Bird dogs

[yooper]

I used to be an avid duck hunter and I also enjoy upland bird hunting. For this reason I've always ran labradors.

I enjoy their disposition and their desire to hunt. The ones I've owned have also had excellent noses whether in the marsh or in the fields.

Currently i have a 5 1/2 year-old ***** that will do the duck thing ho-hum, but she absolutely lives to chase birds. I've shot over 100 pats and close to 40 pheasants with her and she hunts like a dream. She doesn't range too far ahead and two years ago she started pointing. this last year she began circling the bird and putting it between her and I for the flush. Nifty!

What do you have for a partner?

 

[MarlandS]

I Upland Bird hunt first and foremostand do very little of the other types .
I've got an FDSB registered English Pointer that is pretty darn good, he ranges pretty far but will hold point until the birds die of old age or I get there to flush them.
I've had him out exercising beside the 4-wheeler at 25 mph and had him slam on the brakes and lock up on rock solid point.
We didn't get too many pheasants this year, never saw anything like it. The birds would flush from the far side of the field when you got out of the truck.

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[hntrjohn]

I used to have a britney. Now I hunt over a freinds britney.

 

[zoo]

I'm a Britt man, I have 2 sisters as we speek, Trixie and Libby. Grouse and Wood**** in Wisconsin, Pheasants and Sharptails in Iowa and South Dakota.

 

[EllieMae]

Oh no. You got me started on my dog. She is a mutt. Her momma was a yellow lab, and her daddy, well, he was from a good neighborhood. She basically looks like a tall yellow lab with longer hair and a feathered tail, sorta shepherd-shaped. But man can she hunt the pheasants and grouse. I originally got her for just a pet, but I started taking her pheasant hunting, and after a couple days of just tagging along and watching us shoot pheasants and put them in our pockets, she just decided to join in and help out. She stays close, points, retrieves like a madwoman, and constantly looks to me for guidance. It's really quite amazing if you ask me. I can control her with whistles and hand signals. Her abilities were natural. I'm no bird dog training expert, but I attribute her hunting prowess mostly to her overwhelming desire to please me - that and my zero-tolerance commitment to the basics right from the beginning. There is nothing more annoying than an ill-behaved dog that doesn't even know its own name, let alone anything else like come or heel or fetch. You know the kind. She is one of those dogs that lives for my direction and approval, and just a dirty look from me will ruin her day. She's almost 11 now but isn't slowing down. I think that any dog that has some basic instincts and that you can control can make an excellent bird dog, regardless of breeding. I've hunted with some hunting breeds that cost the owner a lot of money but they ruined the hunt because they were untrained and uncontrollable. That's usually the owner's fault. -al

 

[IndyJay]

I've got two english setter pups... Joy and Britney (named for Britney Spears... my son's idea). They're litter mates and were whelped last June. Can't wait for this summer to have them worked by a professional trainer. They'll both hold a point on a pheasant wing attached to my fishing rod but I'm anxious to put them out over some live birds here in the next few weeks!

Any suggestions on what I should be doing with them in the meantime would be appreciated...

Thanks,

 

[jcbdc]

EllieMae, I also have a drop. Mine is out of an Elhew pointer and a French Broque which is a french pointer like a German Shorthair. My pup is only 1 1/2 and is a hunting fool. He minds very well, especially when he has on his electric collar which I have only had to use twice for minor correction. I don't have the time to spend with him daily but he does seem to have enough common sense to remember his last lessons. He is a little close of a hunter for me but since I don't walk as fast as I used to and don't shoot as good either it is probably better that he stays close and keeps track of me. The only problem is that their are so few places that have some decent habitat for quail anymore and were there is some they wont allow hunting. I am getting onto a lease next year that does have birds so hopefully we will be able to get out and find some wild ones. He pens store bought quail very well even when they come out of the grass on peck at his feet. Guess they are used to haveing dogs around their pens.
Good luck with your dog and remember papers are just needed if you breed or want to brag.

Doc

 

[zoo]

Is there something wrong with the word wood****?