Can you tell how far ....

SetterNut

SetterNut

New member
from the bird your dog is pointing?

My two are pretty easy to read when on point. Ace especially is easy to read, but Indy is not much harder.

If they are close to the bird they tend to be low and sometimes in strange body possitions. Like, "oh crap, the bird is right there, don't breath".

If they are way of the bird you will see a real high head and high tail.

This was today, Indy skidded to a stop and was really close to these birds.

March13_491.jpg

You can just see Ace backing in the upper left.

Indy is standing well off this bird.
Jan13_302.jpg



Do you see this in your dogs?
 
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I have not had a problem until I got the dog I have now. The problem is he apparently has a better nose. I agree with the higher the head the farther the bird but sometimes I miss it by 20 yards or more.
 
Yep my dog is the same way, a lower head on point with what seems to be more intensity and no eye movement usually means a close bird. A higher head with some eye movement and just the tip of the tail moving means a bird that was close but has moved or sometimes still moving. Sometimes I think he can hear them moving in the grass. This is on pheasants

On woodcock we always get close points but on grouse I hardly ever get a point from my dog he just cant seem to get it. Maybe because if it flied I always shot at it when I probably shouldn't have shot at birds he didn't point as a young dog
 
If the dogs are rock solid,and their eyes are fixed the bird is likely close but with running birds reading them can be harder. Sometimes their nose doesn't keep up with a running bird and they might stay intense while the bird is 30 yards away and bobbing and weaving through the cover.
 
I have seen the same thing as far as posture. Also, you can tell how confident the dog is by the intensity of the point.

:cheers:
 
A low head position is a close bird.
 
On one of my old pointers, i could guess within a couple of feet as to how far he was from a bird. His head and tail stayed the same but his stance would be a little different depending on the distance. With the dogs I have now, the griffon's stance is the same but the birds are close when she locks up. AS for the setter, if he has that I am going to take a step, the bird is real close, otherwise the bird is some distance and he will stand. I hate it when he is right on top of them. My current pointer has the same head and tail look whether they are close or not. He has a different look in his eyes though on the closer birds. I have always found it a treat to be able to tell a partner where the bird is on a point and then being fairly accurate when the bird flushes.
 
It's not just reading the dog, it's also reading the wind. A head high means he's catching scent on the wind from a distance, estimating that distance is a matter of experience but I like to picture how smoke from a smoldering fire would be moving across the field & it helps make an educated guess.
 
Nimrod said:
It's not just reading the dog, it's also reading the wind. A head high means he's catching scent on the wind from a distance, estimating that distance is a matter of experience but I like to picture how smoke from a smoldering fire would be moving across the field & it helps make an educated guess.
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That is a good analogy.
 
Now a good Kansas quail dog will tell you how many birds in the covey, just to be polite.
 
I would tend to agree that a lower head and strange position, as well as the eyes fixed and burning holes in the grass, mean a close bird.

Think the bird is close here??

Dec2010.jpg
 
Dakotazeb said:
I would tend to agree that a lower head and strange position, as well as the eyes fixed and burning holes in the grass, mean a close bird.

Think the bird is close here??

Dec2010.jpg
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You can tell the bird is close because a Brittany found it. :D


(Just kidding, some of my best friends are Brittanys):cheers:
 
A rooster was under the snow less than a foot in front of her nose. She was going full tilt when she hit the brakes. Held that point while a took a couple of photos and until I flushed the bird.
 
Nimrod said:
So what does it mean when he runs back to you, starts humping your leg, then picks up a stick & starts waving it around? ;)
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In Kansas it means there are more dang quail that you can shake a stick at(my internet paraphrase). Seldom used though, since this drought set in. ;) No sense in trying to explain to the young'uns on here about the glory days of quail hunting, they just can't understand, just like my grandkids can't understand why there was such a thing as a telephone booth.

My late Drahthaar had four slam points one opener in extremely short grass that limited me out before anyone else fired a shot. I was doing my neighborly host thing of walking fast to get to a block point so my guests could have the honey holes. Ol' Duke turned on a dime and locked up on the smallest of clumps of grass only to have a rooster erupt right under his pointing nose. That is one of those, "Hey boss, that bird is right in front of my nose! Either you shoot now or I'll take him." He did that four times before I got to the block point that morning. What a day.
 
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My first setter had a habit of pointing pheasant and grouse low- more crouched and tail lower. She would point quail very high with a very high tail. I used to drive Dad nuts before he figured how I knew to change shot size as I was walking to the flush.:)
 
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