Gone Goose, 20ft from Blind

[Doug]

Damn guys, all this complaining about loosing a goose in water... ever have to chase a winged goose down a muddy 100 acre field only to him beat you to the bush, or watch a 'dead' duck soar 2 fields over then drop. Worse yet was my buddy, who has a bad back, and screw-up hip, chase a winged Snow for a mile in Manitoba this fall... it could see him coming.

Recipe looks good, cut and paste done.

[TurkeyRookie]

If their just wing shot / crippled those big flipper feet can still get them swimming / running outta there in a hurry!

As for Doug's statement, those are the best times to let the retriever have at em, great to watch the dog go sailing across a field and tackle the cripple.

[Doug]

As for Doug's statement, those are the best times to let the retriever have at em, great to watch the dog go sailing across a field and tackle the cripple.

A buddy is working on his young dog; not there yet, until then I am one of the retrievers.

[bowj]

yep as sinker and others have mentioned (and I forgot to add to my post) make sure they aren't moving when you take your eyes off them to go retrieve.

also, if its safe to do so, always bring your gun and lots of ammo on the retrieve whether on foot or canoe or boat. how many times do you get out there and your gun could have put a quick end to the chase but you left it in the blind. or you take 3 long range shots to finish them (and it doesn't hit hard enough cause of range), and you have no more ammo to actually finish it when you get a bit closer.
not to mention how many times have you guys been out on a retrieve only to have birds come in and try to land, but you don't have your gun. same goes for messing with the decoys. that's when they always come.

[Sinker]

yep as sinker and others have mentioned (and I forgot to add to my post) make sure they aren't moving when you take your eyes off them to go retrieve.

also, if its safe to do so, always bring your gun and lots of ammo on the retrieve whether on foot or canoe or boat. how many times do you get out there and your gun could have put a quick end to the chase but you left it in the blind. or you take 3 long range shots to finish them (and it doesn't hit hard enough cause of range), and you have no more ammo to actually finish it when you get a bit closer.
not to mention how many times have you guys been out on a retrieve only to have birds come in and try to land, but you don't have your gun. same goes for messing with the decoys. that's when they always come.

Always, always, always bring your gun on a retrieve. Always.

S.

[woody1948]

I lost a greater this morning in a wheat field, flat and open mile by a mile. Got out of my lay down, went and picked up one and couldn't find the other. Go figure

[Thymallus]

We knocked a duck out of the sky on Saturday and it spiralled down apparently dead as stone to within a few feet of the water and then regained flight control. The bird flew at least another kilometer and we never found him.

[nate18]

my brother shot a duck up north in a smaller pond. we thought it was dead and it disappeared. we waited around for over an hour and it never came back up.

[lancecooper]

It has happened to me a few years ago. Two geese came barreling towards me and I shot both of them. One landed on the shore stonedead. The other splased in the water with broken wing. I reloaded and rushed for it, the water level was below knee, and all of sudden it dove and disappeared. I stood and shouldered the gun and waited for it to come up. A few mins had passed I scanned the whole water area and it didn't come up even though the water was almost smooth as glass. I turned and retrieved the dead one and got on the boat and motored around incremental circle. I never recovered it. Lesson learned: shoot it after you reloaded the gun or else it will be gone for good.