Free: Contests & Raffles.
Welcome, you might find this link helpful.http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/prospects/If your looking for quail, yakima county is a decent place to start....
Hardest thing to do with a new pup is to let it be a pup,can't stress this enough,far to easy to snuff out desire when the fire is just starting to burn,expect little, teach............. Here,and kennell,let the other stuff come on naturally,don't fall into the rut of "Sos and sos internet dog is doing this at 6 months old so mine should too." All dogs are different,even littermates can have night and day differences in ability and maturity rate.
Dicky birds are better right now than game birds. Just take him for walks and leave him to discover things for himself. If he starts a bit slow, don';t worry about it. Friend of mine has a really well bred E. Setter that had no use for birds of any kind until she was about 5 mos old. The light came on and Gertie turned into a real animal. She tried a bit of field trialing with Gertie, Amer Fld and AKC both and placed her in every trial winning two of them. If your dog is bred to hunt, it will. Just lay back and wait for the light to come on.
Welcome to the site. Great first dog, I am certain there will plenty of help on here when you ask. As far as training birds you need to buy them (gamebirds) from a licensed gamefarm and they will come with a receipt that allows you to train with them and release them. Just FYI in Washington gamebirds are any bird the State recognizes and has a season for (bobwhite, valley and mountain quail, chukar, hungarian partridge and ringneck pheasant) there are other breeds of quail and pheasant that are not considered gamebirds and do not require the gamefarm receipt. I doubt you will have much trouble in the field but it only takes one encounter with a game warden without the paperwork . The west side of the state has a pheasant release program where they release birds Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday, it can be a great place to take the pup for a walk (LATE IN THE DAY) after the morning crowd is gone. I took my old pup there just to let her sniff around the field and find a feather pile or two, aboutthe third time we went out she put up a hen, good times. Good luck with the new pup and hunting in Washington.
Welcome, and that's a great looking Pup.
Not sure if any one mentioned this but you only need a small game license to train at the release sites. You don't need the pheasant permit. Looks like you have the right idea and getting good advise. I agree with what's been said. Don't allow yourself to get caught up in all the B.S of the bird dog world. That being said you will be over overwhelmed with info both good and bad. Just remember that it's all about fun and if you don't feel right about some ones advice than it's not the advice for you and you're dog.Training is not set in stone and the dog is the one with the true talent.Not the trainer. The trainer is just able to channel and harnessThat raw talent that is nestled into a cuddly little puppy. Also at the release sites the hours are 8:00 am to 4:00pm and they mean it now. No more "I'm just here walking my dog"