Home made stand for Duck hunting

 

Here is a photo of Maverick modeling his prototype field stand.  I did not feel like paying $180 for something I think I can make better than the manufacturer.  I plan to eventually make a stand out of aluminum with adjustable leg's.  I am not excatly sure what to use for the platform yet but I am kicking around a few differnt ideas.  Avery product's make's a very nice field stand,  I am not sure what they use for a platform.  I may just use marine grade plywood as this would not pull the body heat from him and also allow him better traction while on it.  My biggest concern with this wood prototype is that I will not be able to get him low enough into the available cover.  I will let you know how it works out,  and hopefully in the near future post a picture of the end result. 

Not Happy

A true hunting dog is not very happy to arrive home after a long, glorious day of retrieving bliss. Maverick is no exception to this rule. Every time we arrive back home from hunting, no matter how long of a day we've had and no matter how exhausted we both are, Maverick refuses to "come home." He stands by the front door demanding for the day to start again.

Hunting with Rick

My good friend Rick and I have taken Maverick on many hunt's,  when he was very young he would constantly be moving around pulling at the material's made to build the blind,  eating anything he could pull free.  Rick and Maverick have what I will call a "disfunctional" relationship,  They will sit next to each other for 3 hour's in the duck blind and all the sudden Maverick will look at Rick like he has never met him before and give a low growl.  Rick swears up and down that Maverick is not happy with the poor shooting we do.  2nd year Maverick has been duck hunting with Rick and he still want's to bark at him when he show's up.

Mavericks First Blind Retrieve

During a hunt in October,  everything we had been working on just clicked.  He was all the sudden marking every bird, he was not breaking at the sound of the gun.  Not by any strech of the imagination am I considered a dog trainer,  but he is slowly doing everything he need's to do.  We are working on some tougher thing now such as extremely long retrieve's (300 + yards) over water and land. 

The Lone Goose!

Maverick and I with a lone goose taken on a blue bird day in October 2010