Gun Dog Forum

I have a 10 Month old GSP. She is pointing pigeons and quail in a laucher well. I take here out to work some wild quail and she is tripping all over them. The birds are flushing before she has a chance to lock up. She is doing this on both large covey and sigles after the flush. I think she will eventually learn to lock up sooner, but wanted to check to see if anyone had some advice for a newbie. I am lucky enough to have some wild birds close. She has done this twice now.
I have a few pigeons left and a remote laucher as far as equipment.

Should I go back to the pigeon/launcher game? Should I jut keep letting her bust the wild birds? Should I put her on the 30 ft check cord on the wild birds? I am thinking she will figure this game out. Granted both times out she has gotten real fired with all the smells in the field. She found a bobcat and many deer. She is haveing fun and working hard....I am just not sure she is getting the game yet.

Thanks in Advance for any Advice.

Keep running her on the quail, she will figure it out.

Are you sure she is pointing birds in the launcher -- or is she pointing the launcher itself ?
Take her out with an empty launcher and see if she points it or not.

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Put some birds in the launcher and launch them before she has a chance to point. Won't take long and she''l point before you get the bird out. Wild birds will not co-operate with you. But you can keep running her on wild birds and sooner or later she will probably figure it out. The problem for me is it will probably be later and you cannot work her into known birds, takes you out of it. Using the launcher you control the program, not a bird that is not gonna co-operate with you.

"Both times ," She needs more exposure to figure out how to handle them. I'd take advantage of the wild birds over the launchers and pigeons any day if I were in your situation.

have you let her chase them after launching, or the wild birds she busts? Let her get it out of her system and realize she cannot catch a bird without you. she should sart to point. try some stop to flush drills with the launcher down wind.

Thanks for all the comments. Yes I have let her chase on both the launcher and the wild birds.

I really think she is pointing birds and not the launcher. I have planted birds without the launcher and she points them. She is also pointing far enough way that she could not see launcher. I have not tried and empty launcher though. My gut tells me she just doesn't know how close she can get to wild birds. These wild quail are not holding well and they flush from about 15-20 yards away. Even the singles after a the flush. I went out yesterday evening and only had 30 min. We couldn't find the quail, but she did seem much less interested in the deer and rabbits. Hopefully we can find them tonight....We will keep practicing and hopefully we can get this figured out.

Thanks for all the help

mmcspadden wrote:I really think she is pointing birds and not the launcher. I have planted birds without the launcher and she points them. She is also pointing far enough way that she could not see launcher. I have not tried and empty launcher though. My gut tells me she just doesn't know how close she can get to wild birds. These wild quail are not holding well and they flush from about 15-20 yards away. Even the singles after a the flush. I went out yesterday evening and only had 30 min. We couldn't find the quail, but she did seem much less interested in the deer and rabbits. Hopefully we can find them tonight....We will keep practicing and hopefully we can get this figured out.

Thanks for all the help

If you want to hunt pigeons I would keep running her on pigeons, if you want to hunt quail I would keep exposing her to quail.

Also pay attention to the wind..if you see where the singles land, circle around and bring her in cross wind to that area. You'll know when she hits the scent.

Elkhunter wrote:

mmcspadden wrote:I really think she is pointing birds and not the launcher. I have planted birds without the launcher and she points them. She is also pointing far enough way that she could not see launcher. I have not tried and empty launcher though. My gut tells me she just doesn't know how close she can get to wild birds. These wild quail are not holding well and they flush from about 15-20 yards away. Even the singles after a the flush. I went out yesterday evening and only had 30 min. We couldn't find the quail, but she did seem much less interested in the deer and rabbits. Hopefully we can find them tonight....We will keep practicing and hopefully we can get this figured out.

Thanks for all the help

If you want to hunt pigeons I would keep running her on pigeons, if you want to hunt quail I would keep exposing her to quail.

It won't matter what you use for training, pigeons or quail. they whey point birds and the only problem you can have is if the dog learns that you use a certain type of bird for training only and you never shoot one they can get bored and not point them intently. But if you treat your training birds the same as your game birds they will all be the same to the dog. They are all game if you shoot one once in a while.

Here is my pup Henly on launcher. Now that I am looking at she is crowding a bit.

http://youtu.be/ellkJZZe7E4

Elkhunter wrote:Keep running her on the quail, she will figure it out.

x2 (Don't shoot anything she doesn't point.)

ezzy333 wrote:

Elkhunter wrote:

mmcspadden wrote:I really think she is pointing birds and not the launcher. I have planted birds without the launcher and she points them. She is also pointing far enough way that she could not see launcher. I have not tried and empty launcher though. My gut tells me she just doesn't know how close she can get to wild birds. These wild quail are not holding well and they flush from about 15-20 yards away. Even the singles after a the flush. I went out yesterday evening and only had 30 min. We couldn't find the quail, but she did seem much less interested in the deer and rabbits. Hopefully we can find them tonight....We will keep practicing and hopefully we can get this figured out.

Thanks for all the help

If you want to hunt pigeons I would keep running her on pigeons, if you want to hunt quail I would keep exposing her to quail.

It won't matter what you use for training, pigeons or quail. they whey point birds and the only problem you can have is if the dog learns that you use a certain type of bird for training only and you never shoot one they can get bored and not point them intently. But if you treat your training birds the same as your game birds they will all be the same to the dog. They are all game if you shoot one once in a while.

A pigeon in a trap will not act like a wild quail. If you want your dog to learn how to point wild quail you run your dog on wild quail. His dog is pointing pigeons in a trap, what is to gain by continuing to point pigeons in a trap? Nothing IMO. So he knows the dog will point a bird, and he as access to wild birds. The best way to get the dog to learn how to handle and point wild birds is to run him on wild birds. I had a friend that had a dog that was one point away from being an FC in AKC. That dog could not point a wild bird to save its life, because all it ever saw was pigeons/pen raised birds. Exposure, exposure and more exposure.

Can't argue with the exposure thing as I think it is always good but good dogs do not need near as much exposure as we try to make out I have found. One of the best dogs we ever had was a show dog that was never off leash till it was 3 1/2 years old. I brought it home and by the second trip to the field it was my kids number one dog out of the 20 or thirty we had in the kennel. I am not advocating that is the way it should happen but there have way too many times I found similar situations for it to be considered a real rarity. Know where and how to find birds is best taught by doing just that. Teaching a dog how we want it to act after finding a bird is best taught with a pigeon and a launcher when used properly. So it depends what you are teaching as what and where you use to produce the dog you want to take to the field with you.

Ezzy

mmcspadden wrote:I really think she is pointing birds and not the launcher. I have planted birds without the launcher and she points them. She is also pointing far enough way that she could not see launcher. I have not tried and empty launcher though.
Thanks for all the help

The only way you will know is to put out an empty launcher and see (let us know what happens). Dogs don't have to see the launcher -- they can smell them.

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Went out last night, but couldn't find the birds. I hope they are still around!!! She has learned not to chase deer and rabbits. I will keep trying. Wild birds are so much fun. Man...Just nothing like the sound of a covey busting! I have a few other places to try. The season here in Texas opens Oct. 25th we are heading down to south Texas to find some bird. I also have a trip planned to Kansas this year. My goal this year is to get Henly on as many birds as possible and try a few hunt test. I am thankful for this forum and all the the folks willing to help a newbie.
I am still looking for some folks around Austin to train with. PM me if anyone has interest.

How far south in TX are you going? I live in Harlingen. Let me know if you want to meet up and work the dogs.