Grouse questions

[chevyman82181]

My Gsp is almost two years old. Holds point on pheasants good. These are not wild birds. They are state stocked. I have been out with him grouse hunting 5 times 4 with getting birds up. He seems like he try's to point to close to grouse and bump them. Today he had one he pinned down in a y off a tree. It was only five feet in front of him. Is there anything I can do as far as training.
Next question. I just got a beeper collar. He always would hunt away and I will call him back to hunt closer. Now that I got the collar should I just let the dog go and listen for the point?

[ruffbritt4]

Get him as much grouse exposure and let them teach him. My dog learned a lot from the grouse and he still has to learn. With the beeper, yes let him go and run. I asked about my brittany ranging too far awhile back, and I was told to let him hunt the way his instincts tell him to. I still dont like how he ranges but my dad always tells me to let him hunt. Have fun

[chevyman82181]

Where in pa you at? I'm in York.

[madmurph]

Grouse can be tricky for a pointing dog initially and it may take quite a bit of exposure for the dog to catch on. Let him run and bump the grouse. Do not shoot the birds that he bumps. After time and experience he will learn that he has to stop at first scent. Once the light bulb goes on, you will have a great time with him.

As far as the beeper question, it is a matter of preference. If you are comfortable letting him get out and cover more ground, so be it. Now that you have the beeper you will be able to locate him more easily when he goes on point. If you want to keep calling him back, continue doing so. Personally, I like a little bit bigger running dog and would let him run. The purpose of a pointing dog is to cover the ground so you don't have to.

[DonF]

I think that when it come's to getting a dog going on game birds after formal training, the same apply's to grouse as it does to all game birds, let the wild birds teach the dog the things we can't.

[chevyman82181]

Thanks for the info.

[Uplandish]

I wouldn't run him on stocked pheasants until he has grouse figured out. Let the grouse teach him every thing he needs to know about handling birds and he can fill in the gaps with stockers later. Stocked pheasants are hit and miss with their behavior, you get some roosters that will act like wild birds and some that will let the dog stand on them, and then you get the sick or wounded pheasants that your dog can catch. I also feel that depending on health and stress stockers put out a wide variety of scent cones varying from way too much to hardly any at all, factor in that at many pheasant release sites there is way too much scent pollution from all the hunter and dog traffic, it can make things very complicated for a young dog that just needs to get some bird scent in its face.

Logistically speaking its probably not an option for you, but wild pheasants are a little more predictable in their actions than pen raised birds and in my opinion you can run a young dog on wild pheasants and grouse and not suffer as many set backs as you could with pen raised pheasants.

[chevyman82181]

So upland are you saying not to use anything but wild for training? No chukars or pigeons ? Wild pheasant are not in the budget this year.

[Bounty_Hunter]

Where in pa you at? I'm in York.

I also hunt PA for pheasant and grouse and to be honest it's hard to find grouse to give my britt exposure. last season he did point one good but he was also close and the bird flushed as I made my way to him. It did present a shot but I was not prepared to shoot. He also busted 2 other birds last year. Because of the poor #s in my area I hunt mostly pheasant and we get some good action. I would like to pursue more grouse though and will be trying some new areas during this late season.

[Uplandish]

So upland are you saying not to use anything but wild for training? No chukars or pigeons ? Wild pheasant are not in the budget this year.

In training situations use what you have.

But during hunting season (when you don't know where the bird is planted) stay away from the pheasant release sites until your dog has grouse figured out.