New to upland hunting, but loving it!

[rja]

Hello -

As the title stated, I'm newer to hunting upland game, and I also purchased my first German Shorthaired Pointer, "Odin", awhile back. He's now 7 months old, and he was at the breeder/trainers for a month (when he was 5mo.) until smoke over on the Eastern side forced him to come home a little earlier. Odin's shown a ton of promise right from the start apparently, and was pointing and holding for birds on day two of training. I agree that he's a phenomenal hunter, but as he's my dog and he's also my first, I probably have a ton of bias.

So now he's 7 months, and we've been out hunting quite a bit on the west side. The habitat is quite a bit different from the sage brush on the east side, and there are a lot of hunters here trying for the small number of pheasants released each week by WDFW. He often gets very wet and cold, as the grass is tall and the main place we hunt is a swamp-like.

Questions:

Should I get him a jacket of some sort? I hate to see him shiver, but I wonder if he'll eventually get used to it (and growing up will probably help as well). But I know that they're usually not getting totally wet constantly when they're hunting in the sage, like he does over here on the west side.

Yesterday he flushed three pheasants. I don't know that he purposely went in, as they obviously don't hold as well as the birds the trainer put out or the ones we 'hunted' that were put out at a hunting club to practice on. Will he learn that he needs to be quieter or stop further out on his own? I don't try to shoot the flushed bird, correct?

Odin sometimes chases "tweety birds". Do I zap him when he does that?

I want to eventually put him through the AKC hunt tests, the JH being something he could attain right now, the trainer told me. So with this in mind, how far do I let him get out ahead of me? He 'has wheels', so he can get pretty far. I have the new Garmin Alpha with TT 100 collar, so I "know" where he is, but I can't see him sometimes, and I can't tell whether he's doing his job properly. I also worry that the amount of hunters here, which nearly all have flushing labs, may get annoyed as there is limited ground to cover, and their pups stick right by their sides.

And lastly, I've heard about hunting pheasants in Montana/the Dakotas, where there are supposedly tons and tons of them, which is great practice for the dog (and me!). I guess any good info about that would be appreciated. I'm not sure if hunters keep their areas guarded, or whether there's just so many pheasants and a lot of land that people are willing to share places.

Oh, and with the above idea, is it probably ok for a lone female to be out in those areas hunting with her pup?

Thanks!

[rja]

Hoping this video works of Odin.

I believe this was day 6 of his training when he was 5 months old. The surprise splash he takes is the best

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=429160130453344

[whatsnext]

There is a transition that dogs need to learn from pen raised birds or pigeons in a release too wild birds and they have to learn that on their own no need to worry about it he just crowded them and he will learn as long as he keeps getting exposure to them.i would Let him chase the "bleep" birds but do not acknowledge him doing it just act like nothing is happening DO NOT ZAP HIM FOR IT ! As far as his range i would let him be and see what happens when formal training takes place, i would bet if he turns out to be an honest dog you will love his run.

[yogi]

MY VIZSLA WEARS A VEST FOR PROTECTION AND VISABLITIY. HE DONT MIND IT, BUT HIS ARM PITS GET RED AND IRRATATED. THATS BETTER THAN THE BARBWIRE THAT GAVE HIM 4 STICHES. IT SAYS IT WATERPROOF BUT IT ISNT. HE STILL SHIVERS BELOW 40 DEGREES BUT IT DOESNT AFFECT HIS HUNTING.

[rja]

MY VIZSLA WEARS A VEST FOR PROTECTION AND VISABLITIY. HE DONT MIND IT, BUT HIS ARM PITS GET RED AND IRRATATED. THATS BETTER THAN THE BARBWIRE THAT GAVE HIM 4 STICHES. IT SAYS IT WATERPROOF BUT IT ISNT. HE STILL SHIVERS BELOW 40 DEGREES BUT IT DOESNT AFFECT HIS HUNTING.

Thanks. Do you know the name/type of the vest? The ones I've seen look to be built more for labs.

[ezzy333]

MY VIZSLA WEARS A VEST FOR PROTECTION AND VISABLITIY. HE DONT MIND IT, BUT HIS ARM PITS GET RED AND IRRATATED. THATS BETTER THAN THE BARBWIRE THAT GAVE HIM 4 STICHES. IT SAYS IT WATERPROOF BUT IT ISNT. HE STILL SHIVERS BELOW 40 DEGREES BUT IT DOESNT AFFECT HIS HUNTING.

If the dog is rubbing the armpit red they are being irritated by the vest and it has to be terribly uncomfortable for the dog. You need to cut out a larger area for the front legs or find a vest that fits. Bet you don't enjoy hunting so much with new shoes that rub blisters on your feet. Same thing is happening to the dog. That is one of the reasons I don't use one but can see where they could be nice for a vizsla when the temps get down towards zero.

[yogi]

MY VIZSLA WEARS A VEST FOR PROTECTION AND VISABLITIY. HE DONT MIND IT, BUT HIS ARM PITS GET RED AND IRRATATED. THATS BETTER THAN THE BARBWIRE THAT GAVE HIM 4 STICHES. IT SAYS IT WATERPROOF BUT IT ISNT. HE STILL SHIVERS BELOW 40 DEGREES BUT IT DOESNT AFFECT HIS HUNTING.

Thanks. Do you know the name/type of the vest? The ones I've seen look to be built more for labs.

Its from lion country. Not sure of the name.