as an interruption to bird season and getting the dog back into the woods. Although in Mn. you can bait bear.

@steveo27 not sure where your hunting but in my experience find a gut or ridge with a good view but yet has some cover, water is an advantage. They don't normally move during daylight hours but other hunters do move especially around lunch time and they will push them just like they do deer. Find a spot and stay there all day, it doesn't have to be a tree stand a ground blind works well. They don't see very good at all in fact will squint at you trying to figure out what you are. But their sense of smell is up there with a deer or coyote, baking soda is your friend.

 

Pulled this guy in on the kayak in a small lake near the house.

 

As the new guy, I guess the rule is go big or stay home:

Andrew

See below

 

Don't see the point in it, really. I'm a big hunter, don't get me wrong, but shooting bear is up there with shooting lions, exotic deer, water buffalo, etc. If one attacks me, sure, I'll shoot one. I have the same reasoning with people who just shoot young ass bucks, and don't manage the doe to buck ratio, and generate a good gene pool. Just my two cents, carry on.

 

@Cold Iron , I can really see that you love your dog very much

It may take a while to be ready to get ourselves a dog but it is sure that I will think about your!

Thanks a lot!

 

Carry on SMARTLY!

Black bear vs. Brown vs. Polar, depends.... Insurance companies do more to manage doe to buck ratio outside of Texas game farms. And who is going to manage scrub racks and cull them when those game commission limits bucks to 8 point or above. I hear you...

Bear isn't common in your neck of the woods. When I was stationed in Washington State a guy got tired of a black bear raiding his garbage can so purchased a shotgun and slugs and ended up shooting the largest squared black bear in North America. He didn't care about trophy, it was attacking his garbage cans. At the same time they were considered a varmint in Washington State, open season shoot them 12 months out of the year. And salmon fishing sometimes it was better done then not. Depends on your exposure to the game animal I guess. Black bear is not an exotic species imported for the rich in the Northern Tier of North America, it is native.

 

If it were not for hunting most of these critters would be extinct. Take polar bears for example. Now that Americans can legally hunt polar bears but cannot import their trophies the indigenous people are looking at polar bears as an occupational hazard for fishermen that need to be killed, rather than a high dollar investment for the tribe. Same with lions, elephants and to some extent, many other critters. If it were not for elephant hunting, and the dollars and meat such hunts provide, the African tribespeople would kill every elephant they can find to keep them from tearing up their fields and groves of trees. Same with lions that prey on domestic livestock because it's easier than wild beasts. As an example, Kenya outlawed all hunting in 1976. Since 1977 they have lost 70% of their wildlife, even in national parks, to poachers and encroaching farm acreage.
Just my 2 cents worth.

 

The only reason elephants would go extinct are the ivory poachers killing them. Sounds like the real problem are poachers all around. Just my two cents.

 

I was in Kenya back when the Iran Crisis was going on, we pulled into Mombasa after the Army helio fiasco. Right now I'm looking at a carved elephant that a native made, with real ivory tusks. I was disappointed when we finally were able to pull into Africa that we could only shoot animals with cameras, I picked up a Canon AE-1 with 4 lenses in Sasobo Japan at the time for next to nothing when the Yen was weak. But I have turned into my grandfather now and only prefer to shoot birds that don't mate for life, but nothing wrong with shooting with a camera. The ultimate catch and release for game....

2 years ago I purchased a Pentax because of the combat worthiness it has shown in Nam. Mn. was losing Moose at an alarming rate over the last few years, and the Biologist wanted to blame global warming at first, they have since changed their mind because of the scientific evidence of the impact that wolves have. I have seen too many moose and deer die of wolf attacks. Wolves are protected here now because of a Federal judgement. Yeah like some Gov't official in Washington DC had a clue LOL. I've never been able to get a picture of a wolf attack on a moose, too many things going on including protecting the dog. But this is what a wolf attack on a deer looks like after the pack shows up 2 hours after a single wolf does the original kill. The dog was back in the cabin and the wolves were circling me. They don't attack humans as a rule however with dogs they will break the rules.

 

Same deer earlier in the day. They are not use to humans or dogs being around in this part of the world.

 

I understand your thoughts but the game numbers,size, and variety vary all over this country. Same as the style of hunting. Nothing wrong with sitting in a blind for example for deer like what is done in your neck of the woods, but that just doesn't happen here. Should I fault your style of pursuit since you, or your area sits under cover, dry and warm, where I go hike up mountains or sit out in the weather watching clear cuts? I've taught my kids to value the hunt, the animal, and time in the field. Horns look nice on the wall, and help with the memory. I know. I have 2 book bucks on the wall. My best memory is the first animal each of my boys earned, the hard way.

 

I see your point, but A, I don't hunt in blinds, and won't, until I get too old that I have to. B, where did you get the idea that I don't value the time in the field? And C, I have passed up several big bucks because they were smaller than what I had previously shot, and every season take does for meat, and to keep the balance in check. I value the time, and nature aspect of hunting more than I do pulling the trigger, although that can be very exciting. And I wasn't faulting anyone's "style" of pursuit, but I do think it's shitty that people bait bears, and while they stick their head in a 50 gal drum full of bait, get plugged with an arrow or rifle round. That's the only point I was making.

 

Copy that. And I did not take any of that from your post. Simply stating the difference in areas. My bear pictured earlier was not takin over bait. But it was taken using dogs. When it comes down to effort, that bear was physically the hardest hunt of my life. You are entitled to any opinion you have and I'm not picking bones. Simply stating my opinion with examples. I feel hunters need to stick together. No bs argument between compound bow hunters or tradition. No bolt action over semi. No shit given for ARs. Same for gun owners. People out there don't give a shit if I loose my ARs. Or suppressor. But keep in mind, after I loose mine, they(antis) will come after your wheel gun. (Not you directly, please take nothing from me personal. It is a general statement)