First time out with my new friend!

L

Livnoutdoors6.8

New member
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I recently (semi) adopted Scout. He's a 2.5 year old Lab/Weim mix. For the past week we've been bonding and learning each other's personality. He's taken to me really well and is pretty smart. I came to the point where I feel comfortable that he'd listen to me off leash.

I loaded my new friend up in the truck and headed out to Bong Recreational Center to see how he performs in the field. I was blown away with how he acted. He had his nose to the ground, zig zagging about 15-30ft in front of me. If he got too far, I call him once and he came right back into range. Bounding through the thick stuff, I stood still to admire his work. I noticed when I stopped, He stopped to locate me..Good boy. He looked like he was getting birdy a couple of times, and it always looked like he was on a trail. Unfortunately, we came up empty handed.

It seems to me (a novice bird dog owner) that he will be a great hunter, but he doesn't know what animal he's looking for. I was pretty happy to see that he located 2 different clumps of feathers where birds were previously downed. I picked up a cluster of tail feathers and let him sniff them and worked on getting him excited about them. He sniffed them enthusiastically and took some nips at them. That seemed like a good sign.

I have a feeling when he finds a live bird, he'll be ready.

One of my main questions is this: How do I know if he's looking for pheasants, or if he's just sniffing out squirrels and mice, and what can I do to get him to concentrate on the pheasant scent? I'm hoping that we'll just stumble into one and that will help it all "click" for him with the positive reinforcement and having a bird up close for him to investigate.

Thanks Guys!
 
Sounds like you are well on your way to a long and productive partnership there! :thumbsup:

I would let him sniff whatever he wants for now and not give it too much concern. Let him get a good nose full of fieldmouse and packrat whenever he wants. There's lots of good stuff out there for dogs to smell. It's all part of the experience for him, just like you appreciate the sunrises, fall colors, and smell of gunpowder.

Rusty used to get on packrats from time to time when the action was slow. It was obvious because he would really bury his nose into the grass or stubble and root around like a pig. He caught a few in his day... In the absence of gamebirds, dogs will find other stuff to entertain themselves just like we do.

I personally wouldn't do anything more than call him off of it and keep walking. No scolding. Eventually the dog will figure out what you want and will stop wasting time on the other stuff. Usually a "c'mon" or a quick whistle and taking a couple steps is all you need to get them off the mouse and back to birds.

That's my .02, anyway.

If you're really concerned about it or if he shows more interest in fur than feathers you could always take him to a preserve to get more birds in front of his face.
 
Thanks for the info. Im certain that he was sniffing out mice now that I hear you describe it. Sounds like I did it right too. When I saw him pinpoint a spot and root around like that, I gave him an upbeat c'mon, and he was on his way! We're going to try again tomorrow. I have a friend that owns farmland next to the land that the dnr raises the birds for release on. If I can get out there early enough, thats where we'll go otherwise we'll head back out to Bong and see if we can get on a bird or 2!
 
Well, day 2 of Operation Scouts First Bird didnt pan out. It was pretty brisk with howling winds. He worked the fields pretty well like last time, but we just couldn't find the birds. There was a fair amount of shooting to the north and west of us and we passed a guy who limited out in the first half hour. Scout found a gut pile from a pheasant and 3 different clumps of feathers. I grabbed some of the tail feathers for him to sniff and he seemed pretty excited about that.

I'm not sure if we're walking right over them or if they just aren't there? Either way, I'm just enjoying my time in the field with my pal. I want him to find a bird more than I want to shoot one for myself!
 
I completely agree with Toad. Let him sniff. I have two golden retreivers. One is pretty young and still in training. When she gets bored, she mouse hunts as well. Watch how your dog acts. If they are on pheasant scent, the tail will wag and the dog will start to move to follow it. With mice, you'll get a tail wag, but they stand almost in the same spot, and like Toad says, will stick their noses way down in the grass.

If my dog is further away that I cant see what's she's doing, I will call her or say "find it". Use whatever your code word is. If its a mouse, she'll break off and come to you and/or start to hunt again. If she's on a bird, she'll pick up her pace and tail wag trying to locate it.

bottom line, don't worry about it. When you do come across pheasant, you and your dog will both know.

About Bong...I hunted it Saturday with 2 other guys and a total of two dogs, his lab and my young golden. We got the one bird we flushed. It was tough hunting with little shooting. The cover is very thin on the open fields this year, I think maybe from the heat/drought. The bird we got came out of a larger clump of woods/brush. Short of a club, Bong is your best bet for some action but concentrate on the heavier cover. A lot of guys with pointers refuse to work the thicker cover as those birds are runners and escape artists.

One other thought...there is a guy very close to Bong that sells training birds. He is Rice Farms and is located about 3 or 4 miles west of Bong on Hwy 142.
 
Livnoutdoors6.8 said:
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I recently (semi) adopted Scout. He's a 2.5 year old Lab/Weim mix. For the past week we've been bonding and learning each other's personality. He's taken to me really well and is pretty smart. I came to the point where I feel comfortable that he'd listen to me off leash.

I loaded my new friend up in the truck and headed out to Bong Recreational Center to see how he performs in the field. I was blown away with how he acted. He had his nose to the ground, zig zagging about 15-30ft in front of me. If he got too far, I call him once and he came right back into range. Bounding through the thick stuff, I stood still to admire his work. I noticed when I stopped, He stopped to locate me..Good boy. He looked like he was getting birdy a couple of times, and it always looked like he was on a trail. Unfortunately, we came up empty handed.

It seems to me (a novice bird dog owner) that he will be a great hunter, but he doesn't know what animal he's looking for. I was pretty happy to see that he located 2 different clumps of feathers where birds were previously downed. I picked up a cluster of tail feathers and let him sniff them and worked on getting him excited about them. He sniffed them enthusiastically and took some nips at them. That seemed like a good sign.

I have a feeling when he finds a live bird, he'll be ready.

One of my main questions is this: How do I know if he's looking for pheasants, or if he's just sniffing out squirrels and mice, and what can I do to get him to concentrate on the pheasant scent? I'm hoping that we'll just stumble into one and that will help it all "click" for him with the positive reinforcement and having a bird up close for him to investigate.

Thanks Guys!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that, people don't know the bond we have with our hunting dogs.
 
If it was me, I would try to get some birds in front of him, either wild or planted.

But also need to make sure he is introduced to gunfire before you blast a pheasant over him. If you just adopted him from the pound, he probably doesn't have any exposure to guns.

It would be a gamble trying to "bag" a bird over him at this point, IMO. I thought you were just taking him out to run for fun, not necessarily hunting over him.
 
He isn't from the pound, I got him from an acquaintance that moved away and coultnt take him with. I did know Scout before he became mine. He has had exposure to guns, shotguns specifically. He used to hang out while we shot clays, and never had a problem. I think I found a source for birds to plant so that may be the plan this weekend
 
Livnoutdoors6.8 said:
He isn't from the pound, I got him from an acquaintance that moved away and coultnt take him with. I did know Scout before he became mine. He has had exposure to guns, shotguns specifically. He used to hang out while we shot clays, and never had a problem. I think I found a source for birds to plant so that may be the plan this weekend
Click to expand...

Sounds like you are on the right path. One word of caution: When you load the dog up to go work on the planted birds, leave your expectations at home. Plant the birds and let him work them at his pace and in his way. On this first run you are just an observer and a silent observer would be best. This may very well be his first exposure to game birds and you want him to make a positive association, if he does something "wrong" and you correct him with voice or deed, he could associate the negative with the bird, "First time to encounter a bird and he gets in trouble; bird is bad; stay out of trouble avoid the bird.
 
I think all it will take is some time and birds. Last year, her first, she was after anything that caught her attention (mice, meadowlarks, rabbits, etc). After stumbling over a pheasant or two, she figured out what we were doing and ended the season doing well. She even started pointing on her own towards the end of the season (Lab/Weim mix).

Patience and praise and it will all come together.
 
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