Could Your Labrador Score a Knock Out?

February 19 2013

Ever wonder how your loyal lab compares to the best of the best? Not in the duck blind but in the show ring at Madison Square Gardens. For the past 22 years, the Labrador Retriever has been the most popular dog breed in the U.S. according to the American Kennel Club. However, in the 136 years of the Westminster Dog Show, a lab has never been awarded Best in Show. The very traits that we value in Mississippi duck hunting work against them at the shows. Labs are more intent on pleasing their owners and making the camo clad duck hunter happy and proud than in showing off for an audience. Aren’t we glad that labs want to make us look good. Sometimes we need all the help that we can get on a cold Mississippi Duck Hunting day. Boss swears our lab, Coop, is just like me. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The American Kennel Club’s breed standard requires a “strongly built, medium-sized, short-coupled” dog that retrieves game in the water. Judges look for a broad head, powerful jaws, friendly eyes and a wide tail. Your black, yellow or chocolate lab should stand between 22 ½ to 24 ½ inches as a male and 21 ½ to 23 ½ inches as a female with males weighing between 65 to 80 pounds and females between 55 to 70 pounds.

You won’t find a MS Delta Dog in the Garden, but we welcome the opportunity to show them off in a duck blind in the shared duck lease season program, on a guided morning hunt or joining your group to hunt on your exclusive Mississippi Delta duck lease. You wont find any long-haired Pekinese hanging out with us!

Read more: Could Your Labrador Score a Knock Out?

2012 - 2013 MS Delta Ducks Migration and Harvest Report

MS Delta Ducks Review of the 2012 - 13 Season

Without question the 2012-2013 Mississippi Duck Season was the most enjoyable for the guys at MS Delta Ducks. As a number of groups continue to hunt with us from prior seasons (50% of the groups were repeats), our staff builds a stronger relationship and overall rapport with the hunters. In completing the fourth full season of operating a commercial duck hunting enterprise, we gained an even greater understanding of what makes the experience enjoyable for the hunters. We have refined our equipment, expanded our planted food sources, and built quality in the available holes while keeping the hunting access affordable. This season we worked with nine Alabama groups, two Georgia groups, one Louisiana group, and twenty-five Mississippi groups. We managed five exclusive duck lease packages, had thirty-five groups participating in the shared duck leases season hunt program, and offered six cabins for the season. Plans for the 2013-2014 season are to manage at least twelve exclusive duck lease packages, enroll up to forty groups in the shared duck lease season program, and expand the number of cabin offerings. Garrett Holland will continue to lead the field staff hunt guides and will be joined by Dylan Peden and a third field staff hunt guide. I will carry on in my role as director. 2,808 ducks were harvested from 416 hunts in the shared duck leases program. The Yazoo River Hunt Group hunted the most days at 22 and tied the Interfectors Hunt Group with the most ducks bagged on the season at 148. Overall the hunt groups averaged 7 ducks per hunt with the Duck Dusters Hunt Group leading the way at 10 ducks per hunt average. The Waterfowl Widow Makers had the most decorated game haulers with a bufflehead, gadwall, mallards, northern shovelers, redheads, scaup, a snow, specks, teal, wigeon, and wood ducks. The Simmons #7 hole yielded the greatest harvest at 212 ducks while Simmons #1 hole was hunted the most frequently at 26 mornings. The best mallard hole was Shell Bluff Back Field followed by the Trough at Boo Lloyd and the Meanderings Mound at Turkey Bayou. Simmons #7 and the Mound also had the best average at 11 ducks per hunt. We are proud of the product that we offer here at MS Delta Ducks and are hard at work preparing for the 2013-2014 duck season. Give me a call to discuss the shared duck leases season program, a traditional exclusive duck lease option, a hunting cabin for your group, or a combination package. Schedule a tour or reserve your spot. Nathan Peden Director of Wildlife Programs, 601-479-4873.

Read more: 2012 - 2013 Season Duck Report