ANCHORING QUAIL FOR TRAINING

[westexasrepublic]

I have live quail to train my dogs with (finally) and I was wondering what people use to keep the quail from flushing too far. Pics would help or other advice.

[westexasrepublic]

like for instance Iv hear lead fishing weights or milk jugs is that right?

[southernblues]

I haven't done it but I've read in Delmar's book that he would take a garden and cut it 3-6 ft (can't remember), punch a hole through the side and draw string through the hole. Then tie each string to quail legs and it helps slow them down.

[tommyboy72]

My buddy Chief Dog on this site recommended tying a 6" x 6" piece of cardboard to a pigeons leg to me. He said it lets them fly about 75 yards or so and then the wind resistance will bring them down. I don't see why this would not work on quail as well.

[TEX-X]

i tie an empty coke bottle (small) they fly a little ways and then come back down to earth

[Brittguy]

Quail will have trouble flying at all with anything heavy like sinkers or milk jugs. I saw a person use ribbon. There was enough drag for them to come down and they were easy to find. The ribbon was 5 feet or so. He did have some problems flushing with high weeds, but I think you would also have trouble with any sort of weight or drag.

[jhoughton]

Why not just use a recall pen? When I flush quail, especially for young dogs, I want the bird gone so the dog has no chance of catching it when it hits the ground.

[outdrguyjr]

I have used a 18" piece of hose and it works great. The bird can fly for about 50 yards and then comes down...works great for gun training.

[lvrgsp]

I'd get a recall pen and use that, or a modified covery base system with a call back box. Honestly I have a hard time finding many pen raised quail that fly good enough that they cannot be used again for multiple flushes. I don't want that bird coming down 10 yds in front of the dog again, it's awfully hard on them.
Maybe your birds are strong flyers, but I still would ot reccomending tying anything to them...

JMO,
Chip

[westexasrepublic]

thanks for the replies. Let me give the rest of the story...I considered a recall pin, but im practicing on public land. Let me know how they work and if im wrong, but I thought you have to wait 24 hrs before they return to the pen and usually has to be a permanent or semi permanent pen with other quail left in to encourage them back? im not sure that is practical for what im doing.

[TEX-X]

thats the reason i don't use a recall pen...you have to leave it unattended for a few hours if not overnight.. i just don't want one of these animal rights activists taking my recall pen...or even worse a fellow bird dog owner stealing my quail try a coke bottle works great for me

[mmassoud]

I have used a 18" piece of hose and it works great. The bird can fly for about 50 yards and then comes down...works great for gun training.

What do you feed a quail that it can fly with 18" of hose attached to it? Are you serious? I have tried it with wild pigeons and they have a hard time getting off the ground with a foot of hose.

[WindRiverMan]

Agreed.

For a quail, just tie a couple feet of surveyors flagging tape to their legs. Most pen raised quail cannot fly for crap (even out of a launcher with a fifteen foot straight up head start), and the tape just helps you find your bird.

Eighteen inches of cardboard works well for carding pigeons, but it bites unless you have nothing but grass for quite a ways. Otherwise, you end up with a bird hung up in trees, bushes, fences, etc. Try having one stuck twenty foot up in a cottonwood in a public area.....not good.

I want the name of the bird supplier that has quail that carry a coke bottle. Please, I could use some quail like that. It must be Ahhhhhhhnold's House of Da Terminator Quail.

[TEX-X]

BD gamefarms in i think arizona... i'm not saying that they fly a long ways but if you get the small coke bottle they'll fly 30 to 40 yards.... and a plastic cup works good as well....the thing i like about the plastic (disposable) cup is when you go out and retrieve your birds you just poke him in the cup head first and walk back to the truck...it helps when you are getting 3 or 4 birds...

[Sharon]

Agreed.

For a quail, just tie a couple feet of surveyors flagging tape to their legs. Most pen raised quail cannot fly for crap (even out of a launcher with a fifteen foot straight up head start), and the tape just helps you find your bird.

Eighteen inches of cardboard works well for carding pigeons, but it bites unless you have nothing but grass for quite a ways. Otherwise, you end up with a bird hung up in trees, bushes, fences, etc. Try having one stuck twenty foot up in a cottonwood in a public area.....not good.

I want the name of the bird supplier that has quail that carry a coke bottle. Please, I could use some quail like that. It must be Ahhhhhhhnold's House of Da Terminator Quail.

LOl Send those birds my way. Whatever you decide to use, practise first alone, so you don't screw up the dog. I used surveyor's tape once and it wasn't heavy enough. The bird ended up hung up in a tree , on an island in the middle of a pond. Just about this time the Birdwatcher's Club came along. True story.

I don't shackle my birds anymore and can't have a recall pen here. I just let them fly away. I want my dog to stand staunchly and watch them g o.....

[TEX-X]

how much money do you spend on training birds a year?

[Sharon]

My husband asks me that too.
I've never figured it out . It's the one thing I spend money on so........I could be spending much more on jewellery.
I live in the city so can't keep birds on my property . i manage to hide a dozen in a pen in my garage. I replace those as needed. Pigeon are cheap,( can't use homers), quail are not allowed to be used in Ontario anymore, chukar cost me some bucks. I go to a friend's in the country for work on pheasant .
So far all my dogs have been quick studies so I haven't had to use pen raised birds for too long,

When you're hooked, you do what you've got to do.
I was trained by an excellent Ontario pro to let those birds teach the dog. Let them fly. Stay out of it until the dog indicates he wants to be broke. That's what i do.

We're all happy to-day!
( Sorry the pic. is so big. maybe someone can edit it down. thanks)

[jbr03]

i have a recall pen and that works fine for me, but there was a time when i was first starting out and birds were hard to come by when i had tied the quail to a lead fishing weight (a big one) i would zip tie a piece of string, which was probably a good 20 ft or so, and the string would go from the bird to the weight. it was a bad idea from the start and ill never do it again nor would i recommend it. 9 times out of 10, the dog wouldnt get the bird since i always had her on a checkcord, but its that 1 time that will hurt your training. LCSupply has a bird tether for sale. i think its a foot or 2 long and you just loop it around the birds leg. supposedly it keeps them from flying too far. never used it though, just seen the picture of it.
the best way to go about it is to get a recall pen. that way your 15 minute training session doesnt turn into 2 hours because you are out chasing birds while the dogs are freaking out in the truck (and believe me i know how it can be) maybe you can check around to see if there is any available land to lease for a decent price. down here in Florida they cant give the leases away.

[TEX-X]

Westtexas if you lived closer to midland odessa i could hook you up with a bunch of ranchers that would let you hunt and train on their land. Let me talk to my Brother in law he lives in San angelo and they have a ranch somewhere on the outskirts. then you could use a recall pen

[kylenicholas02]

I anchor them with some number 9 and a 20 ga... works everytime

[tommyboy72]

Darn eastern bobwhite hunters. I use 7 1/2's and 6's on a windy day like today. These blue quail are big and tough out here. They just shuck off that 9 shot. jk

[Grange]

thanks for the replies. Let me give the rest of the story...I considered a recall pin, but im practicing on public land. Let me know how they work and if im wrong, but I thought you have to wait 24 hrs before they return to the pen and usually has to be a permanent or semi permanent pen with other quail left in to encourage them back? im not sure that is practical for what im doing.

I use a very portable recall pen on public land. Whether or not it works depend on the quail. The ones that don't fly more than a 100 or so yards wil recall OK. The ones that fly a long ways well they may still be flying for all I know because they didn't recall. For the ones that do recall it took up to a few hours. A problem can come if the birds fly in different directions or they aren't trained (released at least once without using for training and in small groups). If the birds fly in the same general area I just put the recall pen in that area and then take the dogs for a nice run. By the time I get back the birds should be recalled. If they fly in all directions I either leave the recall pen equal distance between the flight paths or pick one path and assume I won't get them all back.

I do leave at least one quail in the recall pen to call to the other quail. I'd like to think that If I had an electronic quail recall speaker I get a better return, but I could buy a lot of quail for the price of one of those.