Gun Dog Forum

With the recent discussion about how impossible it is to have a dog point birds 250+ yards away and still have birds there when you arrive. This is not unique to us, this happens more often than it does not happen. Reggie pointed these birds about 275 yards in front of us, I strolled over and missed two easy shots. This happens all the time. Except the missing of shots, I usually kill em!

And these are late season birds on public land.


https://vimeo.com/199262785

Nice video!

Having dogs on point at several hundred yards is not unusual for many of us. Our dogs will stand birds for as long as it takes for us to get there. Birds like BW quail, Sharptail, PC will stay put a long time if the dog handles them well. Pheasants and some of the desert quail will run off, but the dogs learn to relocate them.

Here is a long range Sharptail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hSGO5L1uTk&t=81s

This was quail in Tx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbwn1IBo0Y&t=21s

Big wheels in a dog may be an acquired taste, but I love it.

I never minded the dog's getting out several hundred yards. My dog's have always held them as long as they would hold. Holding the birds seem's to me more a matter of how dense the cover is.

Elkhunter wrote:With the recent discussion about how impossible it is to have a dog point birds 250+ yards away and still have birds there when you arrive. This is not unique to us, this happens more often than it does not happen. Reggie pointed these birds about 275 yards in front of us, I strolled over and missed two easy shots. This happens all the time. Except the missing of shots, I usually kill em!

And these are late season birds on public land.


https://vimeo.com/199262785

It's a darn good thing they don't scrutinize our shooting ability as much as we do their bird handling. If I was a dog, I sure wouldn't want to run all over creation with sore paws in the freezing cold if my partner was as talented as me with a shotgun. Great video.

I think, and others may have thought this before, that the disdain for big running dogs (or at least complaints) comes from people who hunt smaller parcels of land. I know most grouse and pheasant areas I hunt in MN are 600 acres and smaller. Rather than acknowledge that their small parcel dog isn't suitable for big country, they denounce those big running dogs.

Personally I'd hunt over both!

I would guess a point at 275 yrds on open ground would look similar to what I look at about 55-60 yrds . I must be honest I work my dog how he works good for us as a team here in upstate NY~but~ I really enjoy watching your prairie dogs running their hearts out. I have only seen it on TV or in video's you post but it still does it for me. It just wouldn't work for me here in the east if we were pushing a 2 acre piece. I really enjoy watching these little athletes run .

I have big running dogs. Distance is one thing and time to close the distance is another.

My dog may be on point 500 - 800 yards out on flat rocky terrain or on point 150 yards out; but I need to find a way down, up or over a set of cliffs.

I've had them hold birds close to 25 minutes.

These same dogs hunt Ruff Grouse in the timber and tighten right up. However I do hunt more than 100 days every year in at least 6 states. My dogs have the time to figure it out.

Yes I do think my GSP's are missing birds really close in at times; but that's when my ACD takes over. When she comes off my heals and starts tracking watch out!

DonF wrote:I never minded the dog's getting out several hundred yards. My dog's have always held them as long as they would hold. Holding the birds seem's to me more a matter of how dense the cover is.

I agree. They also seem to be a bit jumpy in the wind.

Yer field trailers look much like my bootlickers
Shooting always suspect

Man, I've replayed that video a gazillion times and you miss every time!!

Yah, hunting with dogs that cover some country where we go seems to really help - the birds can be far between. It's really a pretty chill deal - just stroll along, chit chat, check the tracker every once in a while to see if the dog is moving, chit n chat some more, check the tracker, go find the dog on point, work birds, repeat. Here is a video I have posted part of before but thought I'd post the few minutes prior to finding the dog on point. I had to edit out some conversation since we were chatting about hunting locations. Pretty obvious none of us had a clue where my dog was when we're strolling along, hadn't seen her for 10 minutes probably but she was in telemetry range so all was good, I knew she was hunting and would stand birds till we found her. She is full sister to Reggie in the first video posted.
http://www.vimeo.com/199614498

No chit chat
Breathe, breathe, breathe, repeat

Been there!! I have whittled down hunting partners to only those I can keep up with and still talk. There's a few of your fellow Utahns that turn my day into more of a survival challenge than a bird hunt - screw the dog just breathe dammit!!

DGFavor wrote: Been there!! I have whittled down hunting partners to only those I can keep up with and still talk. There's a few of your fellow Utahns that turn my day into more of a survival challenge than a bird hunt - screw the dog just breathe dammit!!

I am just short and slow!

There is one Utahn in particular that made me feel like I was training for the Navy Seals. I told him never again will I hunt like that! Now I set the pace..