GSP hunting close

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myersc
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GSP hunting close

Post by myersc » Wed Nov 05, 2014 6:12 pm

Hi, I have a two year old GSP and this is her first year out pheasant hunting. For the most part she is doing what I want her to do but at times she ranges too far. She's collar trained and I typically have no problem recalling her. Is there something I can do with her to get her to hunt close to me when I want her to?

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DonF
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by DonF » Wed Nov 05, 2014 7:22 pm

How close do you want her?

Pepper
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by Pepper » Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:26 pm

myersc wrote:Hi, I have a two year old GSP and this is her first year out pheasant hunting. For the most part she is doing what I want her to do but at times she ranges too far. She's collar trained and I typically have no problem recalling her. Is there something I can do with her to get her to hunt close to me when I want her to?
Yes there is...Trust your dog and be ready for the point. :)

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bonasa
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by bonasa » Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:53 pm

For the rest of the season whenever you approach a point roll your whistle like a woodcock flushing or whistle like a bobwhite. During spring training when you want your dog to hunt close with intensity and bird finding determination, roll your whistle like a flushing woodcock or whistle like a bobwhite, make sure there is a bird around when you do it though. Next season your dog will hunt close on this "command" and have faith that you know there are birds around.

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Sharon
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by Sharon » Thu Nov 06, 2014 10:01 pm

???? Then I'd be finding the birds and calling the dog , instead of the other way around. :) I'll stick to letting the dog range out and find the birds.

Pepper
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by Pepper » Thu Nov 06, 2014 10:06 pm

Understand that when you GSP gets scent of birds, they can go stupid, meaning they have a one track mind. I found this out today. Blowing my whistle or calling her name didn't mean nothing to her. I have not e-collar her to condition yet, but I do believe that I must keep a level head and not panic. Let the dog stretch their legs. She did and lock on point about 300 yards from me. I was dumb founded and realize to put away the fears I might have and just let her do her thing. Not bad for a 5 month old. I will have to invest in a GPS collar though. The owner was very please and told me that her mother did the same thing. Much different than a flushing retriever for sure. :)

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bonasa
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by bonasa » Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:12 am

Sharon wrote:???? Then I'd be finding the birds and calling the dog , instead of the other way around. :) I'll stick to letting the dog range out and find the birds.
Agreed, a dog should find its own bird. The technique I described is just another way to handle a dog in the field, and the training it takes to get them there, without added pressure.

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ezzy333
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by ezzy333 » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:06 am

bonasa wrote:
Sharon wrote:???? Then I'd be finding the birds and calling the dog , instead of the other way around. :) I'll stick to letting the dog range out and find the birds.
Agreed, a dog should find its own bird. The technique I described is just another way to handle a dog in the field, and the training it takes to get them there, without added pressure.
Why do we think we should put an artificial distance on a dog that is much more capable of knowing where it will find birds than we are? And also why are we so reluctant to use pressure when the dog has to learn how to handle pressure? That is what we need to be training along with other refinements that we like while the dog is hunting.

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PntrRookie
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by PntrRookie » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:29 am

Back to the OP...

Get your pup whoa broke, let her find the birds, make her stand them (whoa broke) and ENJOY the walk to her. Obviously there is a comfort level we ALL have when running dogs. Let her roll and let her find birds. When her manners around birds are right...you will LOVE her range!

2 yrs old - she is finding her own range/comfort level - get her whoa broke (did I say that already ;)) and enjoy the next 8 years!

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DonF
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by DonF » Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:51 pm

ezzy333 wrote:
bonasa wrote:
Sharon wrote:???? Then I'd be finding the birds and calling the dog , instead of the other way around. :) I'll stick to letting the dog range out and find the birds.
Agreed, a dog should find its own bird. The technique I described is just another way to handle a dog in the field, and the training it takes to get them there, without added pressure.
Why do we think we should put an artificial distance on a dog that is much more capable of knowing where it will find birds than we are? And also why are we so reluctant to use pressure when the dog has to learn how to handle pressure? That is what we need to be training along with other refinements that we like while the dog is hunting.
The bob white whistle is a super trick for bringing back your dog in a nstra trial to where your sure a bird is. I wouldn't use it on wild bird unless your absolutely sure the bird is there, hard to do.

Putting an artificial distance on the dog is good in training if, you control the situation. Get your dog on point and relocate it right into the bird you know is there but, don't allow it to get less than 10-15 ft from the bird and pop out the bird. The dog must relocate into the bird and you must pop it out at the right time. The advantage is the dog learn's it may get closer but only so close. Switching to wild birds, the exercise will be retaught by the wild bird but, the dog understand's what just happened, got closer than the bird cared for. A plus is that the dog start's pointing birds closer to better actually hold the bird and the dog much better locates the bird for the handler.

In training, everything is pretty much artificial. We set up situations to approximate what is going to happen in the field on wild birds. Once you get onto wild birds, there will be a few mess up's but the dog has been taught how to avoid them. To finish that off, the wild bird is suddenly very helpful. In fact you cannot do it even with pen raised birds. Problem being they don't act anything like a wild bird.

aulrich
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by aulrich » Fri Nov 07, 2014 1:49 pm

Would the OP be talking more of adjusting range to cover conditions. A 300 yard cast is fine in the knee high cover of grass lands, less than optimal in cat tails and pretty much useless in the grouse woods I hunt.

There are also time you are stuck working cover in the wrong direction.

myersc
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by myersc » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:23 pm

Thanks for all the information. Much appreciated. As I'm a new bird hunter and new to a bird dog, I'm not comfortable how far she ranges at times. I'm trying to find the balance of let her doing what she's bred to do and at the same time not busting birds. If I'm hunting a wind row and if she's tracking a pheasant, she gets out too far and then pushes the bird out the end of the windrow and I'm too far back that I don' have a shot. I had her in cattails the other day and there was so much scent in there and she went all over the place. The birds she has pointed have been birds in tall grass that will hold and she is about 3 feet from them.

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Sharon
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Re: GSP hunting close

Post by Sharon » Fri Nov 07, 2014 10:06 pm

" I have a two year old GSP and this is her first year out pheasant hunting." quote

They need lots of experience on how wild birds behave. Pheasants are particularly a challenge. Dogs need years to get good at this. She's doing fine for her age. Just give it time.

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