Gun Dog Forum

BellaDad

Oh, I don't doubt that and am well aware of the pay to play game that is Texas hunting. I would like to find something in a lease in the coming years but for now I'm just looking for a good old buy the birds, plant them in a field and let the dog think she's hunting type of day that doesn't cost $20...

BellaDad

I'm recently transplanted from the midwest to Texas. I went from being able to duck/quail hunt every weekend to not knowing a thing about the area. That being said I haven't had my 4yo gsp out this season at all. We run a lot of fields for exercise but nothing relating to our previous few seasons of...

BellaDad

I just read in this month's Missouri Conservationist that the MDC put an emergency closure on the Rough Grouse season for this year due to low population numbers. Apparently they're going to attempt some more reintroductions to areas with suitable habitats.

BellaDad

I wish I would have gotten an O/U for my wedding. Instead I got things like plates and silverware and beadspreads.....

BellaDad

I took my dog out to a game farm in late March this year and didn't realize that the woodcock were coming back through. I flushed a quail that flew low so I didn't shoot, when we went to chase it down my dog went on point. I went in to flush it and swung on the bird to have the guy I was hunting wit...

BellaDad

My girl is pretty small. She's coming up on 2 years now. She's more the size of a brittany than a GSP in my opinion. She ranges from 39-42 depending on activity level.

BellaDad

Great pictures and a great message to go along with the slideshow. Thanks for sharing.

BellaDad

I think your main competition will be with turkey hunters. The season opens up today and public land will be chock full of them for the next two weeks.

BellaDad

I think that it largely depends on where you live. A GSP or weim probably woulnd't be able to duck hunt well in North Dakota in the late season but would do well in Texas or Louisiana. I live in Missouri and our winters get cold late and my girl GSP doesn't tolerate ice water well. A weim tends to b...

BellaDad

My girl does the same thing, 18 month old gsp. She used to be really bad, but has slowly figured it out that I don't shoot them and just keep walking once I figure out there's not a bird there. I make her hold her points a little longer, 1-2 min (which she won't do on field mice, only about 30 sec-1...

BellaDad

I've found that if your dog knows the meaning of give or drop then it isn't an issue. I can play tug of war with my dog for 10 minutes, but as soon as I say give the game is over. She retreives birds without a problem.

BellaDad

I have more land than I can hunt in central Nebraska. There are Sharptails, Prairie Chickens, quail, pheasants, huns (not many). I think wild bird hunting is the greatest test of a bird dog. I was just thinking of a way to test dogs in places that don't have good wild bird populations, and be able ...

BellaDad

Snips did.

snips wrote:The repetition should make him more confident...Be sure and give good praise for doing it. And do not overdo it, don't know how long your sessions are but too long a session can sure drive them down.

BellaDad

I started hunting, wanted better hunting in order to find more birds so I got a dog. Now I like watching the dog more than shooting the birds. But you're right, I don't care near as much about style and class as someone who is judged on it. I think my dog can have a lot of style but I don't expect i...

BellaDad

Really cool pictures, you are talented. I always wondered when I saw pictures like that. Is that private land or public land? I see mountains and hills and valleys but no real development on it. Does someone own that property or is it the state? You don't see anything like that in Missouri, you can'...

BellaDad

What is a reasonable amount of time for a dog to hunt before slowing down on basic upland ground (cut fields, CRP, stuff that you'd find in Missouri or Kansas)? I'd like to understand what I could reasonable expect to see as a benefit from doing something along these lines.

BellaDad

Two questions really - 1 - I understand roading to be beneficial to builiding muscle in your dogs as well as increasing endurance. To what degree is this done outside of HT circles? Do many hunters do anything along these lines? I would like to increase my dog's endurance for next year so that she d...

BellaDad

My grandpa saw plenty of wild turkey, just none in the woods. I think the tax is actualy 1/8th of 1%, but the point is that there are a LOT of things to spend that money on besides quail. They have to keep nature lovers, bird watchers, fishermen, deer hunters, turkey hunters, duck hunters, and on an...

BellaDad

I bought a Ruger .357 a bit back and have put quite a few rounds through it, it's a nice gun. The problem is that the iron sights on it aren't even close to sighted in. I don't have a clue where to even start for sighting in a pistol, any tips? Anyway I can use my rifle boresight?

BellaDad

Great picture of your Gator. You should post that up on the general forum with all of the style photos.

BellaDad

I don't see any reason you couldn't start to get the pup comfortable with water though. Maybe not full fledged swimming until it warms up, but walking over and through creeks, puddles, etc. Walking into the shallow end of a lake would work as well.

BellaDad

I put a 30' check cord on my pup when I first got her and took her out to big open fields. I let her run and didn't say a word, I didn't want a dog that had to look to me for directions, stayed too close, etc. They range out sometimes but when they're young you can always catch up to them and grab t...

BellaDad

I'm not sure the bag limit has much to do with it. I've been out of public land easily a dozen times this year and the closest that I've come to a bag limit was 6, once. Generally it's 2-3, but zero has been more common than anything. I hunt the eastern side of the state so maybe that has to do with...

BellaDad

Two stories - 1 - Brought my little brother quail hunting with me, he carried the gun I carried the camera. We walked about 3-4 hours, not a single bird. Went to another place, walked about a half hour and the dog locked up solid. He was piddlin' around not paying attention. I told him, hey we've go...

BellaDad

There are a lot of things that you can say need improvement from the MDC, I for one would like to see them better manage their wetland properties. Hunting moist soil just doesn't cut it, they need more crops. Too many refuges on state public land when you take into account federal refuges, etc. We e...

BellaDad

It's ironic that you're wearing a shirt that says Coyotes as well....

BellaDad

I have an 18 month old GSP female. This was her first bird season and man was I impressed. All of our training last year was to work on her nose and finding birds. No real manners, just bringing out the natural ability. We got out in the field about 15-20 times, sometimes more than once in a day. Bi...

BellaDad

For those of us that bird season is officially over, or at least won't be able to get out again, it's time to reflect on the past season. What was good and what was bad? What will you be working on in the near future and before next season?

BellaDad

I thought about going out tomorrow morning but they're calling for single digit temps with negative digit wind chills and 10-15mph winds on top of the 3+ inches of snow covering everything. I could make it, but have a dog that would hunt until she keeled over before she quit. For her sake it's prese...

BellaDad

I agree with Evan. I bought the video and watched it. It has great demonstrations and is very easy to follow but it really does help having a background knowledge of what you're doing that really can't be expressed well in video. I say the video is most important if you had to choose, but at a minim...

BellaDad

FF at 12 weeks? I don't think that retreiver guys even start that young.

BellaDad

You may be taking too big of a step for him. Does he pick up from the floor/table? How about taking a step and then picking up? Two steps, five steps? If he won't do 10 feet, take a step back to what he will do and then take a smaller step forward. Reinforce what he knows and then progress.

BellaDad

I would be concerned if a 4.5 month old dog HAD any steadiness around birds. You want him going as hard and fast as he can when their is a bird around. The gun thing, well some will tell you to do it differently but it sounds like you've adjusted to your situation and made the best of it. I would ha...

BellaDad

I know Nodaway Valley and Bob Brown both pretty much gave up on duck season after reaching 3-4" ice on the whole property. They stopped doing draws and posting harvest results early December. I got out Friday and Saturday, close to St. Louis. In total we moved 2 coveys in about 5 hours. Not great, b...

BellaDad

Is she doing it to the lousy park pigeons while you're at the lousy park? If so she may be sight pointing rather than scent pointing. Not sure she's learning much of anything there. The wild birds will teach her a thing or two if she likes to creep, plus if its next week you wouldn't be able to fix ...

BellaDad

Drove 2+ hours to Davisdale in Booneville on Sunday but only hunted an hour before we left because I was sick. I'll give it another shot next Friday and Saturday and then hang my boots up for the season.

BellaDad

From what I've watched and read it is both. The biggest thing that you're teaching is handling pressure, and then proper bird handling manners. Each step involves a lot of praise. Initially it is tough on the dog as they learn to handle the pressure that you're giving. At that point you are essentia...

BellaDad

12 quail for tomorrow seems like a lot if it is as early in your dog's training regimine as it sounds. You may want to break it up into at least 2-3 days worth of birds. That many birds could make the dog develop bad habits, get bored, etc. for one day.

BellaDad

Definitely not a stupid idea, one of the guys that I duckhunt with still does that with his young lab. Before you ever go out to the field though I would make sure to have worked on your dog staying in/on a spot for a reasonable amount of time. That way the dog isn't learning while hunting as much. ...

BellaDad

How old is your dog? I assume it's not FF, but teaching him hold could help things. That way he holds the ball in his mouth until you tell him to drop it. My dog used to do that and once I taught her hold it has been a lot better, she still walks up with the ball in her mouth but if she drops it I i...

BellaDad

There you go now....let the secret out of the bag for all to hear. The key now is to deny deny deny....and play dumb.

BellaDad

Maybe I wasn't completely clear. The field was basically a square with the wind coming from 90 degrees to the square (straight up/down two of the fence rows and 100% crosswind to the other two). We hunted one of the rows slightly downwind with a complete crosswind to the row, then walked straight in...

BellaDad

Nope, I avoided Lamine as I wanted to get a little further north and haven't had much luck in any of the areas right off of I-70. We intended to make it to Paho, but went west to Union Ridge instead. Also lots of walking on some large hills for the birds produced. Wasn't a huge fan of the terrain/co...

BellaDad

I just got back from a 5 day hunt with my almost 1.5yr GSP. She was nails for her first real time on wild birds (tough going in MO, been trying just haven't found any). Anyway, she ended up pointing/holding both coveys and singles well when we came at them from downwind or were working crosswind. No...

BellaDad

Went as far west as about a half hour or so from the MO/KS border and far enough north that we picked up mainly Iowa radio stations, but not sure on the distance. The weather was terrible 6-10 inches of snow in spots, which was better than the 1-1.5 feet they were calling for.

BellaDad

I consider Northern Missouri anything above highway 36, but that's just my opinion. I'd say you're eastern MO until you get up to about St. Joe or so.

BellaDad

Time for the post-hunt update: We ended up meeting up with a couple of college buddies so duck hunted 3 mornings with pretty good results being in front of that front that just came through and all. This allowed us to quail hunt each afternoon the first three days, and then all day the second two. W...

BellaDad

Any in state suggestions?

BellaDad

I've been to most of the CAs around St. Louis and within about 100 miles and the same story, hot and crops still out. It's been dry since the week of deer season and I think a lot of farmers started to harvest their crops last week so I'm hoping not to run into that. Duck hunting has been a bore as ...

BellaDad

Not 100% sure as right now it's a rough outline, depends if we drive up to Columbia Friday night or if we leave Saturday morning. Could be morning, could be afternoon.

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