for many years now i have hunted with labs and only labs here in SD, they do great dont get me wrong, however,i was wondering if any south dakota hunters out there hunt over vizsla's and what you think about them. how do they do in the cold late season hunts and do they learn to hunt wild pheasants....i say this because it can be almost impossible to get wild pheasants to hold some days...especiallly the old birds. anyways i have gotten great responses in the past and figured i would keep on askin ?'s. thanks
v'
- Thread starter boombaby
- Start date
i can only speak for my wirehaired vizsla, who is pretty much a master at handling pheasants...he grew up on them, being a wirehair and having a heavier coat, he handles below zero just fine, thank you very much. i have seen him (multiple times), after relocating on command, run out and hunt back to me and finally pin his running bird, you can't teach that, he just instinctively does it and not all the time either...having said all this, i would say there are not a lot of real hard charging vizslas out there, so your odds of getting a really good one are not real high.....i love my v, but my next dog will be another pudelpointer or a german shorthair....by the way, i live in Texas now (hotter than the hubs of hell in summer) but prefer to put my dogs down in snow and below 20 degree weather if i can get out then.
You got some good advice on the other thread,
I would also like to add http://rockwoodkennels.net/rockwood-vizslas-navhda-hunting-dogs-breeders.html to the list, I am not sure if they are planning any litters soon, but they have what you are looking for.
I am not a SD resident but have been hunting there going on 9 years, all public land, got 3 Vs and they seem to grasp the concept. As far as the weather, the short hair Vs will do OK in the cold as long as they are moving, if the snow is too deep or below 10 deg, then I use neoprene vests to keep them warmer.
Most of the good hunting is in early season and it can get pretty hot, later when the snow and ice hits the birds are hard to approach while in big numbers anyway, and the walking is pretty hard unless wearing snow shoes. So the cold weather ability is not that important.
The Wire Hair Vizslas were developed to be really close working and thorough dogs, to find a good one in the US is a hit an miss even more so than the short hair Vs.
What ever you do please do not get a V from show or agility lines, do your homework and find a good breeder.
Barna
I would also like to add http://rockwoodkennels.net/rockwood-vizslas-navhda-hunting-dogs-breeders.html to the list, I am not sure if they are planning any litters soon, but they have what you are looking for.
I am not a SD resident but have been hunting there going on 9 years, all public land, got 3 Vs and they seem to grasp the concept. As far as the weather, the short hair Vs will do OK in the cold as long as they are moving, if the snow is too deep or below 10 deg, then I use neoprene vests to keep them warmer.
Most of the good hunting is in early season and it can get pretty hot, later when the snow and ice hits the birds are hard to approach while in big numbers anyway, and the walking is pretty hard unless wearing snow shoes. So the cold weather ability is not that important.
The Wire Hair Vizslas were developed to be really close working and thorough dogs, to find a good one in the US is a hit an miss even more so than the short hair Vs.
What ever you do please do not get a V from show or agility lines, do your homework and find a good breeder.
Barna
SDJIM
New member
I have hunted with several vizslas over the years and they did fine on pheasants. Late season birds are wild but it is also true that other birds survive by sitting really really tight, so a good slow working dog will find birds too.
Early or late the birds that are wild wild wild are almost impossible to get and people who run after wild birds will run right over the top of the tight sitting birds, so hunt real slow and let the dog do the work.
Just my two cents.
Early or late the birds that are wild wild wild are almost impossible to get and people who run after wild birds will run right over the top of the tight sitting birds, so hunt real slow and let the dog do the work.
Just my two cents.