Cripples

[AKSkeeter]

Hunt roosters long enough and sooner or later you get a cripple.
My strategy has always been to be quiet and trust the dog.
An experienced pheasant dog knows more about tracking cripples than I ever would
and a human yelling "find it!" or "hunt dead" commands seems counter-productive to me.
Trust the dog!

 

[Powderhorn Jim]

You got that right. You have to trust your dog. The only time I use the "hunt dead" command is if the dog doesn't see the bird go down or if I'm asked to look for a bird downed by someone else. Just a couple of weeks ago I shot a rooster that dropped both legs but was still flying strong. He went down over a hill. My older dog knew the deal and took off after him. Over 5 minutes later she returned with the live rooster in her mouth. Both legs broken so he was immobile on the ground, but obviously had flown quite a a distance before landing. She only had direction to work on. Quite a feat, in my opinion. Trust your dog!

 

[Bob Peters]

Hunt roosters long enough and sooner or later you get a cripple.

Usually sooner than later

 

[McFarmer]

I always count an obviously hit and unrecovered bird as part of my daily limit. I’ve seen some amazing recoveries by dogs over the years.

 

[rae61]

A crippled rooster is something we unfortunately have to deal with from time to time. I agree with AKSkeeter, if your dog sees the bird fall, it's best to let them work it on their own. I’ve found that giving commands can often break their focus.

This past Friday, out of the four birds we got, two were cripples that the dogs managed to recover, we just quietly stood back and observed. One of the birds landed in a narrow strip of thick grass along a fence line. My attention was on my black lab working through the dense grass when I noticed my chocolate lab about 100 yards out in the open field coming back with the bird.

 

[BRITTMAN]

Most years my dogs find more wounded birds than I lose via a crippling shot and unrecovered bird.

Most crippled birds either burrow or run and burrow, but there exceptions. I try trust the dog and try not to wonder about the drop zone too much ... at least initially.

Extremely dry and warm weather or "still green" grass laden with chlorophyl tend to be the trickiest conditions a dog will face.

I have owned too Brittanys that would submerge their entire head to catch crippled ducks ... separate storyline I suppose.

 

[Weimdogman]

After having my Sheeba who was a fantastic retriever I find myself anxious about retrieves. I do seem to hunt more while things are still green and it is way harder for the dogs then the dead grass.