I know the feeling all too well. I haven't hunted waterfowl in a many years, but do hunt upland birds (red legged devil birds and sometimes grouse). I prefer to hunt with my golden retriever(s) but have occasionally hunted without benefit of a better nose. I've spent many hours searching for downed chukar when my dog could have found them in seconds, I've lost quite a few as well - including one that hit the ground and bounced, then as I was approaching it to pick it up, the damned thing picked it's head up, got up and flew away. I've also ignored my dog on occasion, thinking all hope was lost, only to return to the spot an hour later and my dog went right back to work and found the bird. One time decades ago, I shot a grouse which got up and flew away. While I was trying to figure out how I missed, I let my dog out of the truck - he took off in the direction the grouse flew off, and came back with it. One of several birds my dogs have retrieved that I never even knew I hit.
Probably the sickest I've ever felt though was when I started archery hunting in the 1980's. I had what should have been a perfect shot at a nice bull elk, arrow hit something and didn't fully penetrate the chest cavity. I searched for that elk for 2 days and never recovered it. I completely gave up archery hunting a couple years later and mostly didn't hunt big game for the better part of 20 years after that. Dedicated myself to marksmanship whenever I'm lucky enough to draw a tag.
Losing any animal sucks. I try hard to be a good shot, but still fail sometimes. I try hard to be a good retriever, but still fail sometimes. All we can do is keep striving - after literally every failure, I'm looking for ways to avoid repeating it in the future.
Thanks for writing about this -- it's such a raw lesson to have to learn. We lost a goose in the tules at Sacramento NWR last year and both of us felt like such jerks. There's a real double misery in slogging through the reeds realizing your delicious dinner has disappeared AND feeling the wretched pang of having done wrong by the living creature whose life we took. When a duck disappeared on us later in the season on a stretch of river up here in Siskiyou, we were DETERMINED to find it, in no small part because we were still kicking ourselves about the goose, and damned if it didn't take us a solid hour in ice-rimmed water to find it wedged under a rock in the middle of the stream...but we did find it, and the rush of relief was intoxicating.
I also really appreciate the comments here about dogs -- it's something we might like one day, but yes, the pressure and the cost and the responsibility is huge, and it's nice to take in thoughtful perspectives on NOT having one.
I would never dissuade anyone from getting a dog because dogs are wonderful. I adore them. I'm sure I would love having a dog and watching it do excellent work. I'm just too old to keep committing to things I don't have time or money for and paying the price for it. And literally, in my case, we're talking about a few birds' difference.
If/when Hank and I live in a place where a dog is truly necessary (upland hunting, or duck hunting in water that's rarely walkable), we'll do it, no questions asked. But as evidenced by the MANY dogless hunters where we hunt ducks, it is not truly necessary.
So refreshing to hear that you don't hunt with a dog. I don't have one either, and also feel pressure to have one, but it doesn't make sense with our available time and where we live right now. It's nice to hear that one can hunt as much as y'all do and make do without one.
Getting a dog *might* bring me 3 to 5 birds year that I'd otherwise lose, which is not enough for the investment of time and money. I am stressed to the gills with everything that's on my plate as it is. I don't have time to properly clean my house as it is. To be able to afford a dog, I'd have to take on more work, and then have less time to train the dog, which would leave me with an underperformer.
Come on, you know I had to say it. It's in jest.. mostly.
There are a lot of very good reasons for not having a dog of any type, and it's true that a retriever comes with its own set of challenges. For someone who is on the go a lot, it's sort of like having a kid... except this kid isn't allowed in restaurants, motels, or even gas stations. Unlike camo and decoys, you can't just stow it in the garage until hunting season. It's always there. It needs food. It needs water. It needs attention (the older I get, the more attention my dogs seem to get from me and I have found, by and large, that they are better hunters for it).
And a dog is not the end-all-be-all. Even with a dog, wingshooting requires an extra level of situational awareness. Where's that bird likely to go down when you shoot? I've been in that thick stuff like you're describing, and dog or no dog, finding a downed bird requires as much luck as skill. There are also places a bird might go that I wouldn't want to send my dog... like the poison ivy thicket at my place that happens to lie right under the mourning dove superhighway. I won't shoot the birds here because no bird is worth 10 days of misery.
We actually looked into that, but goat rental is not such a widespread thing out here as it was in CA. But the poison ivy belongs here... it's part of the habitat. We were looking at goats to control the invasive privet, but it turns out that they won't eat it...it's so toxic it can actually kill a goat, and that takes some doing!
I've hunted with and without dogs, so I know the costs and benefits. I have calculated this carefully. The investment would be HUGE, more time and money than I have, and the result would be maybe getting a couple more birds than I can get myself. It doesn't pencil out for me.
What I don't understand is why I get so much pressure to get a dog. I'm not criticizing anyone's life choices if they have a dog. I have truly admired and adored many dogs ive hunted with. But damn, so many people feel the need to tell me how wrong I am about this.
I dunno, Holly, but I guess it's part and parcel of the times we live in... everybody is an expert in their own mind, and their way is always the best way. It's like Hank's piece the other day where folks want to tell other folks that their way of cooking X dish is not the "right" way.
There have always been strongly opinionated people, of course, but things seem different these days. There doesn't seem to be much tolerance for shades of gray anymore. Black or white and wrong or right... and if you're not on the same side as me, then you're simply wrong. I'm tempted to go to my default and blame (anti)social media, even if that feels a little fascile.
Bottom line though, is if you don't WANT a dog, then a dog is absolutely the last thing you should get. Having a dog has to be about a lot more than just increasing your bird count.
I can't figure it out. Not many areas of my life outside of politics where I can tell people I've made a choice NOT to do something for very good reasons and they blow right past all the cues I've sent and launch straight into how I really should do it. I love my cats, but you don't see me telling people who don't want cats that they should get them. Your decision not to be a cat person does not invalidate or diminish my decision to be a cat person. And that's what it really feels like - that people take my decision as a condemnation of theirs. It's not. You do you, people!
OK no dog, however you are not getting any younger (non of us are) and our German Drahthaar has found birds the next day that we weren't able to get the day we shot them. Emmitt is worth every penny and pain in the a_ _. He is now 5 years old and is keeping us younger, besides never missing a bird. Look the breed up, they are upland game, waterfowl and blood trackers. https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/f9FW21aac1DJ
Also: If I get to the point where I can't fetch my own ducks, I also won't be able to handle public land duck hunting, which requires fitness and tenacity. The fetching will be a moot point.
I have encountered many breeds I admire and have enjoyed hunting with, but we're just not in the market for a dog. If we ever move someplace where the predominant hunting genuinely requires a dog, we'll get one,, but for now, no.
Yeah. I'm not a hunter, Holly, but I am a Brit, and I kept thinking, "No retriever?" Dogs have so many additional virtues! Endless love and cuteness! But OK, go ahead, be your own spaniel. 😂
I'd never thought of it like that before! Dog ownership is hideously expensive these days, so we never replaced our non-working, purely for decorative purposes, beast after she popped her paws. Oh, wait, you have given me an excuse! I'll take up duck hunting! Then I'll need another dog! Is it tax deductible? 😂
I know the feeling all too well. I haven't hunted waterfowl in a many years, but do hunt upland birds (red legged devil birds and sometimes grouse). I prefer to hunt with my golden retriever(s) but have occasionally hunted without benefit of a better nose. I've spent many hours searching for downed chukar when my dog could have found them in seconds, I've lost quite a few as well - including one that hit the ground and bounced, then as I was approaching it to pick it up, the damned thing picked it's head up, got up and flew away. I've also ignored my dog on occasion, thinking all hope was lost, only to return to the spot an hour later and my dog went right back to work and found the bird. One time decades ago, I shot a grouse which got up and flew away. While I was trying to figure out how I missed, I let my dog out of the truck - he took off in the direction the grouse flew off, and came back with it. One of several birds my dogs have retrieved that I never even knew I hit.
Probably the sickest I've ever felt though was when I started archery hunting in the 1980's. I had what should have been a perfect shot at a nice bull elk, arrow hit something and didn't fully penetrate the chest cavity. I searched for that elk for 2 days and never recovered it. I completely gave up archery hunting a couple years later and mostly didn't hunt big game for the better part of 20 years after that. Dedicated myself to marksmanship whenever I'm lucky enough to draw a tag.
Losing any animal sucks. I try hard to be a good shot, but still fail sometimes. I try hard to be a good retriever, but still fail sometimes. All we can do is keep striving - after literally every failure, I'm looking for ways to avoid repeating it in the future.
I'm 78, my legs aren't what they used to be. My Labrador has extended my hunting days by years!
Sounds like a dog is great for you! I may well reach the same point- I'm just not there yet.
Thanks for writing about this -- it's such a raw lesson to have to learn. We lost a goose in the tules at Sacramento NWR last year and both of us felt like such jerks. There's a real double misery in slogging through the reeds realizing your delicious dinner has disappeared AND feeling the wretched pang of having done wrong by the living creature whose life we took. When a duck disappeared on us later in the season on a stretch of river up here in Siskiyou, we were DETERMINED to find it, in no small part because we were still kicking ourselves about the goose, and damned if it didn't take us a solid hour in ice-rimmed water to find it wedged under a rock in the middle of the stream...but we did find it, and the rush of relief was intoxicating.
I also really appreciate the comments here about dogs -- it's something we might like one day, but yes, the pressure and the cost and the responsibility is huge, and it's nice to take in thoughtful perspectives on NOT having one.
I would never dissuade anyone from getting a dog because dogs are wonderful. I adore them. I'm sure I would love having a dog and watching it do excellent work. I'm just too old to keep committing to things I don't have time or money for and paying the price for it. And literally, in my case, we're talking about a few birds' difference.
If/when Hank and I live in a place where a dog is truly necessary (upland hunting, or duck hunting in water that's rarely walkable), we'll do it, no questions asked. But as evidenced by the MANY dogless hunters where we hunt ducks, it is not truly necessary.
So refreshing to hear that you don't hunt with a dog. I don't have one either, and also feel pressure to have one, but it doesn't make sense with our available time and where we live right now. It's nice to hear that one can hunt as much as y'all do and make do without one.
Yep! SO MUCH PRESSURE!!!
Getting a dog *might* bring me 3 to 5 birds year that I'd otherwise lose, which is not enough for the investment of time and money. I am stressed to the gills with everything that's on my plate as it is. I don't have time to properly clean my house as it is. To be able to afford a dog, I'd have to take on more work, and then have less time to train the dog, which would leave me with an underperformer.
Holly, why don't you get a dog?
Come on, you know I had to say it. It's in jest.. mostly.
There are a lot of very good reasons for not having a dog of any type, and it's true that a retriever comes with its own set of challenges. For someone who is on the go a lot, it's sort of like having a kid... except this kid isn't allowed in restaurants, motels, or even gas stations. Unlike camo and decoys, you can't just stow it in the garage until hunting season. It's always there. It needs food. It needs water. It needs attention (the older I get, the more attention my dogs seem to get from me and I have found, by and large, that they are better hunters for it).
And a dog is not the end-all-be-all. Even with a dog, wingshooting requires an extra level of situational awareness. Where's that bird likely to go down when you shoot? I've been in that thick stuff like you're describing, and dog or no dog, finding a downed bird requires as much luck as skill. There are also places a bird might go that I wouldn't want to send my dog... like the poison ivy thicket at my place that happens to lie right under the mourning dove superhighway. I won't shoot the birds here because no bird is worth 10 days of misery.
PS perhaps you could rent a herd of goats to work on that poison ivy?
We actually looked into that, but goat rental is not such a widespread thing out here as it was in CA. But the poison ivy belongs here... it's part of the habitat. We were looking at goats to control the invasive privet, but it turns out that they won't eat it...it's so toxic it can actually kill a goat, and that takes some doing!
Wow! And you're right of course about it belonging there. But .... mmmmmmm, doves! Lol
THANK YOU.
I've hunted with and without dogs, so I know the costs and benefits. I have calculated this carefully. The investment would be HUGE, more time and money than I have, and the result would be maybe getting a couple more birds than I can get myself. It doesn't pencil out for me.
What I don't understand is why I get so much pressure to get a dog. I'm not criticizing anyone's life choices if they have a dog. I have truly admired and adored many dogs ive hunted with. But damn, so many people feel the need to tell me how wrong I am about this.
I dunno, Holly, but I guess it's part and parcel of the times we live in... everybody is an expert in their own mind, and their way is always the best way. It's like Hank's piece the other day where folks want to tell other folks that their way of cooking X dish is not the "right" way.
There have always been strongly opinionated people, of course, but things seem different these days. There doesn't seem to be much tolerance for shades of gray anymore. Black or white and wrong or right... and if you're not on the same side as me, then you're simply wrong. I'm tempted to go to my default and blame (anti)social media, even if that feels a little fascile.
Bottom line though, is if you don't WANT a dog, then a dog is absolutely the last thing you should get. Having a dog has to be about a lot more than just increasing your bird count.
I can't figure it out. Not many areas of my life outside of politics where I can tell people I've made a choice NOT to do something for very good reasons and they blow right past all the cues I've sent and launch straight into how I really should do it. I love my cats, but you don't see me telling people who don't want cats that they should get them. Your decision not to be a cat person does not invalidate or diminish my decision to be a cat person. And that's what it really feels like - that people take my decision as a condemnation of theirs. It's not. You do you, people!
OK no dog, however you are not getting any younger (non of us are) and our German Drahthaar has found birds the next day that we weren't able to get the day we shot them. Emmitt is worth every penny and pain in the a_ _. He is now 5 years old and is keeping us younger, besides never missing a bird. Look the breed up, they are upland game, waterfowl and blood trackers. https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/f9FW21aac1DJ
Also: If I get to the point where I can't fetch my own ducks, I also won't be able to handle public land duck hunting, which requires fitness and tenacity. The fetching will be a moot point.
I have encountered many breeds I admire and have enjoyed hunting with, but we're just not in the market for a dog. If we ever move someplace where the predominant hunting genuinely requires a dog, we'll get one,, but for now, no.
Yeah. I'm not a hunter, Holly, but I am a Brit, and I kept thinking, "No retriever?" Dogs have so many additional virtues! Endless love and cuteness! But OK, go ahead, be your own spaniel. 😂
Keeps me in shape! Also, like I said, I typically avoid dropping them in thick stuff.
Eek! I have no skin in the game! I just wanted to use that line about being your own spaniel! Go forth and hunt as you prefer!
Lol, I know. You just have no idea how pervasive the pressure is to spend thousands of dollars and hours to bag just a few more ducks a year.
I'd never thought of it like that before! Dog ownership is hideously expensive these days, so we never replaced our non-working, purely for decorative purposes, beast after she popped her paws. Oh, wait, you have given me an excuse! I'll take up duck hunting! Then I'll need another dog! Is it tax deductible? 😂