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Yesterday I had lots of running around to do , ie: bank, lumber yard , feed store , ect.

I drove by a neighbors place that I have been attempting to get over there and duck hunt a bit but time has not permited this well I seen a bunch of geese sitting on one of the ponds .

I just could not stand it , I called the guy who owns the place ( this place has 160+ ponds on it up to 5 acre lakes ) and ask if I could go ?? The answer was the same as it has been for 35+ years yep have fun.

I loaded up ole Peach and headed that way , I let Peach run around a bit before making her heel and follow me to the ridges overlooking the ponds.

I spotted a group of mallards on the first good size pond it is about an acre + in size it has a small peninsula jutting out into the pond and the ducks were out of the wind on the backside away from the bank that I had to make the approach from it is about 30 yards across the water to the little jutt out in the pond .

When the ducks are in this place it is about max gun range when they get up as it is on the best of times so around the hill we go out of sight of the ducks.

We approach the bank , I give Peach a hand signal to lay down and I head for the bank.

When I get to the bank and look over a pair of ducks were out in the middle at the end of the jutt , this put the birds at 40+ yards little further than I would like , I thought the other ducks were behind the Jutt and would get up when the other 2 did so up I go over the bank , to my suprise the other ducks were on the same bank I was on down 60 or so yards to my left , well all the birds got up and I never fired a shot .

So off we go to the next group of ponds it was starting to rain just about now so I was in a hurry to get something shot and head home.

We went to the ridges over looking the next batch of ponds and sure enough a small batch of duck were using a 3 acre lake , so upthe hill we go with me giving Peach the hand signal to lay down , I approach the bank , I peer over the bank and see lots of black ducks in the extream range of the gun so up the bank I go , up comes ducks just at the edge of where I am next to the bank, now this bank is about 10 yards thick so its a ways to the water as it is when the first ducks went airbourn.

I shoot the first duck at around 20 yards then pick out the second around 30 yards down they went into the pond , now it is raining quite a bit by now ,
I whistle for Peach she comes to the pond and I tell her Dead and to fetch so in the pond she goes for the close duck I could tell the water was a bit cool by her reaction upon entering but she swam to the duck about 20 yards away and retreaved it to me .

By this time the second duck was around 40 yards out in the pond , Peach went in and come back after going out around 20 yards , she was getting tired from the swiming.

Over the course of the next 5 minutes Peach made a few more attempts to retreave this duck from the center of the pond but came back each time , so I took Peach to the end of the pond where the duck was drifting and waited about 20 Minutes for the duck to get within 25 yards or so with Peach sitting there with me , now this is funny here ( I told her when she thought she could get the duck she could go and retreave it ) she waited about another 2-3 minutes and looked up at me like can I go ??? I ask her if she thought she could make it to go when she could , she sat there anothe minute with the wind pushing the duck closer all the time and off she went with out me telling her to go , this time she make the 25 or so yards out and brought back the duck to me .

I sure love this little dog , she is so smart and just done all of this on her own for I am not sharp enough to train anything , she has done all the training , I use to have a GSHP female that would do all this that peach will do but not with the vigor that Peach displays when hunting .

Yeh I know a pointing dog for a duck dog well this little dog is a hunting dog and I am not about to leave her out when she can do it all for the sake of her being a setter and not a lab , Smiling

Regards Charles
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Charles, Thanks for sharing a great story. She looks like a real sweetheart, a dog like that can make a man proud. Hope you and peach get to spend many many years having adventures together.

Wishing you the best when afield, R Rambler

Member Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 230 Location: SW Idaho

Dogs are a sign that God does love us.

Great hunt Charles - maybe carry a towel for the pup and invest in one of those neoprene jackets for her - more for insulation than camo - if you're gonna dunk her like that.

Some days I get serious dog envy...today is one.

Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 50 Location: john day, or

Lock that day away in your memory bank, great adventure, thanks for sharing it.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Not all of us were blessed with labs Wink

Great story--may you enjoy many more Very Happy

Went again this evening the wind was blowing 30-40 MPH and it was a bit on the chilly side , shot 3 ducks with Peach retreaving them all would not let her swim out and get them. waited till the wind pushed them in , this time I took a camera and got some of the retreaves for you to see.

This is Peach with a duck and a cripple in the background .

This is Peach diving in after the cripple.

This is Peach winding the duck in the water .

This is Peach with the duck in the photo above on the run bringing it to me .

This is what the place looks like , pond after pond and so on. heading back to the van letting peach run , she is wet and needed to keep warm .

This is what was on one pond but could not get up on them way too far across the pond to do this. Ducks and Geese in one area .

After we got back home Peach treated herself to a bubble bath after taking a swim , she also got her herbal essence shampo used on her , a blow dry and her favorite bone , one happy little dog.

Regards Charles

Great stories and photos, Charles. Sounds like a "do it all" pup.