HuntingTrip122603

December 26, 2003

What a hunt we had this morning. It was a lot of fun watching BayouBen work the birds and behaving so focused. Not once from the time we pulled up to the tank to the time that we were done hunting and going home did i ever see Ben lose focus on hunting for birds. When we first arrived before the sun had risen, you could tell he was a dog with a mission. Almost as though someone had flipped on a switch inside his head, and he was on automatic bird hunting pilot. Being a dog owner, I normally have a good rapport with dogs, but when Ben was under the influence of the Hunt, i don't think he ever even looked at me once, or responded to my calling his name or whistling or anything. The only glance i remember getting was a look of "who the hell is this guy, and why is he trying to screw up this hunt". The dog is amazing. The word "in the zone" was created for Ben in times like the ones we had hunting early that December morning.

As the first birds began to fly in just before dawn, Ben sat quietly and attentive to them. As the sun came up and it was legal time to shoot, Don gave the signal, and bullets began to fly, and birds began to fall. In the first round, the hunters got down about 3 of them. And Ben was eager to pick them up. Since it was the first shots of the day, Ben was still on his lead cord, and was rearing to get after the ducks he had just seen fall. As Don let Ben off his leash, Ben took off after the birds with a gusto. He had found all three of them within seconds, and had them piled up on the opposite shore not sure which one to bring to Don. He ended up bringing them one at a time to Don, as he was walking over to scout for one other duck that fell way south of where we were. After some looking, Ben found the lost bird, and they had the full count.

They returned to the blind, for more dive bombs by thirsty and hungry puddle ducks looking for a nice tank to settle in on. Ben seemed to see them coming before any of us. Or at least never once took his eyes off of the surroundings. When the birds would fly over, and be consequenly shot, he was rearing to go get them, and bring them back to the blind. There are some great videos of him jumping in the tank, and getting a wounded duck that kept trying to escape from him.

Overall, the hunt was great, and was made so much fun by watching Ben, and realizing what an asset a good hunting dog is to duck hunting. I remember before going with Dr. Duck, and we would spend a lot of time looking for ducks that had fallen. With Ben, its as simple as getting him within 20 yards of where a duck fell (and according to him, its 50 or maybe even 100 yards).

Duck Hunting Videos of Bayou Ben Retrieving

1. Shots Ring Out, Birds Fall, Ben Goes for it!(630Kb)
2. Duck goes Below water(502Kb)
3. Duck pops up, and Ben is after it again(813Kb)!
4. Duck is being brought to shore!(1.4Mb)

More Duck Hunting Pictures: