What's your preferred species to train with?
Any tips, anicdotes, funny stories to share?
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What's your preferred species to train with?
Any tips, anicdotes, funny stories to share?
Pigeons. Cheap and easy to obtain
[QUOTEPigeons. Cheap and easy to obtain][/QUOTE]
X2
Also chuckers, cause they hold well and fly hard, also good eating.
Depends. For a young dog, woodcock. Not much better for getting a dog hunting and pointing birds. For planted variety pigeons are great, if yo have homers you only need a few and you can use them over and over again for a lifetime, they are also great because once they are up they won't land on the ground again.
That said if I am going to be hunting grouse, I want lots of grouse contact, if I was going to hunt pheasant, I want lots of pheasant contact and so on...
X2Quote:
Originally Posted by fishhawk
Also chuckers, cause they hold well and fly hard, also good eating.[/QUOTE]
Never ate em - but I agree that they are fun to train with
Never ate em - but I agree that they are fun to train with[/QUOTE]Quote:
Originally Posted by Cass
If we are going to score for both training and eating then let it be chuckar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thunderbelly
HARD FLYING Pigeons initially - bought at the local small game auction. Keep them in a crate in the garage. Have to use them up within 5 days or they don't fly hard.
Pup gets to chase and I let the birds teach pup the lessons - he can't catch them etc.
When pup was older and pretty steady, I switched to quail ( coturnix ). Tried homers, but the neighbors were not happy with the birds sitting on their roofs.
.....................
Many funny stories :
1/ Was leaving the training field , had stuffed a quail into my coat pocket and forgotten about it. Went to get gas and when in the office paying for the gas , the bird escaped.
Shocked clerk , screaming lady. :scream:
2/ Before I knew better , I had the pigeon on a tether - bit of garden hose. The tether wasn't strong
enough and the bird took off and landed, hanging upside down, in a tree on an island , in the middle of the pond. ,
As I was trying to figure out how to free the bird, hikers came by on the other side of the pond. They looked at the bird , looked at me .............:ashamed:
x2Quote:
Originally Posted by Winchey
I like to use pigeons in remote launchers so I can control when the bird launches which makes training very efficient. I only use pen raised game birds on broke dogs, with young dogs the risk of them catching a bird is far to high.
For everything else, it takes wild birds to make a wild bird dog.
AMEN!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakezilla
Also a lot of people use too many birds when training. Your dog does not need birds every outing. I know some very successful trainers that will only use birds 1 or 2 days out of 6. They rest of the days are spent teaching the dog how to go with you, come to you and stand still. It is surprising how few workouts it takes to get a dog right on birds if it can behave on a chain gang and handle properly in the field.
Just wanted to add. When I say your dog doesn't need birds every outing I am talking about yard work and planted birds in a field. If I am training young dogs on wild birds and teaching them to hunt I do all I can to try and get them bird contacts every outing. If they find birds regularly they will expect to find birds and dogs that expect to find birds, find more birds.
I like to use coturnix because they cheap and they are good eating too! You will need LOTS of them. If you're lucky, your pointing dog will catch most of them and that's saves on shells! Just be careful though because some dogs will take a hankerin' to these quails and you might have to get to them slightly before the dog.
If you're too out-of-shape, you might try a launcher. Timing is critical though. As pup approaches and sniffs the quail, you release the launcher. It should sound like this, "Twang...YIP!" It's easier to get this timing right than racing to the bird before your dog chomps it but I'll let you decide which process works best for you. Hence the term "hard mouth" meaning it's "hard" to get there before the dog "mouths" the birds.
If you go the outrunning your dog route, you will be better for it! Trust me........
DO NOT...and I repeat, DO NOT combine the outrun-the-dog process with the launcher!!! You'll know... It sounds more like, "Twang....ahhh,sonnofabeatch, dang nabbit,.....!#?!?#$! It's even uglier if the quail hits you in the jaw as the dog arrives!!
My wife said I'm getting stir crazy from all this cold weather. I think she's being a bit critical!
lol. That's the kind of knowledge you pay attention to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ugo
I just recently hooked up with a quail breeder. I picked up some birds for training. Somehow I've ended up with 12 eggs before I could even get the dog out to practice.
We had a good time training today, saved a few birds for next weekend.
Hopefully I'll have a good story to share soon.
......and that's why short legged fat dogs make better bird dogs. Brittany X long-haired Dachshund are one of my favourites!
You've got 1/2 a chance of getting to the quail before them. Keeping them fat also reduces the damage to your quail. Most times, the chunky little beggar will only have room for the breast and legs so it's not a total loss.
The downside is that when they do beat you to the bird, they have a tendency to crawl into the nearest rabbit hole. Just yesterday the Dachtany I was working with ran in a hole with my quail and came out with a rabbit!
....fair exchange, as I see it. And the best part..........still not a shot fired!
Now that dog's got promise!
Sarcastic? But I just ordered a Dachtany pup from California. The breeder has plenty of AKC grand champions in their lines.
Wish I could afford one.