Meet my new Lab Nellie

[vaturkey]

Make me miss my duck hunting days. For about 5 years we hunted a private 33 acre lake within 10 miles of my house (this was over 10 years ago) in Round Hill, Va. We were rookies at it for sure. Bought a boat, blind, motor. Had my Golden Abby handle all the retrieving. Then after a couple of years of shooting off the boat we decided it just wasn't worth it and sold everything and hunted from the bank. I made a couple of blinds out of switch grass matts and PVC for the awful weather days to keep us dry and we shoot ducks. Had two different blinds we would use based on wind direction that day.

Mostly killed blacks (only allowed one of those) and the occasional mallard. Late the the season when things got icy the diving ducks came in from the north and they came in in mass. Bluebills and ringnecks sometimes in groups of 50 or more. To me they were the hardest ducks ever to hit. Little Rockets. Sadly, the lake started to get developed and sure enough we got the phone call we were dreading saying we were done. The only place left to hunt afater that was the Shenandoah River and that's a tough river to hunt. It would have required going back to getting another boat and possibly a jet motor as its too shallow in most places to operate a standard outboard. By then we had started to really get into the upland hunting end of things and we moved in that direction. My Sophie (Golden Retriever) that I bought specifically to hunt ducks on Sleeter lake is now going on 12. She got to retrieve ducks on the lake exactly one time before it was closed down. She turned into a decent upland dog, but she would have been great on ducks for sure.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but it sure is a nice flashback to see Nellie and you doing what we used to do for sure.

[fox-admin]

Nellie is now 2 1/2 YO and just passed her 4th AKC Master Hunter Test, one more pass and she will have earned her AKC Master Hunter Title.
She is the dog on the right in the picture, the dog on the left is my son's pup Roxy.

[44whiskey]

good for her. she looks good.thanks for update,enjoyed this thread. all the best 44whiskey

[loggy]

It looks like a bundle of energy atop that bale of hay. Nice looking dogs. Thanks for the update.

[jolly bill]

Nellie sure is a "WINNER" Craig. Nice!

[DarylC]

That's just great Craig. If you could edit out that vehicle in the background it would make a great screen saver.

Who is the pup in the middle?

[Jeff S]

Congratulations Craig! You're a proud Daddy. You and Nellie are going to have a lot of fun this fall.