Before I take my pup hunting

K

Kansan

Active member
I have a one year old lab, who has performed excellently on waterfowl in his first season. I plan on planting some pheasants for him to get used to upland game. I will take him pheasant and quail hunting this next season. Is there anything I need to do to prepare him to hunt upland? He does great with the ducks and geese, and has a good nose too. He can always find the cripples when he gets downwind. Just didn't know what else he needs for upland. I'm a long time waterfowl hunter from eastern Kansas, but with the rebound in quail around home and the success of pheasants in western Kansas, I'm going to hunt upland for the first time this year, so I'm just as green as my dog. I have had several duck dogs, but this will be my first waterfowl/upland dog. My pup has excelled on waterfowl this year, and absolutely loves birds! He's been getting lots retrieves this spring snow goose season. But he's never been exposed to pheasants or quail except for a pheasant wing I played with him as a pup. I've heard of training a dog to quarter, but I'm not sure if that's necessary. I know Moose will be a great upland dog once he whiffs one. I just need your tips on how to guide him to his maximum potential. Any tips are appreciated , as I'll be asking you all a lot more questions before the season starts!
 
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Kansan said:
I have a one year old lab, who has performed excellently on waterfowl in his first season. I plan on planting some pheasants for him to get used to upland game. I will take him pheasant and quail hunting this next season. Is there anything I need to do to prepare him to hunt upland? He does great with the ducks and geese, and has a good nose too. He can always find the cripples when he gets downwind. Just didn't know what else he needs for upland. I'm a long time waterfowl hunter from eastern Kansas, but with the rebound in quail around home and the success of pheasants in western Kansas, I'm going to hunt upland for the first time this year, so I'm just as green as my dog. I have had several duck dogs, but this will be my first waterfowl/upland dog. My pup has excelled on waterfowl this year, and absolutely loves birds! He's been getting lots retrieves this spring snow goose season. But he's never been exposed to pheasants or quail except for a pheasant wing I played with him as a pup. I've heard of training a dog to quarter, but I'm not sure if that's necessary. I know Moose will be a great upland dog once he whiffs one. I just need your tips on how to guide him to his maximum potential. Any tips are appreciated , as I'll be asking you all a lot more questions before the season starts!
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"Training to quarter" will be good practice...keeping him in range. If possible, get to a game farm, plant birds and let him have some fun. Good Luck!
 
I wouldn't waste any time with quartering and instead get him trained to Hup on a whistle so you can keep up with him when he gets on a running bird.

I've always felt the dog will figure out how to pattern and hunt objectives that experience will tell it is a likely place to find a bird and that quartering is a waste of energy.

JMO.... that's how I always hunted my labs
 
bobman said:
I wouldn't waste any time with quartering and instead get him trained to Hup on a whistle so you can keep up with him when he gets on a running bird.

I've always felt the dog will figure out how to pattern and hunt objectives that experience will tell it is a likely place to find a bird and that quartering is a waste of energy.

JMO.... that's how I always hunted my labs
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Not sure we want to listen to a whistle all day long...to keep up. This ought to add some spice to the conversation!
 
jonnyB said:
Not sure we want to listen to a whistle all day long...to keep up. This ought to add some spice to the conversation!
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I agree with you. Whistles annoy the crap out of me. And way too much noise for pheasant hunting. But I'm sure the dogs learn range also and the handler hopefully has to blow on the whistle less and less as the dog becomes more experienced.
 
not whistling all day , just for stopping a dog running down a running rooster.

If you can't do that you will watch a lot of birds get flushed out of range.

two toots to hup, one to release when you get close to the dog

sorry for the confusion
 
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