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John's Journal... Entry 284, Day 5

Click to enlargeWHERE DUCKS ALWAYS FLY AND YOU CAN TAKE BIG BUCKS

Deer Creek's Retriever Training Program

Editor’s Note: Any day you can shoot as few as six ducks or as many as 25 because Deer Creek Lodge is a hunting preserve. But, unlike most duck-hunting operations, the hunt at Deer Creek Lodge doesn't have to end after a morning of waterfowling. At this lodge, you can double-down and hunt ducks in the morning and upland birds or deer in the afternoon. After taking ducks, you may flush as many as 100 or 200 upland birds or choose to hunt for Click to enlargetrophy whitetails with your bow. Besides terrific hunting, the food and lodging are great too. The chef prepares delicious meals as fine as what you expect to eat in upscale restaurants, and the lodge has the comforts of home for you to enjoy.

"We use both retrievers and pointers throughout the preserve season," Tim Stull, manager of Deer Creek Lodge, explains. "In a month of hunting, a dog may see more birds, make more retrieves and point more birds than he may in an entire hunting season anywhere else. Because we have to keep so many dogs for our hunting operation and because we have a retriever trainer and a bird dog trainer, we also offer dog training to hunters who own retrievers."

As mentioned in Day 1 this week, Deer Creek Lodge has one of the most-outstanding duck operations in the world. As critical as shotgun shells are Click to enlargeto a shotgun so is the retriever to a duck hunter. And that's why the lodge offers retriever training year-round. These dogs aren't only taught to retrieve but also how to sit in a blind, hit the water, find the duck and bring it back to the blind. The dogs trained at Deer Creek Lodge enjoy a tremendous amount of water time as well as field time. Not only does the lodge train dogs for other people, the lodge breeds and trains its own dogs and sells the dogs they use in their hunting operation. "Our dogs come from championship stock, both the males and the females," Tim Stull, the manager of Deer Creek Lodge emphasizes. "Our Lab pups begin at $750 up and may cost as much as $1,000, depending on breeding. Our retriever training is $500 a month with satisfaction guaranteed. To properly train a retriever, regardless of how much work that dog gets in the field, that dog must have the opportunity to hit the water and bring back ducks. Because we keep so many mallards and have such a long duck season here at the lodge, we can give a retriever an opportunity to work many days each month."

Click to enlargeThe lodge only produces two to three litters of Lab puppies per year. Its goal is to produce high quality retrievers that can be quickly and easily trained so that the dog does the advertising for the kennel. More and more duck hunters are sending their Labs to Deer Creek Lodge to have the dogs tuned-up before duck season. Dogs are worked every day. By the time the Lab has completed his tune-up, he'll be in shape and ready to go out and find and bring back downed waterfowl. If you're looking for a good retriever or a place to get your retriever tuned-up before duck season, contact Deer Creek Lodge and learn more about its training program, the dogs the lodge has for sale and the tuneup program for retrievers. Because Deer Creek Lodge is a licensed shooting preserve, the lodge can start hunting and shooting mallards, quail, pheasant, chukars and Hungarian partridge on September 1 and can continue to hunt through April 15, which gives them plenty of time to train dogs. The lodge also offers specials for hunters before the season, so check the lodge's Webpage, and then call, if you're interested in a tune-up program for you and your dog before waterfowl season and/or bird season arrives in your area.

If you're a waterfowler, an upland bird hunter or a dog enthusiast, then before you die and go to heaven, you have to go to Deer Creek Lodge. I went, I saw, I shot, and I had fun at Deer Creek Lodge, and you will too.

For more information on Deer Creek Lodge, you can write P.O. Box 39, Sebree, Kentucky 42455; call 1-888-875-3000; email deercreek@vci.net; or, visit www.deercreeklodge.net.


 

 

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about WHERE DUCKS ALWAYS FLY AND YOU CAN TAKE BIG BUCKS...

Day 1 - Where Ducks Always Fly
Day 2 - 140S Or Better
Day 3 - Pheasants, Quail, Chukars and Hungarian Partridge
Day 4 - Why Deer Creek Lodge Raises and Trains Dogs
Day 5 - Deer Creek's Retriever Training Program


John's Journal