Chasing

Elhew Top Gun

Elhew Top Gun

Member
Got a going on 8 month EP female. She will bump and chase the dickens out of a bobwhite. Which is great….. but the most of my training I do is with pigeons. She will not chase them half of what she will a quail. Any suggestions or thoughts on why this is?
 
I've used a lot of pigeons through the years. Very seldom have the dogs I've trained been near as fired up about them as quail. One Setter trained mostly on wild quail would not even point a pigeon. I assume that they don't really smell like the birds that they have been bred to hunt for hundreds of years. I also suspect that I have caused some flagging problems by over doing it with too many pigeons. What works for me is to get them started on pigeons then switch to quail around a year or so old. Reason being quail old enough to fly are hard to find in the spring and summer.
 
Elhew Top Gun said:
Got a going on 8 month EP female. She will bump and chase the dickens out of a bobwhite. Which is great….. but the most of my training I do is with pigeons. She will not chase them half of what she will a quail. Any suggestions or thoughts on why this is?
Click to expand...
Why do you want your dog chasing birds?

As for chasing pigeons dogs are supposed to learn they can't catch them. Quail tend to be catchable.
 
Elhew Top Gun said:
Got a going on 8 month EP female. She will bump and chase the dickens out of a bobwhite. Which is great….. but the most of my training I do is with pigeons. She will not chase them half of what she will a quail. Any suggestions or thoughts on why this is?
Click to expand...
Have you shot the quail but not the pigeons? That would quickly change their attitude towards the birds.
 
Give a reward for chasing and following through. Either start shooting the birds or have someone throw a bumper at the bird as its flying and use a blank.
 
birddude said:
I've used a lot of pigeons through the years. Very seldom have the dogs I've trained been near as fired up about them as quail. One Setter trained mostly on wild quail would not even point a pigeon. I assume that they don't really smell like the birds that they have been bred to hunt for hundreds of years. I also suspect that I have caused some flagging problems by over doing it with too many pigeons. What works for me is to get them started on pigeons then switch to quail around a year or so old. Reason being quail old enough to fly are hard to find in the spring and summer.
Click to expand...
As a matter a fact my first pointer I caused him to start flagging from being over worked on pen raised birds. And I mean flagged on pen raised and wild quail too. Had a guy to tell me to blow a bird up on the ground and it will fix it….
 
Elhew Top Gun said:
As a matter a fact my first pointer I caused him to start flagging from being over worked on pen raised birds. And I mean flagged on pen raised and wild quail too. Had a guy to tell me to blow a b
Click to expand...
Never heard that one, but I've tied a string on grass near the bird and shook it. It will staunch them up, but they always reverted back to flagging.
 
Elhew Top Gun said:
Got a going on 8 month EP female. She will bump and chase the dickens out of a bobwhite. Which is great….. but the most of my training I do is with pigeons. She will not chase them half of what she will a quail. Any suggestions or thoughts on why this is?
Click to expand...
Our PP will do this and so did our lab (i never did train him to sit and wait on a ecollar) on pheasants. Similar to ruffed grouse, our PP bumps them, but I've noticed this fall she is starting to point earlier vs trying to figure out the scent and getting closer. I was told more wild bird contact will remedy this.
 
jmnhunter said:
Our PP will do this and so did our lab (i never did train him to sit and wait on a ecollar) on pheasants. Similar to ruffed grouse, our PP bumps them, but I've noticed this fall she is starting to point earlier vs trying to figure out the scent and getting closer. I was told more wild bird contact will remedy this.
Click to expand...
Yesterday I went out and planted a bird for the dog. He made game and was flagging his ass off. I stepped in front with a 20ga and blew the bird up on the ground right in front of him. I then put him up for the day.

Today took him back out and put a bird in a tip releaser. Once he made game he was more staunch then I ever seen him. I was even able to rub on him and brush his tail without it ever moving. I know this will prob continue to be a process just praying it gets better every time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top