River Hunting

[matt52]

I am knew to waterfowling and I am trying to find a good location to hunt that does'nt get pressured a lot and I have heard that river hunting can be some of the best hunting due to the fact that many people dont bother with it. I was just wondering what you do If you shoot a bird and it lands in the current how do you recover it without chasing it a mile down stream? Even If you had a dog would'nt it get tired ? Maybe some one can shed some light and maybe give me some tips.

[cnebirds]

when hunting on a river try hunting on a channel where the current is'nt as stong. This is how I hunt along with a lot of other guys I know. We do this mainly for saftey reasons because in the main channel of a river the ground can change very quickly were I almost lost a good friend luckily he had a great dog that saved him. And the other reason is for the dog it has less current and its eaiser on the dogs. And the hunting is still great.

[Drake]

River's are awesome this time of year,when most ponds and lakes are froze up, the birds are looking for open water .As long as you have a good strong swimming retreiver,shoud'nt be much of chore for recovery of downed fowl, unless you got one dog and shoot three birds,then you might have to play second retreiver,you can also pick your shots so the birds dont fall in the water if your dogless.I love to hunt the late season just because of this reason,not very many people brave the nasty super cold temps.If you do have a dog make sure he has plenty of water and energy snacks to keep him pumped up for the hunt.Im heading out tomorow afternoon for a river hunt myself,supposed to be about 4 degrees here,we got about 14 inches of snow on the ground.Should be awesome.

[Gary]

i hunt the rivers in ohio when potholes and swamps freeze. like every else said try to hunt the slow water. i may have ruined a good dog a week ago in the river. there was ice on the edges a i shot amallard that landed on the edge. when my 6 month old lab got the bird she fell through the ice . she tried getin out for about a min before she swam down stream into the current and came out about 100 yrds from where she went in . i think we were bolth shookin up but it didnt seem to bother her until acouple days ago when i shot two geese and watched one float by cause she wouldnt go in the water. so be careful and try a heavy fishing rod with large rapala , thats what my dad used to use when i was young. good luck

[RIVER RAT]

use the boat or shoot em close and dead or leavem alone and ill take care of them. :lol: we have killed 13 in the last 2 hunts. 8)