Hunting Labs

07/04/2024

10/06/2023

Years ago I was of the mind set that in order to have a good hunting dog it couldn't be a question mark dog...meaning a dog that you get from a shelter that has questionable breeds....I'm proud to say that Hawk (photographed below) is a question mark dog and he has proven that he loves getting out in the woods to get some grouse. Now this big lug is only a year old, he was only about 2mo old when I brought him home last October. Last fall while my family was going through some medical issues, we didn't really get a chance to get out in the woods very much, but when we did go, he only got to go a few times....mainly to see what his reaction to shots would be (not even a flinch!)
Just the other day he got his first grouse which was an easy flopping on the road retrieve...but the one in the photo is his second and he actually had to work for that one!

12/25/2022

Merry Chritmas!
It's been way too cold out to take our usual Christmas photo, (-20°F&-30's°F all week) so here is one from last year along with a pic of the new addition...Hawk.

10/16/2022

So I'm curious....how many of you have bird hunting dogs that are purebred retrievers, retrievers that are mixed, or a hunting dog other than a retriever?

Anyone have a unlikely or unique breed/mix that is a bird hunting dog?

What are they?

*Personally we've always had purebred Labs and have always had more than one at any given time....usuallyaround 3-4. We've recently lost 2 of our pack in the last year due to old age and we are now down to 1, and let me tell you I have been feeling puppy fever for the last couple of months!

10/06/2022

Today wasn't too bad of a day, had my 73yr old mother and brother with me while we were doing some pond hopping (ma was just along for the ride and to look at the beautiful fall colors). My brother took Raven with him into a few ponds and we even checked a few rivers in between. We got a few ducks, a few grouse and even a little woodcock!
But even if we hadn't gotten anything, it would have been a decent day just because we got to spend the day in the woods and with each other making memories!

10/02/2022

On this National Black Dog Day I'm honoring the 3 best black dogs I've been privileged to call mine! Honoring my RayRay❤ and the memories of my Tikka-Girl & Hunter-Man.🖤🖤

09/27/2022

Was a semi-successful hunt today, we were just pond hopping today, got a few grouse and a couple of ducks.
The one in the photo with her is a Woodduck that my brother shot with 5min to spare before shooting time was over!

09/19/2022

Raven is so proud of the 2 grouse she got on Saturday's opener when we went out for a few hours after I got off work! We only walked a couple trails, only saw a few birds and got just the 2...but considering the area we hunt is under populated with birds and over populated with hunters, I don't think we did too bad.....especially since just a few months ago she was diagnosed with Lymes and Anaplasmosis and was limping around for 2 weeks while on men's!
This year has been hell for her and our family as a whole. We lost my big 110lb Hunter -Man(her uncle) a week before Christmas last year, then Tikka (her grandmother) back in May.....exactly 6mo after we lost Hunter (her son). Hunter was 12yrs old and Tikka was 15.5yrs old. In the span of just 6 months we went from a Lab Pack of 3 (and a wanna-be) to just Raven. She's been depressed, and later in pain with the 2 tick diseases.
She is just 5yrs old. In the near future we will be looking for a new pack mate for her, but not quite yet.

09/11/2022

03/04/2022

Raven has been going a little stir crazy with cabin fever lately and since it was still nice out after I got home from work I decided to have a little bit of play time with my girls! We found one of Ray's Frisbees and had some fun in the packed snow drifts in my yard!

02/25/2022

01/29/2022

Got Hunter's ashes and paw print back a few days ago, I have a nice urn coming that will have his photo and name on it. As far as the paw print goes, I need suggestions on how to preserve that so it doesn't crumble eventually (like others in the past have).
Let's see what those of you have lost a dog/pet, have done as memorial pieces in honor of them!