Getting fed up with pen raised birds.

[jimbo&rooster]

Ive been working with my pup pretty hard over the last several monthss, and had him doing what i consider to be a good job for a 13mo pup using pigeons and launchers. he was pointing birds and holding them till I got there then he would go in for the flush and bust them, (im ok with that ill break him after his first season) Well, my new job hasnt left me with a ton of time to get him on birds and with deer season in full swing, ive left him home the last couple weeks.
However, i did get him out to a game preserve a couple weeks ago and he looked great. He was hunting good and pointing and holding his birds. the problem is that there was a ton of foxtail in the field and a few of the chuckar we were using were tunnleing through the grass and not wanting to fly. He managed to catch a few. Now, that said. he would hold point until I got there, so should I just be happy that he was pointing and holding his birds, and just get him on some wild birds? or should I be terribly concerned? There were some quail in the field that held good and flew good so he knows that hwe cant catchem all.

Deer season will be over this weekend so we will be back after wild birds here real soon.

whats ya'lls thoughts?
Jim

[snips]

No more pen birds til you steady him...Wild birds should be good for him

[Don]

Did you shoot any pigeons for him? No reason to believe he'll to be steady on preserve birds if he's not on pigeons. You have discovered the beauty of pigeons over game farm irds, pigeons don't run around on the ground!

[jimbo&rooster]

Did you shoot any pigeons for him? No reason to believe he'll to be steady on preserve birds if he's not on pigeons. You have discovered the beauty of pigeons over game farm irds, pigeons don't run around on the ground!

Yeah, I love working with pigeons but im not in a situation to keep them for long and in the cages I have they lose the ability to fly well pretty fast, so yeah, i shot several of them, though I did let about 2/3 of them fly off to get him used to me missing. HAHA. I had great luck with better flying birds at another preserve and he did a good job pointing and hOlding. These bird just werent flying.

Fortunately I am moving down to my wifes family farm this spring, so I intend to raise a few homers and put some johnny houses in the 100acres of CRP thats there.

I guess until then my guy will get a steady dose of wild birds.
Thanks folks
Jim.

[tommyboy72]

My Annie dog broke herself this year but I really like a dog who will flush the birds. It scares the sh!t out of me when a covey of 20 quail busts out right under my feet and the same goes for a big rooster. I find myself flinching for about the first second. When the dog flushes the bird, I know the bird is there but I am not surprised when the dogs are 10 or 15 yards out in front of me putting the birds up but to each his own. I would just be happy the dog is holding the birds till I get there. I think if you let the dog flush the birds you will put more birds in the bag than flushing them yourself. No matter what everyone on this site tells you we all want to shoot birds. We don't walk miles all over a field just to watch the dogs work. We want to bag the birds as well. I do love to watch my dogs work and hold point but I feel like I let the dogs down if I don't do my part. I am sure your dog will most likely break itself by the end of the season if not by the start of next season. Just have some fun and let the dog be a pup and enjoy it's first season and worry about what bothers YOU later. Good luck this season.

[jimbo&rooster]

My Annie dog broke herself this year but I really like a dog who will flush the birds. It scares the sh!t out of me when a covey of 20 quail busts out right under my feet and the same goes for a big rooster. I find myself flinching for about the first second. When the dog flushes the bird, I know the bird is there but I am not surprised when the dogs are 10 or 15 yards out in front of me putting the birds up but to each his own. I would just be happy the dog is holding the birds till I get there. I think if you let the dog flush the birds you will put more birds in the bag than flushing them yourself. No matter what everyone on this site tells you we all want to shoot birds. We don't walk miles all over a field just to watch the dogs work. We want to bag the birds as well. I do love to watch my dogs work and hold point but I feel like I let the dogs down if I don't do my part. I am sure your dog will most likely break itself by the end of the season if not by the start of next season. Just have some fun and let the dog be a pup and enjoy it's first season and worry about what bothers YOU later. Good luck this season.

Ive hunted over flushing dogs for the last 5-6yrs and I agre I dont like to step into that hornets nest either . my only concern is that I intend to run my pup in some HTs at some point and while I know that for his JH it wont make much difference I dont want this thing to bite me. My goal for now is to hunt his guts out this winter including a weeks in KS, my goal at this point is to make him a bird finding machine. ill iron out the details later. thanks
Jim

[Don]

My Annie dog broke herself this year but I really like a dog who will flush the birds. It scares the sh!t out of me when a covey of 20 quail busts out right under my feet and the same goes for a big rooster. I find myself flinching for about the first second. When the dog flushes the bird, I know the bird is there but I am not surprised when the dogs are 10 or 15 yards out in front of me putting the birds up but to each his own. I would just be happy the dog is holding the birds till I get there. I think if you let the dog flush the birds you will put more birds in the bag than flushing them yourself. No matter what everyone on this site tells you we all want to shoot birds. We don't walk miles all over a field just to watch the dogs work. We want to bag the birds as well. I do love to watch my dogs work and hold point but I feel like I let the dogs down if I don't do my part. I am sure your dog will most likely break itself by the end of the season if not by the start of next season. Just have some fun and let the dog be a pup and enjoy it's first season and worry about what bothers YOU later. Good luck this season.

That's funny. Quite a few years ago, I took mout a guy that was intrested in upland game. All he'd ever done was waterfowl. Got a dog on point and he went in to flush. About fourty Valley Quail erupted right in front of him! He just stood there with the dumbest look on his face I ever saw. I asked him what happened and he said, "I had no idea which one to shoot at"! Funniest thing I ever saw!