I'm new to the forum. I've been wanting to join for a while but just hadn't. Anyway. I have been hunting birds(quail) all my life and never hunted pheasant with a pointing dog. During my travels duck hunting I would occasionally hunt them with a lab and she did pretty good. I'm thinking of going somewhere later this year to strictly hunt pheasant with the bird dogs. What should I expect from dogs that have never even seen a pheasant. Can they adjust to the birds if they will hold. Any info or opinions would be much appreciated.
pointing dog hunting pheasant
- Thread starter mccuha
- Start date
dogs got to learn, mine cut his teeth on wild pheasants and a few quail....they learn how to handle running birds on their own.
ok, thanks, a couple other questions. I know all dogs are different but as a general rule how long would it take a dog to figure it out. half a week or so. I'm hoping coming out later in the year the birds might hold better as I've read some where. Also hunting cattails and thicker cover is this a waste with pointing dogs. All this is new to me.
Great question and it really is dog dependent. I have had both pointers and flusher's in my life and what I have found is if the dog can find a quail, it will find a pheasant and vice versa. The problem with wild pheasant is you just can't count on them to hold. They seem to hold better with a wind blowing vs. a flat calm day but you really can't count on that either in my experience.
I just picked up the pointer in the picture (Pepper) 2 months ago. I really had no idea of her capabilities except she would point a pigeon on a string and was not gun shy. I bought some birds and set them out 3 times prior to our pheasant opener here in Colorado. Pepper worked flawlessly on these training birds, holding her point, steady to wing and shot and made great retrieves. So she worked about 20 birds without a problem, pen raised birds.
Saturday morning of the opener came and we hit a good spot off of 2 corn circles with thick, heavy cover (over your head in places).
Pepper went right to work and went on a solid point about 50 yards into the field. I got up on her and steadied her with a whoa and walked around her to flush the bird, after stomping around for 30 seconds about 25 feet in front of her, I walked back and tapped her on the head to move her off.
Now, every bird she had pointed thus far for me (the pen raised birds), she stopped 20-25 feet from the bird and pointed solid. so when I didn't flush a bird this time, I knew we had a runner.
She moved out all "birdy", tracking that bird for another 25-50 yards and came on point again, I moved in a little quicker this time and stomped around about 25 feet in front of her again. No bird. So I went back to her and tapped her head again and off we went. Not to bore you but about 3 more times of this and she finally pinned the bird down....I walked up, steadied her, took two steps and the bird flushed 20 feet in front of me. I shot the bird, Pepper made a great retrieve and I sighed with relief......my dog can hunt!
This scenario went on several more times that morning until she figured out the game, if the bird won't hold, keep working it until it will. This probably isn't great for a trial dog but it is for hunting wild birds! She got to the point that if the bird moved before I got to her, she would hold her point until I got 5 feet off her side and she would move off on her own....slowly.... this will probably make some dog trainers cringe. But if the bird held when I got to her and she was still on point, I knew she had a bird pinned.
She has a great nose and didn't bump a bird all week-end so I was pleased as punch with her!
I say hunt the pointer and have fun, that's why we do this and good luck to you!
Old Boots
:cheers:
SetterNut
New member
I have hunted pheasants with setters for years. I prefer to hunt pheasants with pointing dogs in tall grass or tall wheat stubble. In cat tails the dog goes on point and you have to wade in there to flush the bird. Cat tails are best hunted with flushing dogs IMO.
Pheasants can be a challenge for a pointing dog. But one that stands its birds well and relocate will learn quickly (a day or two) how to handle them and the running. But even if the dog does everything right, some pheasants will still flush wild. But that is part of the fun.
Pheasants can be a challenge for a pointing dog. But one that stands its birds well and relocate will learn quickly (a day or two) how to handle them and the running. But even if the dog does everything right, some pheasants will still flush wild. But that is part of the fun.
thanks for the info. this was what I was looking for. I am planning on taking my lab as well and when I run into the cattail stuff and very thick I'm going to leave the pointing dog in truck and use the lab and vice versa with the more suitable cover for pointing dogs. What's your thought about shooting a pheasant that gets up that the bird dog doesn't even smell. I'm not talking about a bird the dog bumps or one it's working. All of this info is great. using it all to try and prepare the dog for success.
Dakotazeb
Well-known member
I agree with what you say about pointers being better in tall grass (CRP), etc. They generally are not the best cattail dogs. At least me Brittany isn't.
As far as how long it takes a dog to figure out pheasants I think it takes a dog much longer than a day or two. More like a season or two or more. It takes a lot of bird exposure. It's not that they don't have any idea at age 1 or 2 but when they start getting around 4-5 you can just see that they are really on top of their game. If your dog can really figured it all out in a few days you have one hell of a dog!! What you will see over the course of a week out here is the improvement the dog makes every day. No substitute for experience in the field on wild birds.
Pointer in cattails
Interesting that most seem to discount the use of pointers in cattails or heavy cover. We have some ground that has a cattail-choked creek bed winding through it. We've taken 67 roosters out of that twenty acres of creek thus far this year, and the vast majority of them have been pointed by my all-age bred EP's. I've indeed gotten my toes wet a time or two, but that's hunting.
The OP's quail dog will learn to handle pheasants over a few hunts. It will have to learn to relocate, and to hunt close. Mine range out to 500 yards or so on prairie grouse hunts, but for the most part they're within 30-40 yards when we hunt that creek bed. Good dogs will learn to adjust to the game and the conditions.
Don't hesitate to bring your pointer along on a pheasant hunt.....
Interesting that most seem to discount the use of pointers in cattails or heavy cover. We have some ground that has a cattail-choked creek bed winding through it. We've taken 67 roosters out of that twenty acres of creek thus far this year, and the vast majority of them have been pointed by my all-age bred EP's. I've indeed gotten my toes wet a time or two, but that's hunting.
The OP's quail dog will learn to handle pheasants over a few hunts. It will have to learn to relocate, and to hunt close. Mine range out to 500 yards or so on prairie grouse hunts, but for the most part they're within 30-40 yards when we hunt that creek bed. Good dogs will learn to adjust to the game and the conditions.
Don't hesitate to bring your pointer along on a pheasant hunt.....
KSBrittman
Active member
As long as dog is associated with gun fire and knows that means he should be ready to hunt dead , I say shoot the bird !!!
My friend had a lab he would hold pretty close , but when my Brits beeper collar went off ( Hawk Scream ) she would get all existed . He pretty much had her flushing on command once my Brits pointed . Not a bad deal have a short dog and a long dog in my opinion .
agree, it really takes a couple seasons and some success for the dog.
thanks again for the info. I'm planning on coming out late season and hope for some colder weather. From what I've seen from past trips the phez seem to hold a little tighter when it's cold and as well hoping the birds have settled back down once the hunting pressure is a little less. Atleast that's I have observed.