trials or wild bird hunting

larue
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trials or wild bird hunting

Post by larue » Mon May 16, 2011 10:45 am

If you had to choose between running trials,or hunt tests,or whatever dog game you play,and wild bird hunting which venue would you choose?

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chukar12 » Mon May 16, 2011 10:52 am

Cannot get my brain around an answer for this, unless I am physically incapicitated I will always participate in both...

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by gittrdonebritts » Mon May 16, 2011 11:13 am

If I had to absolutely chose it would be wild birds.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Ridge-Point » Mon May 16, 2011 11:15 am

Wild bird hunting, no question.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by brad27 » Mon May 16, 2011 11:20 am

Cannot get my brain around an answer for this, unless I am physically incapicitated I will always participate in both...

agreed.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by ACooper » Mon May 16, 2011 11:22 am

If I had to choose it's not even close... wild birds!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by prairiefirepointers » Mon May 16, 2011 11:26 am

Duh... Wild birds! :mrgreen:
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by tommyboy72 » Mon May 16, 2011 11:31 am

Trialing because the dogs are so much better. Just kidding guys. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen:

Wild birds of course. :D

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by ezzy333 » Mon May 16, 2011 11:34 am

Bird hunting is the name of the game.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chukar12 » Mon May 16, 2011 11:36 am

...for sake of argument only: can you know if you haven't done both?

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Prairie Hunter » Mon May 16, 2011 11:44 am

The only reason I trial or test is to spend more time with my dogs. Wild bird hunting is my passion.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by JKP » Mon May 16, 2011 11:51 am

Wild birds...everything else is just a game.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by PkerStr8Tail » Mon May 16, 2011 12:03 pm

As I have gotten older wild bird hunting has become less important. Shot many birds growing up in South Dakota and its pretty much the same thing over and over. I enjoy the dogs more than killing so I would choose trialing.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Mountaineer » Mon May 16, 2011 12:11 pm

Wild birds...never, ever trials.
Never been that bored.

Tho I am glad some folks do trial since their enjoyment pays dividends with dogs.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by brad27 » Mon May 16, 2011 12:40 pm

The only reason I trial or test is to spend more time with my dogs. Wild bird hunting is my passion.
hunting season in california is september 1st through january 31st. testing/trialing runs september through may. using time spent doing things with the dog as the only metric, i would have to pick trialing. thankfully i dont have to pick one or the other. :D

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Winchey » Mon May 16, 2011 12:55 pm

Can't rap my head around it either. I like the adrenalin and competition that comes along with the Trials, even though my dog and I aren't exactly compettive. I am not sure I can seperate the two. I hunt 8 months a year, chasing wild birds is basically 90% of my training, and I train because it is a lot of fun.

If I had to choose between shooting and trialing, I'd pick trialing.
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by original mngsp » Mon May 16, 2011 12:57 pm

Wild birds by far. I have stopped trialing in the fall since i hate loosing a weekend available to bird hunting.

Even hunting its more about the dogs than it is killing birds. Dogs develop and do what they were meant to do finding and handling wild birds way more than working on pen-raised birds at a trial.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Ruffshooter » Mon May 16, 2011 1:14 pm

Wild, Wild Wild birds, Ruffy's. It is cheaper too. For me. :)
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by cjuve » Mon May 16, 2011 1:18 pm

Which came first.... The chicken or the egg? If I had to choose it would be wild birds all the way but feel free to ask me when i am too old and run down to hunt chukar.

Trials are a good way for me to spend additional time with my dogs and to see what other bloodlines and training methods produce, believe me when I say that trials are not the end all be all of bird dogs but are a great place to start trying to figure out what you want.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by RayGubernat » Mon May 16, 2011 1:21 pm

I have only the occasional desire to kill something anymore. Although wild birds are more challenging for me and the dogs, I can satisfy that desire without killing wild birds .

I do however, still get a huge thrill watching a good dog work and since I can do that from the back of a horse, I gotta go with trialing.

Not to mention I can see more good dog work in a day at a trial than I can see in a month in the field.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chukar12 » Mon May 16, 2011 1:28 pm

Not to mention I can see more good dog work in a day at a trial than I can see in a month in the field.
see what other bloodlines and training methods produce
These are good points and have been undefined for me...when I am asked why I like being at a trial I had lots of reasons, one of them is I just plain like to see different dogs and methods.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by topher40 » Mon May 16, 2011 1:43 pm

When you raise thousands of birds a year, and they act wild...... 8) ....... I would rather trial. I have killed plenty of birds and enjoy watching a dog work. No difference whether they are wild or pen raised, they all fly the same when raised correctly....... :wink:
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by markj » Mon May 16, 2011 1:45 pm

Its always and will always be hunting first. Trials are just a game, usually run during my busiest times of the year. Winter is my lay off play time and I have always hunted. Trials are fun but not for everyone. I dont wish to ride a horse after my last adventure, can they use ATVs instead?
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by ymepointer » Mon May 16, 2011 1:46 pm

Wild birds by a mile :lol: Not even close.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by ElhewPointer » Mon May 16, 2011 2:12 pm

Trials on wild birds!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Grouse Dog Guy » Mon May 16, 2011 2:43 pm

I hunt the same wild birds that I trial on, it blends the two together and extends the season.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by cmc274 » Mon May 16, 2011 4:02 pm

Wild birds is the easy answer, however if I look at availability, trialing would have the upper hand. A dependable supply of wild birds is non-existent on public lands in the southeast. The state I live in and two of the three bordering states also prohibit sunday hunting. I need to travel 2 hours to find anything that resembled a wild bird and it would be possible to go all day in those locations without finding any*. To dependably hunt wild birds without taking vacation, I would need to drive 5 hours each way to hunt one day on public land that I have not been able to scout. To chase that two or three grouse or limit would cost me $100 in gas alone and I would spend more time driving than hunting, no thank you.

On the other hand, I could participate in 25+ akc or nstra trials within a 3 hour radius. If I was to count american field, it may double?

Do I hope to spend a week chasing grouse in my home state and some more time looking for quail locally and in the lower mid-west, you bet. However just realize that a decision between wild birds and trialing isn't so easy for those of us that can't hunt out our back door, arent related to anyone with a private plantation, and don't have the vacation and means to hunt dependable wild birds more than 7-10 days a year. If I lived somewhere I could leave work at noon friday, drive two hours, hunt til dusk, setup camp, hunt saturday and again on sunday til noon and be home by 3, I would probably feel differently.

* a local military base known to hold some of the best populations around averages 850 hunter trips per year and a harvest of 500 quail. Do the math.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by larue » Mon May 16, 2011 4:42 pm

ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Winchey » Mon May 16, 2011 4:46 pm

With the wild bird trials around here most trialers are after a dog that excels at both.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chukar12 » Mon May 16, 2011 4:54 pm

So the real rub is, who decides what is "excelling" at wild bird hunting is? I think a handful of people make really good breeding decisions and their hunting dog breedings are trust worthy and continually successful, it seems there are a couple of them on here. On the other hand, unless there is such a track record and or you can observe the dog in a multitude of conditions..."really good hunting dogs" are pretty subjective. In 46 years I cannot recall too many people saying their dog wasn't worth a darn...

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by NC Quailhunter » Mon May 16, 2011 5:02 pm

Wild birds over trial any day. I do agree that it is very subjective about what excels as a hunting dog but that is where it is on the hunter to find the dogs that he likes and go with that. I think it would take some effort on the hunters part to find what he wants in the breeding and then train for what he wants the dog to do.
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Grouse Dog Guy » Mon May 16, 2011 5:03 pm

larue wrote:ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?


It's the same dog for me!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Troy08er » Mon May 16, 2011 5:39 pm

I have watched a few field trials and it looks fun. So far it’s just been wild bird hunting. I can find wild birds around 45 minutes from my house so it’s really easy to get out and relax hiking the hills. It’s a stress reliever from the office and priceless seeing a dog on point. Down the road when I retire maybe I’ll get into the field trial game.
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by slistoe » Mon May 16, 2011 5:44 pm

RayGubernat wrote: Although wild birds are more challenging for me and the dogs,
RayG
Crap, it must be nice to win that much!

I hunt my dogs when there is open season. I run my dogs the rest of the year. Why would anyone think it had to be an either/or proposition?

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Mountaineer » Mon May 16, 2011 7:53 pm

larue wrote:ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?
I would not specifically seek out dogs that excel at trials...I might seek out dogs that wash-out of trialing for simply not possessing the smallest points of tail or crack or whatever that is necessary to provide seperation for a winning judgement at trial.

I would not specifically seek out dogs that excel at hunting...I might seek out dogs that excel at hunting, if the dog or parents possessed the manner of hunt that I prefer, possessed the physical structure that permits that hunt and, as a cherry on top, exhibited experience on the birds that I prefer to hunt.

Trial dogs and Hunting dogs are, most often, one and the same.
Hunting dogs and Trial dogs are, less often, one and the same.
The difference lies in the finer requirements of competitive trialing....ie winning.

Whether I am satisfied with any choice of a hunting dog is more about me than the dog.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by birddogger » Mon May 16, 2011 7:59 pm

No brainer here....Wild bird hunting!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Quill Gordon » Mon May 16, 2011 8:14 pm

Maybe a better question would be crack cocaine or wild birds.

Could be just me and my homies but were definately smokin somethin

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Boxa » Mon May 16, 2011 8:16 pm

Chukar12 wrote:...can you know if you haven't done both?
+1
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by tommyboy72 » Mon May 16, 2011 8:58 pm

cmc274 I sympathize with your dilemma. Sometimes it goes both ways as well. I would love to attempt trialing some day unfortunately I live 300-350 miles from the nearest large city and at least 200-250 from the nearest walking trials that I know of. There may be one here and there closer around Amarillo but as far as I know over in what I consider eastern Oklahoma or what some might consider central Oklahoma is where the majority of trials in my state are held. None any closer in Texas, Kansas, Colorado or New Mexico that I know of either. Sometimes it is not so easy to hit some of the trials for those of us that are only hunters. Just something to consider.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by slistoe » Mon May 16, 2011 10:34 pm

larue wrote:ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?
They aren't different. With nothing else to measure by I will take the established standards of excellence in the most difficult of trialling formats - the All Age to give me the most raw potential to work with.
Excellence at wild bird hunting - by whose proclamation?

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by cjuve » Tue May 17, 2011 1:04 am

ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?
Excel at wild bird hunting according to who? If it is according to the guy down the street then I wil take my chances on proven AA FT breeding, a different ballgame if I am doing the evaluating. I want the same in my hunting dog as I want in an AA FT dog.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chief_dog » Tue May 17, 2011 3:49 am

Tommy, If you're willing to run some AKC stuff, there were a couple trials within 45 minutes of you and another couple within an hour and a half last year. One of the clubs I'm in is going to run three of them at Optima next fall and winter. You can run your FDSB registered dogs in them even if you choose not to cross-register with the AKC.
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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Chief_dog » Tue May 17, 2011 4:09 am

larue wrote:If you had to choose between running trials,or hunt tests,or whatever dog game you play,and wild bird hunting which venue would you choose?
I've been a bird hunter as long as I can remember. Even though I've kind of tired of killing a bunch of birds (never pulled the trigger on a wild quail last year even though I had many chances), I run the dogs on wild birds all the time. If a dog isn't a dang nice wild bird dog, I'm not going to waste my time and money field trialing it. They gotta be birddogs first and foremost if I'm going to keep them.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by 3Britts » Tue May 17, 2011 4:59 am

I too like both, but if I had to choose I would pick wild birds every time.
I just get a kick out of taking friends and others out after chuckar, grouse and other forms of tasty vittals.
But then, who could resist talking smack around a campfire at trials, hunt texts etc.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by ElhewPointer » Tue May 17, 2011 7:16 am

larue wrote:ok,next question would you seek out dogs who excel in trials or dogs who excel in wild bird hunting?

How about a dog that wins a wild bird trial.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Grouse Dog Guy » Tue May 17, 2011 7:42 am

How about a dog that rides in the front seat of the truck, sleeps on the foot of the bed, can be hunted all day every day without and ecollar and is a wild bird champion!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Winchey » Tue May 17, 2011 8:02 am

Grouse Dog Guy wrote:How about a dog that rides in the front seat of the truck, sleeps on the foot of the bed, can be hunted all day every day without and ecollar and is a wild bird champion!
I'll second that, except the sleeping at the foot of the bed. I like when they are parrallel with you, that way you can stretch your legs out, much comfier.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by CowboyBirdDogs » Tue May 17, 2011 3:29 pm

Wild birds all the way!

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by Vision » Tue May 17, 2011 4:42 pm

I'm with the few guys/gals on this forum that have pretty much lost the desire to go kill a bunch of birds. One and done does not work for me in bird hunting, nor college B-ball. I do love to get out and enjoy the terrain, see the dogs work, enjoy good company and have experiences. I would have to go with field trialing on WILD BIRDS.

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Re: trials or wild bird hunting

Post by birddogger » Tue May 17, 2011 7:22 pm

It seems to me that when hunting is mentioned on here that a lot of people think of it as just going out and killing something. There is so much more to it than that and I have trouble putting it into words. It somewhat troubles me that sportsmen are saying they don't enjoy killing birds anymore. I understand what they are saying, but to the anti hunting crowd, it sounds like they are agreeing with them. I think field trials are great games where we can enjoy our dogs, since hunting is not what it once was. I have been passionate about hunting since I was a little boy and I can tell you, for me anyway, it is about so much more than killing something. I never had dogs because I wanted to compete with anybody, but rather to get away from the stress of every day life, enjoy the wild life and serenity of the outdoors, watching the dogs work, which I trained myself, either hunting by myself or sharing the experience with a friend or two and then sitting down to a meal of game that I harvested, if any. I so miss the days when hunting was a way of life for me and my family and was accepted and respected by almost everyone. So, if given the choice, give me the real thing!! I will stop crying in my beer now. :lol:

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