Dead bird!

B

BrownDogsCan2

Well-known member
Everyone loses birds there is no way around it. But lately it seems almost common. Picking up my second extra bird in a week and third of the month has me not really bothered but puzzled. If I'm picking up someone else's birds every week how many more are out there. I see the feather piles, there's a ton. Dec. is for diehards. So why are their so many lost.

If I was new to dogs or upland hunting in general what tips would you give to help in the recovery.
 
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SDJIM said:
Go to the range and become a better shot......:D
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See now thats just wrong.:eek:

Here I'll start. I was taught to mark a downed bird by pointing an unloaded shotgun at it. The eyes lie, if you have someone else marking it for you they will put you right on top of it. Now I bet half the people on here have never heard of :)that.
 
I guess the question I would ask myself would be, was the bird dead when it hit the ground. You can often tell whether the bird was dead in the air by paying attention to the head. If the head drops in mid air the bird will likely be dead when it hits the ground, so then simply marking the spot should recover your bird.

If the head does NOT drop there's a good chance that bird is not dead and will still be able to crawl off or worse run off undetected. IN that case you need to get your dog over to the spot you last saw it go down if he didn't see it and make him hunt dead. Worse thing you could do at this point is trample all around disturbing any scent trail, let the dog do his job.

All that being said, there is still the occasional bird that seems hit hard and even with the help of good dog(s) and a few hunting buddies, the bird mysteriously seems to vanish into thin air. It happens and it a sick feeling when it does.
 
As bird shooter described I try not to tromp through the area too much.
Running retrievers such as you do, seems to produce more of these wanton birds. Many dogs won't hunt dead. I believe good retrievers are constantly looking to bring something back. As far as the birds go, some seem live and are found dead, some seem dead and are never found. All I know is if you have a dog that gets after it he has a far better chance than I do. I didn't get any bonus birds so far this year, but I have had my share.
 
At this point the birds are Late season birds. They tend to be birds with experience. Many (obviously not all) will flush further out than early season birds and if not hit hard will run. Early season-younger-birds, when shot but still alive will often stay put, hence easier to find.:)
 
BrownDogsCan2 said:
Sorry Jim, I meant that in good fun.
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No problem-I'm a little touchy on that subject--stems from sensitivity training in the military in the 70's--I eventually won my point--the instructor didn't like it at all.

As to birds that are hit--I never could quite figure out why some recovered and ran and others that were still alive didn't run--then several years ago I got shot and now I understand how much of a shock it is to your system.

GET ON THEM AND GET ON THEM FAST--dog or no dog. go directly to where you think they are and I always mark that point with my hat for reference.

BTW the birds here just disappeared after we got 6 inches of snow--I was sent out by the wife to cut a couple of cedar tree limbs for a table center piece she is making--a dz or so pheasants were UNDER the cedar tress--got up right in my face---go figure--my shotgun was a quarter mile away in the gun safe.:eek:
 
Sometimes it just happens.

Last Saturday I hit a rooster hard- wing down, head down, bird down. Went 20 yards away to were I expected it to be an nothing. I had my dog on it in less than a minute and he took off running. I'm not going to pull him off a scent trail so off we go. This bird ran us in circles. Trap lost the trail about 30 minutes later. We looked for an hour- nothing. I even came back Sunday morning and no scent.

You can only do so much. Hate it, but sometimes it just happens.
 
SDJIM said:
No problem-I'm a little touchy on that subject--stems from sensitivity training in the military in the 70's--I eventually won my point--the instructor didn't like it at all.

As to birds that are hit--I never could quite figure out why some recovered and ran and others that were still alive didn't run--then several years ago I got shot and now I understand how much of a shock it is to your system.

GET ON THEM AND GET ON THEM FAST--dog or no dog. go directly to where you think they are and I always mark that point with my hat for reference.

BTW the birds here just disappeared after we got 6 inches of snow--I was sent out by the wife to cut a couple of cedar tree limbs for a table center piece she is making--a dz or so pheasants were UNDER the cedar tress--got up right in my face---go figure--my shotgun was a quarter mile away in the gun safe.:eek:
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You got shot?
 
Jakeismydog2 said:
You got shot?
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Yep 12 ga 3 inch #5 shot from about 40 yrds or so --hurt like he--. Had on brush pants--heavy hunting jacket thank God and most of it was lower hits on the heavy garments. Did get some flyers --took 2 on hairline above left eye (I never ever go without safety glasses now), took one that went right up the arm of my jacket and embedded in my arm. Laid face down on the ground for several minutes--stuned--bleeding into my orange hunting hat--I wear it whenever I tote a shotgun afield--as a reminder to always be careful.

Have to tell you I thought about it before going afield again--the man who shot me quit hunting--I hold no ill will toward him and still consider him a friend. It took 6 decades of hunting to happen to me so it will be about 2060 or so before my number comes up again--LOL

PLEASE BE CAREFULL OUT THERE.
 
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Ok so a little bit of background as to why I asked what I did.
Last night I was up waiting to see if I needed to go out and plow and had been out earlier to hunt,, at this point I was beat.
The weekend after thanksgiving and then twice in the last week I have picked up a busted wing cripple that somebody else lost. So 3 out of the last 4 times I've been out I've come home with an extra bird. That's not normal. Last year I picked up 2 extra BWC's. And that's not normal. For me anyway.
So I'm sitting trying to figure it out

First thing that pops into my mind is wow! I must have the $6,000,000 dog! but nah he's not that good.
Next I think well maybe it's a pointer vs. flusher thing. Everyone knows a pointer can't mark for chit!
but nah they make up for it with the nose.
Gun , amo, choke, range, shooter!
maybe

Last night, anyway, I was leaning in this direction

1 Drought conditions and poor bird numbers have led to an over percentage of under hunted and under developed dogs.

or

2 Younger self taught hunters could maybe use some,,,direction.

or

3 Coincidence
 
BrownDogsCan2 said:
Ok so a little bit of background as to why I asked what I did.
Last night I was up waiting to see if I needed to go out and plow and had been out earlier to hunt,, at this point I was beat.
The weekend after thanksgiving and then twice in the last week I have picked up a busted wing cripple that somebody else lost. So 3 out of the last 4 times I've been out I've come home with an extra bird. That's not normal. Last year I picked up 2 extra BWC's. And that's not normal. For me anyway.
So I'm sitting trying to figure it out

First thing that pops into my mind is wow! I must have the $6,000,000 dog! but nah he's not that good.
Next I think well maybe it's a pointer vs. flusher thing. Everyone knows a pointer can't mark for chit!
but nah they make up for it with the nose.
Gun , amo, choke, range, shooter!
maybe

Last night, anyway, I was leaning in this direction

1 Drought conditions and poor bird numbers have led to an over percentage of under hunted and under developed dogs.

or

2 Younger self taught hunters could maybe use some,,,direction.

or

3 Coincidence
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If I had to hazard a guess I'd say you've got a dogless hunter in your neck of the woods.
 
Calisdad said:
If I had to hazard a guess I'd say you've got a dogless hunter in your neck of the woods.
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That would be my first guess too. Or someone who isn't that into eating them so they don't look too hard.:confused: I'm sure an inexperienced hunter or dog could also have good intentions and come up empty handed.

My advice to a new hunter would be to have patience after the shot. There may be birds up ahead, but getting a shot on them is much less important than finding the bird you just knocked down.

After the shot, if your dog does not immediately recover the bird, go directly to your best mark of the fall and wait there until your dog finds the bird. Just keep quiet, stay still, and be patient. I mean patient, like, "I'm prepared to stand here as long as it takes."

Guys get in such a hurry. :confused: They'll walk through CRP for hours to get a shot on a bird, but then give up looking for it after 5 minutes.:confused:

If the dog starts running a trail, I'll follow it, but will remember the area of the fall. You never know if it's the same bird that is being trailed... So if the trail comes up empty, I go right back to the area where I marked the bird down.

If enough time has passed and the dog hasn't found anything, I will make a big loop, like 100 yards, and come back through the area from downwind.

My dogs are only the best in my eyes, noone else's, but we get our birds.:thumbsup:
 
SDJIM said:
the man who shot me quit hunting--I hold no ill will toward him and still consider him a friend. It took 6 decades of hunting to happen to me so it will be about 2060 or so before my number comes up again--LOL

PLEASE BE CAREFULL OUT THERE.
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You're a tough one Jim.;)

My dad was shot too. He still has a few pellets in his gut:eek:. Don't ask me why they didn't remove at the hospital:confused: Anyway, the man who shot him gave up hunting too. It's a bad situation through and through when someone get's popped:(
 
My two year old GSP has found four bonus birds this year also so far. Two were in Nebraska one in Colorado and one in Kansas. The bird she found in Kansas was out of a big CRP field we were going to hunt at first light one morning but when we arrived there were five vehicles with 10-12 men without a single dog. We moved on to a different field and came back around noon hoping birds would be loafing in the CRP. Close to where all the other hunters had parked Molly goes on point and I walk in kicking the grass when a rooster jumps up about five feet and goes right back down. She caught the bird fairly quickly. I have to believe the group from earlier in the morning had shot the bird since there was fresh blood on a broken wing. I can't imagine hunting with out a dog for pheasants, seems nearly impossible. Even with a dog up until a week ago scenting conditions have been terrible where I've been hunting and I'm sure that contributes to more cripples left behind in fields.
 
Recovering downed birds

I find I lose more birds in South Dakota. Many areas have a good number of birds and if you drop one that isn't dead on arrival the dog has trouble singling out which bird trail is the one you shot. Also this year the cover was much denser make it a limitless more difficult to spot downed birds. I hunt with two dogs, one is a 3 year old Brittany and the other a 12 year old Springer. The Springer is a little slow in getting to a downed bird and my Brittany has done fairly well on retrieving downed birds who ran off. On the other hand the older dog seemed to be better at finding dead birds. I'll miss the older one since I will retire him at the end of the season this year. I've taken over 300 birds with him.
 
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