Gun Dog Forum

The birds are around...you just have to work for them. This is my third season with my 2 1/2 yr old setter. As all dog guys know, unless you live in Michigan, Maine, or somewhere out west with high populations of wild birds, A LOT of work and A LOT of pen raised birds mixed with as many wild bird en...

as mentioned previously...learning to identify good grouse cover will pay dividends. No substitute for experience and busting a lot of brush. That said, I find that spending some time in the woods hunting turkeys in the spring doubles as a great way to locate grouse. They are active early and drummi...

...If you've never shot at one, I'd plan on one box of shells to 1 bird ratios. NO exaggeration. It is a lot of fun, if not always productive Good grief.....let's be a tad bit more realistic for the OP. Experience with pointed or flushed birds does make a difference and skeet practice will help wit...

Number one thing to know...Make sure you're not counting on eating any for dinner. If you've never shot at one, I'd plan on one box of shells to 1 bird ratios. NO exaggeration. It is a lot of fun, if not always productive

great pics. So when you hunt geese with the pointers, how often do you have to try to flush one of your decoys for him when he locks up on point?

My reasons are purely neanderthal at the root. When I get in the woods, and especially when I take game, it seems like an accomplishment. It doesn't matter if I kill every time or whether it's a squirrel or an elk. I have won against some game with superior instincts/eyesight/smell or what have you ...

I was given a 12ga 311. It's about brand new. VERY heavy, and this one has 30" barrells...way long for my taste. All that said, I felt like I should use it since it was a generous gift. I've gotten used to it, and after a little fitting am hitting pretty well with it. If you have the option, find on...

I was leaning towards a GSP. I can see the merits of a good GSP breeding, but I went with a setter...I hate to admit it, but the style won me over. That is class. Nice temperment and size too. it's worked well. If I hunted in places with any more burrs than we have, a slick coat would have been bett...

gotta love it when they go from fun loving pup to wild eyed drooling maniac in the field! She almost looks like someone told her she couldn't. That's pretty cool

I'm sure you'll get plenty of varying replies here, but I'll just tell you what I know from similar experience. I never had pointers, I never hunted with dogs. I did have a family pet Golden Retriever. He would chase anything you wanted him to fetch until it killed him if you let him go that far. I ...

In my experience you're asking the entirely wrong question. There is never "enough". It's kind of like my wife saying "isn't one bird dog enough" or "don't you already have one shotgun..(guitar...junk car...hobby...job) too many?" :D The question probably should be how much MORE do I need. Then find...

Gotta give the Steelers some love

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/james ... ting-birds

I'd run if I saw this guy coming at me with or without the gun.

Grouse opened last Friday so I loaded the truck for a quick Saturday morning hunt (man I really gotta find a way to outta working for a living). I woke up Saturday and stepped outside to miserable drizzle. I decided to go anyway. I planned to hit 3 spots that give me quick (1/2 hour or so depending ...

A pheasant that survives a season deserves the term...wild.

Well put my friend. I agree

Beautiful stuff all around. I gotta say...I love setters. I'm partial of course but how can you beat that? Great country. Thanks for the stoking the fire even more.

northern cajun wrote:Don't worry fellas I will take good care of them when they get down here to Louisiana but first I am gonna go up to New York and scare the rest of em south.

Don't know about you, but the Woodcock are the only migrants I really want moving South...present company excluded of course!

JIM K wrote:

crappieguy wrote:but i shoot my 20 ga over heads of grouse

Cool I do that too. I can assure you though, my wildlife conservation tactics are second to none...My buddies call it missing but I calls it conservation!! At least the grouse population remains stable when I'm in the woods.

Take this with a grain of salt as I am no expert but in my limited experience I tried something in a similar situation. My setter was getting caught up in the excitement of running around like a maniac early on and running over birds. I came to the conclusion that I needed to control the training si...

sorry no shipping of perishable items available. The chef does however work for birds. Get me to birds and we can shoot what we can shoot and I'll fry you whatever you want.

couple more

I know it's JUST pen raised birds, and all that, but it's my first bird dog....I'm just happy some of my work with him paid off. He's just 8 months now. It was the 3rd "live" hunt with him. He pointed 12 birds planted over about 25 acres. He held points, worked close when I kept him close, ran bigge...

There's really a lot of good preserves in central Virginia. I looked at a bunch of dogs in the Scottsville area, and every breeder I talked to had a preserve on their property. There's a bunch of good ones that are highly advertised around too. For preserve birds, I really like chukars. Good flying,...

thanks for all the replies. Yeah, that's about what I was thinking on all of it. I do plan on traveling a little bit and I have hunted some spots in the past that still hold decent birds by all reports. I guess we'll have to see what the season holds. Just seems good to be looking at some bird hunti...

I'm Greg. 32 Years old. Grew up in western NY and moved to Virginia 11 years ago to be a worship leader at a church that was starting. Two daughters 12 & 6 and a wife of 14 years. I love all things hunting and fishing, and don't get enough time to do either. Just started my first English Setter..Gus...

I'm new to the dog game, but a lifelong bird hunter (I know I know). I finally made the leap and got a screamer of a little setter last spring. I spent the summer training, and finally got to hunt a little in the last month on pen raised birds with excellent results. All of the birds we worked over ...