New Michigan Bird Hunter

[ecald82]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Eric, I am 32, married, one child and my first gun dog. I should also mention I've NEVER hunter birds and my experience as a hunter overall is limited to a couple unsuccessful deer seasons. I am a fisherman at heart, taught by my grandfather who has been gone for a long while. I work in IT, as an IT manager for a small company and lately when I'm not working I'm working on my pup. I bought a Pudelpointer as my first dog after reading a ton of literature on the breed and I must say I have been thoroughly impressed up to this point. He has been to about 5-6 week day events at the NAVHDA training grounds north of me since I got him and he loves every minute of it. Teddy is 20 weeks this week and working on very basic level hunting commands while also learning to play with our 1 year old and listen to my wife !

I look forward to learning from everyone here and hope I see some of you out there!

- Eric

[OhioVizsla]

Eric,
Welcome.
You live in a great state for upland hunting with over 3 million acres of public land available. I've been hunting Michigan for the past 20 years, driving up from Ohio along with half of our state's bird hunters. You'll see more Ohio plates than Michigan plates in the fall. If you get to the point that you need to extend your season year-round you can compete with your dog in NSTRA or other dog competitions. A good source for Michigan hunting info & dog training is in this forum:
https://www.michigan-sportsman.com/foru ... aining.33/

[Featherfinder]

Eric, welcome and congrats on your Pudelpointer! This forum will provide you with a WIDE variety of resources. ...enjoy!
Haven't hunted MI for a long time. Might be time to get back up there.

[Makintrax73]

I've had good luck finding grouse and learning good bird habitat by using the WI DNR grouse habitat areas. MI has a similar program called GEMS. I would certainly try a few of those if I lived in MI. Pheasant and quail hunting in the eastern Midwest generally sucks unless you have access to good private land, but the upper Midwest has some really good public land grouse and woodcock hunting. It can be extremely challenging hunting though so with a new hunter and a new dog you probably ought to throw in some trips to a preserve and chase released birds until you cut your teeth. And the trap range - I could use a couple trips there myself. Good luck with the pup, and keep it fun.