Opening Day Concerns

[NEhomer]

First of all, My wonderful great aunt and Godmother mercifully passed away at 90+ years old like 6 weeks ago and was cremated. Just found out that they have the funeral scheduled for this Saturday @ 11:00a.m. on the opening day of bird season! Cripes......double Cripes.....I've been waiting for this Saturday all year.

Maybe that's not the worst thing as I was mulling over the idea of opening morning with other hunters and dogs with my pup being just 10 1/2 months. Perhaps going out in the afternoon will give us the woods more to ourselves even if finding birds will be more difficult. I'm trying to look at the bright side. We mostly hunt stocked pheasants on our club lands.

Here's my real concern though. I'm feeling as though I failed to do enough Woah and steadying work this summer. On my own property, we have a great presence of woodcock this year and Whip finds them and points them for a long time. The problem is as I near, he will invariably break point and rush in for the flush. My "whoas" aren't being respected but alas, the season's upon us.

You folks who hunt the big fields play a different game than those of us in the New England woods. The cover is so thick that you have to move from opening to opening through the thick stuff quickly because if a bird flushes while you're bent over working your way through the bushes, you'll get no shot.

Now Whip is very staunch prior to my arrival and will lock up for a full 5-10 minutes so I'm wondering just how to proceed. It's his first year so I'm ok with being patient. I'll be able to put a better training plan in place next summer as I learn his tendencies. He's very birdy, couldn't care less about gunfire and seems to wait for me.

.....i'm just not sure of what to do about him breaking point and how much bad will have to be undone if I shoot a bird as long as he's waited for me long enough. I just want a hunting buddy so if he's smart enough to connect the gun with getting the bird, I'm not as concerned but if it's gonna lead to him simply bumping and flushing birds, I'll need to re-think it.

[Neil]

You answered the question, circle the pointing dog, trying to stay in enough of an opening for a shot. There are thousands of grouse taken with dogs no better trained.

You can continue to work on staunch in the yard before and after the hunt, just go easy and don't try to make up for lost time. I would work on recall even more than staunch, now that I think about it.

My concern is grouse will not hold as well as woodcock, and he will likely knock some lay birds when he breaks. But like you say he is young and there is next year.

[NEhomer]

Thanks Neil.

This was always gonna be an easy going first year but at the same time, I don't want to make any permanent mistakes.

This pup at 4 or 5 months was ridiculously well behaved...never saw any dog like him. As he's matured, however, we're now out a few pairs of shoes, a ball cap or two and recently a couple of belt loops off of my jeans. He's definitely becoming more independent.

I'm going to continue to work on whoa and I'll run him with a check cord this year so I can get to him and hold him up staunch while I'm close. It's been terrific having the Alpha 100 collar and letting him chase wild birds all day long on our own property. They're likely teaching him more than I know....so far he hasn't come home with one so I don't believe he's caught any. He was on point for a full 10 minutes last week at the back of the property. I knew it had to be a game bird so I went out to him. Sure enough, he then pushed up a woodcock.

....to call me excited is a gross understatement!

[bonasa]

As a gundog the best tool is a shotgun. No need to whoa, when he points and stands to the flush, you knock them down.

[Tooling]

I didn't/haven't done this w/my dog & I can't remember where I heard it but I have heard somewhere of somebody teaching their dog whoa at the close of the shotgun (break action) as well as the shouldering of the shotgun.

Your dog is at the right age to consider this as just another mental block for the dog to overcome before breaking.

Seems brilliant to me

[bonasa]

Your dog is at the right age to consider this as just another mental block for the dog to overcome before breaking.

Seems brilliant to me

Does OP want to break the dog? Or just have a staunch pointer until the flush. Agreed, should he only shoot points this year , next summer that dog would break like an egg.

[Tooling]

oops..poor choice of words..meant before the dog breaks point..he could start introducing the expectation to stand and begin to associate whoa when the gun comes up and set the dog up for next yr. when training becomes formalized.

[NEhomer]

Well one year ago I had just put down my wonderful Brittany, Lucy. It wasn't until later in the fall that I even began to consider a llewellin setter. It's almost literally a dream come true that I now have a new hunting buddy.

Whip's first hunt was remarkable. He handled like an adult and worked all the cover perfectly, quartering between me and my buddy. Never had to call him back or hack him around. We had to go in the afternoon to my stocked club that got hit hard all morning but still managed to find a few birds. Whip bumped the first one from upwind while running past it so my buddy Phil shot it.

Then the dog made a solid point on the corner of some cover. Me on one side, Phil on the other and Whip in between us. We just stood there enjoying the moment for a full minute. Whip's intensity made it obvious that it was a bird. The bird was 6 ft in front of me and when I stepped forward, he ran. Whip broke and chased him up and Boom, his first bird was in the bag.

[Tooling]

That is fantastic - good for you!

That first bird is something very special & having a young pup help heal a loss from the past like that is nothing less than a gift from the almighty himself.

Congratulations

[Sharon]

That is a great picture. Should go on a magazine cover.

[NEhomer]

Thanks you guys. It was a terrific first outing and it got my final concerns out of the way.

1) Dog held point nicely
2) Ignored the one other dog we encountered.
3) No gun shyness
4) Not hardmouthed
5) Perfect range out to about 80yds and circling back.

I'm gonna take him to a CT WMA this afternoon. It gets hit pretty hard on the weekend so who knows if we'll find birds but it'll be a nice afternoon anyway.

@Sharon....first pic is just from my cell phone. My photographer wife took the second.

[fishvik]

NE, That's a great looking setter. A setter on point is one of greatest visions in bird hunting.