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On Saturday, Rusty & I were finally able to get out for our 2nd hunt of our 1st season. We hunted Chukar at one of the local preserves. Probably a little overkill, but I used Remington GL's 1oz. #6's. Rusty did suprisingly well. He was a little rambunctious at first, wanting to run, flush, and chase the sparrow hawks. With some minor corrections, he was quartering well enough. Once he picked up the scent of the 1st bird, it all started clicking. He tightend up his quartering and stalked the bird. Once he found the bird, he locked-up on pint and held point until I walked up behind him. At this point, he would bump the bird with his nose, to get it to flush. As the day went on, with each bird, his confidence & skills continued to increase. My shooting did as well. By the end of the day he was working close, quartering nicely, with little or no corrections. In a 4hr period with a few breaks, we managed to put up 5 Chukar, 2 Bobwhites, and 1 Jack rabbit. I missed shots on 2 of the Chukar and both quail. The quail flushed wild, well out in front of Rusty. One of the Chuckar was inilated. Should have let it get out a little further. Rusty held point (for a few seconds) on the rabbit. I was unable to get a shot off when it busted, as Rusty chased it, and got between us. We've still got a couple of things to work on, but he is doing well. We should be getting out again here soon. Thanks to those who have given me training tips and/or advice over the last year.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Nice--I haven't even had the first hunt of the year yet Embarassed

Guest

Nossman Rusty is a fine looking young dog. He reminds me a lot of my first bird dog. Cruncher (named by the wife) was the best dog I've had and probably will ever have. He taught me more about hunting with a dog than I taught him about hunting with a man.

We both learned a lot this last Saturday. We still have a couple of things to work on, but I was happy with how the day worked out
I was able to break the hunt into 3 seperate sessions or short hunts. It was a 6 bird hunt and they placed & flagged 3 birds at a time for me. The third session was to find one of the birds that got away. I saw that it had flown over to the far end of the field. On Our way towards that bird, is when he stalked and held point on the rabbit, and flushed the quail. We did find that lost bird, but I did not let it get out far enough. A 16ga with 1oz. #6's and IC choke can be a bit brutal on Chukar. I also learned on the 2nd session that working into the wind (even ever so slight) really helps the dog for scenting. On that 2nd session, he was picking up the birds scent a good 30 yards out. I will be repeating this same hunt again real soon!

TB
Thanks, he is a good looking dog. I get or shall I say, he gets a lot of compliments where ever we go.

Noss, your report is more evidence of the old dictum, "birds make the dog." They learn as they go. Its all bred right into them. Also, think spreader loads for preserve birds. They are almost essential even with open chokes.

noss, congratulations on your up and coming bird dog. I have a couple of britts myself. They are great hunters and companions.

A word of caution on the rabbit contacts. In my experience, britts are very "gamey", they love bunnies, mice, squirrels, deer... (at least mine do), more so than the pointers and setters I've had. IMO, if you want a "bird dog" probably best not to encourage the bunnie hunting.

That being said I stand by the old adage "never seen a good bird dog that didn't point a rabbit".

Here's a link to a good website if you have dog training questions.

www.uplandbirddog.com

Great lookin' dog. Hope you have a fun season.

Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 124 Location: Kansas City

I picked the French Britt because they will hunt a variety of game. That's what Britts were breed for in France. With the lack of wild birds if I limited my dog to them we wouldn't get to hunt much. I have good rabbit hunting 20 minutes from my house while birds are several hours away. Couple of days ago I went to a local conservation area and meet a guy who was putting up his dogs. Asked the guy if he had any luck and he said no we been hunting for hours and haven't found one covey. I headed out with my pup and in 90 minutes worked 5 bunnies. When we do find wild or planted birds she works just fine. When I first started training her I just worked her on birds and she did ok but her hunting drive wasn't as strong as it should be. Once I started working her on bunnies what a change she is a hunting machine. She has mostly out grown mouse hunting but will if she gets bored. If she gets that bored I'll take her in the woods and let her tree a squirrel. With birds, bunnies and squirrels are hunting season is 9 months a year instead of 2.