Need help!

[Blcktaildreamer]

Ok guys I am an avid hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman, but have never hunted birds. We have a great 3yr old male lab that is an amazing pet and I think he has the makings of being a great bird dog. He is all about pleasing me and the ol lady. We live on a small farm and he will retrieve starlings and crows that I shoot off the farm. My question is would it do any good if I took him out to a release site and try and shoot a bird over him? Do you think if I killed a few he would get the idea?


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[Blcktaildreamer]

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[Bullkllr]

Good looking dog!

In a simple answer, yes he will probably learn to hunt up a bird that way. Just be aware there are pros and cons and I'm sure you'll hear some in follow up responses.

If you want a dog that will hunt, flush a bird, and bring it back it will probably happen. Going that route it will take patience and repetition to get him to quarter to cover ground more effectively. That's how I've trained my last 2 labs on upland- on the job training. They were obedience trained previous. Polished, no, but they stick close, love finding birds and retrieve like their lives depend on it. And that's fine with me.

More prior or pro training will be quicker to a polished product, as I'm sure you'll hear.

[Blcktaildreamer]

Thanks for the input. Like I said I have no idea how to bird hunt either so it will be learning for both of us. As far as sending him to a pro that is out of the question for me. He goes to work with me almost every day and I just couldn't do it.


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[AspenBud]

If the dog isn't gunshy and retrieves it will probably do great.

[Blcktaildreamer]

Awesome that's what I was hoping. He is not gun shy at all. He knows the gun means dead birds and loves that. He gets all jacked up when we kill starlings and what not around the farm and retrieves them. He just doesn't know he needs to go find them. 


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[WRL]

Newaukum River Retriever Club is holding a meeting on Nov 14th at Spiffy's at 5 pm to determine whether there is enough interest to start another club for events. Focus will be on promoting youth activities (hunter's education/mentoring), fun events (5 singles etc), training days and possibly Hts/FTs based on the interest of the members. If you could spread the word, it would be appreciated. Thanks.

Great place to start to find people to help you out!!

[Birdguy]

Take it for what it is worth but if you take him to a release site consider going after noon and there will be very few if any others there generally. I did this with my first dog and it worked great. The first day we only found feather piles from the mornings successful hunters but she got the idea. The second afternoon she put up a little hen that I thankfully knocked down and the rest was history. Get him out there and have a fun. Remember he only knows what you share with him, patience is your friend, and will make it more enjoyable.

[Blcktaildreamer]

Take it for what it is worth but if you take him to a release site consider going after noon and there will be very few if any others there generally. I did this with my first dog and it worked great. The first day we only found feather piles from the mornings successful hunters but she got the idea. The second afternoon she put up a little hen that I thankfully knocked down and the rest was history. Get him out there and have a fun. Remember he only knows what you share with him, patience is your friend, and will make it more enjoyable.

This is a good point. I grew up living on the boundary of the scatter creek site. We have had birds shot out of the yard, the house shot more times than I can count. Every time the house got hit I would run over there and jump the fence to confront these idiots and you know every time I expected a young kid but it was always an older guy that should have known better.


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[scottr]

Awesome that's what I was hoping. He is not gun shy at all. He knows the gun means dead birds and loves that. He gets all jacked up when we kill starlings and what not around the farm and retrieves them. He just doesn't know he needs to go find them. 


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Sounds like you already have a bird dog. I'd work him over some planted birds and he'll figure it out real quick

[wildweeds]

Hes a flusher, take him to spots where birds would be, ie, brushy points where field meets woodlot ,fence corners/rows,creeks/ditches edge of lakes,. Most of birdhunting is knowing where they should be. He will get it quick provided you put him in the right spots.I've said for years the best birddog drives the truck,the dog just reaffirms the suspicion that a spot is birdy by pinpointing the birds.

[JJD]

Honestly, I haven't hunted a release or public site since the 60's.
But I remember the first time we took a young lab to one.  She loved retreiving like your dog but just didn't really have an understanding as to what we were looking for.  We SOB (stumbled on bird) and knocked down a ringneck, she retreived the bird and was all kinds of excited.  We went another 100 yds or so and picked up the scent of another bird, she was off to the races and was in another zip code when the bird flushed.  Put your dog on a check cord till it gets the idea that it must hunt close. 
Birds out my way are wild and are used to eluding predators, said pheasants are runnin sons-a-guns. Don't know whats out your way, but I try and get your pups on quail or Huns first.