Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

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SouthernTied
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Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by SouthernTied » Thu Jan 19, 2017 12:52 am

So i planned to book a trip with a guide down in my area. I asked him what breed we would be hunting over if i chose not to take my pointer(just in case) and he runs chesapeake bay retrievers. Says they're great flushing dogs.

Timewise65
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by Timewise65 » Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:30 am

Most well trained retrievers are great flushing dogs if their training included work on flushing! I have never hunted over flushing Chessie's but my Golden's work very well as flushing dogs....good noses, obedient, and they always retrieve to hand! The big difference with most retrievers trained for flushing, is we do not allow them to range beyond 40 yds. which in some situations limits the number of birds. But when a retriever locks on a bird, they hold until released to flush...usually by touching them or a command OK!

But honestly, if I were hiring someone to hunt, I would prefer they pointers other typical upland game dogs.....

reba
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by reba » Sat Jan 21, 2017 10:27 am

I have a Australian Cattle Dog that is one of the best flushing and retrieving dogs alive. She is pure heck in a quail patch. She also loves to chase down cripples. She does not care if the birds are chukar or sage grouse or what ever. Not much style, just hard charging.

Some dogs hunt and other don't.

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tekoa
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by tekoa » Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:54 pm

Planned a Pheasant hunt Idaho's Magic Valley with a couple of buddies. We all have pointing dogs. Took my setter to a friends beach house the week before the hunt and he tore up his pads on barnacles. Decided to take my daughters Chessie on the hunt as a retriever. First day of hunt went well. Chessie stayed at my side until released and as usual.,brought back dead birds, wounded birds, live birds and some carrion, some cattails and tree limbs that offended her in some way.

One of our party sprained an ankle and decided to head home. The other buddies dog cut himself pretty badly on barbed wire and they headed for the vet.

Left alone in Pheasant country with a Chessie, it seemed like the best thing to do was to go hunting. I turned her loose to see if she would hunt and flush. Expectations were low because she had never hunted anything by scent. First half hour she put up 10 Pheasant, 12 Huns and a number of birds I did not recognize. I shot a limit and she retrieved them all and a live unshot Rooster that tried to outrun her.

I'll have to admit that she was completely out of control and the hunt was more of a melee than a controlled event, but it certainly demonstrated that Chessies can hunt upland birds with nose, stamina, enthusiasm and determination. Since then she learned sit to flush and a little quartering, by next season she'll be ready hunt upland with a bit of style and control.

I'm not going to trade in my setter for a Chessie, but I look forward to tagging along when my daughter hunts her Chessie. Love watch her aggressive hunting style...........

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RoostersMom
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by RoostersMom » Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:52 pm

Both of our Chessies are great upland flushers - and the older one that has passed, well she would point birds. The only pointing chessie I've known. And I don't mean a flash point, I mean a walk past her and flush the bird point. Not taught, but learned from hunting with our Pointers. She was one heck of a dog....with one heck of an attitude!

SouthernTied
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by SouthernTied » Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:42 am

RoostersMom wrote:Both of our Chessies are great upland flushers - and the older one that has passed, well she would point birds. The only pointing chessie I've known. And I don't mean a flash point, I mean a walk past her and flush the bird point. Not taught, but learned from hunting with our Pointers. She was one heck of a dog....with one heck of an attitude!

Kind of funny but i have a 5mo chocolate lab. He constantly comes along when i hunt my pointer. Now he will hold point and flush to an extent. Whatever the pointer does he will follow quick in tow

JONOV
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Re: Guided pheasant quail hunt oddity...

Post by JONOV » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:44 am

Every chessie I've met had pretty incredible prey drive. There is no reason to think that it couldn't be channeled into upland flushing performance. I think that's part of the reason that labs eclipsed them in popularity in general, they are hard charging, and often hardheaded dogs, that require more effort on the part of the owner.

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