How to find a place to run/hunt.

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:01 pm

Unfortunately as some of you may remember, I live in a well populated city with not much open space. Hopefully not for to much longer, but thats besides the point.

I've been looking around for probably around 2 years now, and the word of mouth tactic isn't working. The people around here are either hording it to themselves, or have no idea because they just drive from there cubicle to there house. And I really dont want to pay 2,500 dollars a year to get access to private land.

I've tried doing the basic ones, Google Maps, asking around, etc. I'm willing to drive, but the places that I can find are either very small, or uninhabitable by dogs.(Legally) and try to use a blank gun... HA!

I know most of you have training property or access to farm land, but if there are any secrets to be shared to even find wildlife places that aren't in the middle of a police station it would be much appriciated...

Thanks

WildRose · Post by **WildRose** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:22 pm

Join your local GSP or other pointing dog performance club and get active. That will put you in a group of people with similar interests and goals.

The other is to contact your state wildlife agency and BLM and find out where the areas with good game bird populations overlap with accessible public land. CR

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:26 pm

Ill just throw out there that i am in both Northern and California GSP clubs, and neither of them are very hunt oriented as far as I know.

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:03 pm

California (Sacramento) Great Central Valley website: members.aol.com/gcvnavhda/index.html
Michael Shirk 384 Chelmsford Drive Brentwood CA 94513 925/240-6496

Try NAVHDA. If this chapter is too far, maybe the contact guy can recommend places closer.

wems2371 · Post by **wems2371** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:04 pm

I am not familiar with your area at all. Here in Iowa we purchases an IOWA SPORTSMAN'S ATLAS for $20 at Walmart. It has public lands listed for all 99 counties. Every county has a page or two, involving a map, public land name, amount of acres, what it's suitable for (bottomland, timber, camping type, hunting, stream fishing, pheasant, deer, etc). This book is terrific, although road maps could be a touch bigger print. I do not know if your state has a version of this, but someone has surely published something similar, so you might ask around hunting stores. Mine is published by Sportsman's Atlas Co 1-800-568-8334. Denise

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:24 pm

I'll give that book a try! Sounds promising.

I have contacted the navhda chapter before, maybe i just caught the flak fire, but it wasn't a real info friendly place. They just said they do there training at Hastings wildlife preserve and thats all they know pretty much.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, much appriciated.

yakky'sgriff · Post by **yakky'sgriff** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:29 pm

Justin, I know your pain...I work in Fremont. I tried chxing the Don Edwards wildlife area (around the Dumbarton Bridge) but I could not find exact regulations for blank guns or dog training. I tried calling the office, but they are closed on the weekend. I also looked at East Bay Regional Parks, but couldnt find the answer about dog training or blank guns...They do have their Open Space areas that might be available. Give them a call cause the website didnt answer the question. Also, try the NAVHDA Great Central Valley website. I know you talked to them and all you got was little to nothing, but their website has their training schedule and other details. I believe its once a month at Hastings Island. Im not a member of the chapter, but I do belong to NAVHDA and tested with their chapter a few weeks ago.. They seem pretty nice and helpful. And finally, if you dont mind driving there are the State Wildlife areas..I know they run hunt tests so I think they would allow training.

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:16 pm

Yakky,

I tried for the Don Edwards thing to, and as soon as they figured out that I wanted to let a dog off leash there, they hung up on me : /....

Tbh, if I could just find somewhere thats not a people friendly park just to run them It would be fine. I end up driving out to hastings to do all my training, and its a nice facility so I don't mind it, but 1hr and 30 minute drive just to get the dogs a good run is kinda pricey. I've been making do with a couple regional parks, but the populations are only getting thicker now that the weather is very good.

The sadest part is, there are plenty of open spaces, like on the out skirts of town close to the bay that aren't part of a wildlife thing, but there are just numbers of bored cops and patrolers just looking to give someone a hard time.

Theres a group of people that do some training with dogs, dont know what type of dogs or what type of training, but they have permission to do it on some private land, and I pass by there Tuesdays and Thursdays for class, and there is ALWAYS a cop out there trying to get them to vacate. (After about the 10th time seeing them there with a cop talking to them I stopped by to ask)

I did contact that chapter again, hopefully they will be more helpful this time.

And about the open space, who did you mean to call, the regional park district or did you mean like the county office.

RoundRiver Setters · Post by **RoundRiver Setters** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:44 pm

GsP and Yakky,

Man am I sorry for all the crap and travel time you guys have to go thru just to train your dogs. I need to be more appreciative of what resources are available here in Iowa.......Thanks Scott

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:51 pm

Sounds like you need to advertise to get a group together, and then find someone with some land within an hour's drive that will let you on for a small fee, and essentially form your own club.

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:15 am

Thats a good idea, I wonder if there would be enough people around here to even have it as a possibility...? Well if anyone reads this and would like to !!

griffgirl · Post by **griffgirl** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:26 am

GsPJustin wrote:Thats a good idea, I wonder if there would be enough people around here to even have it as a possibility...? Well if anyone reads this and would like to !!

To bad ya didnt know someone that owns some land to start your own NAVHDA chapter.In WI all ya need to do is get a dog training permit from the DNR,get some Quail or other birds,make sure you tag your birds and away ya go training your dog.The tags the DNR will send to you in the mail.The only time one cant go on State owned land is when the birds (Ducks,Geese,ect) are nesting........I think the permit was only 20 bucks? and its good for 2 years.

grousehunter08 · Post by **grousehunter08** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:06 pm

Look in to a NAVHDA club. I belong to NAVHDA here in MI and we have over 30 days a training where we buy bird every week. That also gives us a permit to shoot live ammo.

Karen · Post by **Karen** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:28 pm

Aren't there any hunting preserves out there you could rent time from or join? Here in NJ they can't hold hunts from May 1 - September 1, so some are willing to rent you time (and sell you birds to train with) during the off season.

yakky'sgriff · Post by **yakky'sgriff** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:27 pm

the bad thing is there is really nothing close to the Bay Area in regards to clubs, preserves, etc.. Everything is about 1 hour plus including state wildlife areas. There is one National WA right there at the south end of the SF bay that allows hunting during waterfowl season, but its unknown if dog training of any kind is allowed. Im a little more fortunate in that I live a little out of the main Bay Area in the Delta region.

Justin- the open spaces I was referring to belong to East Bay Regional parks district. Have you tried talking with the Don Edwards staff there at the office next to the Dumbarton. I know they are probably mostly not too happy with hunters, but it is allowed on that Federal land so maybe at least dog training might be allowed to some extent.

yakky'sgriff · Post by **yakky'sgriff** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:32 pm

Grouse hunter- The nearest NAVHDA has its training at the preserve about 1 1/2 hours from GspJustin on most occasions (about 1/2 hour from me), but sometimes they hold them in Corning which is a long ways away..

grousehunter08 · Post by **grousehunter08** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:58 pm

what about your hunting spots. I know i always like my dogs on wild birds. There is a quiet time in michigan but its not that long i dont know how for you are from your hunting grounds but that mybee an idea for you. There you can shoot your training birds too and not have to worry about the shot.

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:37 pm

There isn't much wild bird hunting here. Its usually a 5 hour+ drive to a even decent place(which during hunting season i make quite a few times). Which is why I'm moving, but thats not happening right away...

What the best answer would be is to just find someone who has land, likes to hunt but doesn't have a dog. Thats just not something you can advertise for in the paper(I think).

There's very little, if ANY, wild game bird population in a 2 hour radius of my house, and 99% is probably un-touchable, much less huntable.

Anyone have any ideas that are more gas friendly than driving around to knock on doors?

Also yakky, have you heard of that Wilderness unlimited thing? Private land access... I wanted to give that a try, but i heard that its a $2,500 yearly price to get in. That just doesn't seem worth it. Id rather go to hastings. I know this isn't the best town to own a hunting dog in, but Im making do, sorta, I just cant believe theres not a bigger population with some people to get in contact with,

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:38 pm

I can relate to the limited training areas. It took me a while once I moved here to find some "decent" areas to train. I've found several unusual places to train....

1) County Park---Its about 1 mile from my house, so I hit this place up the most often. I roll in with my homers, launchers, and dogs....find a overgrown strip of grass, set the birds out, and work them. Sure I get some weird looks from tourists parked beside me while I'm shoving pigeons in launchers, but oh well.

2) Local County Soccer Field---Edges of all the fields ( about 30 yards wide) are overgrown. I completely broke my shorthair out there last year...blank pistol and all. I called the cops, they said there is no law against shooting a blank pistol in city limits....BUT if they get a call and I see them pulling up DROP the pistol and put my hands up---that way they won't shoot me

I've got another place I go that is actually in the country and has nice grounds....but I can only go w/ a buddy and its been hard lately to coordinate our schedules. So, I've been using my other 2 "spots."

Where I hunt is 45 min away from house....not practical to drive out there, plus my homers would never make it back!!

Good luck!

yakky'sgriff · Post by **yakky'sgriff** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:56 pm

Justin, Im an inactive member of Wilderness Unlimited, but I was active for about 8 years. Just trying to save some money right now.. Im not sure what the starting fee is now but when i joined it was about $2000 for a Full membership which included fishing, birds and big game. A bird only membership is cheaper and that price ($2000 plus) is not every year. The annual dues are about $1300 for the full membership. I know they get a lot of bad press for many different reasons, but I had quite a few good experiences. I hunted big game, birds and fish on the properties and my biggest advice is to be patient and learn the properties. They do have wild pheasant, but I havent hunted them because I just got my dog. I have seen tons of quail on other properties. The waterfowl can be good or bad. The big game can be good and so can the turkey. The fishing is really good.

GsPJustin · Post by **GsPJustin** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:57 pm

I don't do much of the big game hunting or even waterfowl tbh. Just the upland birds and the fishing would be the extent of it.

Regardless, I don't think I could afford 1300$ year either to be quite frank.
Could you tell me maybe a estimate time of drive from me to one of there closest properties? Just for giggles.

yakky'sgriff · Post by **yakky'sgriff** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:17 am

Justin, for upland birds I think the closest ranches maybe the ones in Sonoma or Napa county. There are a few in the central coast around Monterey and such. I know none of them are close for you. It makes it hard for day trips. Ill keep my eyes and ears open for any possibilities.

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