The goose that got away. What a story!!!

[rtspring]

I was out duck and goose hunting with my new dog, (he is 5 years old and been hunting 7 times so far). So I have a goose come down to land, I stopped him just short of landing. I pumped 3, 3 1/2's in him. He sails off about 75 yards upriver. The dog his hot on his ass( like a dog on bird crack) THe dog is swimming against the current chasing this goose who is just swimming hard enough to stay ahead of the dog. I am running up the bank trying to stay up right and put another shot into this bird so that the dog can retrieve him. Nope I can't close the distance and its starting to get towards the end of legal shooting light...  The dog is in the middle of the Yakima river chasing this damn Goose up the river and will not stop for nothing. After a mile of walking I sat down and just watched the dog swimmming for what seemed like an hour. Then the damn goose appeared to either die and go under or dove under the water. The dog swims back to me and looks at me like you SOB why don't you kill the damn bird next time so I don't have to almost drown getting the dang things.  I have had two bird dogs, one yellow lab that made it to 14 and a chessy black lab mix 6 years. I have never seen any dog swim that far to retrieve a wounded bird. After we lost the bird , I drove the stretch of river and found it to be over a mile up current this dog chased this goose. anyway I am gonna hunt there again in the morning and maybe I will find the goose somewhere and I will finish him off.......

Atta boy "DUKE" you did great today!!!

RTSPRING

[TwoSixFourWins]

I had a similar one. Dropped a goose on the water, one wing up in the air, head in the water, not moving.....he's dead for sure. Buddy paddles out to get him without the gun (i told him to take it ) he gets to the goose and reaches with the paddle to pull it closer and the darn thing gets up and flies away like it had been sleeping......grrrrr. This coupled with nasty wind we had to paddle in with a new dog that wasn't doing a damn thing but making noise and being fidgety made for a long cold wet day. I did limit on geese though and it's better than workin'

[Jim Sr.]

I do like a good story and cudos to Duke for putting out the extra effort.

My pup looks at me sadly every time I miss a bird, alot!!! I hope to have her ready to retrieve this coming season.

[sakoshooter]

Sounds like you've got a good dog rtspring.

[sebek556]

  good dog, did you have any luck finding the goose?

[ICEMAN]

great story.

[rtspring]

Never did find the goose..  Going back out here in a bit......


RTSPRING

[sebek556]

  atleast you looked. Good luck today and keep the dog happy 

[SurfingScooter]

damn, thats one tough goose.