Drake's first retrieve

Ever since I moved to Alaska, I’ve wanted to hunt the duck season opener. I finally took the first of September this year with a plan to make it happen.

I reached out to my friend Louis and invited him to come along with me on the opener. Louis recently retired from the military and started his own guide service this year. I’ve hunted for ducks in the past with Louis and enjoy getting out with him several times each year. He was especially excited to bring along his new hunting dog, Drake.

I’ve had the privilege to hunt over dogs on a few occasions. Dogs are fun to watch on a hunt, seeing how they react to birds flying, how they jump to attention at the sound of a shell racking in the shotgun and shaking with anticipation of the next retrieve. This would be Drake's first duck hunt and we were anxious to get him some retrieves.

This hunt would be hugely important for both Louis and Drake. At only 9 months old, Drake had a rough year when he contracted parvo while on a family vacation out of state. After weeks in and out of the vet and several thousand dollars later, he is finally on the mend and was more than healthy enough to get out this fall.

Our plan was to float a creek and jump shoot birds along the way. High water from rain the previous week had filled the side channels and sloughs with water, perfect for holding ducks that wanted to feed out of the main channel.

We pushed off from the boat launch right at shooting light when it was just light enough to see details. Birds were already flying overhead and we were anxious to get down the creek.

I quickly rowed while Louis and Drake sat in the front. I quietly pushed the oars to get downstream. As we rounded a corner we watched three mallards land in a small slough just off the creek. I lined us up and we floated in perfectly. I’m not sure who was more disappointed, Louis or Drake, when we lit into the first flock of the season only to have all three fly away unharmed.

Another couple of bends down found us at the base of an island. We pulled the boat in and beached it, hoping to follow a back channel to a beaver dam that held birds throughout the year. As we began our walk, we saw a lone mallard in the channel. Louis put the sneak on and was able to make a good shot that sent her sailing. We walked to where we found her piled up on the gravel bar. Louis pointed her out to Drake, who quickly sprung into action, snatched her up brought her back to Louis.

We were all proud of Drake and his first ever retrieve. With all that Drake and Louis’ family had been through, it was a huge accomplishment to bring in that first bird. A mouth full of feathers and a little duck blood was his reward as well as some pats on the head, words of confirmation and encouragement from the two of us.

We picked off a few more birds during our float. We sent Drake on nearly every shot, at which he had varying levels of enthusiasm. He retrieved most every bird we sent him after, even if it might have taken a little coaxing and direction. Two other retrieves were most notable.

The first was a teal that I shot out of a group of three that jumped from a thick stand of marsh grass. I thought I had hit it perfectly, but after several minutes of searching, Drake picked it up a ways from where I had seen it go down. We would have never found that bird if it wasn’t for Drake’s nose.

The second was Drake’s first true water retrieve. We were approaching one of the last duck holes on the creek. It was a wide, round slough with brush on all around. Louis and I snuck through the willows and saw a lone widgeon sitting on the far side. I slowly worked through the trees and emerged on the other side, shotgun ready. She let me take a few steps into the open before taking off. She didn’t make it far before she was sailing back to the water again.

Drake saw the bird go down with a splash and immediately took off into the slough. He swam a perfect line to the duck, retrieved it, and brought it back to Louis. Louis directed Drake to bring me the bird and dropped it at my feet at my command to “drop it.” We celebrated, gave Drake some love and sang his praises for the rest of the float.

My first duck opener was a major success. Shooting the birds was fun and they tasted great as I ate them for lunch the next two days. But watching Drake work and celebrating his first retrieves after a scary few weeks was the best feeling in the world.