Loosing birds

Goosemaster said:
Some of my ammo is 10-15 years old or more, but ammo doesn't have a shelf life. I use fours fives and sixes sometimes 7 and 1/2s usually two and 3/4 lead. Ounce and a quarter
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I know guys that shoot a 1000 rounds of trap a week and they can shoot whatever shot size the want on birds but the avg guy will have much better luck on wild flushing birds shooting #5's, than you will with 6 or 7 1/2 shot....especially on straight away shots. I have pointers and I don't go any smaller than 6 shot on pheasant and much prefer #5 in lead, #4 in bismuth and #2 in steel.
 
Drew said:
This year, I’ve almost completely stopped shooting any birds before the dog retrieves a downed bird. When I did I lost more birds due to the dog and I getting distracted. Shoot one, retrieve one.
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Well yeah, you look hard, sometimes you go a ways out and then come back, you do everything you can to retrieve that bird, you owe the bird that, but sometimes it just doesn't happen
Tomahawker said:
Having hunted sans dog for years, I always run like deer to a downed bird.
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It's hard for a solo hunter.Uf you have several guys,it helps.
 
I just don’t think you are paying attention to where the bird falls if you are losing that many birds.

Does your dog know to pick up dead birds or understand it’s supposed to be searching for one? Like actually
 
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most guys I hunt with, they have “ hunting dogs” that hunt but have had very limited training and have no clue what’s going.

Owner shoots a bird, dog didn’t see it, owner just starts yelling “ find it, where’s the bird, where’s the bird” dog has no clue what’s going on and isn’t even actually searching,

Maybe the bird gets found by a human and the dog doesn’t even really care or register that’s what I was supposed to be searching for. Just something I’ve noticed
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Folded. So at least some of these 18 seemed to be shot reasonably well?

And at least 1 of your dogs got to the spot each bird fell & searched for at least a few minutes?
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I'm basically just using one dog. My 11 and 1/2-year-old pretty much just follows me now, but she has been a great dog I we've done a lot of hunting together.
 
Springer22 said:
I just don’t think you are paying attention to where the bird falls if you are losing that many birds.

Does your dog know to pick up dead birds or understand it’s supposed to be searching for one? Like actually
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No, I'm going to have to work with him on that some I think. Generally, he did a great job this season. He made some great retrieves, and he did really well but he hasn't figured out the rutters.
 
Goosemaster said:
No, I'm going to have to work with him on that some I think. Generally, he did a great job this season. He made some great retrieves, and he did really well but he hasn't figured out the rutters.
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Nice I hope you do and I’m sure he did.

I just know a few guys who had young labs and their dogs took to “ hunting” pretty damn effortlessly and they thought good to go I got a stud. And that’s where any progression stopped, dog isn’t that great and doesn’t really have a clue

You hunt quite a bit obviously so you owe it to yourself and your dog to put some effort into working with him
 
Springer22 said:
Nice I hope you do and I’m sure he did.

I just know a few guys who had young labs and their dogs took to “ hunting” pretty damn effortlessly and they thought good to go I got a stud. And that’s where any progression stopped, dog isn’t that great and doesn’t really have a clue

You hunt quite a bit obviously so you owe it to yourself and your dog to put some effort into working with him
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I'm going to work with him this summer. On some things.
 
Couple of observations- genetics of the pup - $700 pup from a backyard breeding you probably get what you pay for - an adequate dog but not a great one and probably no health guarantee
Had a buddy that went the $500 pup from a backyard & no health guarantee. Ended up with $3000 vet bill to cure a gut problem and a dog that can make 10 yard cattail retrieve but not the 40-50 yard one
2nd- know you limitation on your shot selection
I am a lousy shot so I use the most open choke with the most Bb’s and don’t shoot over 30-35 yards and I still wingtip more than my share of the birds I shoot at but only lost one in six years with this pup - but he has very hood genetics
Another buddy shot a o/u with x full and xx full tubes - hell of a shot- could knock them down in the next county but lost 50%+ of the birds
 
Citori16 said:
Couple of observations- genetics of the pup - $700 pup from a backyard breeding you probably get what you pay for - an adequate dog but not a great one and probably no health guarantee
Had a buddy that went the $500 pup from a backyard & no health guarantee. Ended up with $3000 vet bill to cure a gut problem and a dog that can make 10 yard cattail retrieve but not the 40-50 yard one
2nd- know you limitation on your shot selection
I am a lousy shot so I use the most open choke with the most Bb’s and don’t shoot over 30-35 yards and I still wingtip more than my share of the birds I shoot at but only lost one in six years with this pup - but he has very hood genetics
Another buddy shot a o/u with x full and xx full tubes - hell of a shot- could knock them down in the next county but lost 50%+ of the birds
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I can turn a basset hound into a bird dog in my opinion. I don't think I've ever seen a blue lab that would not retrieve and hunt.
 
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