My wire-haired griffon will point coveys of quail, he's got an okay nose, he's no superstar, but he does a good job for me. More often than not, he locates coveys and "Locks up" on them. There are also times when he gets "Birdie" and works an area thoroughly, and occasionally temporarily "points" - most of the time it is covey scat. It's obvious by his behavior, the birds have been there. Where did they go? Did they flush and we didn't see them? Are they still close by and he just can't get on fresh scent? We'll spend a good amount of time exploring the immediate area where he was birdy, but not find any birds. Suggestions?
Dog scenting where birds have been . . . how do I find where they are?
- Thread starter clcrump
- Start date
KSBrittman
Active member
I have had bird dogs for 45: years, my experience is that my dog most often will, track and follow up birds till they are pointed or they flush on thier own when they are pressured .
yes my dog occasionally looses scent , she will double back and try and scent them again , my thoughts is the birds have flushed .
yes my dog occasionally looses scent , she will double back and try and scent them again , my thoughts is the birds have flushed .
Tomahawker
Well-known member
New dog KC tends to loiter, needed a break so I just let her do that while she worked the end of this patch as long as she wanted to. It took awhile but she rooted a hen out.
Thank you sir for your response. After reading the two replies to my post, I think I'll give him more time to "sort things out." I may just let him do his thing for a while and just observe. I think it'd be beneficial just to see exactly how long he works the area before giving up and moving on.
You make a good point. I think when I take him tomorrow, I'll just leave him alone for a loooong time - just to see what happens. I have been pulling him off the area after about 10-15 minutes. I'm going to let him work as long as he wants to and see if he sorts it out. I was just assuming he was smelling old scent and didn't consider he may need to track the scent for a while. Which makes sense. . . his is a wire-haired pointing griffon, and although he does point, he may need more time to "track" and find the birds. I'm just used to working over Brittany spaniels (my previous dogs). We'll see if this theory pans out tomorrow.
Springer22
Well-known member
Won’t be much help. But my springer is the same way on pheasants. I’ve seen her be birdy as hell and won’t give up on spots I’ve already seen the birds fly out. She just can’t shake it. Most of the time when eyes really working an area and it is pretty determined it ends up being an elusive hen most of the time. If she’s running and I know she’s hot most always a rooster. I just try and give her time to work it out but it’s a bit annoying sometimes. She’s no rockstar either but she works hard and is not afraid of heavy cover.
Quailnerd
Well-known member
Lots of variables here.. yes they could be close, yes they left the roost at daylight to feed, yes they are within 200 yards loafing. Yes a coyote flushed them 20 minutes before you showed up. Cover ground!!! Edges, food bushes near by the roost. Not sure where your at if its central ks where the cover is thick they could be buried in close, down here with me they are moving.. good luck and push forward.