PC

Went out this morning for about a 5 mile walk in the smoky hills. No prairie chickens encountered, only one small 7 bird quail covey right next to a marijuana patch. It was nice to get the dog out and get a few birds in his nose. I should have remembered the camera dangit! I'm enjoying the pictures setternut! You have quite the team!
 
nrhpilot said:
Went out this morning for about a 5 mile walk in the smoky hills. No prairie chickens encountered, only one small 7 bird quail covey right next to a marijuana patch. It was nice to get the dog out and get a few birds in his nose. I should have remembered the camera dangit! I'm enjoying the pictures setternut! You have quite the team!
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It was just nice to get out with the dogs and let them go at it. I ran into a small covey today also. Ace pointed it as I got a beep on the Garmin for him. He was down in the draw and I couldn't see him, but along came Indy, and the next thing I see is quail flying out of the draw. Don't know who screwed up, but my guess is Indy was not paying attension :rolleyes:

I have a little Panasonic Lumix point and shoot with a 12X zoom. Really like to take the camera along.
 
ElectricShorthairs said:
If anyone shoots a PC post a pic for some of us to see. Can't wait to head up there in November!
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These are from the last couple of years, pointed by Ace. The amount of walking per bird pointed and shot is not so good :D

By November it is about impossible to get them pointed with a dog. Once they are in big flocks you can't get very close to them.
But people do pass shoot them in the regular season.

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Thats what chickens do!!! You need long legs and a good pair of lungs to get up and in front of the dogs in a hurry!!!! They always flush the same for me, way out in front of the dogs on point!!! I think I will catch a dumb one at some point!!! Plus, my dogs are closer to me then yours, my legs are long, but the lungs are not there!!! Seriously , it is a sprint sometimes only to have them blow so far from the dogs!!!!:coolpics::coolpics::thumbsup:
 
BleuBijou said:
Thats what chickens do!!! You need long legs and a good pair of lungs to get up and in front of the dogs in a hurry!!!! They always flush the same for me, way out in front of the dogs on point!!! I think I will catch a dumb one at some point!!! Plus, my dogs are closer to me then yours, my legs are long, but the lungs are not there!!! Seriously , it is a sprint sometimes only to have them blow so far from the dogs!!!!:coolpics::coolpics::thumbsup:
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Maybe I have been lucky, but I have been able to get several pointed and shot with Skt / Impc for chokes. I would have needed a turkey choke today :eek:
 
Cool pics! I want to get one mounted in full strut. We couldn't believe we found that many in one field, of course we didn't know what they were either. We might could've shot one off of a hail mary shot, but we thought they were hens. And it was late January when all this happened.
 
Kansas PC

Went out yesterday too. Had a nice long walk that produced nothing. Then had a short walk that produced two groups of birds. Three of us brought back 3 birds. All and all a great little morning and home by noon. Wish I had more dog action, but the weather got warm by the time we got into birds and the dogs didn't fair as well in the heat.

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This was an adult hen (left) and two chicks. One chick was a female the other I couldn't tell because the tail was removed during the retrieval process. Males have completely black outer retrices (tail feathers), while females have lighter colored stripes on the outer retrices. I'll try to post a contrast pic in the future.

I've found a few things over the years that help getting close to chickens/sharptails etc.

1) Dogs that learn to stay WAY OFF the birds. Dogs that are used to pheasants and quail have to learn to handle chickens differently.
2) Hilly country is easier to get close to chickens in than big flat open country. The hills hide you longer.
3) Calm warm sunny days they tend to hold tighter, but it is harder for the dog to get wind of them. Colder windier days they tend to be more jumpy.
4)short thick grass below the knee is what they hold best in.
5)brood groups hold much much tighter than adult groups. Right now (September through early October) males are generally grouped with males (fall lekking behavior is starting to occur) and unsuccessful females with other unsuccessful females. Brood females will group together with other chicks, these groups are the tightest holding birds.

Just some thoughts that have worked well for me. One of my favorite times of year...early prairie grouse season :)

Kansas
 
Keep up the good work, fellas. Make sure and wise 'em all up before I get a chance to go.:(

My truck is headed BACK into the shop again in the morning.:mad: Maybe 4th time's a charm??? I can only hope that whatever they try this time will fix it.

The only way I will get a shot at PCs is if I ride my bike all the way there... :laugh:

Oh well, I was only going PC hunting for the scenery and exercise anyway. :D
 
Kansas, that was some good information on PC. Think you may be right on holding better on warmer day. I know you are right about the hills being a help.

It took my two a couple birds to realize they had to stay way off them.
What breed of dog(s) are you running?







Rut, I will see if I can do better on the next pics of the Garmin screen.:D
 
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Good thread guys, enjoying all the pics. I went out when I was just a little kid in SEK with dad as he was going to pass shoot some birds going to the feed fields. If I remember right, we saw a couple, but none within range.

Was pheasant hunting around Concordia 20 years ago, walking some milo stubble, our large group was shooting some birds. One bird got up, 'hen hen hen' was the yell everybody was hollering, then dad raised up and shot it. Everybody gave him crap for shooting a hen, until he pointed out the squared off tail. Only PC I've ever seen up close and personal.

About 6 years ago, was going fishing by Twin Bridges (just east of Miami, Oklahoma) with a coworker. Half asleep in the passenger seat, see a hen pheasant in the fenceline as we're driving by at 60 mph. Woke me up in a hurry because we don't have pheasants down here, turn around and got a better look, it was a PC. He hadn't seen one since he was a kid 50 years ago.

That same year was behind the Harley shop in Joplin, MO just driving around, looking at the river, the bluffs, the trees. Came around a bend and there is a PC standing in the road ditch. I stopped the truck and watched it for several minutes until a car came by and it flushed, but it sure was a PC. No reason in the world for it to be where it was, a lot of trees around, just outside of town, a lot of traffic there.
 
Got out again

Chase of the chicken continues...

I have the short tailed short-haired variety of bird dog. While the proper name includes "German" the breed (or the variety within the breed I prefer) has been Americanized. I like the bigger running shorthairs, you know the ones that likely have a good bit of pointer blood in there. Big running dogs probably hurt me a little on pheasants, but pays dividends on prairie chicken and quail.

Here they are working pheasants today
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But that's not what we are after. Good dog work is priceless on whatever spp. though.

Took a break to get a drink
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Maybe one of the best benefits to guzzlers is to water up dogs...don't think they do much for upland game, but I could be wrong.

Finally had some great chicken work with the dogs...a nice strong wind can help keep the dogs off the birds
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End result, a couple of nice lessers in the bag...male and female
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I LOVE chicken hunting!
 
Kansas, another bunch of good pictures. Think you are correct about the range of the dog helping on Quail and PC, and it may hurt you some of the time on pheasants, but other times it helps.

The cover you were in looks great for PC, and a dog that can cover some ground :thumbsup:
 
Kansas and Setternut- aside from pheasant. That longer range should help on every other game bird, except for grouse and woodcock. But I don't like too much range.
 
ElectricShorthairs said:
Kansas and Setternut- aside from pheasant. That longer range should help on every other game bird, except for grouse and woodcock. But I don't like too much range.
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I have gotten to where the dog work is getting more important to me than the total number of birds that I shoot. Sure I like to shoot some, but I want them to be based on solid birds work from the dog.

So I basically don't shoot a bird that is not pointed and is not flushed by me. The dog needs to find and point the birds, and let me walk in and shoot it.

Therefore if you are only shooting pointed birds the dogs range being well out there is easier to like.

But range in a good dog will change based on the cover and bird you are hunting. For the most part an experience dog is going to push out in more open cover, and tend to pull in some in heavy cover. My dogs tend to check in visually with me pretty often, so in heavy cover they tend to stay closer.

My dog are not super big runners, but bigger than many people are used to hunting with.

The wider range is a big help in bigger areas where birds tend to be more spread out. If you are hunting pheasants in a slough, big running dog is not a help. But if you are in a section of grass, it great to have a dog that is working way out there so you don't have to walk the entire thing.

But when all is said and done, you need a dog that fits the birds, cover and hunting style you enjoy.
 
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