What do you do in the off season?

SouthDakotaKid

New member
What does every one do in the off season to keep their dogs in shape as well as themselves?

I'm not much for running(bad flash backs from my past), but take the dogs for walks when I can and do a little bumper training each day when time and weather permit me.

Looking for different ways to keep me and the dogs active. May look into a preserve hunt or 2 this year to get my younger dog out on her own. I do a little trapping and hope to get out and do some coyote hunting as well.
 
What does every one do in the off season to keep their dogs in shape as well as themselves?

I'm not much for running(bad flash backs from my past), but take the dogs for walks when I can and do a little bumper training each day when time and weather permit me.

Looking for different ways to keep me and the dogs active. May look into a preserve hunt or 2 this year to get my younger dog out on her own. I do a little trapping and hope to get out and do some coyote hunting as well.

I'm new to the sport, what you suggest sounds good to me. I will keep an eye out on this thread, I can use all the help I can get.
 
Give hunt tests or maybe field trials ago. They keep you motivated to train! Starting in January until April I run informal field trials and and upland tests. From May till September it's hunt tests or trials. After the MN master. I hunt until January, and start all over! For me 90% of my hunting is about the dog work, not the killing. And 99% of hunt tests enjoyment is about the dog work. By training 4-7 days a week we never have a off week.

Last Saturday I trained for HRC upland tests (dog is tearing it up), Sunday did a quick Perserve hunt followed up by FT type blind work. I will train Tuesday and Wednesday with a Pro trainer, Saturday we are running a Bird Dog Challange at the Horse and Hunt club, and Sunday we are competing in an informal trial at CMNRC. This two week stretch is a bit crazier than normal but not much. If you look their is usually something going on
 
I'll check out a preserve when I can, run the dogs while I walk along and then come spring time I give the dogs a break and keep them out of the fields and woods. Time to let the animals nest. Then it is time to do some habitat work, PF work, shoot some clays and take the dogs for a walk. Once summer gets here the dogs get to run early in the morning when it is not so hot out. Sometimes I take them to a creek where they can cool off. By early August the quail in the johnny house are ready to be worked and the dogs start getting some bird contacts. I'll do a preserve hunt in September if it works out, October starts the youth season and then the regular season.
 
Sigh deeply while waiting for the next season. Encourage myself by recalling that spring turkey comes in April. Plan a summer fishing trip.
 
Yesterday i took my dog rabbit hunting. Not as fun as pheasant hunting but the dog and I got a good workout. Some people might not want to use a upland dog for that but mine sure caught on and didnt seem to care. Now if I could just be a better shot with my sr22 pistol:D During the spring and summer I just work on retreiving with bumpers at the lake. I think it would be fun to get involved in dock jumping competitions during the summer. Its fun watching some of those dogs launch. Its crazy how far they can go.
 
I try to run my dogs at least 3-4 days a week in off season...I walk with them for at least an hour. then I'm also usually doing some training....multiple walking trips up and down hills planting birds then going back for birds or setting up release traps or doing duck drags ...I'm convinced if I didn't do all this dog stuff I'd probably weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 500lbs....lol
I like to bass fish in my kayak too
 
I 'm a board member for are local Quail Forever chapter. It keeps me very busy.

Habitat project, water projects, It never ends. It is very fun work, and well worth the effort. It makes a difference not only to Quail but all wildlife.:)
 
Will be spending this spring preparing for NAVHDA UT, then on to some retriever work. If he needs exercise I take him to my dads and let him wear his britts out, also likes to play with my bros lab.
 
I take mine swimming. We have a nice stream that is a 10 minute walk from the house and we get down there every other day. Swimming is great for them.
 
I hunt ruffed grouse as well as pheasant so I am fortunate that the ruffed grouse season runs mid September until the end of January. After the hunting season closes down I still do quite a bit of scouting and working spring Woodcock until the 'quiet' period (when the state says you can't be in the public woods) shut things down around tax day. After that I still get together with my dog training group once a week to run flyer pigeons and planted quail. Once the summer heat forces most of that to stop I start swimming my dogs a few nights a week in the Mississippi River. Throwing long retrieves in the heavy current is a great work out for them. After that hunting season starts back up and I get back after it.

I also occasionally 'road' my dogs using a pulling harness made for ski-journing. I let the dogs pull me down the street on my skateboard at 25 mph. I get all sorts of neighbors peaking out their windows hoping to see someone who should probably know better hit the pavement. So far they have been disappointed. I also use the pulling harness to have the dogs pull my 6 year old on his sled in the winter.
 
I put the bike in the back of the truck and go to a secluded spot where I ride and dog runs. Early mornings before it heats up in summer. I get to stretch out a little and dog stays in great shape. I go for about half an hour and ride 3-4 miles and dog runs probably 5-6.

Also take him swimming sometimes. Dog has never had any trepidation for water ever. I think sort of strange for a pointer but he literally dives in head first, goes under, pops up ad swims like a fish.

As for me the rest of the time is golf season!
 
My wife and I bought some land about a year ago. I plan to do a lot of habitat work to see if I can get several more coveys of quail going. We have turkey there to hunt in the spring, which is a lot of fun, but it doesn't take many hunts to fill both tags.

Generally run the dogs a couple days a week. Need to get some more pigeons, something got into my loft and cleaned me out. I like to do a little training during the off season, and the dogs love it too.

Might do a few AF trials. Indy has had some success.

When it gets supper hot, we go down to the river and let the dogs run there.

But I will play a bunch of golf, and walking the hilly course I play helps keep the fat down to some extent.
 
I've been taking the dogs out on Summer mornings and letting them pull me on my bicycle. I started a thread about it a couple years ago called "Summer Conditioning" (I think that's what it was called) if you want to see how I did it.

I've been wishing I could run both of them at the same time, but have only tried it once on the bike and it was a little nuts. So I think I will be exploring my options for a more stable trike or 4-wheel bike to run them both at the same time.

They like to swim too, and I generally swim them before and after their runs.

Other than that I'll cut and split next year's firewood, work on home projects, fiddle around on my land, fish, golf, daydream...:D I've been brainstorming for a treehouse/hunting blind at the farm, so I will probably put a big chunk of free time into that. I would like to build a big shed at home too, at least 10'X24',,, maybe 10'X30'. :thumbsup:
 
I would like to build a big shed at home too, at least 10'X24',,, maybe 10'X30'.

My first thought upon reading this was recalling an old indian saying (perhaps Ojibwe):

" 'Stuff' accumulates to over-fill the space available. And not even good stuff."


:D:D:D
 
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