Real World Hunting Noise Example....sort of

[A5 Sweet 16]

I take stealth while pheasant hunting very seriously. It's THE reason I try to hunt into the wind as much as possible - to mask any sound my dog & I make. (I feel like he scents birds almost equally well upwind or downwind.) Getting 5-10 yards closer to a rooster before he becomes aware of us can make the difference between a decent shot & no shot at all.

This past weekend, I was at a lake on a windy day (about 20 mph). A jet ski drove by straight upwind of me. I have teenage daughters, so although I could barely see the riders (could hardly see the jet ski itself), I can tell you there were definitely teenage girls on this jet ski. Granted, sound travels over water a little better than over grass & cattails, but I could here them yelling with glee, as though they were almost right in front of me. Google Earth showed they were right around 2,000 feet away!!

Of course what came to my mind was THAT's why I try to be quiet while I'm hunting & why I hunt upwind. Roosters have much better ears than I do. Here's a picture of Ace one day last season when we took advantage of a stiff, favorable wind. FWIW, neither of my teenage daughters was along that day.

 

[gimruis]

Once about Thanksgiving hits, the roosters get extremely smart (and sometimes even before that) where I hunt them. I literally go in there making no noise whatsoever. Like a ninja. My dog knows what to do. This is one of the reasons I often do better by myself than when I take someone with. When I'm with someone, we make more noise to communicate. A thread like this often comes up the second half of the season and the discussion is focused on noise levels.

 

[remy3424]

I watched one of your videos once and after you shot a pheasant you were calling to your dog in an almost "whisper" tone. I just thought it was odd after you shot your gun and you still were thinking they didn't know you were there. You do take it serious. I hunt into the wind, the primary reason is for the dogs, the sound has little to do with it for me. I agree, pheasants are sooo much easier to shoot if they are closer....long shots, you might have the load and pattern, but getting the lead right gets harder every yard further away they (you) are. Nice limit to close-out A5.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I watched one of your videos once and after you shot a pheasant you were calling to your dog in an almost "whisper" tone. I just thought it was odd after you shot your gun and you still were thinking they didn't know you were there. You do take it serious. I hunt into the wind, the primary reason is for the dogs, the sound has little to do with it for me. I agree, pheasants are sooo much easier to shoot i fthey are closer....long shots, you might have the load and pattern, but get the lead right gets harder every yard further away they (you) are. Nice limit to close-out A5.

Thanks. Yep, lead gets pretty iffy on a crosser past 40 yds. Then you thrown in the wind & 10 other variables & a long shot can get pretty tough. My theory on what you mention though, right or wrong, is that a rooster probably doesn't identify the location that a single shot came from. He might know something's up, but not WHERE. But if I'm standing there talking to my dog or partner, such that a rooster can hear me, he's likely to figure out WHERE we are & we'll never see him. I use hand gestures as much as possible. If I knew sign language, I'd use that too. I know sometimes it seems a little silly. But I'm convinced it works, so I do it.

 

[MN guy]

Thanks. Yep, lead gets pretty iffy on a crosser past 40 yds. Then you thrown in the wind & 10 other variables & a long shot can get pretty tough. My theory on what you mention though, right or wrong, is that a rooster probably doesn't identify the location that a single shot came from. He might know something's up, but not WHERE. But if I'm standing there talking to my dog or partner, such that a rooster can hear me, he's likely to figure out WHERE we are & we'll never see him. I use hand gestures as much as possible. If I knew sign language, I'd use that too. I know sometimes it seems a little silly. But I'm convinced it works, so I do it.

I use a bell on my dog to locate her (Medium range pointing breed). Realize the downside of the sound, but always want to know where she is at. What do others do?

 

[Hutcho]

I use a bell on my dog to locate her (Medium range pointing breed). Realize the downside of the sound, but always want to know where she is at. What do others do?

I just check my watch, that is synced to my 550+

 

[remy3424]

I also use a bell, but only in tall grass crp where I wouldn't be able to know where the dog was without it. Without the bell he could get a quarter mile away in a few moments with me not knowing. I hunt 2 stands of crp where a bell is required equipment and hunted some public stuff a couple years ago, that I wouldn't want to be in without a bell. That public piece was a ridiculous jungle, shoot quick or it was out of your site! I feel like I am not doing what I should be when I can't tell you exactly where my dog is. No need for GPS if you are paying attension. I guess there are times where the GPS would be nice, if another dog in the group locates a bird and you stop to wrangle that and your dog is on trail of a different bird or direction. I am watching the dog when I hunt, not looking at the ground, not talking to my bubby or checking my phone of some tracking device, if you want to be successful, just watch the dog and be ready. I am get excited just typing about hunting! It seems we are getting a good amount of traffic on the site this off season.

 

[Hutcho]

I also use a bell, but only in tall grass crp where I wouldn't be able to know where the dog was without it. Without the bell he could get a quarter mile away in a few moments with me not knowing. I hunt 2 stands of crp where a bell is required equipment and hunted some public stuff a couple years ago, that I wouldn't want to be in without a bell. That public piece was a ridiculous jungle, shoot quick or it was out of your site! I feel like I am not doing what I should be when I can't tell you exactly where my dog is. No need for GPS if you are paying attension. I guess there are times where the GPS would be nice, if another dog in the group locates a bird and you stop to wrangle that and your dog is on trail of a different bird or direction. I am watching the dog when I hunt, not looking at the ground, not talking to my bubby or checking my phone of some tracking device, if you want to be successful, just watch the dog and be ready. I am get excited just typing about hunting! It seems we are getting a good amount of traffic on the site this off season.

My gsp doesn't range that far really. I only run the GPS as cheap insurance. 99% of the time I know right where he is.

 

[carptom1]

I also use a bell, but only in tall grass crp where I wouldn't be able to know where the dog was without it. Without the bell he could get a quarter mile away in a few moments with me not knowing. I hunt 2 stands of crp where a bell is required equipment and hunted some public stuff a couple years ago, that I wouldn't want to be in without a bell. That public piece was a ridiculous jungle, shoot quick or it was out of your site! I feel like I am not doing what I should be when I can't tell you exactly where my dog is. No need for GPS if you are paying attension. I guess there are times where the GPS would be nice, if another dog in the group locates a bird and you stop to wrangle that and your dog is on trail of a different bird or direction. I am watching the dog when I hunt, not looking at the ground, not talking to my bubby or checking my phone of some tracking device, if you want to be successful, just watch the dog and be ready. I am get excited just typing about hunting! It seems we are getting a good amount of traffic on the site this off season.

I go back and forth on a bell and how that relates to pheasants. I guess one would really never know for sure. If your still finding birds consistently then who cares. I kind of like the tinging of a bell reminds me of being a youth as my dad used them often. What I don’t care for is the beeping on one of those point indicators. Beep beep beep beep….. all freaking day. MAKE IT STOP!!!!! It was like hunting next to a backing bread truck all day.

There is a lot of traffic on here this off season. I think with all the other crap going on we need this for a respite. Four weeks with no news for me… it has done wonders

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I use a bell on my dog to locate her (Medium range pointing breed). Realize the downside of the sound, but always want to know where she is at. What do others do?

I'm a springer guy, so very short range. We're usually in sync enough that he keeps track of me almost as much as I keep track of him. In light cover, that's maybe 40 yards. In heavy cover it's more like 20. But for me, it's a constant game of "Where's Ace?". Watching. Listening. You get pretty good at picking up the subtle movement of cattails. I won't deny that on very windy days, it can be quite challenging. But he still manages to flush pheasants in range, so I'll forego noisemakers.

 

[Birdman2]

I'm a springer guy, so very short range. We're usually in sync enough that he keeps track of me almost as much as I keep track of him. In light cover, that's maybe 40 yards. In heavy cover it's more like 20. But for me, it's a constant game of "Where's Ace?". Watching. Listening. You get pretty good at picking up the subtle movement of cattails. I won't deny that on very windy days, it can be quite challenging. But he still manages to flush pheasants in range, so I'll forego noisemakers.

It appears that Ace is a winner...

 

[birddude]

I started to figure it out when, later in the season we would see birds get up when we were unloading, shutting the truck doors etc. My buddy ran pretty big running setters, and I had an older gwp who was very close and and a gsp who I never had to say a word too. I light bulb came on when I realized that when we would get separated in the big CRP fields, I would almost always get more flushes and kill more birds.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

It appears that Ace is a winner...

Thanks, he is. Some of it's genetic; a tiny bit is training; most of it's because I'm extremely lucky to live where I can take him hunting 30+ times a year in areas with decent pheasant numbers. There's no substitute for experience & I'm willing & able to give it to him.

 

[Birdman2]

I started to figure it out when, later in the season we would see birds get up when we were unloading, shutting the truck doors etc. My buddy ran pretty big running setters, and I had an older gwp who was very close and and a gsp who I never had to say a word too. I light bulb came on when I realized that when we would get separated in the big CRP fields, I would almost always get more flushes and kill more birds.

Dude,

Silence is golden....

 

[remy3424]

I am thinking you fellas without bells are not getting into any 5-6+ foot tall stands of switch or big bluestem, If it is a good stand and there is any breeze, you will not know where the dog is if he is over 10-15 yards away. It is not the best (grass poking you in the eyes is not pleasant) cover to hunt, but it will have lots of birds, recoveries can be challenging as well, as the dog ususally can't see the bird fall and there is usually a ton of fresh birds scent for them to sort through. Accurate marking is required. Not good for a new dog. I just keep a bell in a pocket of my hunting coat or vest and snap it on as needed, works fine for me. Maybe as dry as it is this year, the grass won't be as tall as normal here and the bell will not be needed, can't wait to find-out!.

 

[Birdman2]

Remy, In very tall grass I would use a bell. I can't think of another situation that I would use one. Just another way birds hear you coming. Years ago I hunted Ft. Campbell for quail. These birds had a lot of hunting pressure. I learned quickly to be as quiet as possible to get close to birds. I would close truck doors very softly, dogs collars would already be on. I never would use the beeper option on collar. I would use the locate button on Dogtra collar if I couldn't figure out where dog was. Tried to not use that much at all.

I think it also depends on where you are located and how much pressure your birds have. If they don't have much pressure a bell won't make a difference.

 

[jmuller19]

I use a bell on my GWP, doesn't seem to make much difference to her or the birds.

 

[hyresmack]

To say a wild phez ignores dog bells, cow bells or sleigh beels would be assanine, sure they might be nice sometimes to tell where your dog is but as soon as a wild roody realizes something out of the ordinary adn a general direction he goes into escape mode. Like right now. It's just a fact, I seen it 100s of times. Not saying don't use one if it helps keep track of Fido, you'll catch up to a dumb bird now and then but they absolutely make smart phez vacate.

 

[BrownDogsCan2]

I am thinking you fellas without bells are not getting into any 5-6+ foot tall stands of switch or big bluestem, If it is a good stand and there is any breeze, you will not know where the dog is if he is over 10-15 yards away. It is not the best (grass poking you in the eyes is not pleasant) cover to hunt, but it will have lots of birds, recoveries can be challenging as well, as the dog ususally can't see the bird fall and there is usually a ton of fresh birds scent for them to sort through. Accurate marking is required. Not good for a new dog. I just keep a bell in a pocket of my hunting coat or vest and snap it on as needed, works fine for me. Maybe as dry as it is this year, the grass won't be as tall as normal here and the bell will not be needed, can't wait to find-out!.

That’s exactly the kind of place I use a bell. One of my dogs doesn’t really range but doesn’t check back much either. She is a weaver and not a crasher like the other. So I can’t really hear her. She gets turned around quite a bit and will eventually cut my track or maybe her own track , I don’t know how dogs do it and come in from behind me. I’ve had some nervous moments waiting on her to find me.
A couple of the wetlands I hunt are sparse clumped grass 6-7 ft tall where pheasants can run all day But you can push them into the clearings and sometimes get a shot. Pheasants aren’t stupid , they know the dogs there ,wearing a bell or not. After all they evade predators stealthier than dogs every day.
Edit to add pheasants are just being pheasants, sometimes they run , sometimes they double back , and sometimes they just freeze, sit and wait for you to walk by . They don’t have any sort of esp or supernatural power

 

[remy3424]

To say a wild phez ignores dog bells, cow bells or sleigh beels would be assanine, sure they might be nice sometimes to tell where your dog is but as soon as a wild roody realizes something out of the ordinary adn a general direction he goes into escape mode. Like right now. It's just a fact, I seen it 100s of times. Not saying don't use one if it helps keep track of Fido, you'll catch up to a dumb bird now and then but they absolutely make smart phez vacate.

If I took this as gospel, I should be or would be avoiding or hunting without the bell in the cover I hunt at least every other week...I would guess I haven't been skunked in that cover in the past 4 years. Sure they hear the bell (and they hear you and your dog), no one will argue that, but some folks just don't understand that many pheasants will often burrow into deep cover and let their pursuers past by...I know that sounds crazy, but some of us had actually experienced this...on every outting we have been on...I know, it is hard to believe! You real don't think the birds you flush (except the dumb ones) only flush once they realize you or the dog is there, right? I am pretty sure I have never snuck-up, within a couple yards, on a pheasant without them aware I was there. Give them a bit of credit, they know you are there, way before you know they are there. Running, flying and concealment are all used by this crafty quarry. Dang, they are fun to hunt! I shoot birds being quiet, but also shoot a pile of them on the couple times a year I get a group together and we are talking, , shooting, calling the dogs, probably sounding like a caravan of gypsies crossing the field...I think quiet might be better, but it doesn't make much difference from what I see. How many days until the opener??? Love this off season chatter!

Not sure I have seen Golden Hour post recently, is he OK?? Was he serious about selling fireworks?? If so, maybe that short season deal has consumed all his time lately. Hope he is working on habitat also!