Hunting range for pointer?

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Jstas
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Hunting range for pointer?

Post by Jstas » Tue Jan 05, 2016 8:46 am

Have 2 year old pudelpointer with superb hunting drive. Havent been able to put the necessary time in with him that I feel I should have in training part of that is due to where I live in Long Island Ny. Very populated- lack of places to shoot and not much public land.Had a lab years back that was flushing dog and trained with checkcord to always stay in range.This dog is a pointer and my question is how far should he range and hold on point?

Trekmoor
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by Trekmoor » Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:46 am

The best answer to this is not a very informative one and it comes as a question ......"How long should a piece of string be ?"

Decide what kind of hunting you will be doing and over what kind of ground and then train the dog accordingly but you will find the dog has it's own ideas anyway !

Bill T.
The older I get, the better I was !

Neil
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by Neil » Tue Jan 05, 2016 10:33 am

It pains me to say this, but train him the same way you did the Lab. Get a solid recall on him, making him come all the way to you, then you can hunt him most anywhere. You are going to miss a lot of birds and annoy the dog, but it will work.

Oh, Treekmore is right.

RayGubernat
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by RayGubernat » Tue Jan 05, 2016 3:04 pm

You can condition the dog to hunt however you like and it will do that...more or less. As neil said, a solid recall and when the dog gets out as far as you want...call it in. Another thing you can do, which might be more useful in some situations it teach the dog to "bend " or turn on command. When the dog gets out to where you want it not to venture farther away, issue the appropriate turn command and have the dog cross in front of you. you can condition the dog to work back and forth in front of you which can actually be quite effective.

One thing I must tell you, for your consideration. A pointing dog's job is to find birds...AND ...to point and hold them for you until you get there. If the dog is 20, or 50 or 200 yards in front of you and it points and holds the bird until you get there...what does it really matter how far away the dog is?

It comes down to a question of trust. Do you trust the dog and its training or not? If the dog is not trustworthy, it has not been adequately trained. if it is trustworthy, and if it , in turn, has learned to trust that you will get there and kill the bird for him, it will stand there for as long as it takes for you to get there.

The trust does not happen overnight. It will take some time and it is a fair bet that you will gradually let your dog stretch out in more open cover because it will find more birds that way.

Pointing dogs do it differently than flushers. Not better, not worse...just different. You will see. You might grow to like it just as much, maybe even more.

One of the greatest thrills in the world of upland game is to find your dog on point...locked up tighter than a tick...just waiting for YOU. You go over that hill or break out of the thicket to see your dog pointing.

But that cannot happen if the dog is never allowed to get out of your sight. There is an uneasy feeling when a dog goes over the hill or disappears into a thicket. But when you top that rise or come out on the back side of that thicketand the dog has a bird nailed down... that feeling of unease turns to one of pure joy.

Enjoy.

RayG

polmaise
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by polmaise » Tue Jan 05, 2016 3:27 pm

Trekmoor wrote:The best answer to this is not a very informative one and it comes as a question ......"How long should a piece of string be ?"

Decide what kind of hunting you will be doing and over what kind of ground and then train the dog accordingly but you will find the dog has it's own ideas anyway !

Bill T.
:lol: :wink:
+1

Jstas
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by Jstas » Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:23 pm

K Gotcha have work to do.My fault really gota make the time.I lose sight of him at times and hes on point somewhere Im guessing that's what the bell on the collars for?So you can here when he stops? Thanks for replys not sure where my post went and just hit new post button and found it! LOL Cool Site

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Hunting range for pointer?

Post by gonehuntin' » Wed Jan 06, 2016 6:47 am

He's a pointing dog, he. HAS a range, you just don't know what it is, nor should you care. A trained pointer seeks and finds birds then points them. Might be 50 yards, might be 500. My GUESS is that you have a 100 yard dog in the woods and not over 200 in a field. More likely 150.
LIFE WITHOUT BIRD DOGS AND FLY RODS REALLY ISN'T LIFE AT ALL.

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