Good Problem

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sloth5202

New member
This weekend I took both of my Springers out for a hunt at a game farm and realized I had too much dog power. In the past I was able to/forced to hunt both dogs at the same time. I was "forced" to because both hate being left behind and it was never really an issue because the older one pretty much ran the show and the younger one was really just trying to figure it out. Yesterday was way different and the little guy really came into his own and has developed into a great hunter.

The problem is that birds were flying left and right and I couldn't keep up. It was hard to keep my eyes on both dogs and I missed way too many birds. I almost always hunt alone because it is my way to escape for a little alone time and I definitely enjoy the the alone time with the dogs in the outdoors so adding another gun just isn't something I really want to do all the time. My question for you flusher hunters is have any of you run into this "problem"? Do you just resign yourself to missing a couple of birds?
 
The sooner you get over not getting every bird in the field, your life will become easier. I hunted flushers most of my life, but now have GSPs. I never had two flushers in the field at one time, (or at least very often) because of the issues you just experienced. Especially, if both dogs are athletes. They can cover alot of ground, and being flushers... well, its alot to keep track of if youre alone.

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I'm definitely ok with missing birds. I'm all about the experience about being in the field with my dogs. I don't know that I could go down to one dog at a time. I get out fairly often but the length of time can be limited and I want both dogs to get plenty of work. I guess I'll just have to deal with going bird-cross-eyed:)

Not meaning to insight a riot on the thread but what caused you to convert to the GSP after hunting with flushers? My wife really wants to convert but I just love my Springers and the way they do their work.
 
sloth5202 said:
I'm definitely ok with missing birds. I'm all about the experience about being in the field with my dogs. I don't know that I could go down to one dog at a time. I get out fairly often but the length of time can be limited and I want both dogs to get plenty of work. I guess I'll just have to deal with going bird-cross-eyed:)

Not meaning to insight a riot on the thread but what caused you to convert to the GSP after hunting with flushers? My wife really wants to convert but I just love my Springers and the way they do their work.
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I guess its just something I morphed into. Gave up waterfowl. Started hunting SD. (alone, for the most part). I rescued a GSP 10 years ago, and she was a fine dog. Stumbled into my current dog by accident, and she is so much fun to hunt over, it gives me immense joy just watching her in the field, even if I dont harvest a bird.

Had a phenomenal hunt this weekend,with my son in law. Birds held fairly well.

Enough for him to only score 2 out of 8 ops, and 2 out of 12 ops on Sunday. I told him he needed to give up golf, and join a trap league.. :)
 
Sloth when I first hunted with two of my own flushers it was hard. But now I miss it when I only have one. You will learn to love all the more ground you can cover. The key is having good electronics so you can control both dogs with one simple controller.
 
Yeah it's really fun to watch them work both apart and together! The collars do help a lot and actually both come back to my side after so that makes things easier.

reddog - Funny how sometimes the dogs find us. Glad you guys saw plenty of birds! I'm sure the dog will pay for his trap lessons:)
 
goldenboy said:
Sloth when I first hunted with two of my own flushers it was hard. But now I miss it when I only have one. You will learn to love all the more ground you can cover. The key is having good electronics so you can control both dogs with one simple controller.
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Obviously, with a pointing breed, this is not a problem, but what do you do when both dogs get a snoot full of scent and are on different birds?
 
reddog said:
Obviously, with a pointing breed, this is not a problem, but what do you do when both dogs get a snoot full of scent and are on different birds?
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Reddog I guided at a game farm one year with two flushers. Now granted I had many gunners so two different flushes were not a problem. I was able to hold dogs at heel while birds were running in front of us in corn rows. When we got to the ends of the rows with blockers in place two dogs were able to retrieve that many more birds because of both sets of eyes and two mouths to retrieve, etc. Many times I hunt North Dakota wild birds and having two dogs also helps in the wild. When you have many birds in the field two dogs become better at pushing the runners to the end and not letting any slip around you. I agree it is a challenge, but I don't think I miss many birds in a field when I run both dogs. That being said I lost one of mine this spring and I am waiting to take a pup out of my next litter. Looking forward to getting back to two dogs in the truck and two dogs on the ground!
 
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