Deer Question

averageguy
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Re: Deer Question

Post by averageguy » Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:22 am

Yes Bill, they are an excellent training aid. I trained my first hound without one but I was 19 at the time so considerable more fleet of foot than today. And I caught a lucky break with that dog one night while hunting in the summer. He bayed a doe who was squared off with him head to head striking with her front feet as she protected her fawn. I was able to get ahold of the dog and switch him. The Ecollars are a MUCH better approach to the common need for breaking dogs off non-target game. We must be ever vigilant in the US as there are many who seek to ban our productive use of the them.

cjhills
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Re: Deer Question

Post by cjhills » Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:03 am

Trekmor:
One other thing we have besides ecollars is plenty of deer and rabbits.

I don't fry young puppies. The ecollar is going to be a lifetime training tool and I have seen too many dogs that won't leave the handlers side when wearing one. my puppies wear ecollars starting very young. I think dogs learn very quickly who controls the collar. I want mine to know that and that I can reach out and touch them at any distance.

I think training beats forcing. If a older dog decides to chase a deer, it gets pretty high level jolts, especially if he puts his nose to the ground and starts trailing. After all Gsps are part hound.....Cj

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BuckeyeSteve
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Re: Deer Question

Post by BuckeyeSteve » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:23 pm

ezzy333 wrote:Low stimulations are used for training after the pup is conditioned. Avoidance or trash breaking is done on high whether the dog has had a collar on before or not but I usually just ignore the dog rather than aknowledge anything happened. And if the pup has never seen a collar before he has no idea you did it to him. Once he is collar conditioned he may make the association but I would still do it.

Ezzy
I'm with Ezzy 100%. It's best that he isn't collar conditioned. Once you condition him, he knows you're correcting him. You want him to think the deer shot a lightning bolt out of its "bleep" and nailed him. Turn it up to high or really near high....don't F around with a mid level stim... When he sees a deer, he'll probably freeze for a second. When the deer breaks, he'll break too. AS SOON as he takes off on the chase NAIL him. He probably won't do it again....at worst it may take one more chase down the road... and you'll have a deerproof dog. My Brittany is one year. I broke him on deer around 5 months. He barely looks at them anymore. If you collar condition him then do it....you risk losing him when he's not wearing the collar and knows you can't get him.
'

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CDN_Cocker
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Re: Deer Question

Post by CDN_Cocker » Tue Oct 16, 2018 12:18 pm

Trash breaking and collar conditioning are 2 separate things. If trash breaking just go ahead and stimulate him without saying anything. He'll associate the negative pressure with the deer. Collar conditioning is for using the collar as a positive means of keeping contact with the dog.
Cass
"If you train a young dog for momentum, precision will arrive. If you train for precision, demanding perfection, momentum will depart." - Rex Carr

cb750
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Re: Deer Question

Post by cb750 » Sat Oct 27, 2018 8:01 am

On this topic to a degree I'm using my dog to track wounded game. I would assume "Trash breaking" a dog off chasing deer using a collar is likely to cause more issues for me than it solves. However I don't know as I am new to mist of this and am seeking input.

averageguy
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Re: Deer Question

Post by averageguy » Sat Oct 27, 2018 12:15 pm

I also use my dog for tracking wounded/dead deer as needed. And that influences how I approach training my dogs to not pursue the healthy deer which are not leaving any scent/blood from wounds. I provided input in this thread as to what has worked well for me over multiple dogs, which were also trained and used for blood tracking recoveries when/as needed, (as well as upland birds, waterfowl and fur).

Image

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averageguy
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Re: Deer Question

Post by averageguy » Sun Oct 28, 2018 2:45 pm

Hey cb750, Check this out.

Got a call yesterday evening at 6. A Friend of mine runs a whitetail outfitting business an hour west of me and had a client put an arrow low through the guts of a nice buck at 4:30 pm. We laid plans for me to bring my dog over this morning. We arrived at a pasture edge of the woods at 8:30 am this morning, so the track was 16 hours old at that point. I met the hunter, he relayed the details and I gave him some instructions as well, and we headed into the woods. As we approached the area where the buck was standing when shot the afternoon before a healthy antlerless deer jumped out of its bed about 10 yards from us and bounded off.

Where I needed to start my dog on the track was right on top of where that antlerless deer had just jumped up and ran. My dog ignored that smoking hot scent and took the 16 hour old track when I pointed to the ground and instructed him to track. The dog tracked to a bluff overlooking a creek, went down the bank and continued tracking along the other side to the buck which was bedded still alive. Buck jumped up and things got pretty western for awhile. Dog got the buck bayed up 300 yards from where it was jumped and kept the buck busy in the thick cover baying at its head.

This highlights why I approach training my dog to not pursue live healthy deer (which have no puncture wounds putting out scent from the wound) in the manner that I do. It gets the point across to the dog while allowing me to get the dog going on tracking wounded deer with great enthusiasm, as both were aptly demonstrated this morning.

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cb750
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Re: Deer Question

Post by cb750 » Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:49 am

Nice!! That is exactly what I am hoping to have my pup accomplish.

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