Longest retrieve.

[oowee]

Out with Charlie my cocker on the crows and rooks. I know many will feel its not the right job for a cocker but he has adapted well and has a technique to deal with runners and fighters. 

I was tucked in behind a straw pile and had made a mat of straw for the bottom of the hide to try to manage the mud. The birds were coming in well and we had a dozen or so set up as deeks. Mid morning over the top of the bails at 40+m came a crow with wings set gliding over towards the pattern. It was a fairly easy shot and I could hear the sub sonic pellets strike above my head. The crow flinched as it turned down the field still with wings set. Charlie was watching intently for the net to be lifted and off he went in pursuit. The field is slightly sloping down to a river and after 100 m Charlie is almost under the bird still gliding in a slow descent. I am waiting for the bird to fold but it just kept going. Charlie still chasing lower and lower to the point where Charlie is almost on it but it hit the fence by the river. Another 10m and he would have caught it mid air but a total distance of, maybe, around 200m. What a chase and back he came, somewhat slower, up the hill with his catch

. 

[ditchman]

never put my dogs on corvids......seen other dogs that are blind in one eye as a result of a pricked corvid....

[mossy835]

i had a lab back in the 80s and she would not pick them up.

[welsh1]

I shot a pigeon in a hide one day and it locked it's wings, Jake my Brittany was watching it so i sent him out expecting it to drop, i watched as it went over the field i was in and across the next before it fell, Jake went straight to it and came back, he was a bit slower at the end , it was just over 300m according to google earth.Amazing how efficient they glide.

[oowee]

40 minutes ago, welsh1 said:

I shot a pigeon in a hide one day and it locked it's wings, Jake my Brittany was watching it so i sent him out expecting it to drop, i watched as it went over the field i was in and across the next before it fell, Jake went straight to it and came back, he was a bit slower at the end , it was just over 300m according to google earth.Amazing how efficient they glide.

Wow that's some distance. I have seen many set but fold part way through a glide. It was almost like this one was dead but in the glide position sounds like you pigeo was the same.  Quite amazing. 

[welsh1]

49 minutes ago, oowee said:

Wow that's some distance. I have seen many set but fold part way through a glide. It was almost like this one was dead but in the glide position sounds like you pigeo was the same.  Quite amazing. 

I suspect the distance was achived because we were at the top of a hill slowly sloping down in front of us with a breeze blowing in our face, with the wings locked out they become like a toy glider.
As you say normally they glide a bit then fold.

[dogone]

  A duck shot high over decoys. Flew off and fell dead over 200 yds off. Sent my lab ,Jack off on a blind retrieve. Sixty yards swimming, got out and looked back at me for a line. Went on over a ridge and out of sight. Came back in sight and stopped for another line. Then straight to the duck. 
   My best dog ever and even a bit famous in the area.

RIP Jack

Edited March 31, 2023 by dogone

[B725]

I never take my dog when shooting crow's think too much of him. 

[London Best]

My first ever lab’s first bird was a crow. I was sure it was dead or would not have sent the pup. It wasn’t dead and when he picked it the bird bit a piece from his lip. Amazingly, this did not make him become hard mouthed and he worked until he was 14 and lived to be 8 weeks short of 16.

[Dave at kelton]

Cracking retrieve for a cocker perhaps more what I would expect of a big wildfowling dog on the shore. Well done!

[oowee]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

My first ever lab’s first bird was a crow. I was sure it was dead or would not have sent the pup. It wasn’t dead and when he picked it the bird bit a piece from his lip. Amazingly, this did not make him become hard mouthed and he worked until he was 14 and lived to be 8 weeks short of 16.

Surprised it did not put him off for good. Mine is on blacks frequently particularly this time of year and I have to say when he is on pheasants he does have a tendency to rag them a little as a result. 😒 

[Dirty Harry]

My GWP loves picking crows. He crunches them to make sure they are dead, just like he does with foxes. 
He’s very soft mouthed with game. 
 

[semi-auto]

We were shooting in a deep valley with a river running through. The keeper asked me to send the lab into a field at the top of the valley, where he thought a pheasant  had fallen. I lifted the lab over the wire fence and off she wet. Swam the river and climbed the steep valley side. There was now an audience of guns and beaters and my heart sank a little at the thought that the lab wouldn't be able to find the bird. Some minutes later the lab appeared at the edge of the valley with the bird in its mouth. A peep on the whistle and back she came, swimming the river, holding the pheasant clear of the water. A perfect delivery, greeted with a round of applause. 

[oowee]

41 minutes ago, semi-auto said:

We were shooting in a deep valley with a river running through. The keeper asked me to send the lab into a field at the top of the valley, where he thought a pheasant  had fallen. I lifted the lab over the wire fence and off she wet. Swam the river and climbed the steep valley side. There was now an audience of guns and beaters and my heart sank a little at the thought that the lab wouldn't be able to find the bird. Some minutes later the lab appeared at the edge of the valley with the bird in its mouth. A peep on the whistle and back she came, swimming the river, holding the pheasant clear of the water. A perfect delivery, greeted with a round of applause. 

Lovely. That is so satisfying to see. 

[JohnfromUK]

I was told this story by a keeper in Scotland many (40 plus) years ago. 

He had worked all his life on a large famous estate mainly as a stalker - but the estate had some fairly prominent grouse moors and on big grouse days the stalkers were asked to join the beating team.  After a good day in lovely weather, the beaters gathered at the end of the day near the end of the final drive as the head keeper sometimes asked beaters with good dogs to assist if there was any need to additional picking.  The head keeper was particularly watching a lady working her black Labrador accompanied by two persons and the dog was being sent way way back - and all done by the lady, the two men with her watching.  The dog eventually brought the bird back to the lady and the lady and two men walked back to the main party.  It was only then that it became clear that the lady was the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had been one of the guns.

[ditchman]

3 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

I was told this story by a keeper in Scotland many (40 plus) years ago. 

He had worked all his life on a large famous estate mainly as a stalker - but the estate had some fairly prominent grouse moors and on big grouse days the stalkers were asked to join the beating team.  After a good day in lovely weather, the beaters gathered at the end of the day near the end of the final drive as the head keeper sometimes asked beaters with good dogs to assist if there was any need to additional picking.  The head keeper was particularly watching a lady working her black Labrador accompanied by two persons and the dog was being sent way way back - and all done by the lady, the two men with her watching.  The dog eventually brought the bird back to the lady and the lady and two men walked back to the main party.  It was only then that it became clear that the lady was the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had been one of the guns.

seen her at sandringham fighting her way thro brambles.....with a couple of black labs picking pricked birds.....that was in the pine avenue at appleton farm....no police protection...just beaters and sub keepers....chatting away....that was in the early 70's