shotguns just for waterfowling, cheap guns
that don't cause winces when you abuse them as you must when
duck and goose gunning; a 12-gauge autoloader for blind and pass
shooting, a 20 gauge over/under for jump shooting.
In my marsh-skiing and skiff-poling days, Zoe would have been
the ideal retriever, obedient but endlessly enduring and always
eager. But for a retriever of her temperament having to sneak
or stroll, constantly at heel is little short of torture. But
she delighted me by doing it on a November crack of dawn morning
in northeastern Wisconsin, resulting in the most second most
memorable bird recovery of that season.
We sat for only five or ten minutes into shooting hours on the
shore of the shallow pond behind the cabin where we'd worked
over a couple bundles of resident woodducks the first morning
of duck season, just to make sure the woodies had moved out and
hoping some |
migrant northern mallard had dropped in. Frosty it was
but except for ice skimmed puddles, all the water was open. So
we headed down the logging trail to scout and sneak the complex
of ponds in the quarter section.
a good retriever serves as a double
blessing because I can forgo the weight of waders
Even at heal Zoe has a coiled spring intensity, so she wasn't
glued absolutely to my left leg as we circled shoreline and probed
marshy pits and she had to be hissed at occasionally to keep
her at "loose heal" rather than forging out front.
You accept this with an eager retriever that is also used to
seek out and flush upland game.
Either we were lucky or she was doing okay, however, when I stopped
at the northwest corner of a
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rectangular pond, which was screened by
about 10 yards of cattails and willow brush. And, in keeping
with her training, she must have plunked her butt down when I
halted. I don't know because within a breath or two I heard the
clatter-chatter of a mallard lifting from the water. From then
on Zoe was on her own. Being trustworthy and steady in training
(when you can concentrate on your dog and she knows she's in
focus) or in a surprise hunting situation when the game is on
stage have widely different degrees of probability.
What turned out to be five ducks flew flat before rising over
the top of the brush 35 to 40 yards out. The light was still
bad and if I was to have a legitimate shot with a 20 gauge I
had to pick one quick. It would make a much better story to relate
how I calmly picked two drakes out of the bundle and drop them
dead.
Truth for to tell, in that light at that distance I couldn't
tell drakes from hens, wasn't even positive about the species,
but did know I wanted a duck down for my young bitch to work.
Long practice moves tend to be instinctive. Perhaps sub-consciously,
as the ducks fanned out I picked out the left outside bird, possibly
figuring to swing to the right along the line to take the another
bird with the second barrel of the over/under. Not all the shots
and I make are pure luck.
Those who would impugn the sportsmanship of anyone who uses 20
gauge for waterfowl gunning have a valid opinion. I too prefer
12 gauge and as noted use a M-9200 Mossberg autoloader for goose
shooting or pass shooting on ducks. When they were on sale for
$250 each I bought two of them, even though I don't like autoloaders.
In a blind, however, you don't have to break them to reload,
but mostly they absorb much of the perceived |
