My dad and I drove down to the Oregon/California border to hunt the California side (Tule Lake) for ducks.  I shot 6 ducks on Friday (4 teal, 1 widgeon, 1 mallard) and my dad shot 6 as well (2 mallard, 2 sprig, 1 teal, 1 widgeon).  We hunted from the canoe (a first for Rowdy) and he wasn't too sure how to get out of the canoe to go after the ducks.  We were also hunting in really thick vegetation with a few pockets of open water, so he couldn't see the birds hit the water.  Basically he only retrieved 1 bird (the only one he clearly saw fall).  The others he either didn't see fall or wasn't sure how to get out to the ducks (even when I helped him out of the canoe).  Not worried about it at all, since I've seen him make 40 yard swimming retrieves in open water.  I just think he needs to gain more experience and eventually learn hand signals.  He had a good time though and I finally got him a wet suit last week, so he wasn't freezing to death.  We stayed overnight and hunted again this morning.  Not nearly as many ducks and we quit by 11:30 with 5 ducks between us.  This was a great weekend with great exposure for Rowdy.  My friend and I are going ruffed/blue grouse hunting this week.  I'll give an update how it goes.