Since waterfowl hunting seasons are open, I want to first give a tip of the hat to Labs (America’s most popular dog, the Labrador retriever) and dogs everywhere who plunge into icy waters to grab a downed duck or goose. Leaving land and going into icy water anywhere, whether it’s a river or a lake, takes courage — and so I did. And I was going for Canada goose.
Mike recently took me to a ground blind in the pre-dawn darkness. There he tossed a few duck decoys into the river. The blind was located in a spot where two rivers merged. Luckily, Mike also remembered to bring shotshells and to load his shotgun. You just never know about him LOL!
After sunrise, some strange honking sounds came from a small call Mike pressed to his lips. Then I heard a similar response in the distance. The return honks grew louder and here came a long V of flying dark birds. Not on the scale of those flying monkeys coming for Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, but many Canada geese came our way. Hey, Mike is good at calling, but lousy at shooting at times. Anyway, Mike stood up, swung his Outlander shotgun, tugged the trigger and following the boom, there was a loud splash in the river to our right. Before Mike could speak, I was in the river and going for the goose. I had never fetched a goose but I have added hunting waterfowl to my resume this year.
OK, the river was not only cold but full of swiftly flowing water. I spotted a bird ahead, swam fast until I grabbed it and then washed up on the bank across the river from the blind with a Canada goose in my mouth. Wow, geese are big! I stood on the bank a few minutes, far away from the blind, trying to determine what to do with this mouthful of weighty bird. I quickly assessed a bag full of grouse (birds I am most familiar with) would still weigh less than this honking goose. It’s my job to bring birds to Mike, so soon I plunged back into the icy river with the goose in my mouth and began swimming. Just note, I plan to compete in the Olympics and suggest a new sport — everyone swims in swift, white-capping rapids with a goose in their mouth until they reach a blind where a team member is screaming at them. LOL. I will win gold for sure in this new sport.
Anyway, I arrived on the shore by the blind and delivered the goose to Mike. Weimaraners everywhere are now on the scoreboard as accomplished waterfowl hunting dogs. My plans are to sneak around and learn to use that goose call so I can call in my own flock of big birds. I got pretty darn excited to going for Canada goose. And seeing a flock of geese coming to the blind — that’s what hunting is all about! —Cameron
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