Flushers and running birds

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coastalquacker
Rank: Just A Pup
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Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:24 pm

Flushers and running birds

Post by coastalquacker » Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:55 am

I’ve got a 2 year old Boykin, addie, that started hunting quail and pheasant with pretty frequently this season. Before this year, she’s hunted quail some, but it’s started to turn into an every weekend affair due to working out a sweet deal with a local quail plantation.
For the quail plantation, we pickup pheasant at tower shoots a couple times a month in exchange for quail and pheasant hunting. So far, Addie has been a machine at the tower shoots. Knock on wood, we haven’t lost a bird yet and we’re on track to break 1000 retrieves this year.
Obviously some of the pheasant hit the ground crippled, and run. Up to this point, I’ve released her once the bird hits the ground and she’s free to chase the bird until she pins it and brings it back. This is where the issue is arising on the solo hunts.
We hunt pen raised birds, and they like to run. Quail so more after the initial covey flush but pheasants so it frequently. Addie will get birdy within range, and track the birds, sometimes out of range. For now, I’ve been sitting her with a whistle and catching up to her before letting her get back after it. Would this be the right way to go about this? Or do I need to just try to stick with her when she starts to get track down a runner? Sometimes it may take 3-4 times of her getting to that 35 yd range and me sitting her before a rooster will stop running and flush. It seems somewhat counterproductive to let him get his lead back while I sit and catch the dog.
Another question I’ve got from watching the dog regards hunting with the wind to your back. I try to keep the wind in her face but that’s not always possible. As of now, she will loop out to the 35 yard range and loop back to me. Essentially pinning a bird between me and her. It’s working, but just wanted to see if anyone else that hunts with flushers does it differently.

Thanks for reading. First time training an upland bird and always learning. On a side note, when we first started quail hunting, I would try to push her into a brush pile or briar patsy that I was “sure” had birds. Now, I let her hit the cover she wants to and I can tell in about 2 seconds if there’s a bird in a piece of cover. Pretty amazing thing when the training starts to pay off and you can trust the dog to do it’s job.

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Flushers and running birds

Post by gonehuntin' » Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:49 pm

That's exactly how I handled it. Sat them to the whistle until I caught up. If you have a great handling dog, like a lab that takes whistles and hand signals, you can sometimes handle the dog AROUND the bird, then whistle it back to you. I have to tell you in all honesty, this didn't work well for me at all, but it is an option.
LIFE WITHOUT BIRD DOGS AND FLY RODS REALLY ISN'T LIFE AT ALL.

mnaj_springer
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Re: Flushers and running birds

Post by mnaj_springer » Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:23 am

Sounds like you're handling this all really well.

With my springer if she's tracking a bird (it gets to be obvious at times) I whistle her to a hup until I can catch back up or get in a more comfortable range depending on the type of bird and cover, then release her. It works well.

And with the wind at our back I want her to take a big loop out and work back in so her pattern looks more like a bunch of figure 8's rather than zig-zagging back and forth.

Congrats on a great pup!
“Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

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