Hi, Im a young hunter whos mother wont let him buy a good retriever, yet I love to go duck hunting on farm ponds we own just about every chance I get. I would apperciate some ideas, and Im sure some other people in my situation would as well, on how to go about retrieving downed ducks without a dog. I personally use a fishing pole with a huge oversived lure with treble hooks, wich does okay but cant really get ducks that are far out. Any ideas would be great!

Well to help yopu any duck that lands on the water after you shot - simply swat. No problem with that at all.

One thing is be carefull with your shots and use the wind on the pond to help you. Yo are doing the best if you are using a fishing rod and the treble hook need not be sharp and you can remove the barbs.

The other thing to use is waders and only hunt water you can wade easily to retrieve your downed game.

This is a very ethical question and I hope others have some better ideas for you.

JW

That way or a boat of some type

John

hey dude just use a fishing pole with a spoon like lure,,,if he aint too far out there you can cast over him and walla..make shure the wind is in your face ,,that way the wind will do some of the work for you,,good hunting

You said "farm pondS" so I assume that you hunt more than one location, probably go around and jump shoot.

Maybe get yourself some knee high rubber boots from Orchelns. That way, you can at least go out into water that's about 12" deep.

You can also take those same rubber boots and use some plastic sheeting or black tarp, and some black duct tape and make yourself some hip boots. Just make a cone shaped extension to tape onto the top of the black boots, and tape it all up really good. Don't laugh, I've done the exact same thing before and it lasted me more than one season.

Post your question on the other duck hunting website, there are several people from Thayer, St. Paul and Parsons that could help you out.

Sorry can't help ya.... All I know how to do is retrieve a dog with no ducks!
Live it up! Doug

If the water is not wadable you should have a boat. Hunting small farm ponds where if a bird floats out of reach and you can walk around an get it when the wind blows it into range is acceptable, but larger bodies you need a boat.
IMHO it is border line unethical to hunt waterfowl where there's a good possibility of not retrieving a downed bird without the use of a boat. In some states like N.J. I've seen wardens watch some that didn't have boats where having a boat would be expected get fined for not including an unretrieved bird in thier limit and thus getting fined for over limit and "wanton waste"

instead of wasting time making hip boots you can get them for like $30 at most sporting goods places and they will last a lot longer and also the fishing pole would work well too

Take the money you want to spend on a dog and get on craigslist. You will be able to find a canoe, kayak, or small john boat on there for about $200. Then just camo it up and your ready to go.

Won't help you later in the year, but while it's still warm you could were a swimming suit under your camo and place a towel in your pack.