Winnie retrieved a duck!

This afternoon's pheasant hunt turned into more of a duck hunt than it was meant to be. We hunted two new islands on Lake Sakakaweea and flushed five hens and one rooster. The rooster flush was immediately following a hen flush that Winnie had trailed for a considerable distance while Maggie was working a different bird. After seeing the hen flush and relaxing, Dan said the rooster flushed slightly behind and to the side of him from a very short distance but he was totally surprised and missed the shot.

On a more positive marksmanship note, Dan continued the streak of awe-inspiring waterfowl shooting as he knocked down 2 Gadwall that flushed off of a small pot hole where we were hunting pheasant. He dropped 2 ducks on 3 shots that were approximately 35 and 45 yards away and moving from right to left. Just after these 2 fell, a Duck flew from the same marsh from our left to right and I dropped it with 1 shot at approximately 30 yards. Maggie was near me and marked the bird, so I sent her for the retrieve. What I did not realize was that Winnie also broke on my shot and headed for my bird. Dan and I were both quite surprised 45 seconds later when we saw when her returning to us proudly carrying my Gadwall. This caught us off guard because despite Dan's effort to the contrary, Winnie has been generally uninterested and unwilling to pick up ducks in training.