Birds and their scent ?

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K9luke
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Birds and their scent ?

Post by K9luke » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:34 pm

My oldest dog Maggie does a great job hunting upland birds and retrieving waterfowl, I couldn't ask for a better dog. One thing I have noticed over the 7.5 years I have been hunting her is that she allways points very close to pheasants.
Grouse, woodcock, chukar and quail she will point from a distance (sometimes 20 ft or so) but it seems like she has to be right on top (within 5-6 ft.) of a pheasant before she will lock up on them.
The chukar, quail and pheasants we hunt are stocked birds.
I was just curious as to what opinion the Pro's might have on this.
Thank you in advance.

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birddog1968
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by birddog1968 » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:44 pm

Take her wild phez hunting, she will change her tune :wink:

Dogs learn they can crowd birds on a preserve, why she's pointing Phez so close is anybodies guess, maybe she likes that cackle and flush in the face like I do :lol:
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Crashola
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by Crashola » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:39 pm

That's an interesting question. I've always wondered if certain birds put off more scent than others. I swear Huns must stink to high heaven because my dog regularly points them at very long distances.

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tommyboy72
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by tommyboy72 » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:04 am

I read a research article not a hunting article awhile back that stated that different birds do give off different amounts of scent and even different age birds give off different amounts of scent. It stated that the blue or scaled quail, whatever name you have for it, gives off the least amount of scent of any upland bird. It went on to state that juvenile birds give off even less scent than adult birds so I am going to go out on a limb and state that juvenile blue or scaled quail probably give off the least amount of scent of any upland bird. I second the wild pheasant hunting with your dog. My young dog will point quail up close but usually points pheasant from a farther distance. Out here it probably has to do with the dry scenting conditions we have and the fact that the quail we have give off less scent than the pheasant we hunt. I hunt all wild birds and hunt pheasant, bobwhite and scaled or blue quail.

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GUNDOGS
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by GUNDOGS » Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:40 pm

I have always believed ground conditions of the birds play a role in the scent and we have some hunting partners that hunt ptarmigan and swear they are the strongest smellin bird but absolutely the toughest to bag!!...ruth
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orbirdhunter
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by orbirdhunter » Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:32 pm

I think that the first thing we need to remember is that we really don't know when the dog actually scents the bird, there could be a big difference between when they actually scent the bird and when they point the bird. how long the bird has been in one spot and if its a single bird or a covey of birds plays a role. weather, wind, humidity etc all matter also.

I have found that most dogs crowd preserve birds quite a bit, i don't know if its because of the scent or if they just learn that they can get close without the bird moving out......
I know that a seasoned wild bird hunting dog will often times point at pretty long range, especially on bigger coveying birds like huns and chukars. Its fairly common for my dog to lock up at 40-50yds from a covey of huns or chukar. I would say that 20yds is average on a pheasant and maybe 10yds on quail on average....i often wonder on quail if the dog has a hard time determining between the freshest scent and little older scent as often times the quail are always in the same general area's day after day.

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northern cajun
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Re: Birds and their scent ?

Post by northern cajun » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:08 pm

Just browsed this post there seems to be a correlation between size of bird and pointing distance (a flock of huns or chucker would have more surface area than a single rooster etc) don't know if this is close but just throwing it out there.
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