Gun Dog Forum

Im new to the forum and am looking for some helpful suggestions on how to or even if I should take my 5month old Vizsla out for not only his first hunt but a pheasant hunt at that. The pup has only been exposed to dizzied up pigeons and will hold a decently steady point(some creeping when I get closer to him) and chase them all day around in the field. He has only been exposed to a .22 cap gun with these birds but it doesnt seem to bother him at all, if anything its seems to make him more excited, but I have not fired a shotgun less than 50 yds away from him (never shot over him with a shotgun). He has yet to experience a wild bird and im worried that the size of a pheasant might freak him out a little especially with shotguns going off around him once its flushed.

The plan ive come up with in my head is to let him point/see a few birds let em fly and let him have some fun with them then after some of this goes on shoot the birds down for him to be rewarded and hopefully fetch em back up for me. Im really not expecting much out of him just to have a fun time is all I really care about at this point. But do any of you see that this may stur up any problems especially with the introduction of a shotgun and a big wild bird such as a pheasant?

This is if we can find any birds in TX to begin with.

Watch out for the Rooster and their spurs
I would stick with quail chukar and hens for now

I've always started the pups on pheasants since that is all we had for years. Never had a problem but it could happen. I had an older dog get punctured with a broken wing and he made sure the birds were dead before he brought them back after that.

I agree that quail may be better but I personally don't worry much about what kind of bird it is since I never had a choice.

Ezzy

In our mind, we think the dog is rewarded with the bird. IMO the dog is rewarded with the find and the point. If you develop that philosophy, you will have a better dog.

Birds in the mouth of a young dog are not a good thing. Then they think the all should be in their mouth.

Making a dog is a building process and you need a foundation on which to build the wall.

Pepper

Good choice on which breed to go with, the pup looks like a winner in your pic !

-Marshall