Fresh snow affect scenting ability?

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ggburke

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I was hunting grouse in Northern Minnesota. It started to snow and my dog seemed to have trouble scenting birds. Early in the day at different locations she flushed 9 birds. We stopped for lunch it started to snow and we tried two different locations she didn't catch any scents. She worked hard but never got birdy. Does new snow affect scenting ability?
 
The best bird dog I ever had always seemed to struggle in the snow it was weird this dog crushed every dog I ever seen him go against but in the snow he just couldn't hit scent as good as no snow I always wondered if it was he just didn't have much experience in it or what I never figured it out?
 
There are more variables involved than just scenting ability -- the snow is going to have an effect on the birds, too. If it moved them to places where the dog wasn't hunting -- or if there just weren't any in the places you relocated too -- those would be good reasons for the dog not finding them.

The easiest day of wild pheasant hunting (or any type of pheasant hunting) I've ever had was the day after a 6-inch snow dump in eastern Montana. The birds held to the cover like they were glued to it, and a young pointer adopted from Korea that had never seen snow trotted around nailing one after another. I had three in the bag in short order, then she pointed (and I flushed) nine more roosters on the short walk back to the truck. My buddy went another direction and did almost exactly the same thing with his Vizsla pup that day.
 
Believe it or not I think it helps with snow, at least from my own experiences. I mostly Pheasant hunt and mine seem to scent better with snow. Maybe it has something to do with all the foliage or lack there of, which has normally gone dormant and we've had a few hard frosts. I find early season when everything is still green my dogs seem to have a little harder time scenting. Now some of that early season difficulty can be related to heat and when dogs are working hard and panting hard, they are breathing more through their mouth and less thru their nose.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but mine seem to excel better in the snow and colder temps.
 
birdshooter said:
Believe it or not I think it helps with snow, at least from my own experiences. I mostly Pheasant hunt and mine seem to scent better with snow. Maybe it has something to do with all the foliage or lack there of, which has normally gone dormant and we've had a few hard frosts. I find early season when everything is still green my dogs seem to have a little harder time scenting. Now some of that early season difficulty can be related to heat and when dogs are working hard and panting hard, they are breathing more through their mouth and less thru their nose.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but mine seem to excel better in the snow and colder temps.
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There was a thread about this a year or two ago and I always said in my experiences I just always felt the birds were lots more spooky and never held for me? I have just found to be the opposite but lots of people seem to think they hold better in the snow?
 
I agree. Snow especially deeper snow, the birds will hold tighter. Whether that makes them easier to scent, maybe? From my experiences, my dog just seems to have an easier time scenting with snow on the ground, especially with Phez. I don't grouse hunt so I'll leave that to those that do.

Early in the year when everything is green you're compounding all the different scents of a variety of vegetation which IMO makes it a little harder for the dog to pin point the origin of the scent cone. I dunno, that's what I have witnessed...
 
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I think they type of snow is the difference. Wet sticky snow is like music to a dogs ears. Dry light snow makes it tougher. I think it sucks up moisture that holds the scent.
 
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