Anyone here hunt more than one dog at a time

[stevoman]

Well folks. i work a pair of spaniels and i run them together. one is 3 and the other is about 18 months. i sometimes find that the yonger dog follows the older one a lot rather than hunting independently. im on a weeks holidays for the first week in Novemember for the start of the upland bird season here and i will be hunting them seperately for the first week, probobly one in the morning and one in the afternoon. im just interested to know if any of you guys hunt your dogs in pairs of do you hunt over just one dog.

The reason why i keep more than one, is so i can give one dog a break when the other may be too tired to hunt for say more than two days etc, kennell company and also i train them as a hobby so will prob be parting with the younger one around xmas and buying another one or two younger dogs in the new year to train for next year.

Looking forward to hearing your views.....

[jimssetters]

I hunt 2 English Setters at the same time. They hunt seperate and cover alot of ground. This year i also have a pup and will be hunting her open day by herself. Really want to concentrate on getting her in as many birds as i can. Good luck and have a great year.

[3Britts]

I routinely hunt two Brittanys at the same time. They have different running styles and so each covers ground that the other might miss. It also allows me to cover a lot of ground.

[bumper52]

I hunt a pair of labs for pheasants...but you are correct...you should hunt your younger dog alone to enhance its independence.

[stevoman]

This tike of year time is the problem isnt it! The mornig and evenings have closed in only leaving me with an hour or so on a sunday to get the dogs ran out on pheasents ( i dont want to over do missing too much time at home as the season begins in a few weeks and i will be gone for a few hours on each saturday and sunday, leaving my girlfriend and kids at hiome on what should be my days off)!

I might concentrate on the young bitch for the next few weeks and giver her the time o hunt and familiarise herself with game. it wil pay dividends in the future i guess.

[CowboyBirdDogs]

I routinely hunt two Brittanys at the same time. They have different running styles and so each covers ground that the other might miss. It also allows me to cover a lot of ground.

I have 2 shorthairs and this is my situation as well. However, when my male was younger he was very dependent at all, my older female was kind of a security blanket for him at all times. I took him out to run in a field by himself a lot before I took him hunting once I noticed this to build independence. Then I hunted them separately for the first few times. I'm the type of guy that believes a young dog can learn a lot from hunting with an older dog. However, the younger dog can learn good and bad habits. Your younger dog could possibly be following the older one around because it's unsure what it should be doing. That was my issue at least. Running them separately will help, and allow the younger dog to figure some things out on it's own and kind of build it's own style of hunting. Best way for a young dog to learn sometimes is to just throw them in the fire!

[ohmymy111]

I have Epagneul Bretons, French Brittanys. Except in the grouse woods I always have 2 dogs on the ground. I routinely hunt an experienced dog with a young dog. The experienced dog teaches the younger dog alot of things. Where the best cover is to find birds, how to handle birds, in addition gives the young dog confidence to stretch out their distance, Sure the young dog makes mistakes , but it doesn't and shouldn't affect the older dog.

Case in point, Chloe on her 1st hunt on wild birds, hunted with Vern and an American Brittany, Bailey. Bailey went on point on a rooster, Chloe came in and stole the point, but she didn't bust the bird. We flushed it and shot it. 5 minutes later Vern went on point, Chloe again came in and stole the point, and again didn't bust it, and we shot it. The older dogs, in essence showed her where some birds were, and what she was suppose to do. In addition after those 2 sequences, she backed every point after that, and has been a great backer ever since. Chloe was 5 1/2 months old at the time.

[ezzy333]

Practically always hunt 2 or 3 at time depending on cover, size of the area, and if I have another handler along.

Ezzy

[Grange]

I hunt my lab and english setter together. My lab is a close working dog and my setter likes to range . At first I said I was going to hunt one dog at a time, but I couldn't bear the look on dog's face that was left in the vehicle. It turned out that the two work well together and my only down side is what you and other's have said the dogs get tired together. With grouse hunting it usually insn't a problem. I can hunt for several days in a row and while the dogs are tired they still hunt well. Pheasant hunting is different. After 3 days I have to give my lab a half day break because she's so beat up from the grass and cattails. My setter is more light footed and agile so she can hunt and addtional day before she needs a break.

[gotpointers]

I will run more than 1 until i see a foot race. Also i prefer to see a sign of fadeing. Then i will swap out dogs. Depends on type of cover and amont of birds. Could be 2 hours in the sparse hot NM desert. Could be all day in heavy cover.

[DonF]

I can understand hunting more than one pointing dog at a time, I used to hunt three at a time. I can also understand hunting a flusher and a pointing dog together, keep track of the pointer and pay attention the the flusher. Not sure what I would do with a pointer on point and coming in to shoot with a flusher though! Anyway, when I had Springers, it behoved me to keep an eye on them. Never sure right away when a bird might flush. How do you keep attention focused on two flusher's at the same time?

[Grange]

Not sure what I would do with a pointer on point and coming in to shoot with a flusher though!

That's easy. When my setter's bell stops or if I see her go on point I call my lab in to the heel position. I then command her to sit a safe distance away while I continue on to work the bird. If my setter finds a bird within my lab's natural range I can either command my lab to sit or she will back my setter. Heck this morning I was taking my dogs for a walk when my setter went on point at the edge a cut field. My lab, who was much closer to me, saw the setter and backed the point. I just walked past my lab and worked the rooster. Both dogs were steady to flush and I wished I had my blank pistol make a good mini training situation.

[stevoman]

How do you keep attention focused on two flusher's at the same time?

Good question. this can be a nightmare at times. The only answer i have is to be quick with the gun and know how to read the dog when they are on a bird. It is hard though and frustrating at times!

They older bitch i have i would class as a nose dog more than a heavy hitter in cover. she's always reluctant to beat a ditch when there is nothing in it, but thats how dogs can pass a woodcock etc, but in fairness if there is a bird around she will be straight in after it. She will wind birds though which is nice to see a springer do.

The younger bitch was a demon in cover i just couldnt keep her out of it, but by watching the older dogs reluctintness shes not going in as often as she should. Im raging over this and its not the dogs fault but mine for letting her run with the older one as much.

[jimbo&rooster]

. Not sure what I would do with a pointer on point and coming in to shoot with a flusher though! Anyway, when I had Springers, it behoved me to keep an eye on them.

How do you keep attention focused on two flusher's at the same time?

i hunt my GSP and my lab together quite a bit. my lab knows that here means here and heel means heel, She also knows that if my GSP stops and goes on point it is not in her best interest to bust his birds. it took me a while to get the two of them to work together.

As far as hunting two flushers together some of my most exciting and frustrating hunts have been over my lab and my buddies lab, now that is 2-3 people running 2 dogs but we have gotten into big coveys of quail in 10acre irrigation corners that were standing Milo, and had quail buzzing around like misquitos. I have also seen that pair of dogs on a game preserve put up and retrieve 18 pheasants in a 10acre field in under 45mins.

to the OP I dont like to let a young dog hunt very often with an older dog in its first season. it has been my experience that this is a recipe for horse racing and a me too dog.

Jim

[cutty72]

The group I hunt with there are 6 people, and 8 dogs. 2 labs, 1 weimy, 1 brittney, and 4 GSP's. It works really well, the pointers range out farther, and the flushers work close. When the pointers lock up, the flushers back 'em until given the command to flush.

My labs first season I let her follow the older dogs a bit unit she got the feel of what she was supposed to do, then I took her off by herself so she had to do it on her own. Now she will occasionally "point" (very ugly) and does very well knowing the difference between the game birds we are looking for and the "junk" in the field.

[Trekmoor]

I hunt 3 cocker spaniels and one springer spaniel but not at the same time. One dog hunts while the other 3 walk to heel . Then I change dogs. I tend to think that if a spaniel is hunting properly one dog should find as much game as two. By hunting them one at a time for shorter periods of time they don't get tired all at the same time and the pace of the hunt remains fast and hard.

Bill T.

[prairiefirepointers]

I always hunt at least 2 dogs together. Some occasions and fields I will hunt 3 dogs, and have put as many as 4 on the ground at the same time (by myself) but 4 was a bit too much..

I do 90% of my hunting just me and my best friend.. He fields 2 dogs and I field 2. I always smile when I hear the "weekend stories" at church between some of my fellow ushers who hit the field with large groups and Nic and I have just as good or (usually better) success with the 2 of us and 4 dogs.

[Sharon]

Well folks. i work a pair of spaniels and i run them together. one is 3 and the other is about 18 months. i sometimes find that the younger dog follows the older one a lot rather than hunting independently. im on a weeks holidays for the first week in November for the start of the upland bird season here and i will be hunting them separately for the first week, probably one in the morning and one in the afternoon. im just interested to know if any of you guys hunt your dogs in pairs of do you hunt over just one dog.

The reason why i keep more than one, is so i can give one dog a break when the other may be too tired to hunt for say more than two days etc, kennel company and also i train them as a hobby so will prob be parting with the younger one around xmas and buying another one or two younger dogs in the new year to train for next year.

Looking forward to hearing your views.....

Exactly what I've found. I used to breed and train beagles. We never ran a young dog with an older dog. As you said the young dog thinks his role is to back up the older dog - kills independence.

PS Once the dogs have equal training/learning , packs are fine, although you'll still see the more dominant dog starting the track.

[Birdman250]

I have no problem hunting young dogs with my seasoned dogs..In more open field I often run 2 or 3 dogs at a time. In the grouse woods I run 2 dogs and always enjoyed watching each dog trying to out beat each other's point.