How to make Quebec grouse Flush !!!

[mobeasto123]

Hi there, I mostly hunt Ruffed grouse and Woodcocks .. But the problem is the ruffed grouse. I'll try to make it short, The problem isn't really the dog cause he point them and is really able to pin them down. The problem is I'm not able to flush them because they run everytime. When they move my dog move to poin them again and pin them again, He don't bump or flush them he makes it like a cat in hunt a mouse he really got the cat walk till he get on point again. When I go again In front of the dog they stand like statues and I'm able to move to about 5-10 to them and sometime closer And instead of flying they run like Usain bolt.. I tried to throw rocks or branches at them and sometime directly on them They are just stuck on the ground..

Any suggestion ???

David

[aulrich]

I am a noob, so I am just asking , but is this a situation for "flush on command".

But yea big bush ruffs seem to use thier feet more than thier wings, How was the hatch this year on your side of the country. In Northern Saskatchewan the hatch was good from what I saw during summer on vacation, but we started with so few birds from the previous bad years. Do you run into spruce grouse much, I live in fear of my pup catching one of those dumb birds.

[mobeasto123]

Maybe this would be a Flush on command situation.. But I don't know how to make it .. I know that when I say Ok to my dog he just go and would probably flush that bird..



The hatch seem to be good this year I seen a lot of covey with 5-6-7 birds at the end of the summer. Last year was a great year here.. But this year seem to be slow on start but I'm confident to have a great year... I could tell you that on my 3rd season behind a dog I think I saw 2-3 Spruce grouse And they run as fast as Ruffed grouse, but I don't want them, when I'm sure this is a spruce grouse I don't shoot

David

[DogNewbie]

Maybe this would be a Flush on command situation.. But I don't know how to make it .. I know that when I say Ok to my dog he just go and would probably flush that bird..



The hatch seem to be good this year I seen a lot of covey with 5-6-7 birds at the end of the summer. Last year was a great year here.. But this year seem to be slow on start but I'm confident to have a great year... I could tell you that on my 3rd season behind a dog I think I saw 2-3 Spruce grouse And they run as fast as Ruffed grouse, but I don't want them, when I'm sure this is a spruce grouse I don't shoot

David

If you are going the flush command direction (I've never trained this so take my advise carefully) I would think the training would start with stop to flush training. You can do that with launching birds before the dog scents them and giving the whoa command/forcing the dog to stop. Eventually, and fairly quickly I'd guess, the dog will associate the sound of the flush with stopping and then you can start working on the flush command. I would guess that some people would be concerned about a dog losing some of it's steadiness if you train it to flush for you, but I'm pretty sure most Euro dogs are trained to flush and I don't think they have much trouble with steadiness.

I can understand your frustration with grouse not flushing. I have had the same problem. If the woods are thin enough where you can move in quickly that helps, but when they are thick, it's tough to A) move quickly, and B) make sure you are in a position to shoot once the bird does flush. I think it's simply part of hunting grouse.

[Ken Lynch]

I once had a GSP that would flush on command. Only worked on this AFTER the dog understood find the bird and point until I released. At that point it becomes the same training used for flushing dogs where they hup (stop and sit) at the flush. The purests thinks a pointing dog should never be used to flush the bird. However, where there is a need (and many have been there)....