So i took the end of the week off and hunted my 1yr old GSP on wed through sat at carlyle on the released phesant hunts. She did fairly well but she didnt want to hold her point. She would lock up on the birds for maybe 3secs then rush in... not even a slow creep. It even caused me to miss a few she flushed out of range. She is whoa broke in the yard but didnt act like it out hunting Looking for some tips or sugestions?

Thanks

Brian - I'm no help...all I do is photograph them but we have several great dog guys on here who can probably give you some help...yoo hoo JPH come out come out where ever you are!

Brian, Carlyles pheasant hunt is not the place for pointing dogs to holdpoint well at all. Even the season pros were struggling. That is for flushing dogs. That being said, trying to get a 1 yr old to be staunch on point is asking alot. I know there will be those guys who swear that there 6 month old pup will hold point and be steady all the way through the shot but those dogs usually have an ugly demon that shows up one day and the dog never hunts again. Be patient, get the dog on lots of birds, be patient, NEVER walk up behind the dog whileon point, be patient,. Jim

Have you been doing any yard work with birds?

i do most of my yard work with wings...its all i have and my yard jsut isnt big enough... if i can get quail or pigeons i can take her to my work and use some fields out there which is alot better... i dont want to expect too much out of her she is doing a great job finding them i just have to keep her close to me

Ah HA. Wings will promote this as the dog is capable ofcrowding the wing and catching it because it won't fly off. pointing is instinct not trained. You need to come out and get in a controlled situation so it canbe worked on.

so do you use a bird launcher and pigeons?

Depends on the situation.

well case in point... how should i go about it?

You can start by planting somequail or find some wild ones. Let her do her thing. She will begin to get the picture that if she moves the bird flies away and I don't get a reward of retrieving. One thing to is don't do a whole lot of talking when she on point. "whoa" is not a word you want to use when sh is working birds. She has the nose, you don't. Walk a wide circle and come in to the front of her. Thenice thing about using a box is you have control of the release. It is more for finishing and styling.

Thanks for the pointers ill start working with her today

I was at Hazlet on Friday, walked in standby about 8:30. I have 2 english pointers. I didnt like the way they set things up out there this year. Was only about 50 of us hunting at the most and they put birds out in all 15 areas, but didnt have hunters in all 15 spots. I started on #9 and watched 3 roosters run around in front of me while waiting on 9:00. Was really still to hot for me out there. I watched those roosters running all day. Was hard to pen them down but having 2 dogs working them helped alot. Might get out there one more time before shotgun deer season. Speaking of which I could of hand fed those deer out there. Herds of em, seen over 20 all together running around all day not scared of anything....

You may want to hunt with a partner and you control the dog via a long lead. That way you can control the dog while your partner shoots the bird.

camaro130 i have permits every weekend for carlyle if u ever want to try it agian i usually hunt #4 or #5 ...i would like to hunt her with an experienced dog and see how well she backs in the same situation

Don't shoot birds that are pointed and then flushed by the dog. They should figure it out that they can't catch the bird after several flushes. Check cord
helps to like someone else said get are partner to shoot the birds while you handle the dog. Don't reward the dog with a bird unless he lets you flush the bird.

Brian07e I dont usually hunt the weekend and with 3 out the next 4 being gun seasons I wont be out there at all during the weekend, but will probably make a week day trip or 2. There should be more birds out there now that they had the youth hunt and a weekend full of hunters. You ever hunt Horseshoe?? I usually hunt there every day I can when season starts because its so close to home.. Plus good ole Frank that takes your money and gives you a backpatch in the morning is a good guy that I take out with me from time to time to hunt birds and he always knows where to go :cool::cool: Only problem there is the only 4 areas and a couple of them not very good at all, all trees and wide open fields with no cover, and lots of junk out there for your dog(s) to get hurt on.. :(

I have never hunted at horseshoe but heard good things about it...i heard the season out there doesnt even start till Dec 8th...do you hunt where the dove fields are? or do they release birds somewhere else?

Ya you hunt where they dove hunt that is one of the 4 fields.. And its a late season because they wait for the end of duck season before they start, but it runs all the way through the end of January. Which means no clean up hunts like at Carlyle at the end of the season because after the 31st pheasant season is over. If you want to hunt weekend make sure you have a permit it gets pretty packed, weekdays you can go at 8:30 for standby get your permit and be hunting by 9:00. You have to check in and out on the main 111 entrance which means you have to go out get back on the highway and drive to where we hunt, looks like a hunters parade every morning..

Brian what I have had good luck doing with a young dog is to go somewhere where you know where the bird is and have a rope attached to the collar that is about 6' long and stand on it when she goes on point and whoa her. What we've done down at the preserve is to mark where the birds are and the owner will lead the dog to the bird and steady it. What I did with my oldest dog I actually set my gun down and steadied him for a few minutes then 'we' flushed the bird together. That was 9 years ago and we have had up and down moments on this flushing thing but now he just kinda points and moves in when I do or when I tell him to. My other dog does about the same.

Quail Club in Belleville is having a shoot and retrieve this Sat Jan 22. You might learn something here.