Gun Dog Forum

So, this weekend instead of heading up to a preserve, i plan to plant some birds (Phez and Chukar) on my training grounds and shoot them over my dog.

I have never planted birds that I intend to shoot, so my question is, should they be dizzied or just planted? What type of cover, etc?

Any other tips would be great.

Thanks!

When I trained my GSP years ago we did just that. We planted our own birds by dizzying them and placing them in a bush with some branches to restrict movement. Then went and got the dog it worked great, especially because I handled my dog and had a shooter. Make sure the shooter understand what you are doing and only shoots upon your command. Your focus is on the dog not the bird which we forgot sometimes as our hunting instinct would kick in...lol

Good luck
Bryan

I have done this a couple of times, and done it with the birds planted in launchers giving me control of the flush not the bird. It is nice to be able to get shooters in place hold a check cord and pop the bird without it running or losing the dogs concentration. I'm still working with a 10mo old pup. We did plant the birds on the ground 1 time, but I prefer the launchers so I could control the timing of the flush. I also like to plant 3-5 birds and work 1 dog, put them up, plant birds and work the next dog and rotate through. Tons of walking for me (I need it anyway), but I enjoy it more than the preserve at this point as we have more control and don't have the set time limit.

I also carry my blank gun (thanks for the tip Bruce) so that if there is a situation where the shot is not safe you can still fire the blank. I have fired more blanks then I would have expected.

doug, he didnt say he was training necessarily. sounds a little like me, you want to hunt, work your dogs and shoot but not pay a hefty preserve fee.

i think the trick is in the cover, as long as the birds have good cover near by you should be able to throw them down hard, knock the wind out of them, and they'll crawl to the nearest safety available. if theres no safe cover they'll fly away,scatter and you will have to really walk to find a few singles.

Yea this not a training session. Just going out to do some hunting.

Be careful with state regs and seasons. A bird out of season, outside of regulation, I do not think can be harvested without the Regulated Shooting license. Just a precaution, cant say for sure.

Fuess

GSPVIZ -

Chuckars have a real tendency to leg it, so rocking them into cover is not a bad idea. Ideally I would like not to hard plant my birds, but at the price of birds these days, it is hard not to want to get some kind of return for your nvestment.

I would say that for me the really hard part is not hacking the dog into where I know I planted a bird but rather walking in the general direction of where the birds were letting the dog cover the ground in front of me as its instincts tell it to, and walking past a bird that the dog missed because it was on the wrong side of the wind or somethng.

I really hate when I know exactly where the birds are because it takes some of the suspense out of it and it is already artificial enough.

When My dad and I hunted the semi wild club grunds we belonged to or on a self stock preserve, he would take half and I would take half and go in different directions. He would handle the dogs where I planted and vice versa. Not perfect, but better.

RayG

fuess wrote:Be careful with state regs and seasons. A bird out of season, outside of regulation, I do not think can be harvested without the Regulated Shooting license. Just a precaution, cant say for sure.
Fuess

Our club does have a preserve license and I believe we are good through March (if not April).

Matt, be sure if you are using chukar you don't accidentally shoot any quail, which is a big no-no at the club.

Gary

gar-dog wrote:

fuess wrote:Be careful with state regs and seasons. A bird out of season, outside of regulation, I do not think can be harvested without the Regulated Shooting license. Just a precaution, cant say for sure.
Fuess

Our club does have a preserve license and I believe we are good through March (if not April).

Matt, be sure if you are using chukar you don't accidentally shoot any quail, which is a big no-no at the club.

Gary

Hey Guys, yea the season goes until Mar 31 for the club. I talked to Joe Lordi about it. They have tags in the club house to tag the birds before you leave. Yes I will definitely make sure I don't pull the trigger on any quail. I don't want to get kicked out!

I will let you know how it goes and then maybe we can meet up for a nice hunt over there.

GSPVIZ wrote: my question is, should they be dizzied or just planted? What type of cover, etc?

Any other tips would be great.

Thanks!

If it's not about training and your wanting a "wild" type hunt Then dizzy the birds some. I tuck heads and flip them on their back when training new dogs. Dizzying the birds leaves them confused for a few minutes but when planted in close proximity they'll group up and move around some. Also, plant 3-5 birds in one spot knowing you'll chase singles later. I also like to plant near landmarks. It at least gives you a reference point to work to. The birds wont hold too long but you'll have a general vicinity to look. Hope it helps......

The Pa game comm just adopted new rules at the begining of 09 on realising birds on game lands for dog training. check out there site on dog training

My bad, did not know you were planning on doing this at the club. Thought maybe you were going to do this where you run the dogs that you told me about when we ran dogs.

Yes, our club is a regulated shooting ground so you are safe thru 3/31.

Fuess

I'd really enjoy doing this sometime. Although Ginger is off to the trainer tomorrow, I still wouldn't mind heading down sometime in March. Fuess, maybe you could join us too? If you have a couple of guys that means more birds. Also, someone might let us use their ATV to plant them.
G

Chuckars are the easiest birds to plant. Simply hold them by the legs and swing up into the air until it flutters it's wings then drop straight down to the ground. The trick is make sure they don't hit anything on the way down.

There are several ways to plant a pheasant depending on the cover, wind, how amped up the birds are and if you want them to move around after you're gone. You can tuck a wing, lay them down and pull the legs and hold them until they relax if you want them to stay put or you can hold it by the wings (both sides) spin his head in a circle until he's dizzy then "flip" him so he rotates into the brush and they'll gain their senses pretty quickly and start to walk around.

Don't let them see you look back after you plant them.

GSPVIZ,

Where will you buy chuckars and pheasants? I thought about doing the same thing last fall but everyone I called wasn't willing to part with anything but quail. Maybe they were holding out until they knew they could meet their own demands and those of the local preserves.

Hey!

I got them from Feather Prayer in Pemberton, its about 15 mins from the club.

So how'd it work out?

Good, I got the birds from Feather Prayer in Pemberton. It was about 20 mins from the club. I got 5 pheasants and 3 chukar. I just let them go in the field to have "wild hunt".

Margo did well, got 4 out of 5 pheasants and 1 out of 3 chukars. It was cold as heck out there! The wind was really kicking.

If you want to go, let me know and we will make a day of it.

In your case, I'd want my birds placed, rather than planted. Just a few shakes for pheasants or chukar, like shaking hands, with their heads loose in front of your hand and stuffed into good cover - but not covered or tangled up. (Quail can simply be chunked, unshook, backwards into cover.) Chukar should be less apt to want to be in a hurry to covey up with more distant birds if placed in pairs.

Birds so placed will soon be up and walking around and much more interesting for you and Pup than hard plants. Chances are you'll find Pup treating those that travel more like wild birds than those still associated with the scents of being planted (and, by association, training).

Have some fun!