Greenhorn to PA

W

WV Brittany

New member
Hi guys, so I moved to PA the Washington area 3 years ago from WV. I'm an avid hunter and love being out doors. I have a 6 month old Brittany that I got at 7 weeks old and have been working really hard getting her up to speed, and for my first bird dog I'm very happy with her progress. She has the drive to hunt like I have never seen and plan on putting as many miles on her as possible this fall getting her on birds. She is pointing really well and holding point and seems to have a great nose. I have had her out on planted birds this summer and she has pointed about 40-50 quail. She minds well wile in the field and stays at around 100 yards or less and works cover great while doing circle patterns. The one thing that she really has not picked up yet is retrieving the downed bird, she will track it and find it but will pick it up and laydown with it. Sometime she will carry it about half way back to me them lay it down and start hunting again. This is strange because at the house she is a retrieving fool..... and almost drives me nuts wanting to play fetch. I have a couple frozen quail I plan to start this week with in the yard playing fetch and see if this helps. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Also I have done some homework on the SGLs in the area and can't wait to get her out and after Pheasant, I've never hunted pheasant before so it will be a learning experience for the both of us. Any tips for a pair of rookies for the SW PA area? I will miss the pheasant opener as me and the britt are going to WI to hunt grouse that week but after that week we will be out and about as much as possible. Do they stock birds in the SGLs more than once a season? the ones I will be hunting are over at the Claysville area. How crazy does it get over there?
 
Welcome! This year will be the first year for the pheasant permit so it should cut down on the number people that will be pheasant hunting. That being the case state game lands may be less crowded this year. However generally speaking weekends are more crowded than during the week so most of us here like to take vacation some time in the fall so we can hunt during the week. They stock 4 times during the season and then once before Christmas. The PGC Mapping Center is a great tool. It gives you aerial views with all game lands boundaries. I like to use the mapping center to find places that may be good to visit prior to the season to check out what the habitat looks like. Habitat is key..it's what holds the birds. Try to locate areas on the game lands that your hunting that have good habitat (example switchgrass field) and then focus on those areas because they will hold birds throughout the season. Most importantly just have fun and enjoy your time in the Penns Woods with your new pup!
 
Great thanks Hollow, I very much look forward to spending time in the woods with my pup, more so than just killing birds.
 
Welcome to the Forum, I think you'll like it here, a lot of good people with the same passion without some of the nonsense you find on some of the other Forums.

Looks like you've got yourself a good pup there. The first thing that I noticed was that he is 6 months old, so that's a big factor on where your training should be and I think you're doing fine! The fact that he likes to retrieve is a big plus so keep it fun for him. I would start to mix a feather/skin buck into his indoor fun retrieving. Like every third toss replace what you've been using with the F/S buck and make a little more of a fuss when he brings that to you and give him a treat for that retrieve, then go right back to the ball or whatever you where using for a few tosses then STOP! Gradually increase the tosses with the F/S buck until that's all he's retrieving, you can add bird scent to this buck also. When you train outside NEVER ask him to retrieve something if you cannot control his actions, this is until you're satisfied with his training. Use a long lead or alley way so you can get him to you on every toss, DON'T WORRY ABOUT DISTANCE YET! Remember this little guy is only six months old, keeping it fun for him now will pay dividends later!
 
Last edited:
Sir You need to slow down, Your first bird dog please get a mentor.
Take your time , here is a tip . Your dog is a pointer, if you want your dog to point I would avoid Pheasants they love to run.
No offence do get a pro who does not use electric, it can be easily done..
 
Peter M said:
Sir You need to slow down, Your first bird dog please get a mentor.
Take your time , here is a tip . Your dog is a pointer, if you want your dog to point I would avoid Pheasants they love to run.
No offence do get a pro who does not use electric, it can be easily done..
Click to expand...

Lol if I slow down I'll never keep up with this pup. Also I do have a mentor that has lots of experience and has assisted in tips and live bird training. Not sure I would qualify him as "pro" but very skilled yes.
I have Saylor E-collar trained and she does quite well with it, and for the most part only have to use vibration for corrections. I do have concerns with the running pheasants staring bad habits and not holding point. But I'm hoping 7 days in WI hunting grouse will help teach not breaking point and flushing.
 
Irony that one individual doesn’t want you to use Electric. I’ve always used Electric on all of my dogs. It’s a safety device for that one time the dog might not listen when crossing a road or tangling with something I don’t want it to.

As far as hunting SWPA, welcome to the state. In PA the SWPA gamelands are typically stocked on Thursday or Friday each week 4 times as the other poster states and then one additional one around Christmas. I live about 5 min from the SW distribution meeting location so it’s relatively easy for me to check which day they stock. However once they start stocking you can locate pheasants throughout the week, but as a previous poster stated the weekdays are far better than the weekends especially with a young dog. One major piece of advice, there will be other hunters who may invite you to “hunt your dog for them”, I would definitely steer clear of these folks. Last year I ran into the same man every Thursday afternoon for 5 weeks straight telling me the same story about how he’s never shot a pheasant and just wished he had someone with a dog to help him. I fell for it on week one and when I got the same story the second week and I confronted him about it he walked away. The following 3 weeks he started the same BS and one of those weeks he had tail feathers hanging out of his game pouch. Lots of ignorant and unethical individuals looking to take advantage of you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top