New to forum, question about Blue quail

[SA Doc]

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum. Wanted to show off my Brittany. I live in the San Antonio area and hunt near Laredo. Have a few bobs, but tons of blue quail on our deer lease. I bought Dude from a trainer in April, then left him for 3 months training. Previous owner had taken him for training, but had to move due to work before training started and trainer bought him. Breeder was Lone Star Brittanys. He'll be 2 in November, but this will be his first season hunting. Was trained on pen raised birds. I know blues are tough to hunt with a dog. Will the blues be much for him to start with? There are a few places locally that release bobs, pheasant, or chukar that we can try.

[gotpointers]

The blues in the cactus and thick stuff are less likely to run so try and start there. The rest will be experience and no better time to start him learning than right now. If possible try to get a bird's eye view off horseback to see exactly what's going on good and bad.

[tommyboy72]

If you make him staunch and steady like most well trained dogs are you are gonna have some long days. Dogs need to be able to relocate on blues just like they would on pheasant, probably more. Don't be too hard on him if he points, moves up, points, moves up and so on. They have to be able to get in on the birds to point them. Or you can bust the covey up with a flusher and then hunt the singles as you would normally. Good luck. I hunt them all the time here in the panhandle where I live.

[Neil]

If you make him staunch and steady like most well trained dogs are you are gonna have some long days. Dogs need to be able to relocate on blues just like they would on pheasant, probably more. Don't be too hard on him if he points, moves up, points, moves up and so on. They have to be able to get in on the birds to point them. Or you can bust the covey up with a flusher and then hunt the singles as you would normally. Good luck. I hunt them all the time here in the panhandle where I live.

There is nothing in staunch and steady that prohibits self-relocation. Blues are hard to hunt with a pointing dog, as they are little track stars. I have found that if the handler stays very quiet and has a hard charging dog most times it will freeze them. Not always, but enough to get some shooting..

I have hunted them with cautious, point and creep dogs, even shot into the covey to flush them to hunt singles that tend to hold a bit better.

Found the bold, quick dogs the most fun.

[SA Doc]

We went down to the deer lease Saturday to do some work and saw 15-20 coveys of blues from the top drive. I did a little dove hunting at a tank and he went off in the brush and flushed one covey. He retrieved A few doves, but he'd rather be off hunting. Did not have time to force fetch him this year, but looks like will have to if want to use him on doves.
There's a resident covey of blues that hangs out near a feeder at camp and he followed them around for a couple of hours while I was working on my camper. Saw him point them a few times, but when they ran he followed. He was dead tired when we got home yesterday.
Looks like we'll have a fun season.

[Neil]

I would never allow a 2 year old partially trained dog run free. Whatever he might have been taught he is quickly forgetting. Get specfic advice from his trainer, but you are making a good many errors.

[SA Doc]

We work on basic obedience every night at home and he's got the whoa, here, etc down. I thought letting him get on some birds would be a good thing, even if I couldn't be watching every move. I did have a Garmin Alpha on him and knew where he was at all times. Is the general consensus that it is bad to let him loose to hunt on his own? Trainer is 6 hours away( Anderson Classic Gundogs) in North Texas.

[cjhills]

DON'T LET HIM SELF HUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cj

[Neil]

We work on basic obedience every night at home and he's got the whoa, here, etc down. I thought letting him get on some birds would be a good thing, even if I couldn't be watching every move. I did have a Garmin Alpha on him and knew where he was at all times. Is the general consensus that it is bad to let him loose to hunt on his own? Trainer is 6 hours away( Anderson Classic Gundogs) in North Texas.

Yes it is bad. Not the worst thing you could do, and is easily correctable. He is two now and needs to be under your control if you ever expect to succesfully hunt him. Think about it, did you expect him to stay on point for an hour or two? Nope, he was learning to knock them and go find some more. You were not involved and not on his mind, he as not hunting for you, but was self hunting.

[SA Doc]

Thanks. Good to know. I never even though about that. I just though birds= good. What about the covey of bobs that frequents the back yard?

Neil- looks like you have lots of field trial and bird dog experience. I'm new to the whole bird dog thing and was looking for a companion dog that I could take to the deer lease to hunt quail.I'm hoping the dog will train me. I got the trainer's name from a friend and bought the dog on trainer's advice. I attached parents pedigrees- Any experience with these lines? Not looking for a field trial dog, just a hunter and friend. I know breeding isn't everything, but can't hurt. I was able to find out a little about some of the bigger names using google.

[Hoosierpointer]

Nice looking Dog... Quail so sparse around me, might have my boys hunt sparrows..

[deseeker]

You have some very nice titled dogs in your pedigrees---there's a lot of bird ability in the past dogs.

[Neil]

Sorry, I just have my Kindle Fire with me and your attachments did not come up. As you say good pedigrees can't hurt, but training is equally important.

Please call your trainer and get specific advice.

I am a firm believer that a dog should be a companion first and foremost, and secondarily a hunter. You two can have all types of adventures other than hunting, but he most be supervised.

[blanked]

I have to disagree with some of the answers your getting. If the breeding is there your dogs natural ability is to hunt and point. You cannot teach this. As long as he will come when called let the dog go. Put a garmin astro on him so you know where he is at but let him learn to hunt and point without you interfering. Wild birds will teach him what he needs to know
Keep your mouth shut except for praise. Let him chase birds since this is his first season. It will build his desire to hunt and find birds. After a solid season of this and shooting birds over him then start the formal training.

Forgot to add work on getting him use to the shotgun blast before you shoot over him. Do that and again teach him to come when called. Bond with him. Other than that forget about obedience work in the field. Too much obedience will create a close working dog always looking at you foe directions. You want a pointing dog to range out and cover ground on his own
As long as he is holding birds for you until you get there he is not self hunting

[Neil]

I have to disagree with some of the answers your getting. If the breeding is there your dogs natural ability is to hunt and point. You cannot teach this. As long as he will come when called let the dog go. Put a garmin astro on him so you know where he is at but let him learn to hunt and point without you interfering. Wild birds will teach him what he needs to know
Keep your mouth shut except for praise. Let him chase birds since this is his first season. It will build his desire to hunt and find birds. After a solid season of this and shooting birds over him then start the formal training.

Forgot to add work on getting him use to the shotgun blast before you shoot over him. Do that and again teach him to come when called. Bond with him. Other than that forget about obedience work in the field. Too much obedience will create a close working dog always looking at you foe directions. You want a pointing dog to range out and cover ground on his own
As long as he is holding birds for you until you get there he is not self hunting

Did you bother to read that he is not hunting the dog, but allowing him to run free while he was involved in other activities? Without being insulting, I do not know how to respond.

[TXShooter]

I agree with being quiet and letting him hunt, but I would not let him run around by himself.

Wild birds will teach him but I wouldn't let them do it unless I was there with him.

[blanked]

i didnt get that impression that he purposely let the dog off on his own. he took the dog dove hunting. any pointer worth his salt isnt going to sit still dove hunting as a young dog. maybe when the dog is 6 years old .

[Neil]

We went down to the deer lease Saturday to do some work and saw 15-20 coveys of blues from the top drive. I did a little dove hunting at a tank and he went off in the brush and flushed one covey. He retrieved A few doves, but he'd rather be off hunting. Did not have time to force fetch him this year, but looks like will have to if want to use him on doves.
There's a resident covey of blues that hangs out near a feeder at camp and he followed them around for a couple of hours while I was working on my camper. Saw him point them a few times, but when they ran he followed. He was dead tired when we got home yesterday.
Looks like we'll have a fun season.

Read the last couple sentences of the first paragraph. The dog was encourge to self hunt.

[blanked]

boy did i miss that. i fouled up

[Neil]

boy did i miss that. i fouled up

That little oversight doe not even get you close to a foul up, I make bigger mistakes in eating breakfast.