Getting Into It – February 2011

by Angela Pham • March 21, 2011 • No comments

This month, we look at a first-time waterfowl hunt for an 11-year-old South Carolina hunter, a yellow Labrador retriever’s first Canada goose retrieve and a black Labrador retriever’s preparation for the hunting season
By Angela Pham

Getting Into It is a new Web-exclusive column that celebrates your new and memorable waterfowling experiences with stories and photos. We’ll be updating this section every month with readers’ contributions. Be sure to bookmark this URL to check out what’s new each month, and find out how to submit below.


Field of Geese
South Carolina’s early goose season arrived with a bang for 11-year-old Nick Darragh. Though he was already an experienced hunter, he hadn’t yet pointed his shotgun at ducks or geese. His first waterfowl hunt took place in a field loaded up with layout blinds and decoys, guided by hunter Michael Hames and accompanied by a retriever. Though geese visitors were few, a total of four ended up falling from the sky by the end of the hunt. Hames reports that Nick was so excited, he practically beat the dog to the retrieves.

Now, Nick’s future Christmas wishlist includes decoys, blind and a dog.

Check out Drake, a yellow lab, who made his first Canada goose retrieve on page two

“Getting Into It” is an online column published monthly that celebrates memorable waterfowling experiences, whether it’s your child’s first season, your dog’s biggest retrieve, your friend’s favorite hunt or your first band. To appear in this feature, please submit a good-quality digital photo of the hunter or hunt experience along with a short (100-200 words) write-up that describes the waterfowl outing to WildfowlWeb@IMOutdoors.com.


New York Goose
At seven months old, Drake the yellow Labrador retriever fetched his first Canada goose in upstate New York with “not much training at all,” according to owners Aaron and Kimberly Rzepka. Big goose? No problem.



“Getting Into It” is an online column published monthly that celebrates memorable waterfowling experiences, whether it’s your child’s first season, your dog’s biggest retrieve, your friend’s favorite hunt or your first band. To appear in this feature, please submit a good-quality digital photo of the hunter or hunt experience along with a short (100-200 words) write-up that describes the waterfowl outing to WildfowlWeb@IMOutdoors.com.

Ready for Ducks
Siri, a year-and-a-half-old black Lab, got ready for her first hunting season with Dustin Majewski last October. Showing great promise during training, Majewski said he’s optimistic about Siri being a field success.



“Getting Into It” is an online column published monthly that celebrates memorable waterfowling experiences, whether it’s your child’s first season, your dog’s biggest retrieve, your friend’s favorite hunt or your first band. To appear in this feature, please submit a good-quality digital photo of the hunter or hunt experience along with a short (100-200 words) write-up that describes the waterfowl outing to WildfowlWeb@IMOutdoors.com.


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