Carl Spackler
Member
I finally got around to taking the hunter safety course last summer in am just getting into pheasant hunting but I love it so far. Our family has some land in NW KS that I hunted 5 times last year along with some WIHA areas around it. I've read the majority of this board back to 2012 and gained alot of knowledge it would of taken me years to figure out on my own so I appreciate everyone's input.
The majority of the time I was working solo with no dog just walking edges and learning, hunted a couple of times with buddies but never with a trained dog. My 9 year old mutt is terrified of gunshots and wouldn't even go in the field with me so I picked up a 6 month old pointer from a buddy in December but didn't hunt her this season. I was able to gun break her so that is not an issue. She is currently 11 months old for reference.
I was planning on sending her off to a 1 month boot camp in KC this spring but with the Pandemic I have temporarily relocated out to the farm house on our land in NW Kansas and am attempting to train her myself. My friends dad does alot of pheasant hunting and his advice was to let her find as many pheasants as possible and worry about actual training this summer which is what I have been doing so far.
Most evenings I'll walk her through the CRP without a lease for about an hour and she is doing a great job of finding and tracking pheasants but here are some issues I'm having that I am looking for feedback on. I have no pen raised birds just wild birds to work her on.
1. She is not pointing yet, just flushing pheasants. From my limited research I've read that eventually they realize they can't catch the bird themselves and start pointing but I have not seen this yet. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to point instead of chase until they flush?
2. When she finds a scent and starts tracking there is no controlling her. She will find the scent, start following it through the grass until she finds it. How can I teach her to stay close and slow down when she is on a scent? I have a 30ft check cord but normally just let her run free. (There have been times when she has gone 100+ yards away from me bob'n weave'n through the grass and over hills and all I see is a bird pop up in the distance, currently I just tell her good job when she comes back)
3. Any drills or training sessions you would recommend for working her on wild birds?
4. I'm planning on cutting off actively seeking out wild birds in about 2 weeks so they can start (makes circle with left hand, puts right index finger through circle). Is this a good time frame?
Here is a picture of Milo
View attachment 9853
The majority of the time I was working solo with no dog just walking edges and learning, hunted a couple of times with buddies but never with a trained dog. My 9 year old mutt is terrified of gunshots and wouldn't even go in the field with me so I picked up a 6 month old pointer from a buddy in December but didn't hunt her this season. I was able to gun break her so that is not an issue. She is currently 11 months old for reference.
I was planning on sending her off to a 1 month boot camp in KC this spring but with the Pandemic I have temporarily relocated out to the farm house on our land in NW Kansas and am attempting to train her myself. My friends dad does alot of pheasant hunting and his advice was to let her find as many pheasants as possible and worry about actual training this summer which is what I have been doing so far.
Most evenings I'll walk her through the CRP without a lease for about an hour and she is doing a great job of finding and tracking pheasants but here are some issues I'm having that I am looking for feedback on. I have no pen raised birds just wild birds to work her on.
1. She is not pointing yet, just flushing pheasants. From my limited research I've read that eventually they realize they can't catch the bird themselves and start pointing but I have not seen this yet. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to point instead of chase until they flush?
2. When she finds a scent and starts tracking there is no controlling her. She will find the scent, start following it through the grass until she finds it. How can I teach her to stay close and slow down when she is on a scent? I have a 30ft check cord but normally just let her run free. (There have been times when she has gone 100+ yards away from me bob'n weave'n through the grass and over hills and all I see is a bird pop up in the distance, currently I just tell her good job when she comes back)
3. Any drills or training sessions you would recommend for working her on wild birds?
4. I'm planning on cutting off actively seeking out wild birds in about 2 weeks so they can start (makes circle with left hand, puts right index finger through circle). Is this a good time frame?
Here is a picture of Milo
View attachment 9853
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